(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Kevin Mackenzie, University of Aberdeen, Moth Wing Scales, Photo #7

Gerd A. Guenther, Trichodina pediculus (freshwater ciliates), ventral view, living specimens (1000X)

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Wordless Wednesday - Chohua Jasper

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Black Holes on Spinach

From Science Daily 12/5/2011:

"For an astronomer, finding these insatiable black holes is like finally encountering people nine feet tall, whose great height had only been inferred from fossilized bones. How did they grow so large?" [Chung-Pei] Ma said. "This rare find will help us understand whether these black holes had very tall parents or ate a lot of spinach."

LOL! Who said scientists don't have a sense of humor!?!

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Wisdom

*She's Back!* (December 2, 2011)

"On Dec 1, the world's oldest Laysan albatross, a female named
"Wisdom", was sighted by a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist for the
first time this breeding season nesting on Midway Atoll National
Wildlife Refuge. Having survived the tsunami generated by Japan's
earthquakes last March, Wisdom has returned along with her mate. 
She was observed in her normal location behind the Bravo Barracks
and was proudly incubating an egg.  Wisdom is at least 61 years old.
She was banded as a nesting adult in the same location by Chan 
Robbins in December 1956. Robbins estimated that the bird was a 
minimum of 5 years old at the time.

The oldest albatross in the world appears to be a northern royal 
albatross which was located on the South Island of New Zealand
and was named "Grandma."  She reached a banded age of 51.5 
years and probable actual age of 61+ years."

Fish and Wildlife Service: What's New 

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Wordless Wednesday

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Engraver Beetles - art is where you find it

I love the art that results from the beetles feeding beneath the bark. Doesn't do the trees much good though.

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Wordless Wednesday

 

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Just photos

Leucistic Yellow-rumped Warbler

Leucistic Yellow-rumped Warbler

Immature Common Gallinule

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Hoarfrost

Sunday at the farm - priceless - hoarfrost on the grasses, clear, crisp fall day. We need more of these.

 

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Incredible x 2

On October, 12, 2011, I was amazingly lucky to see a Green Violetear in Cecil County. It was a damp, dreary, drizzly day - when the hummer showed up at the feeder - I can't describe it - stunning deep green and blue, the colors deepened by the dark day. I'd come straight from work via an appointment in Baltimore so no camera. I could just watch and enjoy. And I did for its three visits to the feeder - the last visit I watched before I left turned out to be its last visit. I felt amazingly blessed and somewhat teary - he was that beautiful.

And then lightning struck twice. On October 24, I got word that, incredibly, a violetear was coming to a feeder in my home county, a couple miles away. Midmorning the next day I bailed out of work with my camera. This time it was a bright, sunny day. The bird showed and I got some unexciting photos. The colors were deeper and more intense in the drizzle, but there was iridescence in the sun! Here's one photo of mine and a link to a video (not mine) that shows off the colors.

 

Green Violetear, Howard County

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Rock Show

Yesterday the birding was bad, and I found myself at the Rock and Mineral Show at the fairgrounds. I was in trouble by the time I left the first booth - they had jasper and agate slabs. But my best find was about midway down the aisle - Polish flint. I'd never heard of it, never seen it, fell in love with it. It reminds me of tulip poplar wood with more action.

Here are pictures of the slab I bought (about 9x5 inches) - these are dry shots, it doesn't need to be wet to be beautiful. And it's even better in person. Wow!

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Polish Flint Slab

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8.7 million species exist on Earth...

... according to an article in the Washington Post. I love what Jesse Ausubel (quoted in the article) said:

"There are 2.2 million ways of making a living in the ocean. There are half a million ways to be a mushroom. That’s amazing to me."

Half a million ways to be a mushroom! Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me smile...

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August weekend on MD's Eastern Shore

This weekend there was a boat trip out of Lewes, DE, for pelagic (ocean) birds. On the way there, this dorky Tri-colored Heron amused me in Worcester County, MD.

 

A bunch of us on the upper deck of the Thelma Dale V out at the continental shelf - about 65 miles east of Ocean City. Bright sunshine out here while the rain was pouring down on the mainland. The pelagic species we ran across were Audubon's, Great, and Cory's Shearwaters, Pomarine Jaeger, and Wilson's and Leach's Storm-Petrels (I missed the Leach's). My big camera didn't get to go out on the boat - I have a hard enough time picking out the birds in binocs. Maybe next time.

On the way home, this Little Blue Heron posed nicely for pictures on Assateague. I picked the goofiest one.

I obviously have to work on my sizing pictures for the blog so subjects aren't too small. Hopefully I'll get better.

What sort of sundogs am I dogging?

I thought I should start by explaining the name. The sundogs I'm interested in are not solar hot dogs nor are they a musical group. They are the atmospheric phenomena known as parhelia, aka sundogs. If you take the sun, throw in some hexagonal ice crystals of a certain shape (high, thin clouds are best), add your eyes, and mix in the magic of physics ... you might get a pair of sundogs - one on each side of the sun.

One of my favorite pictures of a sundog was taken by Ian Parker. He has a web site called Evanescent Light, which has incredible photographs. Here is a tiny version of his sundog, but you should go to his site and see the full-sized version.

Sundog by Ian Parker

So, those are my sundogs - look up once in a while, and you're bound to see one sooner or later. 

Anyway, that's the derivation of the name. And this may or may not be the only post about sundogs I'll ever do.

-- a Sundogger