By Eilene Lyon I just had to share this photo of "my" baby magpies. There are five all together that are in the process of fledging since yesterday. They hop out of the nest and preen, flap their wings, jump to the surrounding branches, or walk on top of the nest. A few have managed... Continue Reading →
Half a World Away
By Eilene Lyon While pondering this week’s 52 Ancestors prompt “So Far Away” (which I will post later this week), the phrase “Half a World Away” came to mind. Though we might use it figuratively to mean someplace rather distant, or a mental distraction (like this post), I wondered about the literal sense. What place... Continue Reading →
Absurdities #7
By Eilene Lyon I was puzzling over the use of the term "Dogfight" to describe an aerial combat. It seems odd, considering that the only "flying" dogs I've ever come across are Snoopy, who is forever losing his Sopwith Camel (an entirely absurd name for a plane, I might add, especially when it’s really a... Continue Reading →
Earth Day and Pogo
By Eilene Lyon Today we celebrate Earth Day, an international event that takes place in nearly 200 countries around the globe, involving roughly a billion participants. Throughout the 1960s, environmental legislation was going nowhere, as Americans roiled about our participation in the Vietnam War. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, an environmental champion, decided to create a... Continue Reading →
Starry, Starry Night
By Eilene Lyon I adore the Don McLean song of that name, and the Van Gogh painting that inspired it. Most of all, I love the starry night itself - the one I'm privileged to enjoy just by walking out my bedroom door at night. I live in what you would classify as a "dark-sky"... Continue Reading →
Jumpy
By Eilene Lyon Spring in southern Nevada brings out the hibernating desert tortoises, and the people who look for them. Transects, which are twelve-kilometer squares, three kilometers a side, were randomly scattered on the map for the 2008 crews. A crack GIS team produced individual maps for each transect, along with directions to the starting... Continue Reading →
History of the Theory of Evolution
By Eilene Lyon This is the follow-up article to Science and Belief. Darwin’s Observations on the Natural World Charles Darwin formulated his hypothesis of evolution by natural selection based on observations he made during his trip around the world on the Beagle in the 1830s. Some of those observations: Island groups had wildlife differing from... Continue Reading →
Gold Medal Waters*
via Daily Prompt: Toxic By Eilene Lyon August 2015: I was working the MAPS bird-banding station at the Oxbow Park and Preserve along the Animas River, just north of Durango. Some of our volunteers happen to be active-duty, uniformed Parks and Wildlife officers, so we heard early on that something was amiss high in the... Continue Reading →