Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment
Ed Hessler
Cookie Bakers is by Lois Parker Edstrom.
Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment
Ed Hessler
Cookie Bakers is by Lois Parker Edstrom.
Steve Latta, the report’s lead author and the director of conservation and field research at the National Aviary, said the collection could help keep the black, red and white species on the endangered species list. Latta directs Project Principalis at the aviary which has devoted resources, research and time on the status of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. The website represents a considerable effort.
Forstadt provides a link to the technical paper which I include here and then discusses the importance of documentation, standards of evidence and the implications of delisting for their habitat requirements. You will notice that some of the authors are observers - all are skilled and reliable - and I suggest you check all author affiliations. I was pleased that they were included as co-authors rather than merely attributing them. In addition each observer makes comments about their encounter(s).
The paper is long but includes pictures and descriptions of behavior that suggests that these are Ivory Billed Woodpeckers based on characteristic behavior of this group of birds.
The paper follows these divisions and is illustrated.
-- abstract,
-- introduction,
-- materials and methods,
-- visual evidence,
-- audio recordings,
-- trail camera imagery,
-- drone videos,
-- three results (visual, audio and trail camera imagery
-- drone evidence,
-- discussion
-- conclusion
This is the concluding paragraph.
"The report contained here is not the end of our efforts. We are encouraged and energized by what we have discovered and accomplished. We are optimistic that technologies will continue to improve our outcomes, including documentation through environmental DNA and other physical evidence. We believe that our intentional and systematic survey design is paying off through complementary lines of investigation. Our findings begin to tell a larger story not just of whether the Ivory-billed Woodpecker persists in Louisiana, but how it has survived and why its survival has been so difficult to document. Finally, we also believe that our methodologies can be translated to other sites, thus offering opportunities for additional documentation of the species. Our findings, and the inferences drawn from them, suggest that all is not lost for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and that it is clearly premature for the species to be declared extinct."
The debate will continue on whether a final decision is based on science, one that follows the evidence to its logical conclusion or a bureaucratic decision.
Based on this paper, what do you think? I sit atop a fence hoping to be knocked off in favor of the bird.
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Biological Evolution, Biodiversity, Nature, Wildlife
Ed Hessler
A PBS Eons video (9 m 24 s) discusses a well-known barrier between two of the islands of Indonesia--"an ancient line that is both real and...not real."
It was first noticed by Alfred Russel Wallace who also is known for independently conceiving of the theory of evolution by natural selection. This served as a kick-in-the-britches to Charles Darwin to publish his findings on the theory. Darwin had conceived the idea earlier, but was busy collecting more data in support of this revolutionary idea *.
Wallace is also known as the father of biogeography.
* An HHMI BioInteractive (31 m 02 s) provides a "biography of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace" tells the story of the "two independent discoveries of the natural origin of species." The video traverses the epic voyages and revolutionary insights...which changed biological science forever."
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Culture, Art & Environment, Models
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Behavior, Nature, Wildlife, Learning, Nature of Science
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Biodiversity, Nature, Earth & Space Sciences, Earth Systems, Sustainability, Science & Society
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Astronomy, Nature, Wildlife, Biodiversity, Earth & Space Science
Ed Hessler
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) has a beautiful photographs - a microphotograph, of a tardigrade on moss. The Wiki entry tells us that they are commonly called water bears or moss piglets. Take your pick. The image is in crystal clear focus. And who can't help but fall in love with them. I can't.
This image has something to do with space as you will learn. I might have "known" this once but if I did I no longer recall it.
What charismatic animals. For more about them see this article by William Randolph Miller written for the American Scientist with another great image and diagrams.
Environmental & Science Education, Poetry, Art & Environment
Ed Hessler
Sitting Down to Breakfast Alone is by Christian Wiman.
Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Behavior, Wildlife, Nature, Biodiversity, Art & Environment
Ed Hessler
"Calls of the wild: A composer transcribes bird songs" is the title of CBS correspondent Faith Salie's conversation with composer Alexander Liebermann (Berlin). It was featured on CBS Sunday Morning for April 30, 2023.
During the pandemic lockdown he turned to nature and listened to recordings of bird songs. This led him to transcribe their complicated callas and translate them to musical instruments. This work is slow and I wish he had been asked to show us a page of the notations and make some remarks about their use.
You may be surprised by how little of bird songs we hear and how complicated they are. I found the transcriptions to musical instruments to be very pleasing and sometimes surprising.