Puppetry and coelacanths

I find these shorts amazing in terms of the artistry and the story. 

http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000004105667/animated-life-coelacanth.html

Grading palooza begins

Been farting around all day with chores and checking emails. Time to settle down with a cup or two of coffee and get grading. Once done - I'm done. And the writing begins.



(I'm also going to finish the last Game of Thrones book)

Bibliogasm

This morning I was given access to a room on campus with some very special books. Here are some images

Newton's Principia from 1755

Einstein and Infeld's The Evolution of Physics  (signed) 

Darwin's Variation of Animals and Plants

Sitwell's Fine Bird Books 1700-1900

This quetzal page is 4 feet long. 

Darting doves at dusk

My favorite time in the winter is dusk: the way trees are silhouetted and the quietness that comes to the city (even Wilkes-Barre). Last night a flock of snow geese flew overhead - high enough to be out of sight. Moments like this are magical. 

Also, two pairs of mourning doves flew past - not at a normal speed but as if they were being pursued. But no pursuer. I've seen this many times before and always at dusk. Is this part of pair bonding or courtship? Are they trying to escape a predator that was waiting for them to roost at dusk. 

Flame Bowerbird: amazing courtship display

The Flame Bowerbird (Sericulus aureus), a species native to Indonesia, is a member of the the Ptilonorhynchidae - a group of species with very elaborate courtship displays. I have seen this BBC video before and I may have already posted it here. So it goes. I find it remarkable that this behavior and a host of others are coded in this tiny brain.

20,000 views... wut!? wut!?

Hey, I just noticed I went over 20,000 views!

That's awesome! Thanks so much. 

This semester I've been focused on teaching and getting my notes in order online as well as committee tasks. Semester ends in 9 days and I'm ready to head out to the woods and doing some writing. I applied to the study abroad director position and I have an interview with the deans tomorrow. Nervous but I have nothing to lose and I think I have a great vision for the position. 

Reading over my daughter's freshman bio report. Holy cow it's good. 

More later and thanks again peeps. 

For your good behavior.. a pair of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. 

Kiwis, not the fruit, eat robins eggs, but not those robins.

To a yank like myself, Kiwis are completely mysterious. They're part of a group of birds called ratites, which includes ostriches, emus, and rheas. I tell my classes that Kiwis use their long bills to probe the ground for arthropods. 



Apparently, kiwis have a side to them that was unknown to ornithologists. Apparently, like many many organisms, they enjoy bird eggs. In this case, the New Zealand Robin was the victim. 

Here is a link to the video http://phys.org/news/2015-12-footage-captures-kiwi-robin-revealing.html