Reid hooked this op-ed piece (LATimes) by Victoria Braithwaite, a behavioral biologist at Edinburgh University, and sent it to Steve, Rebecca and myself for comment. I threw back the following flippant reply, which Steve suggested I share with the rest of the class. Maybe everyone can chime in with their views in Comments? …I’ve seen …
Sidewalk Art
Once or twice a year, some city commission here in Santa Barbara arranges for an exhibition of art that is installed along the sidewalks of State Street, our main street downtown. Sometimes it consists of a number of works by a single artist, other times they are by multiple artists. They vary in quality. Last …
Dog Origins
This is in response to Darren’s excellent post on dog origins that Reid comments on below– you might read it first. Some commentors insist on the conventional ” dog = wolf ” formula Darren casts doubt upon, but I think the evidence is with Darren. I have a friend named Vladimir Beregovoy, a retired Russian …
Another Curious Caterpillar
Steve’s picture of a caterpillar in his “Getting Out” post reminded me of this one we saw while out in the field with Steve & Libby in Magdalena last month. Afraid I have no idea as to who this fellow might be, though he is an attractive shade of green. Caterpillar enthusiasts, grab your guidebooks!
Controversial Origins of the Domestic Dog
Darren Naish has one of his as-usual excellent essays up, dealing with the origins and evolution of dogs. A recommended read on a subject of interest to posters and commenters at this blog.
What I’d Most Like to be Doing
Trapping Goshawks in Idaho. Even if an eagle gets into the net. That’s our friend Bruce Haak, biologist, writer, and falconer with the eagle. He traps and bands every fall on an 8000- foot ridge, where winter comes early.
Bleg
For a project– does anyone know where I can find a copy of the 1971 made- for- TV movie (the second Movie- of- the- Week ever!) “Harpy”, starring Hugh O’Brian, Elizabeth Ashley, and a big serious falconry- trained Harpy eagle? I believe the bird was trained by Jim Fowler, protege of Marlin Perkins. Lots of …
Getting Out..
… is most of what I have been up to. I have found a mysterious nest made mostly of lengths of various kinds of wire, with some sticks and cholla joints woven in… Some curious caterpillars… Can anyone identify it? Is it a Dysschema howardi? I saw some of those there recently… And the girls …
Quiet Please
A sign from the flight line at Santa Barbara Airport. The airport has been here since the 1920s, when it was surrounded by lemon groves and pasture. Now that those have been replaced by UC – Santa Barbara and suburbs, people complain about the noise. Like they didn’t know the airport was there when they …
An Unexpected Benefit
It’s supposed to be fun. Anything you do for yourself, as a hobby or pastime, is supposed to be fun. So why do we need this reminder? We shake our heads at angry Little League fathers and puzzle over Prima Donna chess players. Probably there’s a brooding and hostile Tiddlywinks champion out there, a big …