10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

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. Whales are cows. The point is, of course, that whales are not cows. You should have said whales. Cows do not.

Camels 253

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

This third obstacle seemed impossible to overcome until I discovered that the Port Townsend Marine Science Center hosts Puffin Cruises aboard the 65′ Glacier Spirit, owned and operated by Puget Sound Express. There was no pretending this was a whale-watching trip, a ruse that is growing stale anyway. But how to get there?

Washington 219

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 219

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

The iconic Ted Williams: Cool Green Science – Native Fish Coalition – Audubon – Muckrack – Recent Conservation Columns (I’m waiting for the expanded paperback version of his Wild Moments/Earth Almanac essays to come out in April. I love all of Sy Montgomery’s fabulous wildlife adventures.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 279

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

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. .”

Delaware 231

Delaware New Jersey Eggs Research 231

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

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])

Morals 40

Morals Whales Whaling Chickens 40

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2013

Of course it’s not permanent. It is responsible for some of the happiest moments of my childhood, the trips to the Buffalo Museum of Science that kindled my passion for nature; and yet, the quest for specimens ushered some of my favorite species of birds out of the world.

Elephants 180

Elephants Gorillas Buffalo Mammals 180