The Nature of Things

The autumn retreat of the wood warblers through my yard continues, much to my delight. The latest one to pass through - at least the latest one that stopped to introduce itself - was this lovely little bird. At first glance, I thought I was seeing a Townsend's Warbler , which I've had passing through the yard before. But then I noticed something different about the bird and when I uploaded my pictures and looked at them it was even more obvious. Can you see that faint yellow wash across the vent area? That is diagnostic of the Black-throated Green Warbler , a bird that is very similar to the Townsend's. The Black-throated Green is actually the more common of the two, but I had never seen one in the yard before. No doubt they had been here, as I am sure have many other birds that I haven't observed, but this was the species' first "official" visit. It was number 111 on my yard list. Like all the warblers I have seen in my yard recently, this one was attract...

A Fearsome Doubt by Charles Todd My rating: 3 of 5 stars It is one year after the Armistice ended "the war to end all wars," but Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard is still haunted by his time in the trenches and still suffering from post traumatic stress, or "shell-shock" as it was then called. He has returned to his old life and tried to move on and make the best of things, but the past keeps intruding. And he still carries with him at all times the persona and the voice of Hamish MacLeod, the young soldier under his command who he was forced to have executed for insubordination in the field. And now, a new burden is added. In 1912, as a very young policeman, Rutledge was instrumental in seeing a man condemned to hang for the murders of three elderly women. Rutledge had provided the evidence that had sent Ben Shaw to the gallows. He had never doubted that Shaw was guilty and that the verdict was just, until almost seven years later Shaw's widow comes to ...

Vultures - the necessary birds. They are the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world. They get no respect, rather like the garbage men who collect our refuse, and yet, without them, the world would be a much nastier and less pleasant place. I say they get no respect but they have my respect and my admiration. I often watch them in their flights over my yard. They are magnificent fliers. I think Mary Oliver respects them, too. I like the image of them in her poem - the image of one who takes death and eats it and makes of it a miracle - resurrection.  It's the way that some societies - in India and Tibet, for example - dispose of the remains of their loved ones after death. If you ask me, it's not at all a bad way to leave the Earth. On wings. Vultures  by Mary Oliver Like large dark lazy butterflies they sweep over the glades looking for death, to eat it, to make it vanish, to make of it the miracle: resurrection... ...Locked into the blaze of our own bodies we watch them wheeli...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : King Rail photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Rails of several species are endemic to the refuge but they are such secretive birds that you have to have a little bit of luck in order to see one. This one seemed oblivious to us as we sat in our car on the road near where he was wading and I was able to get several pretty good pictures. *~*~*~* The lunar eclipse that was visible in the Americas and Asia on Wednesday was the biggest news in the world of Nature this week. The so-called "blood moon" made quite an impact on all who got up early that morning to witness it. And one has to admit, it was quite an amazing sight.   From Nebraska, via the Virtual Telescope Project . *~*~*~* New studies are finding that scientists have grossly underestimated how much and how fast the oceans have warmed up since the 1970s. Much of the heating up of the atmosphere is actually being absorbed by the oceans. They a...

Now be honest. Did you know the name Patrick Modiano before it was announced that he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday? You did? Well, you are obviously much better read than I. I don't recall ever having heard the name before, but then I am certain there are any number of fine writers in the world of whom I have never heard. And every year in October I can count on the Swedish Academy bringing one of them to my and the world's attention. The Nobel is almost always awarded to someone who is unfamiliar to me, which truly doesn't say much for the quality of my literacy or the eclecticism of my reading selections. I did know last year's winner Alice Munro, although to be honest I had not read more than a smidgen of her work. Short stories are really not my thing. But I was totally unfamiliar with the Chinese novelist Mo Yan who won in 2012 and he is, apparently, a very big wheel in the literary world. Nor did I know Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer who won i...

The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly My rating: 3 of 5 stars LAPD detective Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch is on involuntary leave from his job. His life is in a shambles. He's living on the edge. Quite literally. His home in the hills above Los Angeles has been severely damaged by the most recent earthquake and threatens to slide into the ravine below. It has been condemned as uninhabitable and put on the list for demolition, but Harry continues to live in it, illegally, and even spends his free time making repairs. How did he come to be placed on involuntary leave? It seems that he attacked his commanding officer, the odious Lieutenant Pounds ("Ninety-eight") that we've met in previous Harry Bosch novels. He's been ordered to have a psychiatric evaluation before he can be cleared to return to duty. He reluctantly meets three times a week with a therapist to talk about his issues. And what are his issues? Unresolved anger and inability to sustain a relationship seem t...

Firespike in my backyard garden today. Odontonema strictum , popularly called firespike or cardinal guard or scarlet flame, is a showy shrub-like plant that is native to semi-forested areas in Central America, but it will grow happily in USDA Zones 8 - 11. It seems content in my zone 9a garden near Houston. That wasn't always true though. I bought my plant in spring 2012 and at first I had positioned it in full sun, which, according to the planting instructions I read, it should have been able to tolerate. The first year that it grew there, it grew to perhaps two to two-and-a-half feet tall and it did have a few blooms. In the winter, it died back to the ground but came back in the spring; however, it seemed stunted and unhappy and it never bloomed that year. I decided drastic action was needed. It died back to the ground last winter, but in the spring, as soon as I was sure it had survived, I decided to move it to another location. I planted it in a large pot and moved the pot to ...