another 30 robins? really? Does anybody still care?

fabulous American Robin photo (attribution)

Beware: this robin is larger than it appears.

Numerically speaking, that is.

The Christmas Bird Count.

It's big, it's 113 years old, it's awesome,

and now it's free (used to be all of $5 to participate).

Here's "us," one of the groups in the Yosemite Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.

Can ya guess which one is moi?

As the Audubon Society's page says,

"the longest running Citizen Science survey in the world,

Christmas Bird Count provides critical data on population trends."

It's all day.

I participated in a CBC in San Diego

where I met the guy at my park at about 4:30 a.m.

so we could find the great horned owl he knew was about,

which we did (this dude was prepared).

Then we napped in our cars until dawn.

And resumed birding.

Anyhow, one begins such adventures all psyched.

I didn't sleep well the night before 'cause I was nervous.

Then I figured I'd think of Christmas carols

to lull myself to sleep.

Good plan.

First one I thought of was "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Which is ALL ABOUT BIRDS!

Seriously:

7 swans a swimming

6 geese a laying

5 golden rings

(ring-necked pheasants, that is)

glorious pheasant photo attribution

4 calling birds

3 french hens

2 turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree.

arf.

Eventually, though, I slept.

So, got there next morning,

was still nervous ('cause not v. skilled birder)

but our group leader calmed my fears.

She was 100% positive,

super mellow and supportive, so that was great.

Cue fun machine.

Yet, she warned us of birding fatigue.

If you go all day, it's about 7-8 hrs of birding (or more).

You'll run out of steam.

Instead of seeing some birds and thinking "YAY!"

you're bored and want to go home.

IMPOSSIBLE! thought I.

I am Queen of Bio-Enthusiasm.

She was right.

7 hours later, I was thinking:

Do I REALLY have to write down ANOTHER 20 ROBINS?!?

Does ANYBODY CARE at this point?

'Cause your caveman brain knows this is not useful info.

For a caveman.

It IS, however, useful to the CBC compilers.

And to us, later. And prosperity.

So, the American Robin was THAT bird this year.

White-crowned sparrow photo by Wolfgang Wander

Years ago I did CBC w/Bear in the San Joaquin Valley.

That year, white crowned sparrows were "that bird."

I still remember the field I was standing in,

when I asked Bear (quietly, so no one else heard),

"Do I really have to keep counting these white-crowns?"

Bear stared at me.

"Yes."

So, I counted and added another 110 to the list.

And I am a COMPULSIVE counter.

I LOVE to count.

But 7 hours is a long time.

However, this CBC data set is

OLD and HUGE and awesome.

So, it's worth it.

And who knew? I did much better than I expected,

AND I got a really good look at one of these:

red-breasted sap sucker (photo attribution)

Gorgeous bird.

And I actually saw a ruby-crowned kinglet

up CLOSE, that had its ruby crown on full display.

I've only seen THAT about 3 times.

killer cute ruby-crowned kinglet (photo by Dan Pancamo)

Saw lots of other good birds,

cute birds,

cool birds.

Lots of birds.

But, what I like best about it,

is 2 things:

1. I'm not the world's worst birder.

A little studying, and I improve.

2. I've reawakened to birds.

Ever since Sunday,

I keep grabbing my binos

to identify things in my yard.

And pulling Sibley's off the shelf,

and looking stuff up.

And listening to the Birdchick podcast.

It's all good.

Even for a caveman.

xobb

On the rocks, please... intertidal monitoring bliss

Skillz: a park volunteer (yet another professional biologist) perched atop a large marine boulder (at Cabrillo National Monument) searching for and measuring every owl limpet (Lottia gigantea) within 1 meter of a metal bolt. Note the wet spots where her feet were are only where owl limpets are not. She's good. =)

This is a picture of a good day.

If you see me doing this,

you will know I am in my happy place.

I will have ocean-soggy feet,

blonde hair flying wildly,

and a semi-permanent grin on my face.

I love the above photo

because it shows you a part of this work

that is very important,

but few would ever think of.

Our team: 3 professional biologists working for free 'cause a) we're just that nerdy, b) it's such a freakin' awesome place, and c) it's a fabulous cause. =) Note the orange chalk marking either the plot boundaries, or owl limpets that have already been measured.

Something that adds another level of complexity

and makes me love this work all the more.

Aside from having to lean into, hover over, squat under, or perch upon

a cold, hard, damp, variably squishy or scratchy boulder for up to an hour, 

and find and measure all the owl limpets

(being careful not to confuse smaller L.g. with other species),

you need to do it without crushing any owl limpets.

Don't tread on me! Lovely owl limpets. Note the area they've cleared of competitors (via bulldozing) so they can farm algae. Pretty awesome and interesting way of life. Clearly, though, it's tough to doze your own back....

And perching can include tip-toe-ing around on slimy

boulders or ledges: slipping is not an option.

Sometimes you get smacked around by waves,

and you always have to watch the tide.

Sing with me! "Every Lottia is sacred. Every Lottia is great. If a Lottia gets wasted, bb gets quite irate."

Finally, these boulders, ledges, and cliffs were selected for this study

because they sport so many owl limpets. High density.

I kind of love that.

So, while you try to work quickly and accurately,

to accomplish as much as possible in the time given,

within an ever-changing environment that's entirely out of your control,

you must also ensure that you don't hurt anyone.

I think it's good practice.

For lots of things.

=)

xoxobb

Burgess Shale not all snuffed out?

 
Check this out. A discovery in Morocco similar to the Burgess Shale, and ONLY UNCOVERED IN THE 10TH YEAR OF RESEARCH!!

Conclusion is that not all the Burgess Shale creatures pooped out in a huge extinction event. It's just the record (for their continued existence) is incomplete.

 
If you don't know, the Burgess Shale is this amazing collection of fossils in Canada that is very unusual in that conditions were apparently perfect to preserve all kinds of animals, including, amazingly, those with soft bodies (hence my jellyfish photo). Huge diversity, stunning.

Typically what you get in the fossil record is bones, shells, and foot prints (or worm paths, etc. This is a gross generalization). So, creatures that leave no "footprint" and don't have bones/hard shells are under-represented, which means they remain mysterious. The Burgess Shale has perfect impressions of things like jellyfish, etc.--soft bodied animals--and there was an unbelievable diversity of them and shelled creatures as well.

Here's the abstract, published in Nature.

So, kudos to the research team (including a few Yalies), and kudos to National Geographic for FUNDING THE TENTH YEAR. Can you imagine if they'd not gone out that 10th year?!?

Yikes.

If you cannot tell, I'm very into the importance of long term research. And it's TOUGH to keep getting funded, since most grants are short term.

And I'm a big fan of the B.S.

Exciting news!

biobabbler