Bird encounter

At dusk I was in the back yard watering plants. I reached under the porch startled two little birds. They flew out so quickly I could barely see them. But I think they were purple finches. There wings brushed my arms as they flew out. The wings felt so soft.

Mouse

My friends made this edible mouse-- Delicious too.

Emporium Epigram

Datemi la faccio della terra intorno,
E la strada davanti a me.
Non cerco amore ne speranza ne ricchezza,
Ne un'amico che mi capisca;
Voglio solo il cielo sopra di me
E la strada sotto i miei piedi
--Stevenson

This verse was printed on a plastic (presumably biodegradable) shopping bag from an Italian grocer. I don't know who Stevenson is, but the name sounds suspiciously un-Italian. Roughly translated, it says:

Give me the round face of the Earth,
And the path before me.
I don't seek love nor do I hope for wealth,
Nor even a friend who understands me;
I want only the sky over me
And the path under my feet.

New Year's Eve -- York PA

Crash

The collisions occurred on October 5, 2007, a drizzley Friday evening. Here's the overview and below are the hapless participants.









Vehicle 1 failed to yield on a left-hand turn heading south on Avent Ferry, trying to turn left onto Trailwood. Driver uninjured.

Vehicle 2. Was driving north on Avent Ferry Rd. Spun 180 degrees after being smashed by Vehicle 1.
Driver walked away with no immediate injuries.

Vehicle 3. Me. First car at a red light on Trailwood Rd. waiting to turn left onto Avent Ferry Rd. The glass on the windshield is from Vehicle 1's back driver's side window. After hitting v2, v1 was skidding and swerving, and airborne. I saw him flying towards me. Luckily, he didn't roll over me. From the force of the blow, my car jumped backwards about 20 feet and hit the car behind me (Vehicle 4) I sustained long-term muscle pains in the neck, back and hip. Therapy still in progress.

Vehicle 4 driver was uninjured and had no damage to her vehicle.

Full police report available.

Accident number P07122695

Butterfly

Videos from Sept 27. Turn on sound to get the full effect.

I planted >10 parsley plants, so there would be enough for the butterflies. One of them made her chrysalis right on the side of this large pot. You can see the chrysalis when the camera moves away from the butterfly.



She was crawling around with curly wings just after she emerged. She stayed for a while until her wings stiffened. Too bad I had to leave, so didn't see the first flight.



She's furling and unfurling her proboscis (little tongue-like thing).

Glass kills

The Natural Resources Library on the ground floor of Jordan Hall on NC State campus in Raleigh, NC has an artfully curved facade of tinted glass and mirrors.

Beyond decals, what can we do to alter glass so that birds can see it?

Onotholgist Dr. Daniel Klem Jr. at Muhlenburg University has a deep interest in this problem.
This problem will continue to escalate, he predicts, as development continues (--NPR story) : "If nothing changes, Klem says it's certain that the problem of window hits will escalate. He notes that in the next few decades, millions of new homes and offices will be built in the United States alone."

Volunteers in New York, such as, Ned Neboyajian, have been monitoring birds around tall reflective windows, collecting the birds and keeping a record for the National Audubon Society. It's so bad that wind power proponents use the contrast between windmill kill estimates and glass window kill estimates (100 to 900+ million year) to argue for the relatively small impact of windmills on the bird population. The wind power kill problem needs to be solved, though, so we can get more support for wind power.

Some positive action has been taken in New York. Unlit skyscrapers are less of a menace at night. Can NC State follow their lead and set a good example the rest of the community by taking some action to protect these creatures? Here are actions suggested by the National Audubon Society.