1  Finish reading Tim Homan’s adventure, Temporarily Misplaced Part 2.
 
2  I usually restrict these links to just nature-related items, but I’m making an exception today. In the midst of this pandemic I found a simple pleasure in the Netflix series Midnight Diner. Each episode is a half-hour. The series is set in Tokyo, in Japanese with English subtitles. The diner of the title is a simple one-counter, one cook operation that opens at midnight and closes at seven am. The menu offers only one item, but the mysterious proprietor, known only as “Master,” will make any dish asked for, if he has the ingredients. There are over a dozen customers that drop in from time to time and each episode focuses on one or two of these regulars. The stories are simple and sentimental. Food plays a role in each small drama and most episodes end with a brief cooking tip. In the words of the Master: “If you don’t clean the mussels, the soup will be sandy.”
Watch two or three of the episodes to see if you like it. Watch this short video review to get a sense of what the show is like.

3 
Cicada choruses are winding down now, but these are not the so-called
“periodical” cicadas. The choruses we hear in late summer are ordinary
cicadas that make an appearance every year. Periodical cicadas emerge in
enormous numbers every 13 or 17 years, depending on where you live. This website
has extensive information about periodical cicada life history,
including emergence maps and years. You can use that information to plan a
trip in late spring/early summer to personally experience an emergence.
Next
year (2021) the 17 year periodical cicada is scheduled to emerge in
North Georgia. The last emergence of this brood was in 2014 and people reported their presence in Union and White counties, so be ready in April or May to witness a rare natural event. Here is a great video
documenting the life cycle of the 17 year cicada. It captures the
feeling of the emergence better that any other I’ve seen. It’s
almost like being there. 

4  And now, for something completely different. Part 1:
A short documentary about the Victorian art of arranging diatoms.

5  And now, for something completely different. Part 2:
A short documentary about lichens and a lichenologist:

6 
One trait thought to be possessed only by humans is learning from other
individuals. But it seems that homing pigeons can learn from more
experienced birds. Read this report of a UGA professor’s research written by science writer Elizabeth Penissi.

7  With the human population increasing and the amount of suitable land for agriculture decreasing the need for a source of protein in the near future is a given. Some has suggested that we switch to insects as a source of protein, but this doesn’t seem acceptable at the present time. Another source that has been promoted in recent years is aquaculture. Haikai magazine has a series of five articles on the possibility of aquaculture as the solution to this problem: “Big Fish The Aquacultural Revolution.” (Please note that I am not advocating, pro or con, aquaculture; I’m just calling your attention to the variety of options that are possible.)

8  Wildfires are sweeping through the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the loss of lives, property and timber, these fires are burning down forests of mushrooms

9  Jan Coyne sent this link: Comedy Wildlife Photography awards 2020 finalists – in pictures

10  Dendrologist Squirrels

11  Has anyone seen an Overcup Oak? If so, let me know where it is.

That’s it for this week.

FINE Things No. 11 

Red leaves on the ground . . .

(photo by Emily Carr)

fallen from the sky above . . .

(photo by Emily Carr)

Calling warblers.

The tree in the photo above is a Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), one of the earliest canopy trees to change color.  Some think the early leaf change makes the fruits more conspicuous for migrating birds.

Linda has visited the power line and reports that Goldenrod, Ironweed and Frostweed Wingstem are in full bloom this week. She met Richard Hall on her walk and he told her that he had seen migrating fall warblers.

Here are your links to Fun, Interesting, Novel and Entertaining things for this week.

1  Seeds of Magnolia virginiana.

2  Penn State videos on different aspects of pollination. A collection of 1 hr + videos on bee keeping, bee diversity, bee biology. We have many of the same kinds of bees, so the programs are applicable to Georgia.

3  When will we get a vaccine?

4  Study Finds Painting Eyes On Cows’ Butts Can Save Their Lives.
NPR segment audio.

5  The peopling of South America – when did humans first arrive in South America?
A condensed version.
And a longer version.

6  A deep-rooted prairie mystery by The Prairie Ecologist, Chris Helzer. He takes a fresh look at prairie vegetation and explores what we know, especially about their root systems. You’ll be surprised at what you thought was true is actually probably false, or, at least, unknown.

7  Jumping insects: Plant hoppers, Tree hoppers, Leaf hoppers on video in ultra-slow motion.

8 The Animal Origins of Coronavirus and Flu

9 Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics?

Don’t care for my selections? Let me know what you’d like to read about or watch and I’ll try to find something FINE.

Week of Aug. 27 to Sep. 2

1 MIT is presenting a course on the corona virus and the pandemic. The cast of lecturers is outstanding. You don’t have to be an MIT student to watch the lectures live streaming. I watched the first lecture and it was fantastic. The information came fast and furious but was first rate. The lectures are live streamed Tuesday morning at 11:30 am, eastern time, from Sept. 1 to Dec. 8 (no lecture on Oct. 13).
Course description: Lectures by leading experts on the fundamentals of coronavirus and host cell biology, immunology, epidemiology, clinical disease, and vaccine and therapeutic development. This is an exploratory subject, open to undergraduate and graduate students. Non students may watch the lectures but are not able to submit questions.
Please note: It will take a few days to caption and post each lecture video after the livestream has ended.

2  Migrating Wilson’s Phalaropes feed by spinning around in the water, creating a whirlpool that draws invertebrates toward them. Watch as a whole marsh of gyrating birds snap up the bugs that are swept in. Only 54 seconds. Learn more about the Phalarope’s sex role reversal here.

3 The Nature Rambler Book Group was scheduled to discuss a book

Continue reading →

 I’ve been enjoying the butterflies this summer and that prompted me to share two quotations with you. The first is via Dac Crossley and is by the poet Rabindranath Tagore:

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

The second is by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu:

What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.

Here are this weeks FINE Things:

Keeping with the butterfly theme, one species, the Large Blue, had been extinct in Britain for 150 years. Recently it has been restored and the story demonstrates that you can’t just plop a species down and expect it to survive.

We think of the caterpillars of moths and butterflies as committed herbivores. But, here in eastern NA, there is a carnivorous butterfly known as the Harvester. The caterpillar feeds on aphids. It’s the only carnivorous caterpillar known in the continental US. But in Hawaii there are numerous species of carnivorous moth caterpillars in the genus Eupithecia. You can read about them here and see one in action here.

750 Million GM mosquitoes will be released in the Florida Keys.

What could we learn from the history of the 1918 influenza epidemic? Watch this video.

The gardeners among you probably already know this, but a New Yorker article advocates The therapeutic power of gardening.

With future population growth plus climate change we can expect food security to become more and more important. We’ll not only have to change our current crops to adapt to new conditions, we’ll have to change the things we eat. Perennial vegetables may play a role in this adaptation. A recent study surveys these vegetables and is reported on in this article:

Perennial Vegetables Are a Solution in the Fight Against Hunger and Climate Change

The world is a muddy place, but it wasn’t always that way. Knowable magazine explores The Origin of Mud. “For most of Earth’s history, hardly any of the mucky stuff existed on land. It finally started piling up around 458 million years ago, changing life on the planet forever.”

Most ramblers will remember that many of the spring wild flowers produce seeds with nutritious “handles” (called elaiosomes) that attract ants. The ants carry the seeds to their nest, feed the elaiosome to their larvae and discard the seed. That much is known. A virtual Ecological Society of America meeting this month updated our knowledge of this ant-plant symbiosis. It is beautifully summarized by science writer Elizabeth Pennisi in this very accessible article.

That’s all for this week.

Dale

 FINE = Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting

Cranefly Orchids, Tipularia discolor, are blooming in woods near you. (photo by Catherine Chastain}

Linda says: The Great Georgia Pollinator Census is this week, August 21, 22. It is a wonderful opportunity to participate in citizen science! Details available here.
 

The unique faunas of islands all over the world suffer from invasive predators like rats. New Zealand has decided to get rid of these rats and other invasive predators to preserve their native birds.

This video from Knowable Magazine explains the difference between
Locusts and Grasshoppers and shows locust swarms in current day Africa.

Swarms of migratory locusts regularly devastate crops
across the world, but why these swarms form has been a mystery. Now, a team of
researchers have identified a pheromone that causes solitary locusts to come
together and form flocks that number in the billions. (A pheromone is a volatile chemical, an odor, that causes a change in the behavior or physiology of another individual.) Find out how this pheromone was discovered and how this knowledge could lead to preventing locust swarms.

Emily recommends “The Pleasures of Moth-Watching.”

Milkweeds are protected from many herbivores because they carry a poison, but some insects, like the Monarch butterfly, can eat milkweed leaves. How they are able to do this is an interesting evolutionary story. 

Jan Coyne suggested this article from the NYT: A Honeybee’s Tongue Is More Swiss Army Knife Than Ladle.

That’s it for this week. 

Dale

 FINE = Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting

About box turtles.

Helen Macdonald in the NYT Magazine: The Mysterious Life of Birds Who Never Come Down. It’s about Swifts; by the author of H is for Hawk.
 

Freshwater mussels; an overview with videos from Knowable Magazine.
 

I posted about freshwater mussels earlier this year.
 

This article talks about freshwater mussel’s role in stream ecology and current restoration efforts.
 

Catherine Chastain recommends this article about mosses that use quartz parasols. 

Comic book: Centuries of pondering – and squabbling about – trees

Until next week,

Dale

FINE = Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting

The best way to control the spread of virus on a college campus.

There Are Two Ways Out of a Frog. This Beetle Chose the Back Door.

Until next week,

Dale

FINE = Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting

or

FINED =
Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting, Depressing

Emily suggests this piece about the age of ancient diseases.

This NY Times piece tells you everything you might need to know about dealing with yellow jackets and their relatives.

Genes tell us where slaves came from and now, what happened to them after their arrival.

Before industrialization our climate wasn’t unchanging. Many forces interacting together determine our climate. Here is an article that will help you understand how they work and interact.

Eugenia recommends this article about how farming practices can be changed to protect pollinators.

Emily recommends: A recently published study shows that US crops are already seeing a decline in production due to pollinator decreases. The Guardian has the story.

Another paper shows a decline in bee-plant pollinator interactions over the last 125 years.

Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting Things

Invasive earthworms are in the northeast and they are here in Georgia too! Emily and I found a strange worm on our daily walk yesterday. It looked and moved like a small snake. I think it was a Crazy Worm, Amynthas agrestis. See the link above for a photo. Here is a video of one of these worms. Notice the snake-like movement as it attempts to escape.

Do you like podcasts? And plants? Then you will enjoy this source of podcasts about things botanical. Scroll through the various offerings and you’ll be sure to find something that piques your curiosity. In Defense of Plants Podcasts

Here’s another compilation of podcasts from the Royal Botanical Garden in Australia.

How can migratory birds can find their destination? Scientists think they can sense the earth’s magnetic field. But how? Find out here.

Want to know how viruses evolve?

I know a lot of Ramblers are bird watchers and many can identify birds by their vocalizations. But the “Old Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody” call of the White-throated sparrows may soon be a thing of the past.

Coming up next month: a Webinar on Snakes of Georgia, August 14, 2020; Noon to 1 PM; to register email: uge3039@uga.edu

FINE stands for Fabulous, Interesting, Novel & Exciting.

A female Velvet Ant; males have wings. (photo by Don Hunter)

This is the time of year to look for Velvet Ants – wasps that look like large, fuzzy, red and black ants. But in the Mojave Desert some Velvet Ants look like the seeds of creosote bush. Why?

How a beetle evolved to look (and smell) like an ant.
 

How predictable is evolution? An ant-loving beetle holds answers. (A longer article about rove beetles)

When danger threatens, use your head. 

Like the poker-playing dog that drew to an inside straight, sometimes you have to be amazed that it is done at all, even if done imperfectly. A Flying snake video. And an article about flying snakes.

Did you ever recite a little ditty as you watched a Ladybug fly from your hand? 

     “Ladybug, ladybug

      Fly away home

      Your house is on fire

      And your children will burn”

If you watched it fly away you might not have noticed where the wings appeared from. In case you didn’t, here is the amazing secret.