Migration morning... weevil barcodes in soil

This morning there were singing Song Sparrows (one with a different dialect - higher and quicker), a Cooper's Hawk calling, two flocks of Blue Jays (25 and 5), ducks were moving all over the place (I suspect an eagle or peregrine was on the river as well). 

We have a number of oaks on campus and the acorns are all infested with Curculio weevils and I imagined seeing the grubs crawling out of the acorns and into soil (where there is soil). So I imagined a bunch of sleeping weevils in the soil then it dawned on me that we could sample soil and look for weevil DNA and you could do this all over North America and get a very good idea of species ranges - and interactions. 

Warm day = bumblebees

We had a number of cold days with rain and then today was beautiful with one of those days that was perfect for napping outside. The asters are still in flower and the bumblebees were all over them. 

Urban ecology: predation

After the barcoding meeting I have been thinking small - on the scale of insects, bacteria, viruses and fungi and how much the planet (and our bodies) is just teeming with life. In urban areas, even the boring yard is filled with thousands of species and having all the classic ecological interactions, such as competition, mutualisms, and predation. Most of this goes unseen, unnoticed, and under-appreciated. Once in a while though big things eat other and get noticed. I haven't seen a pigeon around in a while and no Cooper's or Red-tailed in months but feathers were scattered around the house this morning. 

Changing the character of a university

When it comes to sustainability issues, I would give Wilkes University a C-. We recycle. That makes us about average and I don't think we do that well. We have a green roof that is probably less than 1% of the impervious surface on buildings. 

What would it take for Wilkes University to a sustainability leader in our area? I would love to see solar and green roofs all over campus and native plantings, campus vehicles that run on something other than gas. I think devoted students, faculty, and administration could do it.

Question is - where are they?  

As temperatures decline..

Had my first flock of Canada Geese heading due south today. Song sparrows were completely quiet this morning. Yet cardinals were feeding a recently fledged youngster today. My guess is that a nest failed once or twice then they finally got one fledgling out of it. 

Come with me to the Galapagos!

Jim Merryman was a colleague at Wilkes University and passed away a number of months ago. We were not that close but we talked when we saw each other and I very much respected him for the fact that he ventured. We all would like to travel but Jim got on the plane and went. Into places wild.

So he inspired me to do the same - I just hope I can pull it off. I'm going with a tour company, EF Tours, that specializes in college tours and we're going to the Galapagos and the Ecuadorian rainforest.  For reals as my son would put it. 

Tree bark as art

I have zero training in art: never has a class and I know one artist. But I think I can recognize beauty, especially in nature. Maybe knot (hardy har har). This is the bark of London Planetree (Platanus acerfolia).