Eat more cookies

This explains a lot. We can’t seem to find one here.  Bigfoot is Martian!  

Found this story today on the European Union moving to ban certain types of biofuels.

Their reasoning? Some types of “green energy” are nothing of the sort, and may very well do more harm than good. In particular, the EU would like some hard data to demonstrate that use of a promoted biofuel actually results in a lower carbon dioxide emissions than does use of fossil fuels. They’d also like some assurrance that people aren’t cultivating otherwise sensitive habitats just to make a quick buck on biofuels. (more…)

It has taken some restraint not to post up to this point on the tragic loss of life (both human and tiger) that occurred last month at the San Francisco Zoo. Now comes the story that I suspected all along - the tiger was indeed taunted by those three young men. (more…)

Just when you thought the only reason to visit Madagascar was to experience lemurs and fossas in the wild, along comes this story of the unique palm that apparently flowers once, and dies. Amazing stuff!

“Josephoartigasia monesi” - just rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it?A description of a new giant rodent from 2-4 million years ago in Uruguay wins my nomination for “coolest paleontological announcement of the new year”. According to this BBC news story on this paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, investigators Andres Rinderknecht and R. Ernesto Blanco have described Josephoartigasia monesi based on reconstruction from a fossilized rodent skull nearly two feet long. (more…)

Check out this great post by The Fat Finch on Charlie Harper.  VERY cool.

January cold

but robin sings, irrepressed 

wisdom plans ahead 

We returned to Couch Park in Stillwater today for a chance to hopefully introduce new birders to Red Crossbills. Our only new birders to show up today, however, were my own kids:

From left: James, Katie, Paul van Els, Jason Heinen

But our small group of 5 found some great birds again at this otherwise nondescript city park. Warm temperatures (upper 60s) had several birds feeling like spring. Nuthatches were singing, and a red-bellied woodpecker began excavating a nest hole.

The big story, however, was that we easily found crossbills, and both kids saw them clearly and well as the birds bathed in the stream under one of the footpath’s bridges:

Three bathing Red Crossbills.

The story got really big, however, when on our walk back to the parking lot, we discovered a noisy flock of about 50 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS in the trees above our heads! The birds were right where they should be: singing away in riparian forest.

Rusty Blackbird at Couch Park.

Now my kids are not all that much into birding. I can occasionally get them to notice a hawk overhead or something flashy in the backyard, but they don’t really care (yet!), and I’ve been careful not to push them too much. But now those two have Red Crossbill and Rusty Blackbird on their life lists, and they got them on the same day at the same place! I wonder how many people can say that about their life crossbills and rusties?

Here are the also-rans from Couch Park today:

American Crow

American Robin

American Goldfinch

House Finch

Purple Finch

Tufted Titmouse

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Winter Wren

Cedar Waxwing

Eastern Bluebird

Northern Cardinal

Dark-eyed Junco

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Brown Creeper

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue Jay

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-winged Blackbird

Rusty Blackbird

Red-shouldered Hawk