Creatures in the news — winged, four-footed, cute or scary
But, do storks really deliver babies, besides coming for dinner?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/30/world/europe/turkey-stork-yilmaz-yaren.html
Scary, but there is a vaccine at the ready,
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/health/bird-flu-vaccines-treatments.html
Thought you might be interested in meeting this cute critter, the kakarratul:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-07/-northern-marsupial-mole-kakarratul-sighted-/103662744
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/science/cicada-emergence-invasion.html
Phew, looks like New Jersey is safe this time around!
Cicadas are always safe to have around
https://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol/cicadas The US EPA
A subject on which all will agree is worth reading….
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/opinion/spring-birds-life.html
@mtierney, not sure how those cicadas are going? Apparently New Orleans has found a way to deal with them:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68861148 Truly…fascinating
mtierney said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/science/cicada-emergence-invasion.html
Phew, looks like New Jersey is safe this time around!
Lovely tribute to a small dog….
Big Love for a Small Dog
I need Rudy, the runt of the litter, as much as he needs me.
By Mike Kerrigan
April 19, 2024
Rudy, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is 13, or 95 dog years. I fear the Old Man, as he’s also affectionately known, won’t make it to his 14th birthday this September. The day he dies will be painful, for Rudy and I have a special bond.
When my family visited a Greenville, S.C., breeder in 2010, my wife and kids all had their eye on the same puppy: a lively darling with “best in show” written all over her. Believing my brood had an abundance of love to give, I had other plans.
I made the case for choosing the runt. While all his siblings snuggled close to their mother, one impossibly scrawny pup remained quietly on the periphery, the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of hounds. My family reluctantly backed the choice.
The pooch that instantly captured my heart reminded me of another undersized overachiever, the cinematic hero who on determination alone willed his way onto Notre Dame’s football team: Rudy. And so we named him that.
The past two years have been tough on Rudy. He is arthritic as well as completely deaf and blind, and he has to be watched whenever he goes outdoors. But true to his namesake, his heart is strong, with no sign of the mitral valve disease that often burdens his breed as it ages.
He barks after dusk, when he tends to become more disoriented, so our veterinarian suggested someone cuddle him every night before bedtime. The idea was that a familiar scent and touch would help reorient him. Happily, this ritual fell to me.
After dinner my ailing dog and I sit together. I play songs that remind me of him, hoping they won’t be impossible to enjoy when he’s gone. Sometimes it’s Neil Young’s “Old Man”; less often it’s the poignant “Feed Jake” by Pirates of the Mississippi. I hold Rudy close before taking him to bed.
Strangely, this routine has calmed me at least as much as it has Rudy, for our time together reminds me of something important: Whether life is long or short, all anyone possesses is the present, and all that matters is what is done in it. In that precious moment, the Old Man simply basks in love.
What a wonderful way to go through life—choosing to give and receive love, both acts of the will, in every moment. For me, what a triumphal reminder that the source and summit of the created universe is the perpetual presence not simply of something loving, but of Love itself.
Rudy needed me more when he was young, but as we both grow old, we need each other equally.
Mr. Kerrigan is an attorney in Charlotte, N.C.
When Man interferes with Mother Nature…
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/science/california-barred-spotted-owls.html
Have we all fallen in love Max Dow, Master of Litter-ature, Vermont State University?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/18/cat-named-max-given-honorary-degree
He seems quite amazing.
Dogs — and cats — are more than just our household pets….
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/science/pets-research-dogs-cats.html
joanne said:
Have we all fallen in love Max Dow, Master of Litter-ature, Vermont State University?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/18/cat-named-max-given-honorary-degree
He seems quite amazing.
just caught up with your post, joanne!
@Morganna, @mtierney, have you seen this news?
King Charles III has withdrawn royal support for the sport of pigeon racing in the UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/06/king-charles-ruffles-feathers-as-he-drops-royal-patronage-for-pigeon-racing (discusses the modern monarchy’s history of involvement as well as Queen Elizabeth II’s pigeons)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13565431/EPHRAIM-HARDCASTLE-King-Charles-turns-Royal-Pigeon-Racing-Association-patron-role-despite-ancestors-love-birds.html (An earlier report, with lots of ads)
joanne said:
@Morganna, @mtierney, have you seen this news?
King Charles III has withdrawn royal support for the sport of pigeon racing in the UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/06/king-charles-ruffles-feathers-as-he-drops-royal-patronage-for-pigeon-racing (discusses the modern monarchy’s history of involvement as well as Queen Elizabeth II’s pigeons)https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13565431/EPHRAIM-HARDCASTLE-King-Charles-turns-Royal-Pigeon-Racing-Association-patron-role-despite-ancestors-love-birds.html (An earlier report, with lots of ads)
Jolly good decision!
And with a very courteous new Prime Minister, I'm once again wishing I had moved to London back in the day!
Tropical storm Beryl’s frog chorus…
Tropical Storm Beryl Spawned a Symphony of Spawning Toads
As the storm crossed Houston on Monday morning, the call of the toads echoed from every flooded street corner.
By Shannon Sims
- July 8, 2024
Amid the cacophony of pelting rain, exploding fuse boxes and cracking tree limbs, another sound followed Tropical Storm Beryl across the Houston area on Monday: a soprano trill, not unlike Cardi B’s signature “okurrr.”
It was the mating call of the male Gulf Coast toad.
This species of toad is rotund, about the size of a tangerine, and speckled brown with a vanilla-colored belly. But you don’t see them as often as you hear them.
On summer nights around Houston, they chime in a competitive chorus. But it’s unusual to hear them during the day.
Beryl seems to have changed that, though. As the storm crossed the metro area on Monday morning, the call of the toads echoed from flooded street corners.
Most toad species breed in the early spring, said Paul Crump, a herpetologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. But given the right conditions, he said, the Gulf Coast toad can breed repeatedly throughout the summer, laying eggs in the temporary pools that form across the city during rainstorms.
The brisk air brought on by Beryl’s winds — unusual during Houston’s scorching summers — might have helped get the toads in the mood.
“They are breeding because the weather conditions, like the rain, cooler temperatures and barometric pressure drops, stimulate them to do so,” Mr. Crump said.
Speaking of frogs, did you read about the discovery of BLUE tree frogs? Just stunning!
They’re just under 5 inches long, and the colours are more vibrant than these pics actually show. It is the only known discovery of a magnificent tree frog with a blue skin pigment mutation.
joanne said:
Speaking of frogs, did you read about the discovery of BLUE tree frogs? Just stunning!
They’re just under 5 inches long, and the colours are more vibrant than these pics actually show. It is the only known discovery of a magnificent tree frog with a blue skin pigment mutation.
But if I kiss him, will he turn into a Prince?
For all MOLers who love out backyard feathered fiends…
mtierney said:
For all MOLers who love out backyard feathered fiends…
I have no subscription which is why I never join these discussions. BTW I like Amy Tan and I love birding!
@Morganna, I know it’s frustrating to access articles without subscriptions - I either use my library’s PressReader app, or use the free apps (BBC) if I have to, or ignore it. Often, for a one-time in a long time, I can slip through.
This BBC video should let you through, just close the subscription request. It’s worth it!
A white squirrel!! Gorgeous to see!!
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Absolutely amazing “tails” — The Ark at JFK.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/nyregion/ark-jfk-dogs-west-bank.html