NAME THAT BIRD

 

NAME THAT BIRD

 

I like to think of myself as an amateur bird watcher.  I am not a “Birder,” one of those crazy people who hike through the woods with shorts, a floppy hat and binoculars strapped around their necks keeping track in a little book of every new bird they happen to spot.

I am not one of those people, though it would not take much to flip me…I’m just missing the floppy hat and the little book.

Anyway, I am a bird watcher, not a “Birder.”  Got it from my mom who always had a “Birds of North America” book handy in case an unusual bird stopped by our yard. 

Last night I was prepping the BBQ for dinner with my friend Frog who was visiting for one of our periodic guitar butchery get togethers.

I heard a bird call of which I was not familiar.

“Kee Aw Scree…Kee Aw Scree!”

Frog heard it too and as he is another armature bird watcher whose mom had the same book; he came running outside from the kitchen.

“What is that?” he inquired.

“You heard it too.”

“Yup.”

“Kee Aw Scree…Kee Aw Scree!”

“There it is again!”

“It’s not a song bird that’s for sure.”

“Definitely, some kind of raptor.”

“Maybe.”

“I have seen a small hawk around here from time to time.”

“I’ll bet it’s an immature Sharp Shinned Hawk.”

“Could be, or a Coopers, not much difference.”

“Kee Aw Scree…Kee Aw Scree!”

“There it is again, and it’s not moving, must be in a nest somewhere.”

I pulled out my phone, “Siri, show me the call of a Sharp Shinned Hawk.”

Over the phone came, “The Sharp Shinned Hawk makes a Kik Kik Kik call.”

“Well, it’s not a Sharped Shinned.”

“Kee Aw Scree…Kee Aw Scree!”

“There it is again.”

 “Kee Aw Scree…Kee Aw Scree! Wee, this is fun daddy!”

“Hmm, it is either some kind of small raptor, or your neighbor’s swing set needs some WD40!”

“Well, that was exciting…how do you want your steak?”

Like I said, I am an amateur bird watcher.

 

 

 

SHARK WEEK

 

SHARK WEEK

This week is the 367 annual “Shark Week” on the Discovery channel. 

I love shark week.  Sharks are cool, scary, but cool. 

Apparently, according to the “Shark Week” experts, shark’s reputation as man eaters is overdone and sharks are really quite safe.  Your chances of getting hit by lightening are 100 times greater than getting bit by a shark.  Of course, if you spent the same amount of time swimming in shark infested water as you do out of the water during thunder storms, those odds might be quite a bit different.

Anyway, sharks are cool and I enjoy learning about them on “Shark Week.”  I do want to throw a penalty flag on some of their episodes.

A common thread to “Shark Week” segments is:

“Sharks are a valuable part of our eco-system.  Without sharks the oceans eco-balance would be disturbed and…we will all die! (some exaggeration on the all die part, but implied.)

Because our continued existence is dependent on sharks, it is incredibly important that we study and learn more about sharks so we can protect their population.” (again some exaggeration, but implied,)

Now I am not throwing the penalty flag on protecting sharks or their importance in our eco-system.  I have a nephew who is a marine biologist.  His wife is a marine biologist.  They are both beyond brilliant.  My friend Frog’s son is a marine biologist.  He is beyond brilliant.  I am certain they would all tell me,

“Yes Uncle Cranky, sharks are very important to the ocean ecology.”

See, I am not arguing that, though it may be a tiny bit overblown, I am questioning how these “Shark Week” experts study sharks.  I suspect they are more concerned with getting entertaining content for “Shark Week” than they are in learning about and protecting sharks.

For instance, I just watched an episode where the experts captured a Sleeper Shark.  Now, sleeper sharks live over 6000 feet deep, and even though they live to be over 250 years old they are very rare to see.

These experts baited hooks and sank them to sleeper shark depths.  They left the hooks overnight and returned the next day where they were ecstatic to have caught an 8-footer (small for sleeper sharks).

They raved about how important this catch was.  They would take all the shark’s statistics, length weight etc., tag it and release it.

EXPERTS:

“This is an incredible opportunity.  To capture one of these magnificent animals is super rare.  We can tag it and later learn about its habits; where it feeds, how fast it grows, all information which will help us to preserve the species and save all humanity from extinction.” (They did not say that last part, but again, it was kind of implied.)

Anyway, here is my problem with all this. 

Hooking a large animal at 6000 feet deep and not pulling it up for a day must be very stressful on that animal.  It seems to me hauling it up 6000 feet must not be good for the animal (do large fish get the bends?) Finally, if it is so super rare to capture this animal, how valuable will tagging it be?  I mean will it ever be caught again to gather all that valuable information? 

I say, if you want to preserve this species, leave it the frig alone!  The damn things live over 250 years, I don’t think they need our help.  The capture and tag charade in this case was more about content for TV than it was to save the sleeper shark.

It was however, very cool, and interesting.

BTW, sleeper sharks are not known to attack people (maybe because people don’t often swim 6000 feet below the surface) so you are safer swimming with sleeper sharks than playing golf in the rain.

I Thought I was Just Joking

 

I Thought I was Just Joking

Years ago, I posted about an issue I had with climate change. 

I envisioned a situation where a country could devise a way to control the climate.  It sounded like a wonderful pipe dream until I gave it more thought.

Have you ever lived in a home with sleeping quarters on two floors?  Invariably on really hot nights there is a thermostat battle.

Because hot air rises the upstairs is always sweltering in the summer, so upstairs residents will lower the air conditioner at night.  The lower temperature starts to freeze out the lower floor sleepers so they clomp out in the middle of the night and raise the temperature.  This back and forth thermostat battle can go on all night and no one gets any sleep.

If we we could control the planets climate, would we experience the same thermostat battle?

Would the world thermostat controller decide that the Winter was too cold and raise the temperature, only to find those countries that rely on colder temperatures would complain.

“Hey, what the Hell, we need snow for our ski resorts!”

If they had also developed a climate control machine would they drop the temperature right back?

“Hey, turn it up, our fruit crops are frosted and dying!”

You see the problem don’t you.

To me years ago it was just a semi-humorous concept of trying to make everyone happy with the Earth’s climate.

Well, I just read an article about our current administration considering flooding the atmosphere with tiny particles much like that of a volcano eruption to defect the sun’s rays and stop global warming.

Would we be able to do this in a way that only effects our country?

Who would decide on how much to reduce the sun’s rays? Do all the countries get a vote? Are the votes weighted based on population? Would there be any adverse effects with such an experiment?

What could possibly go wrong?