theater, natural history and conservation, the utterly mundane, and Etruscan 8-tracks
Robert Silverman watches the crew clean up after a performance of True West.
This is the essence of it—there’s your craft, your technique and training, and the direction and the show’s design and all the elements that combine to make a play a play, and then there’s The Thing You Can’t Fake.
And yet… sewing ribbon for typewriter ribbon—gotta remember that. And the potted plant as its own periaktos is brilliant.
The Free Universal Construction Kit is a set of plans for 3-d printable thingummies that allow you to connect your Tinkertoy spools to your Lincoln Logs, or your Lego bricks to your K’Nex.
Meet Iowans for D.C. Statehood. Rachel Kurzius can make the introductions.
SAM. Y’know, you let somebody in, you know, and then, you make room. And they go. And (yeah) the room’s still there.
—GLOW, s2 e10
I attended a workshop focused on early detection of Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) (SLF) in Fairfax County. Speakers represented the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and the Fairfax County Urban Forest Management Division.
Spotted Lanternfly is native to China, and has also been found in India, Vietnam, and Japan. Introduced in Korea in 2006, it is considered a pest in that country. The insect was first detected in the US in September 2014, in Berks Country, Pennsylvania, where it was likely imported as egg masses laid on landscaping stone. The first Virginia populations were detected in the Winchester area last year.
A hemipteran, L. delicatula is highly invasive and can expand its range rapidly; it can use at least 70 North American host species, although it has a particular association with Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). A phloem feeder, the lanternfly sucks sap from its host plant, leading to wilting and reduced photosynthesis. Spotted Lanternfly also exudes honeydew, which promotes the growth of sooty mold, further impairing the health of its host plant.
Because its American hosts include species of grapes, hops, stone fruits, and Malus, the threat of significant economic losses looms.
Egg masses are laid on the roughened, brocaded bark of A. altissima, other tree species, and even weathered stone, concrete, and metal. Spotted Lanternfly undergoes incomplete metamorphosis, the eggs hatching into nymphs that go through several instars before transforming into winged adults. It is conjectured the lanternfly extracts and isolates toxins from its ailanthus host, and hence that the bright red coloration of its later instars and adults constitutes aposematic coloration. The adult, about an inch long, resembles a colorful black-brown-and-red moth.
In Virginia, first instar nymphs for this season were observed on 26 April 2019. If you see an egg mass, nymph, or adult that you suspect to be Spotted Lanternfly, please report it via https://ext.vt.edu/spotted-lanternfly.
But, wait, there’s more! Fairfax County foresters hope to monitor possible sites where SLF might first appear, and that means monitoring populations of A. altissima, itself a non-native invasive species. It turns out that our map of ailanthus patches in the county is incomplete, especially on private property. Therefore, please report any Fairfax County observations of Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) to the MAEDN (Mid-Atlantic Early Detection Network), either via its mobile app or the web site.
From my most recent report:
Two boxes hatched (including 13 ducklings from little box #5) and one new nest is started. We have reports from the photography contingent that ducklings left box #6 on 15 April. Unfortunately, we had to give up on box #13, which accumulated a lot of eggs but no incubating hen. All told, we have observed eggs in 13 of out 16 boxes. We have 9 nests in progress that we will be checking on our next work day, on 12 May. We will check again on 26 May (Memorial Day weekend), and then in June just spot check anything that is still active.
Sad, but true: Here’s How TurboTax Just Tricked You Into Paying to File Your Taxes. Justin Elliott and Lucas Waldron report for ProPublica.
My primary volunteer project at Riverbend Park is surveying and documenting wildflowers. But that doesn’t mean I can’t look at other stuff. The Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) are blooming along the river.
From my report on last week’s monitoring activity:
No new hatches, but we have 9 boxes with viable nests. I think that box #13 will not be incubated. It’s likely that at least 3 will hatch before our next work day, which will be next Sunday, 28 April, at the usual time.
Bonus wildlife sighting: Snapping Turtles making whoopee….
And the fantasy birding thing is a real thing. It has a writeup by Cornell.
A jewel of a simile in Alex Ross’s survey of composer and performer Tyshawn Sorey:
Anyone who worries whether Sorey has the chops to create “normal” music can sample “Movement,” on Alloy, which opens with a ravishingly melancholy piano solo in F-sharp minor. It’s a bit like Alban Berg playing piano in a hotel lounge at the end of the world.
On that same field trip today, Alonso reported seeing a Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) carrying an egg. The bird was at some distance to him, and I didn’t see the bird. We discussed the sighting, and concluded that it was possible, but somewhat unusual.
There is a bit in the literature: Robert W. Strader et al. (The Wilson Bulletin 90:1, March 1978, pp. 131-132) report an observation and suggest that the purpose of egg carrying is to remove eggs damaged by a woodpecker, another animal, or mishap. Larry J. Hindman (The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 127:4, December 2015, pp. 759-761) reports an observation of a male Wood Duck carrying an egg, and discusses some other possible explanations for the behavior.
The removal behavior might be more common than we think. In our boxes, it’s sometimes been the case that we count x eggs on a given Sunday, with high certainty, and we count x-1 eggs the next Sunday.
The area around the observation tower continues to surprise. Alonso Abugattas, co-leading a Fairfax Master Naturalists training walk, pointed out the mini grove of American Wild Plum (Prunus americana) in full bananas bloom, along the ramp up to the tower. In this patch is the county champion.
Kansas does away with 3.2 beer. After Utah’s mandate goes away on 1 November, Minnesota will be the last state standing.
When I was growing up in Ohio, 3.2 beer was an option for older youngsters. Not a tasty option, but an option.
More bumps in the road for Phase 2. Lori Aratani has the report.
From this week’s report to the team and Huntley Meadows Park staff:
The nest box season is hopping! Box #7 hatched out (we counted 16 eggs in it on 10 March). On social media, you may have seen the pix of photographers lined up to track activity in this box. We have 4 boxes incubating, 1 probable dump nest in #13 with 20 eggs, and a couple more clutches still a-building.
At box #1 (HOME, 11 eggs, incubating), I observed an evasion/distraction behavior that I have not seen before. As I approached the box, I heard the rustling of a bird, so I paused to make a note and move on. The bird then exited the box anyway, and plunged into the water about 3 feet away. As I foolishly watched the patch where she had splashed down, after a few seconds she resurfaced a good 10 yards away and scarpered away.
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were wheezing about, and Osprey were displaying and vocalizing over the parking lot.
We will meet again next Sunday, 14 April, and then meet every other week on 28 April and 12 May.