I have been busy submitting a manuscript this week so I am only getting a chance to begin this entry today.
I visited Osbornedale State Park in Connecticut last weekend with my lab mate Jon. It is a nice little space somewhere near the Housatonic River. There is a little pond there but was frozen. We took a leisurely stroll through the forest.
Titmice and black-capped chickadees were in abundance, but Jon said he saw a golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa). We both caught a glimpse of what we thought was a yellow-bellied sapsucker, but is was from very far away. All I could really see was a very marbled feather pattern and some trace of a red cap. In general adult sapsuckers have a red cap and throat, and black and white strips running through the face. The breast is yellowish-white and the back is marbled black and white. They also have a conspicuous white wing stripe.
Oh, I got my camera back. I really must remember that Canon has great repair service. They reported that my camera problem was probably due to a fall or shock (which it was), but they fixed it anyway under the warranty.
I also saw a bracket fungus. Hopefully soon I will be able to identify it. It is certainly a Polypore, but I am not sure which type. It was very hard, almost wood-like. and about the size of a tennis ball.
Fungus from above
Fungus (and me) from below 
I took a short run this evening, and after I was finished I stared up at the stars. I folded the brim of my wool cap to let my eyes roam free, and I immediately received one of those sharp injections of reality that sometimes comes after months of unconsciously spinning life away with work and other earthly endeavors. "I really exist," I thought to myself. I am of this universe, of a world which is much more complex and undefined than my simple life would have me remember. A world with rules that transcend society and human convention. I realize that my senses have become so dull, so utterly narrow. Life comes in all colors, yet I feel I am color blind. Its as if my eyes are focused only on a small path, and all of the other dimensions of life are lost on me. I cannot observe the world in its completeness because I cannot seem to escape my own reality. I live life in a dream made up of invented goals and guidelines, and of things that I am supposed to want because they have been showered on my brain since my consciousness began. We are born into a dream, and so it shall remain. For how can you ever wake yourself from your own dream?
-Scott
Still no camera. It is a dreary day. Raining on and off, which is fine because I have a manuscript draft in front of my face that needs some life breathed into it. It seems that standard run-of-the-mill science writing can turn any eager investigator into the most boring of storytellers - if you let it. It's always good to get continuous perspective from the outside world.
My contact with nature today was embarrassingly short. Paul, my housemate's cat, was whining so I let him out the back door. As I peered my head outside I quickly noticed that a circus had come to my otherwise gray and wintry back yard. Noisy house sparrows, "sweet canada"-singing white-throated sparrows, chipping cardinals, dangling black-capped chickadees, and of course those beloved little fellows with a voice too big for their size, the titmice. Some people might see this party everyday at their feeders, but unfortunately I cannot purchase one since Paul would crash the gathering within minutes and then cough up a few feathers in predatory satisfaction.
Honestly I have never paid much attention to house sparrows, but after hearing that wonderfully strange song of the white-throated sparrow, I carefully scanned the perimeter of the yard checking out each bird with my binoculars. I did see the white-throated sparrow (we'll get to him/her later) among a collection of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). To be honest, I never even noticed that some house sparrows have a black patch on their throat. This, it turns out, is characteristic only of males, who also don a white collar, a gray crown, and a yellowish bill. The black of the throat extends to the lores (the area in front of the eyes). There is also a chestnut strip with runs back from the eyes to the nape. The breast is white, although on a urban-dwelling bird, thats doubtful. The females and juveniles lack the black throat, have a light tan breast, and a dull tan stripe running back from the eye. House sparrows are the little brown birds that you see in large numbers hanging about in and around man-made structures. They can usually be distinguished from other drab looking birds by their song which contains simple, short, repetitive elements. House sparrows are not related to the new world sparrows (Family: Emberizidae) but rather belong to the old world sparrows (Family: Passeridae). They were introduced from Britain into North America in the mid-1800s to control pests, and quickly got out of hand. Interestingly, they are declining in their native range. The Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) is also an old world sparrow which looks very similar and was introduced into St. Louis by German immigrants in the 1870s.
So, back to the native species. I easily identified the white-throated sparrow in my yard by the white stripe running over the eye and the yellow dab of color in the lores at the very proximal end of the white stripe. There is also a white strip at the top of the head surround by two black stripes running front to back. Of course, these birds have a nice white throat and their belly can be gray or white or both. They also seem to have two white wing bars that are very thin and unclear. They are often seen in hedgerows and thick vegetation looking for food. They were hanging out in the plants growing along the fence in my yard.
As for the cardinals, titmice, and chickadees, they are all worthy of photos and lengthy behavioral descriptions, and so they will have to wait for another day.
Goodnight.
Scott
Today was my last full day in Miami, which meant my last chance to relax before its back to the scientific grind (i.e. finishing my thesis). I spent the day reading Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything," and listening to a few episodes of "Dimension X," which was a science fiction radio show in the early 1950s. I highly recommend it. It contains pieces written by Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and other famous writers of the genre. One interesting note: when I was listening to the episode from 24 June 1950 entitled "Destination Moon," they (NBC Radio) interrupted the program to announce that North Korea had just invaded South Korea to achieve unification.Anyway, I wandered around the "boardwalk" which surrounds my aunt's condo complex and did not see much in the way of animal life. But as I was about to go back inside and plop myself on the couch I heard a chipping sound coming from the mangrove near my aunt's porch. I looked around and then caught view of a beautiful little bird which appears to have been a yellow-throated warbler (Dendroica dominica). This bird had vibrant colors, with a bright yellow patch on the throat, a white underside, and sharp black striping running down the flanks (on a background of white). The face also had black striping that seemed to run through the eye and the cap was a solid dark color. A man popped out from the condo unit next door and remarked how pretty the bird was. After a few hours of relaxation, giving the pulsing sun ample time to calm itself down, I ventured out to the beach. Apparently there was a storm recently, which might explain why there was so much algae coating the shoreline. And with the seaweed there hitchhiked many other forms of life. Immediately I was frustrated by not having a camera (mine is broken). I collected all the interesting scraps I could fit in my hands and then sat down in the sand with my two shore guides. But sadly most of what I had found was not in the books, or at least did not resemble the descriptions according to my non-discerning eye. I found many different types of sponges including one that was orange and had very fine lobes.
The only thing I could positively identify was a strange looking algae which is seemingly known as cactus algae (Halimeda spp.). The specimen I found was light green and made up of a chain of light green leathery segments (fronds?) attached in a row. The hardness of the algae is due to calcium carbonate deposited by the organism itself, which supposedly makes it inedible to most herbivores. I read a report online that showed that the deep waters behind the great barrier reef are covered with Halimeda mounds. Apparently, when the Halimeda algae die, they collect into large piles over thousands of years and are inhabited by a range of life forms. They tend to form near reefs because there is nutrient upwelling as the deep waters of the ocean meet the shallower reefs. In any case, this group of algae looks quite interesting.
Well, tomorrow, its off to New Haven (home) for a lot of work and a little winter nature watching - time permitting.
-Scott
I have not been able to do much nature scouting the last few days. The weather has been bad in general, although its interesting to watch how fast conditions can change. There is often complete blackness as a cloud passes over, and then unrelenting light and heat as the sun becomes exposed. Raining in one spot, and dry just a few feet away. Heavy rain at one point of the day, and completely beautiful just minutes later.
The other major obstacle to my documentation of nature is the demise of my digital camera after less than a year of use. So I have just been relaxing and looking out at the little inlet of water that runs past my aunt's back porch.
Circling turkey vultures and hungry sea gulls are in abundance here, but every once in a while something more interesting flies by or stays a minute to greet us.
Its very funny, while I am writing this a belted kingfisher just perched on a wooden pole that supports my aunt's boat dock. It is a really beautiful individual, with a rich gray-blue head, upper breast and back, and a pale white lower breast. There is also a thin white stripe (collar) which runs across the entire neck. This bird is perched low, so they must have very short legs. There are small white spots in front of the eyes. This individual is clearly a male, since females have an additional maroon band that runs across the belly. Apparently, this is one of the rare cases in North America that a female bird is more decorated than the male. This species is easily identified by the rattling call it gives while flying. They can hover on rapidly beating wings before finally diving head-first into the water to catch prey. These birds nest in a tunnel made in the sand or river bank. I have often seen them conspicuously perched along rivers or dock poles scoping out food sources.
This morning my mother spotted a little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) searching for food under the dock. I am getting to know this bird better, and this one looked like a classical little blue. But I thought I saw pale yellow legs, even though the legs are described as dark in the field guide. The bill was gray at the base but turned black toward the tip. This individual is an adult since the immatures are white.
The last few days it has become clear that there is a green iguana inhabitanting the little patch of mangrove next to the dock. I did snap a not-so-great picture, but I cannot get it off of my crippled camera as of now. This species (Iguana iguana) is rapidly becoming a major pest in south Florida. It eats a lot of vegetation in residential areas as well as some endangered plants in the wild. They've also been seen using the burrows of the Florida Burrowing Owl, which is threatened. There are probably hundreds of thousands individuals (or even more) of this species in south Florida. It likely invaded through several different routes including hurricanes, pet release/escape, and accidental transport on ships.
But, the most interesting thing I have seen while lounging on the back porch is what I am pretty sure was an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) perched on the very top of a sailboat. This bird is difficult to describe because it has a complex color pattern, particularly on the head, and I only had a frontal view. The upper breast is pale brown and the lower breast is white with black spots. The head has a series of stripes or blotches along the horizontal axis that are black, brown, or white. The top of the head appeared to be a dark gray cap. The wings seemed to be dark like the head, which is indicative of the male (the female is completely rufous on back and tail). The bird was very small, indeed the size of a jay as described in the Peterson field guide.
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I just discovered that the residential island that my aunt lives on is crawling with warblers. I was playing basketball and I saw them flitting about atop the fence which surrounds the court. So, what did I see?
Bird #1: Small bird, brilliant yellow color with deeply contrasting black streaks along the head and side of the body. One of these black streaks appeared to run horizontally right through the eye. The back was a drab greenish yellow and it was white underneath the tail feathers. This almost certainly seems to be a prairie warbler (Dendroica discolor). I did not see any chestnut markings on the back, which are usually visible in the male. This bird doesn’t fit the description of the other yellow warbler species with black streaks. Others like the magnolia, canada, yellow-rumped, etc. don’t have the multiple black stripes on the head as does the prairie. I was able to get extraordinarily close to this bird, which is very unusual; maybe she was a basketball fan.
Birds #2: Small bird with rich maroon cap and white breast with big yellow blotch at the throat. The back was dark. The throat/cap combination suggests it is probably a female Palm warbler (Dendroica palmarum) of the “western race.”
Bird #3: Small bird with medium pale gray breast streaked with darker gray/brown. There was also barely visible pale yellow coloration in blotches across the breast. This bird was bobbing its tail like crazy and had yellow undertail coverts. Looking at the “confusing fall warblers” page of the Peterson guide this individual clearly seems to be a winter form of the Palm warbler, and this is confirmed by the flicking of the tail which is prominent in both palm and prairies.
Bird #4: A very small bird that I did not get a good look at. It was basically comprised of two colors, blue-gray on the back and wings, and white underneath. The only thing I can think of is a blue-gray gnatcatcer (Polioptila caerulea).
-Scott
