Uttarakhand
Bird of the Day: Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler
Uttarakhand
Tumbled Wooden Pieces
It started as an experiment a few weeks ago. Small wooden odds and ends, leftover pieces from one of our toy producers, placed in the tumbler, produced what we saw as handfuls of nature. We placed them in the tub above.
Would people buy these instead of the magnetic stones offered in other gift shops? We have our answer.
Is the tub half empty, or half full? Perspective is everything.
Bird of the Day: Grey-sided Bush-Warbler
Mishmi Hills, Arunachal Pradesh
Easy Coffee Quality Improvement
Getty Images
Usually I avoid recommendation lists that have commercial intent, but exceptions are made when it might help someone visiting one of our shops. We sell specialty coffee. And we sell coffee paraphernalia. So here is an exception. Thanks to Joanne Chen for this short list of what you can do to improve your daily coffee drinking experience:
“Oh! The coffee’s good today” is something my husband or I murmur on occasion as we slowly come alive with our first sip of the morning. On most days, though, the coffee we make at home is just good enough. We make it the same way every time, but whether we achieve coffee nirvana on any particular day is anyone’s guess. How to brew a great cup mystified me for years — until I decided to get to the bottom of it.
It turns out that even with quality beans, it’s hard to be a good home barista without the right tools. Some of these things are admittedly pricey but entirely worth it, according to coffee experts. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Burrowing Owl
Mendoza, Argentina
Conformity & Climate
![0320_DIS_Frank_LeadClimate [Print]_12983983.indd](https://organikos.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ded3cd9d4.jpg?w=359&h=523)
PHOTO RENDERING BY PATRICK WHITE
When our peers take actions to preserve the planet, we’re more likely to follow suit. How the human instinct to conform could help us address the climate crisis.
It is worse, much worse, than you think,” reads the frightening first sentence of The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells’s comprehensive account of what researchers have discovered about our planet’s climate trajectory. The severity of the crisis, he goes on to note, has made some climatologists reluctant to describe its full extent, fearing that such candor might make the challenge we face seem hopeless. The concern is understandable: Previous warnings of impending peril have done little to alter either individual behavior or public policy. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Black-necked Storks
Bharatpur, Rajasthan
Oats, Health & Planet
My eye is always caught by updated research findings on various food choices that are found to be either more environmentally friendly or healthier to consume–better for the planet or better for the human body–or both. I started a month-long test of my ability to give up foods and beverages that strain the environment and my body, so this article was on my to-read list the last few days:
Plant-based milk is better for the planet than dairy, but it can have a dark side. Photograph: Prostock-studio/Alamy Stock Photo
Almonds are out. Dairy is a disaster. So what milk should we drink?
A glass of dairy milk produces almost three times more greenhouse gas than any plant-based milk. But vegan options have drawbacks of their own Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Maroon Oriole
Chopta Tungnath, Uttarakhand
Please Let Your Dandelions Bolt
Each dandelion head has up to 100 individual flowers. Photograph: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images
So many challenges, so many unanswered questions about why bee colonies are collapsing. In the realm of how to help, the UK has a new notion:
Help bees by not mowing dandelions, gardeners told
Plants provide key food source for pollinators as they come out of hibernation
Gardeners should avoid mowing over dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees, according to the new president of the British Ecological Society.
Dandelions – which will start flowering in the UK this month – provide a valuable food source for early pollinators coming out of hibernation, including solitary bees, honey bees and hoverflies.
Each dandelion head contains up to 100 individual flowers, known as florets, which contain nectar and pollen. There are 240 species of dandelion in the UK. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Rufous-necked Hornbill
Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal
If Fly Fishing Is The New Bird Watching
George Etheredge for The New York Times
The last time, prior to yesterday, when I posted anything related to fly-fishing, it included an acknowledgement of my brief enjoyment, but prompt abandonment, of the activity.
Today, I remain struck by what I learned about a sub-culture within the culture of fly-tying masters. It made me wonder about the overlap between fly-fishing and bird-watching, and searching on those terms led to an article link at the top of my search results:
Fly Fishing Is the New Bird-Watching
It’s the latest “old timey” hobby to gain a dedicated new following.
George Etheredge for The New York Times
This one photo within the article got me thinking it is worth linking to now, as a marker for myself to start looking more deeply into the larger culture of fly-tying, where I expect to find that most people would abhor the museum heist or, bird-poaching, or any other illegal activity. And it got me wondering whether there is a sub-culture of birders who would rob natural history museums to fuel their hobby. If fly-fishing is the new bird-watching, what might bird-watching tell us about the future of fly-fishing?
Bird of the Day: Red-wattled Lapwing
Vijayapura, Karnataka
Fly Versus Fly
A Jock Scott salmon fly, tied according to the original T.E. Pryce-Tannatt recipe.Timo Kontio
Having friends who fish using this technique, this is a tricky post to write. I knew little about the history of the lures used in fly fishing until yesterday. I learned a little something about this history that is as disturbing as the lures are admittedly beautiful. I have tried fly fishing and found it more difficult than any other outdoor activity I ever tried. I respect anyone with the talent required to catch fish this way. But now I wonder about the lures. Above is an extra feature from the episode of a podcast which, if you are a regular viewer of our daily bird feature, you will want to listen to. Click the image to go to that photo gallery for more, either before or after you listen to the podcast:
Victorian salmon flies are tied according to recipes that are up to 150 years old and call for some of the rarest feathers in the world. Our show this week is the story of what may be the greatest feather robbery of all time, a million dollars in rare birds, stolen from a British museum.
The community of people devoted to tying these kinds of flies doesn’t fish with them—they’re just for show. Many try to use feathers from the same species listed in the classic manuals. But because so many birds have been killed for so many reasons over the years, a lot of the most coveted species are now endangered or protected.
Below are some photos of salmon flies—the Durham Ranger, the Jock Scott, and the Sherbrook—and some of the birds referenced in the recipes used to make them.
The episode those photos support offers as well told a story as This American Life is known for, but for bird nerds it is especially rich. And for those who are yet to become bird nerds, it may be just the stimulus you need. To tie the most prized fishing fly, the most prized birds lose the ability to fly. :
An “analytical diagram” illustrating the various parts of a Jock Scott salmon fly.
George M. Kelson’s The Salmon Fly: How to Dress It and How to Use It (1895)
A flute player breaks into a British museum and makes off with a million dollars worth of dead birds.
Prologue
By Sean Cole
After hearing about the heist, Kirk Wallace Johnson gets sucked into the feather underground. He ends up discovering things that the people in charge of the theft investigation didn’t. Kirk’s book about the heist is called “The Feather Thief.” (7 minutes)
Bird of the Day: Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher
Wayanad, Kerala
Meatless February For Me
Finally, it is time to give it a shot. After reducing meat intake over the last decade, slowly but surely, now I am curious whether a month without meat will convince me to eliminate meat from my diet entirely. True, I have chosen the shortest month of the year to try my experiment, but knowing myself this is a reasonable decision.
I am thinking about tomorrow’s main meal already, and this book from our years living in Ithaca comes to mind.
Bird of the Day: Black-headed Bunting
Steinbach, Austria
Invasive Python Hunting Season
A Florida Wildlife Commission employee captures a Burmese python during the kickoff event for the Florida Python Challenge in Sunrise, Florida, on 10 January. Photograph: Joe Cavaretta/AP
We first started paying attention to invasive species here. Since then, every year, we pay more and more attention, especially to the pythons in the Everglades. It is that time of year:
Florida hunters capture more than 80 giant snakes in Python Bowl
Annual challenge encourages the public to catch as many of the invasive giant snakes that decimate native wildlife as possible
Most visitors to the mosquito-infested swamps of the Florida Everglades are happy to leave again quickly: a half-hour airboat ride and photograph of a basking alligator is usually enough to satisfy the curiosity of any tourist keen to return to the theme parks and beaches – or sports events – of the sunshine state’s more traditional attractions. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Spot-billed Pelican
Mysore, Karnataka
Citizen Science & Northern Lights
We believe citizen science, in all its forms, is one of the latest greatest innovations of mankind, and here is one more example:
A New Form Of Northern Lights Discovered In Finland – By Amateur Sky Watchers
People in northern climes have long gazed at the wonder that is the aurora borealis: the northern lights.
Those celestial streaks of light and color are often seen on clear nights in Finland, where they’re so admired that a Finnish-language Facebook group dedicated to finding and photographing them has more than 11,000 members.
There aurora aficionados gather to discuss subjects like space weather forecasts and the best equipment to capture the northern lights. Continue reading
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