Teach your children well. If you become frustrated teaching someone how to do something, remember the video below and how this mother, without language tools, is able to teach her youngster an essential raccoon skill!
Month: August 2015
Street Photography As An Art Form – Jack Simon
Street photography is an interesting art form. Not only does it include one of my favorite hobbies, photography, it often includes a variety of things that can not be anticipated, are unusual and/or hard to believe.
This short video about the street photography of Jack Simon explains it better than any written word can. The photos are generally “strange,” but well-composed and photographically astute. I think you will find the video entertaining in and of itself, but the photographic philosophy and skills are enlightening to those of us interested in this genre.
For more information about Jack Simon, check out his website – Jack Simon Photography
Jack Simon’s Flickr account can be found here
Eric Kim also created a video interview with Mr. Simon and you can watch below (although there is some crossover of content):
STATUS QUOtes — 20150811
“To drink in the spirit of a place you should be not only alone but unhurried.” — George Santayana
“Be careful who you make memories with. Those things can last a lifetime.” — Ugo Eze (Hmmm!- suspect attribution)
“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” — Charles Kettering
“Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won’t help.” — Bill Watterson
Hummingbird Banding and Study – SABO
During a recent weekend, my wife and I took four days to visit Sierra Vista and the surrounding area to do some hiking and birding. We enjoyed hiking in the Coronado National Memorial and nearby Brown Canyon. This area is a hotspot for bird watchers. Our Bed and Breakfast, Casa de San Pedro (CDSP), caters to nature enthusiasts and birding hobbyists.
Little did we know when we made our reservations, that on one of the days we would be visiting CDSP, there would be a hummingbird banding. This was exciting news indeed! I had no idea how they would go about capturing, assessing, banding and releasing these very tiny creatures. I was very interested to witness the process.
Humming Bird Evaluation and Banding
(photos are below the narrative)
The first step is setting up the capture feeder is for one of the volunteers to place a capture net over the feeder.
The top of the feeder has a battery-operated mechanism which uses remote control to drop the net. When the bird is at the feeder, i.e. inside the net area, the net is triggered. (yellow arrow points to battery compartment)
The remote control device stands at the ready.
The Director of this program is Sheri Williamson, author of A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America (Peterson Field Guides)
The banding was a collaborative effort. Volunteers worked to record specific data about each bird, collect donations from attendees, assist in transporting captured birds from the feeder area to the work station and finally safely releasing each bird.
Once the net is dropped around the feeder, the bird is placed inside a laundry delicates holder to safely move it from one area of the field to another.
Sheri works to band a female Black-chinned Hummingbird. The yellow arrow points to the thin bird bill.
A variety of measurements were taken including the length of the bill, the length of the bird, the length of the wing, etc.
More measurements and assessment.
Here is a look at the record book (rotated to make it more legible (if zoomed in for a look).
Sheri explains the examination process. …According to SOBA’s website:
The band is applied to the bird’s “leg” (actually the tarsus, equivalent to the long bones in our feet) using specially made pliers. The fit is checked, then the bird’s vital statistics are recorded: species, age, sex, lengths of wing, tail, and bill, weight, plumage condition, molt (loss and replacement of feathers), amount of visible fat, pollen color (if visible) and location, signs of impending or recent egg laying in adult females, and any peculiarities such as scars, odd-colored feathers, or presence of parasites. Pollen may be collected for later identification to help us understand what natural resources the birds depend on during migration and nesting.
A straw is used to separate the feathers to check for parasites, evaluate plumage, etc.
The female Black-chinned Hummingbird had an egg which could be seen through the translucent skin although it is not readily visible in the picture.
Each captured bird is weighed. These hummingbirds weighed between 3 – 3.5 grams; a fraction of an ounce. According to Wikipedia, a penny weighs 2.5 grams.
Before release, each bird is offered a drink for their journey back home.
The second bird trapped was a male Black-chinned hummer. While it may be difficult to tell them apart, especially when upside down, the white tipped tail feathers are a reliable indicator.
From above the bird, the feathers create a very obvious pattern and enhances the male plumage.
Sheri Williamson shows admiring onlookers the beautiful feather patterns of this male Black-chinned hummingbird.
Sheri checks the band on this bird to assure that it is loose enough to be comfortable.
The small band is encircled in this photo.
Banding attendees are offered an opportunity to release a bird. The bird is very carefully placed in a hand and…
then released (yellow arrow points to the bird)
Read More:
Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory
Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory Hummingbird banding page
.JBRish.com originally published this post
STATUS QUOtes — 20150810
“Your religion is what you do when the sermon is over.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” — Mark Twain
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” — George Bernard Shaw
“Americans are getting stronger; twenty years ago it took two people to carry ten dollars worth of groceries… today, a five-year-old can do it.” — Henny Youngman
STATUS QUOtes — 20150809
“Only the guilty are guilty. Their children are not.” — Elie Wiesel
“I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” — Steve Jobs
“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” — Sydney J. Harris
“A chrysanthemum by any other name would be easier to spell.” — Robert C. Savage
Amazing Street Art (Streetart)
I have always been a sucker for optical illusions and street art (or streetart). I am not talking about graffiti although that has become a more acceptable genre nowadays since it is currently producing some nice art pieces around the world.
When I mention street art, I am addressing those illustrations done with chalk on sidewalks and roadways which create optical illusion to make them appear that passersby are interacting with the artwork.
Leon Keer demonstrates his mastery of this genus by creating a sidewalk Pac-Man display. In the images below, you can see people walking through it and there is one shot of Keer creating the illustration by exaggerating the elements so they look correct when viewed from afar and above. How do they do that?!
Below is another of Keer’s creations (shwoing the artist’s perspective) which appeared at the Malta Streetart Festival. Can you tell what it is? Visit his website to see.
NOTE – ALL pictures are from www.streetpainting3d.com and are placed on JBRish.com via their courtesy.
STATUS QUOtes — 20150808
“Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder.” — Unknown
“The arrow belongs not to the archer when it has once left the bow; the word no longer belongs to the speaker when it has once passed his lips.[ed]” — Heinrich Heine
“Life wasn’t what you made it. You were what life made you.” — Sara Zarr
“I’m against picketing, but I don’t know how to show it.” — Mitch Hedberg
STATUS QUOtes — 20150807
“If you look for the beautiful, for a solution, for the positive, then you’ve won at life.” — Sue Fitzmaurice
“And he respects Owl, because you can’t help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn’t spell it right; but spelling isn’t everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn’t count.” — A. A. Milne
“Now is the new later.” — Unknown
“If you go to any book store and look at any book on marriage, you’ll see at least one photo of me about to put an ice tray with only one ice cube left in it back into the refrigerator.” — Darrell Hammond
Pickleball – Current Topics/Game Changes
On a recent episode of the Pickleball Show, a discussion was held between the host, Chris Allen, and long-time Pickleball enthusiast Rodney Grubbs about the current and future status of the sport.
You can listen to the entire podcast at the link below, but for those who want just the Nitty-gritty, you can listen to several of the main points as outlined in the following (times are considered +/- references):
Will there ever be a “standard” pickleball ball that can be used on any court? 7:40
Find out why there may be a need to change the Pickleball rating system. 11:48 (start here to understand the context)
Will the size of the kitchen (NVZ) be changed to keep the game more competitive? 12:59 (start here to understand the context)
Listen to Episode 26 of the Pickleball Show:Pickleball Rocks with Rocket Grubbs