We saw this guy while out walking on cold foggy morning. He looks charming enough but a gut feeling told me to not get so close that he could wrap his frosty arms around you. I kept him at camera length and admired his beauty and thanked him for allowing us to take a photo.
Grand Teton National Park, WY.
Built form the earth and carved by the sea.
Nature’s a fortress protecting me.
A bit of moisture in the air made for a wonderful frosty morning.
Warm water and cold air combined to give quite the show on a frosty Friday morning.
Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend to all.
Rare is common?
A recent report published in Science Advances suggests that up to 40% of plant species are actually very rare and these rare species are extremely vulnerable to extinction via climate change as well as destruction of native ecosystems for human land use.
In the introduction to the paper the authors state:
“Why some species are common and others are rare has intrigued ecologists at least, since Darwin. Rare species are orders of magnitude more likely to go extinct, making it puzzling how so many rare species can be maintained.”
To make their conclusions thirty-five research teams form over 20 institutions complied 20 million observational records of plants from around the globe. Their analysis revealed over 435,00 plant species with about 36.5% being classified are rare.
The rare species were clustered in regions around the globe that through time have had more stable climates especially during the planets last ice-age. These rare plant hotspots included regions of the Northern Andes, Costa Rica, Madagascar and regions of Southeast Asia. However as the planet warms and the ever present march of human conversion of land for agriculture, housing and tourism continues these rare plant regions are threatened.
The authors state that:
A very interesting report and a short summary can be found at Science Daily.
While none of these photos depict rare plants, or so I think, these are the types of places rare plants might live.
What will be lost when we only have the common left?
Click Image for slide show
References:
Just look at those beautiful feathers…bluer than blue and many shades to say the least.
A stellar’s jay sitting quietly on a snowy afternoon.
A Northern Flicker adding a wonderful splash of color to a December afternoon.
Foraging away…
or just sitting quietly brightening up the day.
Side note: It appears the flicker has the same frenemy as we do. This day the flicker landed within the territory of one very aggressive red squirrel who charged the flicker from a distance of at least ten feet forcing the Flicker to quickly take flight. The upside of the altercation was we got a nice view of those very colorful wing and tail feathers on the underside of the Flicker.
Neonicotinoids are the most commonly used class of pesticides in the world protecting crops from insects but not without untoward side effects including killing beneficial insects that pollinate the crops we need. Additionally this class of pesticides has been show to have negative effects on songbirds in laboratory studies.1 Migrating songbirds frequently forage and ingest seeds treated with these pesticides during their migrations. Until now the effects of neonicotinoids on free living wild birds had not been studied.
As reported by Kristine Liao in Audubon:
“A new study published online today in Science provides the first evidence that neonics harm songbird populations in the wild. University of Saskatchewan researchers found that White-crowned Sparrows that consumed small doses of a neonic called imidacloprid suffered rapid weight loss and delayed migration, both of which can hinder birds’ survival and ability to reproduce.”2
This is an interesting study where researches captured free-living White Crowned Sparrow and feed them them either a low dose, high dose pesticide or a control meal as well as fitting them with a tiny radio transmitter that allowed the freed birds to be tracked over a 100,000 square-kilometer area.
The sparrows fed the highest dose lost on average 6% of their body weight and 17% of their fat reserves both of which are vital for fueling successful migrations.3 Sparrows who consumed the pesticide then delayed their migration between 2-4 days compared to the control fed birds.
As for the potential consequences of songbirds delaying their migration in response to pesticide intake, one of the studies authors, Bridget Stuchbury,was quoted in a report by Smithsonian as saying:
“that extended rest stops can leave birds—already disoriented by the toxic chemical—vulnerable to predators. At the same time, she explains, late arrival to a final migration destination may reduce a bird’s chances of finding a mate, particularly if it has a shorter breeding season.”
Neonicotinoids are considered cheap insurance against insect-pests for many crops including corn, canola and soybeans and one of the most widely-applied pesticides in the world. The scientific evidence is now clear that these pesticides have harmful effects on bees, fish and now bird populations. How much more evidence will be required before we stop using these chemical willy-nilly… Before, or after, we loose innumerable bees, birds and fish?
References:
1. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/common-pesticide-makes-migrating-birds-anorexic
On an overcast afternoon a raven flies while we sit and watch earth bound and content. The Ravens calls rang loud and echoed far and wide across the landscape below. A moment in time that flew quickly by as smooth and swift as the ravens flight.
A black capped chickadee finds a pleasant perch to greet the morning light which has finally made it over the mountains on this Decembers day.
Happy Monday.
The mid-December sun, traveling low across southern sky casts long shadows on the icey blue face of a small pond and gently lights the landscape beyond. Decembers light is like no other and helps me keep track of the time like no wall calendar or wristwatch can.
nature has no boss 
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