Rusties

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on February 17, 2010

What happened to all the rusties?  I’m speaking of rusty blackbirds (Euphagus carolensis).  While no one was looking over the past 40 years, the entire population declined 85%-99% throughout North America.  That’s a catastrophic collapse.

‘The birding community’ hates birds: Pishing and Tape-Luring - Part 2

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on January 28, 2010

Energy cost, increased conspecific and intraspecific confrontations and interactions, and disruption of normal activity.  These mean one thing: forced stress and aggression.  That represents the combined general impact on individual birds when they respond to pishing or tape-luring.  Any call used to bring birds out of hiding must elicit the same natural responses that would coincide with the call were it issued by another bird.  For example, alarm calls must produce stress and aggression along with the correlative hormones that define those states.  A challenger call would likewise produce the same physiological response.  In truth, any call utilized must produce a physiological response in every bird that hears it regardless of whether or not they respond to it in person, and those who do respond to it must likewise take part in a compulsory meeting with other birds who respond.  That is a meeting we can scarcely predict or control.  Also, birds reacting to the calls must expend energy and must stop engaging in natural behavior in order to respond.  So let us then turn to the existing science with hope of understanding how these practices can produce, in Professor Daniel J. Mennill’s words, “longlasting and far-reaching effects on individual fitness.”

‘The birding community’ hates birds: Pishing and Tape-Luring - Part 1

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on January 21, 2010

In Fiji’s Pacific Harbor, tourists hold their noses as dive boats pour hundreds of pounds of discarded fish scraps into the ocean.  This “chumming the water” as it’s called brings in sea life from miles around, including various kinds of sharks.  And sharks are precisely what the tourists have paid to see.  Yet biologists the world over state time and again that this constant activity will no doubt have an impact on normal shark behavior, and that the conditioning will lead the sharks and other wildlife into a downward spiral of abnormal activity.  But one thing the tourists pay for is results, and unloading all that smelly refuse into the tank definitely brings in the sharks.

But was has this to do with birds?  That answer rests in two activities: pishing and tape-luring.  Together or apart, they represent the birding community’s equivalent of chumming the water.

‘The birding community’ hates birds: Introduction

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on January 11, 2010

In 2009 I made a dedicated effort to participate actively in “the birding community.”  This is something I had not done before.  Though I am one of the most successful birders in Texas—by statistics alone, I saw and photographed more than 430 species in 2009, a number that easily ranks as the second-best birder in the state—I had never before opted to report my sightings, to send rare bird alerts to those who might be interested, or to seek out and participate in local, statewide, national and international forums and groups.

Through the Lens - The Rookery - Part 3

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on July 15, 2009

Humans seem inclined to lens the world through vision focused on self.  Thus becomes the agony of aloneness, separation from the world that nurtures us despite our intent to destroy it and all it births.  Too long have people scampered about in hurried endeavors to own, to acquire, to master.  And in response to our anthropocentric ways, too many lives have been brushed from the face of the planet that will never again be seen.

Through the Lens - The Rookery - Part 2

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on June 22, 2009

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility. (Rachel Carson)

A torrid sun simmers from a cloudless sky.  Moist air rests on the skin like wet cotton.  Where the shade of trees gives respite from the heat, it likewise proffers habitat for a handful of mosquitoes looking to feast on unsuspecting people.

Hover flies dance in dappled sunlight filtering through the treetops.  Ants march one by one.  A robin flits to the ground to feed its squawking child as a squirrel nibbles on a newfound treat.  From somewhere deep within the motte a blue jay screeches.

A cacophony of alien voices fills the area, a menagerie of languages reminding me of the cantina scene in “Star Wars.”  Birds as large as space ships and as small as stones seem anchored to the ground by eerie shadows dragged beneath gossamer wings.

All the while, the sound of automobiles rumbles from every direction…

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge: What the Future Holds

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on June 15, 2009

“A top climate scientist warned [in October 2007] that Texas faces a dual threat from floods and drought if global warming is left unchecked.”  Additionally, “scientists’ computer models indicate that the pattern of drier weather has already begun.”

Texas almost certainly faces a future of perpetual drought as bad as the record dry years of the 1950s because of global warming, climate scientists said in a study published [April 5, 2007].

The trend toward a drier, hotter southwestern U.S., including all of Texas, probably has already begun and could become strikingly noticeable within about 15 years, according to a study led by Richard Seager of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Drought conditions are expected to resemble the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s and Texas’ worst-ever drought of the 1950s, Dr. Seager said.  Unlike those droughts, however, the new conditions won’t be temporary, the study found.

The warning is bleak: Prepare for an “imminent transition to a more arid climate.”

The Observer Effect

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on June 2, 2009

When I began studying physics in high school, the term “observer effect” intrigued me.  It applies to all observational methods, and although quantum mechanics was in its infancy at the time, it soon would put a whole new spin on the premise by showing the observer effect remained valid for all observers—even those who weren’t aware they were observing anything (e.g. an electron can cause the observer effect just as easily as a human can).

What the observer effect helps us understand is that the act of observing a phenomenon changes the state of that phenomenon, even if only a small bit.  Consider this: When you take a baby’s temperature, the thermometer must draw heat from the infant’s body in order to measure it, therefore the child’s temperature is changed by the act of observing it.

Through the Lens: You Might Never See It Again

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 29, 2009

Lost. I get lost sometimes. Not that it bothers me. Many times I intentionally lead myself astray so I can wander the unseen, the unexplored, the oft forgotten. When it becomes important I will find my way home. Eventually.

Only this time my adventure into nowhere stemmed from a series of wrong turns, not a sense of “let’s see what’s out there…”

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge: Through the Lens Version 2

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 29, 2009

I girded myself for a second day in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Every part of my body itched from mosquito bites. And where mosquitoes had yet to nibble my flesh, deer flies had graced me with a polka-dot pattern of damage. Still, I refused to slather anything on the wounds to salve the constant discomfort just as I refused to apply chemical armor for the fight ahead. Wildlife seemed so uncomfortable already, so displaced by lack of fresh water, food and shelter, hence marching into the refuge cloaked in a noxious cloud felt like an even worse idea than it normally would be.

A light rain had fallen the previous afternoon and evening, nothing more than a sprinkle blanketed across hours. I held little hope that it proffered anything more than a tease for this parched and dying retreat.

Dark Corners and Passing Storms

By Beth Adams | Posted on May 25, 2009

Imagine the torpor of a July morning, already humid at 8:30 am. The sun hasn’t reached beyond the tops of the tall pines, so the grass in the village park is still covered with dew that soaks through the toes of our white cotton sneakers. The warm smell of coffee and homemade doughnuts mingles with the musty air inside the old carriage barn, so seldom opened; it’s usually the dark undisturbed home of pigeons and bats. On the concrete floor inside the barn are rows of several long folding tables and more, perpendicular to them, have been carried out onto the grass in front of the tall, dark green barn doors. Piles of cloth cover all the tables, and haphazard stacks of cardboard boxes lie underneath them.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge: Through the Lens Version 1

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 24, 2009

Hank Fox said this to me once: “The idea of waiting for days in a mosquito-infested swamp for that rare pic of a reticulated dingfoozle just boggles me.”  Although I saw no dingfoozles—reticulated or otherwise—I did spend days in mosquito-infested swamps, woodlands and marshes.  Mosquitoes and deer flies munched on me without pause.  Internal dialogue about the problem quickly turned to under-the-breath external dialogue punctuated by vulgarities that would strip paint off a wall.  “Ouch!” became the weekend’s key phrase.  Hank’s comment made me laugh through it all, so I dedicate the rest of this series to him.

The time I spent in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of Texas left me with almost 100 mosquito bites and an innumerable collection of wounds inflicted by deer flies^[1].  (Thankfully the horse flies left me alone.)  I even drove home with more than a dozen mosquitoes in my car, a collection that I began early in the morning on my first day and that grew throughout the weekend.  Many more perished than survived, I’m sure, given the heat in the car as it sat idle for hours, but I hurt myself chuckling as the six hours home turned into a quest to find—and perhaps agitate—the bloodsuckers riding with me.  Even the morning after I arrived back in Dallas, two of them escaped into the garage as soon as I opened the door.

The threat of anemia notwithstanding, I enjoyed every minute of my stay on the Gulf Coast.  All things considered—oppressive heat and humidity included—it could not have been more invigorating or eye opening.  And though the critical drought strangling Texas left an indelible mark on the Aransas NWR, one that changed a predictable visit into one of troubling discovery, I wouldn’t swap the experience for anything.

So in these next few entries let me share with you two things: (1) thoughts and observations on the worrisome condition of this area, and (2) photographs showing the undeniable magic that is the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge.

Through the Lens - Meet Rosy

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 22, 2009

We interrupt our regularly scheduled rookery series to bring you this important announcement regarding The International Day for Biological Diversity: Invasive Alien Species. Thanks to Dave Bonta for the reminder!

I met a stranger one morning.  I call her Rosy.  Some might call her The Plague or The Pestilence or more accurately, The Destroyer of Dawdlers.  Let me introduce you to her.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge: Climate Change

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 20, 2009

I spent last weekend on the Gulf coast. Following six hours of driving across 350 miles/560 kilometers, I bunked down at a no-tell motel for a few hours of sleep before heading out before dawn. My destination was the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a 59,000-acre/24,000-hectare refuge that spans salt and freshwater marshes, the sandy coastline, sloughs and mottes, and grasslands and thickets. For all its heat and humidity this time of year, Aransas has to be one of my favorite places given its diverse habitats.

Through the Lens - The Rookery - Part 1

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 12, 2009

Farms and ranches. Urban and suburban sprawl. Highways and byways. Throughout the “civilized” world, these anthropogenic artifacts have gone to great lengths in reducing the availability of natural habitat for plants and animals. Traveling some distance from humanity seems a prerequisite just to see nature doing its thing in what little space we’ve left for it. This explains why most people in developed areas rarely see anything more than a handful of bird species, the occasional rat or mouse or ant or wasp, and almost no flora save that planted in manicured lawns and decorative gardens.

Conversely, nature has an interesting way of taking advantage of what few opportunities we provide it. These oft overlooked silos of life accommodate surprising diversity where it’s least expected. And that creates an opening for discovery, a chance a lot of people won’t otherwise have. Therein lies the seed of appreciation that can make a city dweller comprehend the beauty beyond—and the need to protect it.

Through the Lens - Whistling wings

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 3, 2009

Amongst the cypress and pecan, hidden between the oak and sweet gum, shadowed by the cottonwood and elm, there stands a place known only to me.  Within a refuge shared with none save the creatures of the forest and lake, the rightful inhabitants who bestow upon me special consideration, I take leave of the world as I enter this realm both magical and removed.  Stepping betwixt two trees appears a mundane event, but nothing could be further from the truth.  A world lies just beyond the one we know, a landscape shrouded by limbs both ancient and new that resists the commotion of progress.  And therein I find escape.

One person can make a difference

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on May 1, 2009

A comfortable December day even by Texas standards. Clear skies, cool temperatures with the bitter edge shaved off by plenty of sunshine, and an urban lake full of winter’s wonders. The year is 2007.

Through the Lens - Introduction

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on April 24, 2009

What’s an environmental blog without some eye candy?

Of monarchs, migrations and milkweeds

By Jason M Hogle | Posted on April 23, 2009

The most profound insect migration on the planet takes place east of the Rocky Mountains. However, climate change and deforestation act in concert not only to halt this endless flight, but to destroy the species responsible for the splendor that is the monarch butterfly migration. But you can help.

(Expanded from a few items I’ve posted at my blog over the last several months.)

Happy Birthday, John Muir!

By Larry Hogue | Posted on April 21, 2009

Celebrating John Muir’s birthday with a tune by Greg Brown.