The Bird Conservancy

I subscribe to their newsletter because I love birds, but I don’t know a lot about them as to ID’ing them, their calls, etc. I love how birds simply keep on keeping on, not seeming to worry about much. Enjoy, if you like; there is lots of info, photos, and you can listen to calls. And more!

Bonin Petrel (Nunulu)

A Poem I Just Read

This poem came in a newsletter I receive. I thought it’s a worthy share.

The Earthling

Matthew Olzmann

The Earthlings arrived unannounced, entered
without knocking, removed their shoes
and began clipping their toenails.
They let the clippings fall wherever.
They sighed loudly as if inconvenienced.
We were patient. We knew our guests
were in an unfamiliar environment; they needed
time to adjust. For dinner, we prepared
turkey meatloaf with a side of cauliflower.
This is too dry, they said.
This is not like what our mothers made.
We wanted to offer a tour of our world,
demonstrate how we freed ourselves
from the prisons of linear time.
But the Earthlings were already spelunking
our closets, prying tools
from their containers and holding them
to the light. What’s this? they demanded.
What’s this? What’s this? And what’s this?
That’s a Quantum Annihilator; put that down.
That’s a Particle Grinder; please put that down.
We could show you how to heal the sick, we said.
We could help you feed every nation, commune
with the all-seeing sentient energy that palpitates
through all known forms of matter.
Nah! they said. Teach us to vaporize a mountain!
Teach us to turn the moon into revenue!
Then the Earthlings
left a faucet running and flooded our basement.

https://poets.org/poem/earthlings/embed

Sea lion camera crews map the ocean floor

August 7, 2024 Ariel Marcy

Australian researchers have equipped sea lions with underwater cameras to map previously unexplored areas of the ocean floor.

In Australia – and the world – ocean seabeds and the surrounding benthic habitats remain shrouded in mystery. Remotely operated robots can gather ocean floor data, but they are expensive, require certain weather conditions and are difficult to operate in remote, offshore areas.

To overcome these challenges, the research team glued GPS units and lightweight cameras on Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea). These fast-swimming predators forage in several different benthic habitats, allowing the researchers to model over 5,000 square kilometres of ocean floor.

The results are published in Frontiers of Marine Science.

The eight enlisted sea lions came from the Olive Island and Seal Bay colonies on the coast of South Australia.

“We deployed the instruments on adult females so we could recover the equipment a few days later when they returned to land to nurse their pups,” explains first author Nathan Angelakis, a PhD student with The University of Adelaide and the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

The sea lions collected 89 hours of recordings in total, from which the researchers identified six distinct benthic habitats: macroalgae reef, macroalgae meadow, bare sand, sponge/sand, invertebrate reefs and invertebrate boulder.

The researchers then used machine learning models to predict the habitat type in nearby areas of continental shelf.

“The sea lions from both locations covered quite broad areas around the colonies. In our calculations, we kept the area in which we predicted habitats small to maximize the precision of our predictions,” said Angelakis. “This allowed us to model benthic habitats across more than 5,000 square km of the continental shelf.”

The findings have conservation implications for the endangered sea lion and for other benthic species that rely on these habitats.

“These data are useful both for mapping critical habitats for an endangered species such as the Australian sea lion, and more broadly, for mapping unexplored areas of the seabed,” said Angelakis.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/oceans/australian-sea-lions-camera-crew-map-ocean-floor/

This is so good-

That Was Fast

A couple of bits from Cosmos

for science!

Lithium-ion batteries made from wastewater phosphorus

Good news for some sustainability. Here’s a snippet:

“Engineers have found a way to turn phosphorus from city wastewater into parts for lithium-ion batteries.

“The Chinese researchers say that their method could be used to supply 35% of the phosphorus demand for their national lithium-ion battery industry.

“They’ve published their findings in Engineering.

“Phosphorus is a common component in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries – specifically, lithium iron phosphate batteries, which represent about 60% of the lithium-ion market according to the researchers.

“As an important ingredient in fertilisers and industrial chemicals, mineral phosphorus is in high demand. Mining stocks of phosphorus are expected to be depleted in the next 50-100 years.

“But, point out the researchers, more than 250,000 tonnes of phosphorus pollutes Chinese wastewater every year, coming from food consumption and chemical waste. This is more phosphorus than the amount consumed each year to make batteries.” (snip)

“The researchers used their wastewater-derived mixture to build small lithium-ion batteries in the lab. These batteries could charge and discharge at the rates needed for electric vehicles and large-scale storage systems, and they kept 99.2% of their capacity after being charged and discharged 100 times.

“Batteries made with higher doses of the wastewater material performed better than batteries made with lower doses. The researchers believe that impurities from the sludge helped to stabilise the batteries, allowing them to perform better.

“’The amount of phosphorus recovered from municipal wastewater is projected to be sufficient to meet up to 35% of the phosphorus demand by the lithium-ion battery industry in China, enhancing the cost-effectiveness of phosphorus recovery and alleviating the global shortage of phosphorus resources to achieve both clean energy and sustainable development,’ conclude the researchers in their paper.”

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When it rains, it pours! This old idea looks set to be Australia’s future

“In the last few years, Australia has faced both flooding rains and some of the lowest rainfall on record. Now, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have the data that explains why rain in Australia has seemed so unpredictable.

“The researchers have shown that human-induced climate warming is driving increases in rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land, and they say the effects are especially prominent in Australia.

“The study looked at increases in rainfall variability, which can mean wetter wet periods and drier dry periods. They found that daily variability has increased by 1.2% per decade globally, and that humans are largely to blame.

“’The increase in rainfall variability is mainly due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, which have led to a warmer and more humid atmosphere,’ said Dr Zhang Wenxia, lead author of the study.

“’This means that even if the atmospheric circulation remains the same, the additional moisture in the air leads to more intense rain events and more drastic fluctuations between them.’

“Professor Steven Sherwood at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre, who was not involved in the study, told the AusSMC that this means rainier rainy periods and drier dry periods.

“’This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods.’

“The paper identified Australia as being a particular hotspot for rainfall variability. Dr Milton Speer from the University of Technology Sydney said the paper’s findings are significant, and that other recent studies have had similar conclusions.” (snip-More)

Let’s talk about Ukraine, planes, and what comes next….

One of the shortest Tiny Desk Concerts

Apropo of nothing, simply enjoy a minute, 22 seconds.

https://www.npr.org/2014/12/24/372683580/tiny-desk-concert-hmstr

“You could never fully steal the show when you’re followed by the blown-out spectacle of Sun Ra Arkestra’s Tiny Desk Concert. But the opening act kept jumping on the piano and nibbling on the set, literally pulling up the carpet and leaving “presents” on the floor. How could we not have them back? Did I mention they’re hamsters?

“Joni and Nash — first names only, please, like Madonna and Cher — are HMSTR. Certainly not the first band to count rodents among its members, but at least they refuse to release a punk album with no punk to be found. “Snow Day” is HMSTR’s first single, a twee-as-all-get-out holiday pop-punk song by virtue of having “snow” in its title. After what sounds like digital snowflakes, the song unleashes a one-minute snowball fight with the fuzziest Tiny Desk destroyers we’ve ever seen.

“You can download “Snow Day” from HMSTR’s Bandcamp page. Happy holidays!”

The Small Things

Last night I sat out at the front porch and had a cup of coffee after work. It’s been a while since I sat out and enjoyed the evening air, and even though it was quite muggy it was nice to contemplate my world and how fortunate I have it in life. I miss my Grace terribly. She would sit out here with me and watch the neighborhood, and I often wondered what she was thinking. She seemed so content to simply watch; to be a part of the life going on around her, the wonderful smells of summer, the sounds of the birds, the kids playing, people walking by getting their exercise. There is a peace in that simple act that I wonder how many people in this world have available to them.

What I miss the most from my walks with Grace was her fascination with things great and small. She loved to go out and see things – like this picture when we went down to a local park for some exercise. Gracie was a great believer in feeling the wind through her ears, smells were fascinating, squirrels were great fun. Sometimes, I must admit, I resented her need for exercise and new sights when I wanted to be lazy and stare at the tv. But, she was mostly patient, waiting and encouraging me to get out and smell the mailboxes.

So, today I went out and did the proverbial smelling of the roses. I got a bit of sunshine on my face. I had a full belly, there was money in my wallet, my bills are paid up, and no one was shooting at me. How many in this world can boast those simple needs in life? How many have watched their homes destroyed, their loved ones hurt. How many are crying with an empty belly? How many live in sadness and despair? How many just hope to keep living? How did I come to be born in Michigan vs. Mexico or Ukraine or some other poverty stricken and war torn area?

So to each of you I wish a bit of sunshine, birdsong, cool grass to lay in and a squirrel or two to brighten your day. Hugs. Randy