At the park: 119

A wrap-up message to the team:

We had a good year. 12 clutches, with hatches in all but 1 — a late clutch of only 2 eggs. A conservative estimate is 47 Wood Duck fledglings and 63 Hooded Merganser fledglings.

That estimate does not include the nest in box #13: we did not get a good estimate of the number of eggs.

And it does not count box #3: I counted 25 Wood Duck eggs on 11 April, and when I checked on 23 May, I found 1 unfledged duckling but not enough evidence that 24 eggs had hatched. I also didn’t see evidence of predation, so I’m not sure what went on in that box….

Monitors and box installers, thank you for all your help!

More recordkeeping and summarizing to do.

One or two weeks

Brood X has peaked, the little red-eyed guys have done what they set out to do, and they are passing away.

“When animals die they have a pretty distinct BAD smell,” wrote Paula Shrewsbury, also a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland, in an email. “As part of the decay process there are a number of interactions between enzymes and microbes that result in the ‘smell of death.’ Cicadas are no different than other animals; when they die they smell bad.”

Mess around

Tasty word salad spam. The cherry on top is “…try and dance on the rule and regulations given to you here.”

Apparently, I have been cautioned against dealing with scammers, and if I don’t pay the processing fee, the money I am expecting from the scammers… will be delivered?

Federal Bureau of Investigation Department
FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J.Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

URGENT ATTENTION: ORDER FROM FBI WASHINGTON D.C

Urgent Attention:

We the entire federal bureau of investigation department Washington,
D.C. have instructed you to stop further contact and communication you
have with any Bank, Courier or Diplomat in Africa, because we realize
today that you are still dealing with those fraudsters after we have
warned you last year, even few months ago to stop complying with those
internet hackers/scammers but you insist, ignored our instruction.

Thus, mind you that your ignorance might lead you into serious problem
because we just receive a second report letter today from Bank of
America, World Bank Group, UBA Bank Benin Republic, Interpol Police,
Central Intelligent Agency (CIA) and United Nation Organization
stating that you haven’t secured your Authorization Release Permit
Certificate which we advised you few months ago to obtain before the
shipment of your consignments worth $15.8 million united state dollars
will be completed, but till now you still remain silent simply because
you think that you can do otherwise or mess around with Federal Bureau
of Investigation.

Moreover since your negative thought will not allow you to believe on
them, now you are hereby advised again with the power of this Custody
(FBI) to use this information listed below and send the required fee
of $1,750 usd to United State Consignment department Agency Florida
today, to enable them work faster on the paperwork before it will
become too late because delaying this shipment again might lead you to
jail simple because we have warned you severally to stop every
communication you have with any Bank, Courier, Diplomatic or
individual, but you refuse to accept our instruction. Furthermore,
sending the fee today will be your best option because we have
concluded to track you down if you fails to comply with the
instruction given to you here, so get back to us with the payment
information immediately you receive this email, again don’t forget to
reconfirm your personal information as soon as you send the fee of
$1,750 usd today to avoid wrong delivery, Use the information of the
United State Consignment department Agency Florida as listed below and
send the money via Western Union, Money Gram or Ria ONLY.

Receiver: Mrs. Sandra Jean Wright
Country: United State
City: Jacksonville Florida USA
Test Question :…… Very
Answer:…….. urgent
Amount:………… $1,750.00
Mtcn number and sender’s name ………

Therefore you have to try as much as you can and make this payment
today so that your consignment will be delivered to you today.
Remember that you are warn to stop every transaction you have with any
body or office in Africa, to avoid delay during the registration of
your Consignment. Again mind you that your ignorance or delay, may
force us by urgent arrest to your home address, so try and dance on
the rule and regulations given to you here.

Thank For Your Understanding while patiently waiting for your
immediate feedback together with the payment details.

Yours In Service
Dr. Christopher A. Wray
Secretary Of Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C

Field trip roundup

Blandy Experimental Farm/State Arboretum of Virginia, Clarke County

On the native plant trail, too late for spring ephemerals and too early for summer meadow flowers. I did see some Penstemon sp., and Oxeye Daisy was fairly common. Not very birdy—I saw some Chimney Swifts by one of the buildings. A mystery pink-flowered sedum-like something.

I got some reasonably good observations of Magicicada cassinii and M. septendecim. Cassin’s sounds like a recycling lawn sprinkler.

new growthwell drilledIn the conifer collection, I was taken by the bright green new growth of Nordmann’s Fir (Abies nordmanniana).

Red Rock Wilderness Overlook Regional Park, Loudoun County

Mostly families on the poorly marked trails. The drop down to the riverside is steep and slippy. Pass.

Fraser Preserve, Fairfax County

Six-spotted Tiger Beetles (Cicindela sexguttata) were tolerably common; a Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) defending turf at the entrance gate. At Nichols Run, a mystery hollow-stemmed, maculate shrubby something and a handsome Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). Much lovely dappled shade on the trail/gravel road.

Waiting for an interview with Quexcorp

Two bits of juvenilia from my business school days, published in the student newspaper, The Wharton Journal, in 1978-1979: a guide to the non-credit courses in computing and calculus offered in the summer, and a satire of too much life hacking. I had about 20 pieces published in the paper, and in exchange for meeting once a week to proofread, I got my name in the staff box with the fancy title of News Editor.

Photo stop

At the lake we stop and stretch and mingle affably with the small crowd of tourists holding cameras and children yelling, “Don’t get too close!” and see cars and campers with all different license plates, and see the Crater Lake with a feeling of “Well, there it is,” just as the pictures show. I watch the other tourists, all of whom seem to have out-of-place looks too. I have no resentment at all this, just a feeling that it’s all unreal and that the quality of the lake is smothered by the fact that it’s so pointed to. You point to something as having Quality and the Quality tends to go away. Quality is what you see out of the corner of your eye, and so I look at the lake below but feel the peculiar quality from the chill, almost frigid sunlight behind me, and the almost motionless wind.

“Why did we come here?” Chris says.

“To see the lake.”

—Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), p. 341

70°

Pollution is just a resource in the wrong place: Denver is building a sewer heat-recovery program, as Sam Brasch of Colorado Public Radio reports.

[Shanti] Pless said the biggest barrier isn’t technology — it’s helping developers rethink the size of their heating and cooling systems. Sewer heat recovery often works best as the heart of a district-size energy system, where a central plant provides energy to a whole neighborhood or office complex.

At the park: 118

Last full work day of the season:

Three more boxes hatched out! This leaves one more clutch in box #2 to go, plus two eggs in adjacent box #4 that we’re monitoring. Box #4 probably will not be incubated.

Rather than a scheduled work day, K and C will check those boxes in the next week or so as is convenient.

I patched my patch on box #67, and I retacked the screening on box #3 that C and I improvised. That box was super-full of eggs (25), but it seems that all but 1 fledged. I didn’t count that many membranes, however, so the box remains a but of a mystery.

For next year, boxes #7 and #84 have cracked bottoms and are candidates for replacement.

I’ll prepare a full summary report after I collect the last data on our two outstanding boxes.

Rattlesnakeweed is blooming.

Thanks all!

At the park: 117

Sunday’s report:

Five boxes hatched out — it’s looking to be a good season for us.

I don’t have a full count of eggs for box #13. K, if you happen to have any other notes, please pass them along.

We patched a knot hole in the roof of box #67. I will come back and make a more permanent fix.

Remaining boxes with eggs: #2 and #4 on the inflow, #6 and #84 on the main pond, and #3 in the new pool by the tower.

Our next work day, the 23rd, may be our last for the season. We just have five boxes to spot check, plus the repair box. That said, box #4 had new eggs on Sunday, so this may be a late clutch that will run into June.

support systemI follow this log when I need to cross Barnyard Run. The water is about thigh-deep on me in the center of the stream, so the log gives me some support.