Not Exactly Doe Eyes

Those of you planning a trip to the Cretaceous have a new reason to be careful. A study of Tyrannosaurus rex visual geometry has concluded that the famous dinosaur species may have extremely acute vision, perhaps a lot better than the modern eagle. So be sure to have a long telephoto for your T. rex travel pix.

Antenna Birding

I have my portable antenna set up near the vegetable garden, tuned to 6 meters. Having figured out the guy cord system, I’m more inclined to leave it set up for a while. But this means it’s a good perching spot for birds, the antenna elements being up about 16 feet or so. Today we had a western kingbird on it. What will be next?

Dog Days Arriving

When we were at the Little League game Sunday, this spaniel had had a long day and was content to lie on the lap of the girl sitting in front of us in the bleachers.

Zen Beekeeping

The almond tree is in full blossom. We’re having some unseasonably warm weather here and the fruit trees are responding vigorously.

The landlord’s son’s beekeeping business is now headquartered in Nevada, but he seems to spend a lot of time down here, trucking bees around the Central Valley to pollinate fruit trees. Today the bees were busy—and angry. He got stung several times.

He’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy, young Johnny, but he took the stings with a stoic smile. I don’t know why I was so impressed by this, but I was. No sound from his lips. His life’s mission seems to be keeping his bees happy.

I will be doing fewer blog rounds over the next week. I’ve reached the dreaded week 4 of the Artist’s Way, Reading Deprivation Week. Yikes. I’ve read very little today and it was terrifying and quite liberating. I have yet to check my email, may wait until the morning…

Mugged by a Rooster

Our landlords are getting back tonight after a week away. Their idea about how to tend to the dogs during a Hawaii vacation (three pound large dogs plus Sadie their son’s pound terrier) is to leave a 50-lb bag of food, opened, outside along with gallons and gallons of water. We’re to check them every so often, make sure there are four, and maybe refill the water containers.

Don Gallo the feral bantam rooster has grown used to his morning walnuts cracked by the landlord outside their front door. (The entryway’s a MESS.) He’s been crowing more and more insistently all week.

I went out to get the paper yesterday morning. He followed me—stalked would be a more appropriate verb—all the way there and back, getting ready to pounce in some roosterish attempt to wrest walnuts from my person. We had a face-off; I had a large box and the newspaper; he wasn’t fazed off at all. He dances on his toes and scrapes his wings on the ground noisily in threat. I escaped with my life, locking the door behind me.

Reminds me of when Bsag was mugged by a duck.

[Addendum, Feb. 4th:: Bingo one of the large pound dogs showed up last night barking. We put him in with the others. This morning we discovered a half-gnawed jackrabbit paw outside our front door. Bingo would be hard pressed to catch one of these hares but someone else might have and he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth…]

Blogging For Pigeons

A group of scientifically-inclined pigeons in San Jose will be starting their own blog this August 5th.

Dream Birds

No, I don’t mean the objects of a long-sought birding expedition—that Steller’s Sea Eagle on the shores of Kamchatka, for instance. I mean birds seen in dreams. This morning I saw a Yellow Sandpiper on the patio just outside our bedroom back window. This bird is about the size of a Stilt Sandpiper, buffy above, but with yellow on its breast and under the wings. Pica keeps her own dream list; maybe I should start one.

Hedwig Visits Davis

The snowy owl, first spotted yesterday about 12 miles south of our house by local birder Joan Humphrey, has stuck around for another day. I saw the bird yesterday, heading to the spot with four other folks from my lab, and this morning I returned with Pica. The bird was eventually refound a couple miles north of the original spot and was hunkering near a white motorhome amidst some farm equipment. Above is my sketch of the scene; it was pouring rain so I sketched from within the car. Since our outing was successful, Pica called her Mum who came out here from Bodega Bay for the owl. They saw it this afternoon, a life bird for Pica’s Mum!

Dangerous Idea

The online journal Edge annually asks a provocative question of a large number of leading thinkers. This year’s question, asked of 117 scientists, was “What is your dangerous idea?” That is:

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

My favorite response was by Irene Pepperberg, who has studied cognition and communication in Grey parrots for over 25 years, most famously working with her African Grey parrot, Alex. Her dangerous idea is that The differences between humans and non-humans are quantitative, not qualitative. As she puts it:

If we do not believe in a clear boundary between humans and nonhumans, if we do not accept a clear “them” versus “us”, we need to rethink other aspects of our lives. Do we have the right to clear-cut forests in which our fellow creatures live? To pollute the air, soil and water that we share with them, solely for our own benefit? Where do we draw the line? Life may be much simpler if we do firmly draw a line, but is simplicity a valid rationale?

Possum Prospects

There’s been an opposum making forays into our backyard in the evenings. Diego and Charlie watch keenly for it and will run from the bedroom window to the living room window depending upon where it heads.