I saved a grasshopper this morning. I found it in my kitchen sink when I went to fill the kettle for my morning coffee. I nabbed it with a piece of paper towel, but when I went to shake it off outside, it wouldn't let go. So I just put the paper towel down on the deck railing and hoped the hopper would eventually hop off down onto the grass below because if it DIDN'T, I knew it might come to the attention of one of my two cats, which would it eat.
A few minutes later I looked outside to see the torkie nibbling away. Oh dear! Well at least that was a more useful fate than the hopper I squished last week because it pause right where I put foot down when stepping out the back door.
29 August 2011
27 March 2011
Invitation to Atlas
Looking for a place to atlas?
Come on over to Southeastern BC! Have I got a trip for you!
http://panoramio.com/photo/12679714
Panoramino photo share pic (Thx JRS)
If you have a truck and camper and are up for some back country roads, let me recommend the Whiteswan to Bull River route (and vicinity).
There are 19 priority 1 squares on this route, and MOST of the point counts are on the main roads.
Mid June or later would be best for the road conditions
Come on over to Southeastern BC! Have I got a trip for you!
http://panoramio.com/photo/12679714
Panoramino photo share pic (Thx JRS)
If you have a truck and camper and are up for some back country roads, let me recommend the Whiteswan to Bull River route (and vicinity).
There are 19 priority 1 squares on this route, and MOST of the point counts are on the main roads.
Mid June or later would be best for the road conditions
06 July 2010
Perfect Day Atlassing
Besides just being out there, what makes a perfect atlassing day?
The steeples from Picture Valley Road #2
Fantastically beautiful country-side.
Greg - it's more than just his 4x4 truck.
More great company and conversation --
Like the anthropology of bits of metal and stuff found on the railroad tracks and railroader ethnology (he's a railroader, retired).
Passable roads !! Woot !!
No impassable mud holes - yah!
My car wouldn't have made it, that's for sure, but this here is just fine!
Previously undocumented Bank Swallow Colony
Mysteries solved
The previous week, Ruth and I recorded hundreds of swallows on a point count down by the Kootenay River. This colony site is around a hill and on the edge of the benchlands in 3 bluffs dug out courtesy of gravel mining.
130 nest holes (approx.) and over 200 birds make up this swallow's version of an ideal home.
American Kestrel nest
Finding a spirit guide's nest
Aka one of my favorite species - the Sparrow Hawk.
Sooo, sweet to see the female pop in to the nest and duck down with only her tail feathers visible in the shadow of the hole - they're much longer than you think!
And such an obvious and wonderful location!
That is one fantastic flat I tell ya:
American Kestrel,
two Lewis' Woodpecker nests -- one in a tree signed "private property" !!!,
and earlier in the year, one of the two Saw-whet Owl nests we found, now long gone.
Waiting for the Williamson's Sapsucker
And finally, confirming nesting of a previously staked out rarity.
NY! = nest with young. Yup, told ya. This might be the first WISA on the east bank of the Kootenay.
Dianne Cooper
The steeples from Picture Valley Road #2
Fantastically beautiful country-side.
Greg - it's more than just his 4x4 truck.
More great company and conversation --
Like the anthropology of bits of metal and stuff found on the railroad tracks and railroader ethnology (he's a railroader, retired).
Passable roads !! Woot !!
No impassable mud holes - yah!
My car wouldn't have made it, that's for sure, but this here is just fine!
Previously undocumented Bank Swallow Colony
Mysteries solved
The previous week, Ruth and I recorded hundreds of swallows on a point count down by the Kootenay River. This colony site is around a hill and on the edge of the benchlands in 3 bluffs dug out courtesy of gravel mining.
130 nest holes (approx.) and over 200 birds make up this swallow's version of an ideal home.
American Kestrel nest
Finding a spirit guide's nest
Aka one of my favorite species - the Sparrow Hawk.
Sooo, sweet to see the female pop in to the nest and duck down with only her tail feathers visible in the shadow of the hole - they're much longer than you think!
And such an obvious and wonderful location!
That is one fantastic flat I tell ya:
American Kestrel,
two Lewis' Woodpecker nests -- one in a tree signed "private property" !!!,
and earlier in the year, one of the two Saw-whet Owl nests we found, now long gone.
Waiting for the Williamson's Sapsucker
And finally, confirming nesting of a previously staked out rarity.
NY! = nest with young. Yup, told ya. This might be the first WISA on the east bank of the Kootenay.
Dianne Cooper
29 June 2010
Oil Spills - New York Times 1991 (not positive, I know)
Excerpt from the 1991 book "The New York Times Book of Science Literacy" - What Everyone Needs to Know from Newton to the Knuckleball; by the editors and reporters of Science Times, Richard Flaste, editor; HarperCollins, 1991
Damage Control
Until now, chance and the irresistible forces of nature have overwhelmed the comparatively puny efforts of humans in determining whether a major oil spill becomes an ecological disaster or spares the environment. Even when attempts to contain the spillage are undertaken promptly and well, experts say, factors beyond human control usually decide a locality's ecological fate.
Will the technology for cleaning up spills ever be good enough to do the job on its own? The question gained new urgency in the wake of the Exxon Valdez tanker accident, which brought ecological ruin to Prince William Sound in Alaska, and other major spills. Researchers are working to develop a variety of techniques for dealing with oil spills, ranging from relatively mundane methods of burning the oil or simply sopping it up with absorbent material to sophisticated ways of tracking the myriad threads and tendrils of spilled oil. But in practical application, many experts say, the technology has not fundamentally advanced in two decades, although there have been refinements and improvements. It can deal with some kinds of spills, but experts say that under the worst of conditions, with the biggest spills, the best of it is all but useless.
"There may be no technological fix for big spills in adverse conditions," says Richard S. Golob, the director of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The center keeps track of oil spills, and Mr. Golob is a recognized independent expert on the subject who has studied it for the last fifteen years. "The public has always believed that in an oil spill, we should be able to contain and recover a vast majority of the oil spilled. Historically, that is just not the case. It's not just a problem of organization and available resources. It's a problem of technology and our ability to deal with winds and waves. We are dealing with some of the largest forces of nature. In major spills, when there hasn't been serious damage, the reason is that Mother Nature has been kind to us."
In 1976, the New England coast was spared a major ecological catastrophe from an oil spill, not because of anything humans did, but because of what nature did. The tanker Argo Merchant ran aground on Nantucket Shoals off Massachusetts. It spilled nearly 8 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, which is heavy, viscous, and long-lived. If the wind had been blowing toward land, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket would have experienced a disaster. Instead, the wind blew the oil out to sea. By contrast, onshore winds blew oil onto the beaches of Brittany after the grounded tanker Amoco Cadiz spilled 68 million gallons into the English Channel in 1978. the result was widespread damage to whole species and communities of wildlife.
Existing techniques are usually effective in containing spills of about a hundred thousand gallons or less, Mr. Golob say, and they can be successfully used to prevent spilled oil from reaching marshes or sheltered coves. But "there are limits to what the equipment and technology can do." Under adverse conditions in the open sea, when waves and winds are high, containment and clean-up attempts can be futile, Mr. Golob says. "Most experts will say that if you can recover 10 to 20 percent of the oil, you're doing well. Many spill experts will say privately that sometimes it is totally ineffective to try to respond to a spill out at sea, and yet that's a very impolitic attitude, because it's giving in. Inaction is perceived as bad." So they proceed to try anyway, he says, while the public meanwhile has "a misperception of what is possible."
Damage Control
Until now, chance and the irresistible forces of nature have overwhelmed the comparatively puny efforts of humans in determining whether a major oil spill becomes an ecological disaster or spares the environment. Even when attempts to contain the spillage are undertaken promptly and well, experts say, factors beyond human control usually decide a locality's ecological fate.
Will the technology for cleaning up spills ever be good enough to do the job on its own? The question gained new urgency in the wake of the Exxon Valdez tanker accident, which brought ecological ruin to Prince William Sound in Alaska, and other major spills. Researchers are working to develop a variety of techniques for dealing with oil spills, ranging from relatively mundane methods of burning the oil or simply sopping it up with absorbent material to sophisticated ways of tracking the myriad threads and tendrils of spilled oil. But in practical application, many experts say, the technology has not fundamentally advanced in two decades, although there have been refinements and improvements. It can deal with some kinds of spills, but experts say that under the worst of conditions, with the biggest spills, the best of it is all but useless.
"There may be no technological fix for big spills in adverse conditions," says Richard S. Golob, the director of the Center for Short-Lived Phenomena in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The center keeps track of oil spills, and Mr. Golob is a recognized independent expert on the subject who has studied it for the last fifteen years. "The public has always believed that in an oil spill, we should be able to contain and recover a vast majority of the oil spilled. Historically, that is just not the case. It's not just a problem of organization and available resources. It's a problem of technology and our ability to deal with winds and waves. We are dealing with some of the largest forces of nature. In major spills, when there hasn't been serious damage, the reason is that Mother Nature has been kind to us."
In 1976, the New England coast was spared a major ecological catastrophe from an oil spill, not because of anything humans did, but because of what nature did. The tanker Argo Merchant ran aground on Nantucket Shoals off Massachusetts. It spilled nearly 8 million gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, which is heavy, viscous, and long-lived. If the wind had been blowing toward land, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket would have experienced a disaster. Instead, the wind blew the oil out to sea. By contrast, onshore winds blew oil onto the beaches of Brittany after the grounded tanker Amoco Cadiz spilled 68 million gallons into the English Channel in 1978. the result was widespread damage to whole species and communities of wildlife.
Existing techniques are usually effective in containing spills of about a hundred thousand gallons or less, Mr. Golob say, and they can be successfully used to prevent spilled oil from reaching marshes or sheltered coves. But "there are limits to what the equipment and technology can do." Under adverse conditions in the open sea, when waves and winds are high, containment and clean-up attempts can be futile, Mr. Golob says. "Most experts will say that if you can recover 10 to 20 percent of the oil, you're doing well. Many spill experts will say privately that sometimes it is totally ineffective to try to respond to a spill out at sea, and yet that's a very impolitic attitude, because it's giving in. Inaction is perceived as bad." So they proceed to try anyway, he says, while the public meanwhile has "a misperception of what is possible."
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