| Thursday January 1, 2009 |
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Volume 8
Issue 1 |
Great Northern?On December 6 a common loon (Gavia immer) appeared in the marina shortly before sunrise. This large duck-like bird with a head like a kingfisher paddled slowly by completely oblivious to me or the coots. Later, after sunrise, I was able to get a picture. Great Northern? is a famous Arthur Ransome book about this bird. It may also be known as Colymbus Glacialis or Colymbus immer . |
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The FlocksThe two dozen coots from Bayside Park disappear for several days, and then return. In their absence, they were replaced by other coots. Flocks of coots tend to travel around the local area, perhaps when local forage runs out. After visiting them before, the original coots remember me and struggle to me over the rocks. The "other" coots don't recognize me. |
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By the last week in December I count three flocks of about thirty coots each around the three parks here. I was expecting twice that number this winter. There seems to be no danger of the coots going near the street. |
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The ResidentsThe area around Monday's frontal shield on her upper mandible is showing some yellow color. I have noticed this change on other females before, and it may be seasonal or dietary in nature. |
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Beaky Coot is now keeping a mate and successfully maintaining a large territory. His frontal shield is swollen with the increased testosterone. Refer to The Frontal Shield of the American Coot in "Links of the Month" below. |
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I have made short wmv movies that represent common coot behavior and displays. After download with your browser, these will play in Windows Media Player. They are one or two Megabytes and will take a few seconds to download.
The first movie show typical female foot slapping behavior (standing arch) while she shows her undertail coverts.
http://www.beakycoot.com/foot_slapping.wmv
This next display is commonly used by a female against her mate. She kicks water in his face as he is "scolding" her and chasing her around.
http://www.beakycoot.com/monday_kick_water.wmv
This movie is the same female responding to an enemy male who tries to pacify her by bowing. She pecks him hard in the head, and escapes with the female "cackle" call.
http://www.beakycoot.com/monday_rebuff_enemy.wmv
The "kicking water" display is used by a female on her mate. The peck and cackle tactic is used on an enemy male. Other females may repeat the cackling call, and her mate may also respond.
The following link is a reference that describes coot calls and displays. Read it twelve times.
The Displays and Calls of the American Coot
The last movie is Beaky the Coot at his morning bath.
http://www.beakycoot.com/bath.wmv
On December 8, Charlie Rose held a conversation about Biodiversity on PBS with Michael Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost of the paleontology division of the American Museum of Natural History; Paul Nurse, President of Rockefeller University and biologist & author Edward Wilson
The following text is a quote from the transcript of this PBS program:
"MICHAEL NOVACEK:
So -- but what I think is important from the perspective of people
like myself, who study this long history of organisms, is that this is
major. This is a big deal. This is something on the scale of the
Cretaceous extinction, in the ballpark of it...
CHARLIE ROSE: And we’re in the midst of it.
MICHAEL NOVACEK: And we’re in the midst of it. What an interesting
time we live in, in some perverse way you might say that, we’re witnessing
one of the major events in the history of life in our lifetimes."
A conversation about Biodiversity click this link, scroll down and select "Transcript" for a complete transcript of this conversation.
Paul Nurse, A Nobel Prize-winning biologist, Paul's research focuses on the molecular machinery that drives cell division and controls cell shape.
Edward O. Wilson wrote THE SUPERORGANISM a book about the Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
Scented Candles Kill Pet Birds!
Medical Encyclopedia Sachet poisoning
Home page of The Arthur Ransome Society
Fulica leucoptera the White-winged coot.
Clean Your Body How to pass a drug test ( caveat emptor ! )
The Frontal Shield of the American Coot
Skeptic's Dictionary Alternative Medicine, Cryptozoology, Junk Science, etc.
Yahoo web beacons Look at their updated privacy statement at
info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details. html
About half-way down the page, in the section on *cookies*, you will see a link that says *WEB BEACONS*. Click on the phrase "Web Beacons." On the page that opens, on the left find a box entitled "Opt-Out." In that section find "opt-out of interest-matched advertising" link that will let you "opt-out" of their snooping. Click it and then click the opt-out button on the next page.
Madagascar Giant Hissing Cockroaches
The Ugly Mug tells benefits of drinking coffee.
MEASURING ANIMALS THROUGH A TELESCOPE describes a simple method of determining the sex of Blue Herons. Note: this article has only roughly been converted to HTML. To read it properly, select "View" and "Page Source" on your browser.
Big Picture:A young coot discovers something unexpected on the docks. It's not every day you see a stern warp properly belayed to a dock cleat. Click on the image to view it full size. Use your browser's Back button to return. |
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This is the sort of bird that (for the price of a few crumbs) will sit with you, hold his head up and watch for danger, and tell you what he thinks of everything that goes by.
"Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of
thought and joy untroubled. Don't trouble it, don't harass them,
don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against
God's intent."
Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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