Ghost Turtles

The last couple days have had a number of interesting birds. Even though Adam Byrne has been counting the last couple days, I’ve spent a good amount of time out there (and much more time in the woods than I would usually be able to spend). I thought Friday was going to be a great day; it was, but the numbers were lower than I expected. The winds just didn’t shift, at the forecasted time. Storms were still rolling in, so the count didn’t start on time. The highlight was 8 jaegers during the count, 2 being close enough to identify as Parasitics. There were also 3 more jaegers after the count. | Today (9/6) was mostly sunny with WNW winds throughout the count. Birds moved through steadily, throughout most of the count. | Duck diversity was the highlight of today. American Wigeon (56), Blue-winged Teal (287), and Northern Shoveler (38) all had a good day. The first Ring-necked Duck and Redheads (25) were recorded for the count. | http://wpbo.org/node/269

Today was a fun day out on the lake. The weather was beautiful, the company was great, and quite a few birds were flying. The day started off with lots of passerine migrants coming off the lake. The resident Merlin was also enjoying these migrants; chasing each bird that came across the lake. I love Merlins, but I had to root for the underdog during these chases. | Duck diversity and numbers were the best they have been this season. Many mixed flocks were moving by throughout the morning. Gadwall (4), American Wigeon (12), Mallard (10), Blue-winged Teal (287), Northern Shoveler (20), Northern Pintain (3), Green-winged Teal (28), Canvasback (1), Greater Scaup (2), White-winged Scoter (1), Common Merganser (9), and Red-breasted Merganser (1) rounded out the list. | Loons moved by in decent numbers today. A single Red-throated and 30 Commons were recorded during the count. Red-necked Grebes had a nice day with a total of 676. Horned Grebes were also moving with a total of 17 counte

Thomas Mayne Reid (April 4, 1818 – October 22, 1883), was a Scots-Irish American novelist. "Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those written by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a great admirer of Lord Byron. These novels contain action that takes place primarily in untamed settings: the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica. | In his autobiography, United States President Teddy Roosevelt credits Mayne Reide with being a major early inspiration. The shy, asthmatic aristocrat, Theodore Roosevelt, would grow up to pursue naturalistic zoology and adventure travel. This author Mayne Reid’s adventure books for boys may be the inspiration for our national park expansions which occurred under T. Roosevelt’s two terms in office.

Mushroom compost (also referred to as “spent mushroom substrate” or “mushroom soil”) has become a popular organic soil amendment for the establishment and maintenance of lawns and sports fields, gardens, agricultural and horticultural crops and with land reclamation projects. Here are some commonly asked questions and answers about mushroom compost. | The visual appearance of a good quality, thoroughly processed mushroom compost typically resembles a dark topsoil, has a loose crumbly structure, and has an “earthy” aroma. Recent research conducted at the Pennsylvania State University showed that mushroom compost contains an average of 25 percent organic matter and 58 percent moisture on a wet volume basis. Where uniform application and good mixing with soil is required, this amount of organic matter and moisture in mushroom compost is ideal for handling and making surface applications or incorporating into the soil. Mushroom compost contains an average of 1.12 percent nitrogen in a mostly organic form that slowly is available to plants. Also, mushroom compost contains an average of 0.67 percent phosphate (phosphorous) and 1.24 percent potash (potassium), as well as other plant nutrients such as calcium (2.29 percent) magnesium (0.35 percent) and iron (1.07 percent). The average pH of mushroom compost is 6.6 (6.0 to 7.0 is an ideal range for most plants). The amount of carbon relative to nitrogen is an important indicator of nitrogen availability for plant growth, and an ideal compost should have a ratio of 30:1 or lower. Mushroom compost has an excellent 13:1 ratio, indicating outstanding nutrient availability and mature and stable organic compost.

Commercial mushroom growers in the Willamette Valley grow tons of mushrooms in an elaborate mixture that gardeners love – mushroom compost. Often sold at landscape supply houses, mushroom compost can help amend garden soil, but should be used with caution, according to John Hart, soil scientist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Mushroom compost is rich in soluble salts and other nutrients and can kill germinating seeds and harm salt-sensitive plants including rhododendrons and azaleas. | The recipe for mushroom compost varies from company to company, but can include composted wheat or rye straw, peat moss, used horse bedding straw, chicken manure, cottonseed or canola meal, grape crushings from wineries, soybean meal, potash, gypsum, urea, ammonium nitrate and lime. | "Each mushroom growing facility has its own recipe," explained John Stout, general manager of PictSweet Mushrooms in Salem. "It’s very precise. The compost ingredients are weighed out, then mixed

"pays" (French): “At certain times of day, even if the boundaries are invisible, the approximate limits of a pays can be detected by a walker or a cyclist. The area in which a church bell can be heard more distinctly than those of other villages in the region is likely to be an area whose inhabitants had the same customs and language, the same memories and fears, and the same local saint.” [Robb 2008 p. 30]

For one month every summer, hundreds of thousands of purple martins stop by an abandoned shopping mall parking lot in Austin, Texas, on their way to the Amazon Basin. Reporter Luke Quinton visited this year’s roosting and offers a glimpse of the phenomenon.

Town of Oakville Water Air Rescue Force

Mary Catherine O’Connor : “Isle Royale’s once-robust wolf pack appears to be trotting toward extinction. From 2011 through 2012, the island’s wolf population declined 56 percent, and it has remained at its lowest total, just eight or nine individuals, since the Wolfe-Moose Study began, in 1956. | When an ice bridge, the only conduit between the island packs and the mainland wolves, formed during this past, frigid winter, Peterson and Vucetich felt buoyed with hope. During the first decade of the study, an ice bridge formed during three out of four winters. But during the past 17 years, because of rising temperatures, ice bridges have been documented only three times. One formed in 1997, followed by an 11-year gap. This winter marked the first bridge since 2008. | Rising water temperatures and declining ice cover in Lake Superior (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that by 2011 the lake’s yearly ice coverage had declined 76 percent, compared with 1973 levels) have combined with strong winds to reduce the frequency of ice bridges connecting the 45-mile-by-9-mile island to the mainland of Ontario and Minnesota. Because of this, the last time a new wolf entered the island was in 1997, and that male bolstered the island’s “gene flow.” |
Within a decade, however, all wolves on the island carried that new arrival’s genes. Today, the nine wolves that live on the island are all closely related. With most organisms, including wolves, this sort of genetic inbreeding reduces the rate of reproduction, and it is the major factor behind the Isle Royale population’s decline.x | [S]ome geneticist are keen to learn how the genetic depression exhibited in the inbred wolves on the island — many have spinal deformities and at least one appears to be half blind — plays out in the future. Others back a third option: waiting until the wolves are unviable but not extirpated, comprising only males or females, and then perform genetic rescue. | “The scientific implications of these present wolves recovering — and that, in my opinion, would be a population of 20 to 30 wolves — if that were to happen without new genes coming that would be remarkable. It would go against decades of genetic understanding,” says Peterson. “So, yes, it would certainly be important if it happened, but expecting it to happen would be a pretty big stretch.”