Darren has been too busy to post anything but amazing pictures, but he did email me a heads up on–!– not one but TWO new wolf species! “I’ve been following the story here (popular articles and shorter papers reporting the relevant discoveries have been appearing since 2003 at least), but finally we have the full …
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The Roller Scandal
Eight (so far) California roller pigeon fanciers have been targeted in a Federal sting operation and accused of killing as many as 2000 raptors, apparently mostly urban Cooper’s hawks. Some of the info is pretty ugly: “Navarro allegedly told an undercover Fish and Wildlife Service agent that he likes to “pummel” the hawks that he …
Water Bird
A Black-necked Stilt in Devereaux Slough near Goleta.
Reggie Apprehended
Reggie, the released pet alligator at large in Machado Lake in Los Angeles, who Matt and I posted about back in 2005, has finally been caught. Reggie had a good long run on his own, and certainly had more than his fifteen minutes of fame as a media sensation in LA. It appears his future …
CSI: NIMBY
Time has an interesting piece on the problems that Texas State University is having in trying to get approvals to site a “body farm” where human bodies can be left to decompose in the open for research in forensic anthropology. Even the nearby airport objects that it would attract vultures that might collide with airplanes! …
More Airport Art
I was passing through the Phoenix airport some days ago, and looked into the store that carries these magnificent metal bat sculptures. I saw that the same artist has expanded his line of winged creatures to cover Gamble’s quail (see above) And roadrunners. The roadrunner’s legs are made of rebar.Nice, but not in the same …
Some Spring Blooms
One of the things that we are enjoying in our first spring here at Moonshine Gulch is seeing the flowers arrive as the weather warms. Each one is a surprise, and with the cool, wet weather up till now, we seem to have a bumper crop of wildflowers out in the yard. Like the indian …
Let the Kids Play
Steve posted last summer on The Dangerous Book for Boys and I have been seeing it cited more and more in the news and the blogosphere. There seems to be a gathering movement in favor of more traditional unstructured play for children. The NY Times weighs in on the subject in a recent piece. I …
Vinkensport
The NY Times today has a piece on vinkensport or finching: finch singing competitions in Belgium. Of course, Pluvialis was all over this a month ago, scooping the Times by a mile.
Utter Coincidence
Reid’s recommendation of the new bio of Denys Finch Hatton got me thinking about some very strange similarities between some photos. Here is the photo of Betsy Huntington that the Russ Chatham painting on the cover of Querencia- the- book is based on: Here is a photo of Karen Blixen that I didn’t see until …