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Rather than risk the chick’s imprinting on humans, the team cleverly thought to pair their two charges. but I’m certainly impressed with and grateful for SeaWorld’s commitment to animal rescue (and adorable freaking photos, used with permission of course!)
There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. So, for example, humans are apes. The point is, of course, that whales are not cows. One could say that Lee et.al.
Someone posted a question about why humans have human rights and whether they should considering that others do not. In the matter of science, and there are varying levels of this viewpoint, the human is the most advanced of creatures. I responded. It's not profound, but an opinion. We are made in God's image.
Perhaps it is the striking beauty of these brilliant blue birds, or perhaps it is the unique human connection we have developed with them through the monitoring of nest boxes. Throughout the course of their recovery, bluebirds effectively became ambassadors for many of the other 84 cavity nesting birds of North America.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to think about science reporting on this vast Internet of ours. When you receive a link to an article in the Daily Mail , for instance, your thoughts do not immediately leap to “my god, a ground-breaking, perhaps even mind-blowing advance in the study of avian tool use!”
(Emptied of their contents, of course.). It comprised eight short talks on subjects ranging from investigations into the genetics of magnetic receptors for navigation, to the use of eBird and other “citizen science” crowdsourcing efforts in studying migrant phenology.
Of course, the first step is to define what is a ‘vagrant bird,’ a discussion I really appreciated since I’ve noticed that we (as in birders in general) tend to bandy the term about interchangeably with ‘accidental,’ ‘exotic,’ ‘scarce migrant,’ and ‘MEGA MEGA.’
If you have always wondered what the minimum anesthetic concentration for isoflurane and sevoflurane for the Crested Serpent-eagle is, science has an answer. Feel free to insert your own French joke here (though of course in the US, restaurants now serve Freedom Frogs rather than French Frogs). Glad I did not have to watch these.
Humans, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I have to say that the pattern suits the buntings much better than humans, though, and hopefully, it is also more pleasant for them to wear. Of course, he could not care less about the majestic look of the buzzard, probably thinking it is a bit of a show-off.
Quite likely, these birds are also the inspiration for Australian science communicator Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki. According to the HBW entry for this species, it “has been claimed that loss of native mammals after European settlement created shortage of nesting material, explaining this species’ penchant for taking hair from humans.”
The citizen science aspect is a big hit with many users, and eBirding areas with little existing data can be fun as well. Your yard of course. Wintering birds and migrants may certainly appreciate it, even if there is too much human disturbance for nesting birds. What is the ultimate patch? Birdscape your yard.
Of course, I’m not busy with that sort of thing every day…most of my day to day duties revolve around telling shadowy organizations like the AOU and ABA what to do. I’ve been sciencing really hard lately. I always appreciated when the Mississippi Kites stooped to the level of us lowly humans. But I digress.
” Hurray for science. ” Hurray for science. Maybe it thinks that not having chicks will help the environment, but I guess that really only applies to humans. Fortunately, this is not an issue for the White-shouldered Starling. Apparently, the bird can warm itself if it gets cold.
Or maybe you think that incentives have run their course and it’s time to drop them altogether. It’s human nature to choose something that doesn’t align with our desires. In other words, part of the human condition includes the inability to identify what will make us happy and therefore what motivates us. Application is the key.
And don’t forget, I’m the one coming out of solitude and ready to rejoin humanity in March of 2020. And of course, Carl Hiaasen, who unintentionally taught me how to write a novel. So I can’t tell you how not to be distracted, but I’d sure like someone to tell me how not to be obsessive. The Wild Trees boggled my mind.
Email lists, blogs, websites, forums, Facebook groups, and of course eBird (see below) has completely revolutionized the way birders get their business handled. Not only is it a very impressive citizen science project that manages to marshal the legions of birders around Canada and the U.S., 2) The internet has changed everything.
Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. There were ten students in total that had signed up for the spring break “Seabirds” course in Dry Tortugas National Park, and after long drives down from North Carolina we had all made it right on time.
AI can diagnose diseases faster than human doctors. At its most basic level, AI is the branch of computer science that deals with making computers behave like humans. At its most basic level, AI is the branch of computer science that deals with making computers behave like humans. So, what is AI?
From a billionaire with an interest in science and a desire to clone his lover’s dog Missy, to the police dog from Nova Scotia who found the last survivor victim of the attacks on 9/11, the book is full of characters both human and animal. I was pulled into the book, and really had a hard time putting it down.
Of course, on Chongming, the Chinese Pond Heron is very common. Unfortunately, in the science of language, this does not sound particularly raunchy but rather like a rational decision: “A rare species such as the Chinese Pond Heron might choose heterospecific mates rather than abandoning all chances of reproduction.”
Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. The visual beauty and textual facts are a strong combination.
Of course, if you’re reading this, then birds clearly matter to you, for any one of a number of reasons. But not everyone sees things through such an avian-positive lens, and hence science often has to make the case for birds’ intrinsic worth. The latest such argument focuses on birds’ value to the well-being of rainforests.
I am sure some people will hate this photo of a Eurasian Hoopoe , framed as it is by human artifacts. Of course, me being me, this is a good reason to show it. As I am sure I have mentioned before, a lot of science work seems to aim to prove the obvious – though the researchers still phrase their results very carefully.
It contains numerous citations to the literature, as the process must be based on the best available science. Habitat has been improved and conserved in some areas, though Hawaii’s increasing human population has made that a challenge. Several national parks, national wildlife refuges, and state lands host significant populations.
She is the "science" one and likes to call herself an "independent" on the political landscape. This woman said that those scenes didn't really bother her that much, it was the ghost and sexual implications in the story that disturbed her (latter relating to the human characters of course.) She is a practicing Catholic.
It is listed as Near Threatened – the HBW cites the usual reasons that are just other ways of saying that humans do not care enough for other species, such as forest loss and degradation in its winter range. Fear not, science has an answer: about 1.16 not their own).
This non-technical book is a development from a series of lectures, tried and tested in numerous adult education courses given to non-specialists. Those bears live in the wild and are not used to humans. Attempting to bluff the bear in believing that they were even bigger bears, Hoshino suggested raising their hands, to appear taller.
Of course, given the sometimes confusing covid travel restrictions in China, it is possible that the bird in question simply did not dare to travel any further south for fear of ending up in quarantine somewhere. As I frequently mention, science is quite wonderful. You pervert.
Hello Keith: I recently completed a documentary on the science, ethics, and politics of animal agriculture entitled "Beyond Closed Doors." The film contains personal interviews with prominent professionals such as Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Bernard Rollin, Dr. John Webster, Steve Wise, and many others.
Delivering pre-work: For pre-work, a best-practice to consider is to deliver a brief, on-demand learning course (for example, the new company elevator pitch), and then ask recipients to create a video showing they’ve internalized the learning. After the Meeting.
If there has been progress in ethics recently it has been through the realization of some ethicists that animal happiness and suffering has to be considered equally with that of human beings. We should, of course, be equally mindful of extra-terrestrial consciousnesses, should we come across any such and have to interact with them. (
This last implies of course an improvement in ethics, as opposed to morality, as I have defined it, unless we already understand 'Do as you would be done by' as applicable to whales, cattle, chickens, and so on, as it is to human beings. Smart , "Ethics and Science," Philosophy 56 [October 1981]: 449-65, at 453 [italics in original])
Thus Socrates turned his back on the great speculations about the nature of the universe and focused his whole attention on "the good for man" Twenty centuries later men lament that they pursue loneliness, and that their morals and politics lag dangerously behind their natural science. True Irrationality. Transcendence.
Not in words, of course, but they can answer in ways that we can understand if we are paying attention. That system may treat sentient animals like car parts, ruin antibiotics we need for human medicine, and destroy rural communities by polluting our air and water, but at least it’s “efficient” (a word Mr. Hurst hammers three times).
Keith has not only been my favorite Philosophy professor that I have studied under during the course of my college experience, but my favorite professor in general. When I came across Philosophy, I immediately saw that it was the tree from which the branch of science had grown.
At a fundamental level, health drives human performance. We’re really missing the boat here if we’re chasing a few nickels of energy efficiency by stretching out the fans and filters while we’re losing thousands of dollars around human productivity and illness,” Macomber told Sales & Marketing Management.
And if you look into it enough, it presents a classic case where science can fail us. I believe in science. Science is based on logic and evidence, which I think is a very respectable way to look at the world. But what many people fail to realize, and too often scientists themselves, is that science is elastic.
The potpourri covers some interesting bird related science of the last few weeks, and the promise is this: I’ll get to that other stuff soon, I promise! From Science Daily : Crows have the brain power to solve higher-order, relational-matching tasks, and they can do so spontaneously, according to new research.
But while humans mainly try to stay slim and fit for health reasons, Eurasian Siskins care more about the danger of being eaten. In science speak, this is named the optimal body mass hypothesis. People tend to eat more food when in company. The same was shown for Eurasian Siskins ( source ).
Of course, Tiaozini also has Cattle Egret … … and the usually somewhat depressed looking Black-crowned Night Heron. And of course, there are Chinese Blackbirds breeding – ignored by the local government as they are unlikely to attract birders. I guess looking elegant during sex is difficult for most humans, too.
Way back when I started what turned out to be my thesis research (on humans), it became important for me to learn about bird migration. I was involved in the study of human movement and navigation on land, and there was a lot of research coming out about bird navigation. A fascinating exception to this, of course, are penguins.
It is also about Chris’s personal history: his boyhood in suburban Long Island, college years at Harvard and the struggle to come out, ‘nerdy’ passions beyond birding–namely science fiction books and films, career highs at Marvel Comics, travels to foreign countries, and his complicated relationships with his parents.
49-50) She is also adept at writing about conservation’s larger context in terms of its history, public policy struggles, and the science behind species re-introduction. Well-researched and footnoted, these sections never feel disconnected from the more personal sections.
Of course, it is hard to resist looking at a paper titled “Host personality predicts cuckoo egg rejection in Daurian redstarts” Basically, the personality of a female redstart (bold or shy) predicts the responses to parasitic eggs – bold hosts are more likely to reject parasitic eggs. They were missed.
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