Category: fauna

whatis

worms
Several discrete assemblages of these critters were making their way up my next-door neighbor’s front walk.

worm detail
Please send any information you have on these worms, Do they travel in a bunch to conserve moisture, scare predators?

Arbor Day


Charlottesville schoolchildren measure the circumference of Quercus alba at Forest Hills Park.

CATS plaque
The Tree Stewards stressed that this tree is a survivor. Its life recently hasn’t been easy. It’s under professional care. Time will tell.


There is a saying about oaks, something to the effect of :
“They spend 100 years growing, 100 years thriving and 100 years dying.”
No telling how old these trees are. They were located on the woodland of the James Fife’s farm “Oak Lawn”. Thanks to the Fife folk for seeing beyond the timber value of these trees.


One of my few regrets in life is that I didn’t start planting trees earlier. Maybe these people will grow up without that regret.

Councilor Smith and TC chair Waters
Is there space for trees in Charlottesville? Do “ecosystem services” matter? These issues are under discussion by the Planning Commission and the City Council. Now there is a Tree Commission in the mix.

homo sapiens

another version of the marathon, sit and wait
Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks, to nations. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society.–Wikipedia

dead birds

cat silhouette
I have gotten little traction for my proposal to leash the King of suburbia, felis catus.
Had occasion to be reminded of cats’ killing prowess when Gordon hauled in a Cardinalis cardinalis.

cat stays close to dying bird
Gordo growled to be sure I didn’t mess with the bird while she tried to clear her lips of those pesky bird feathers.

what kind of bonehead motorist runs down birds at 25 mph?
Meanwhile, out on Market Street, two members of Turdus migratorius clan are road kill, extinguished by that other King of suburbia, the automobile.

What kills birds? Consultants to the Wind Power Industry on birds and other wildlife issues, Curry and Kerlinger LLC put together some numbers which hold that glass windows are the largest bird slayer, 100-900 million birds per year. (love that range, factor of nine. Doesn’t inspire confidence).
House cats and motor vehicles each dispatch a 100 million.
I feel like a politician, “don’t believe the numbers”. From my experience, domestic cats rule in the realm of shredded tweet. That 100 million dead for cats, way low.
Leash law for the kitties!