Category Archives: Wildlife

Relationship status: it’s complicated

The Dodo: Bald Eagle Trio Is Raising Their Babies Together. “The three parents share incubation responsibilities for the eggs … Like their relationship, their history is complicated.”

“This trio has been together since 2017, according to the Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge, a nonprofit organization that, among other things, provides a live stream of the nest. But the two males, Valor 1 and Valor 2, have been together for longer — since 2013 — and they began as rivals. Valor 2 tried to replace Valor 1 as the king of the nest — but Valor 1 decided not to leave.

At that time, there was a female in the nest, Hope. She and both Valors raised two eagle chicks together back in 2014. She was seen mating with both Valor 1 and Valor 2. The trio was seen the next year, too, taking care of the nest. In 2017, three little eaglets were hatched and raised by the trio. Somehow, the nontraditional situation seemed to just click.”

There’s a webcam of the nest.

Link via MetaFilter.

Keine Frage: Schützen!

WDR Doku: Wölfe – Schützen oder schießen? (YouTube, 43:50min) “Die Wölfe sind zurückgekehrt und breiten sich in Deutschland aus. Aber sind Wölfe automatisch gefährlich für den Menschen? Tendenziell sollen Menschen für den Wolf uninteressant sein, aber was sagen Experten? Ob in Niedersachsen, Sachsen oder jüngst in Nordrhein-Westfalen, allerorten werden die Raubtiere gesichtet – Der Wolf ist zurück in der deutschen Wildnis.”

We love hummingbirds

Cornell Lab Bird Cams Project: West Texas Hummingbird Cam.

“The West Texas Hummingbird Feeder Cam is nestled in the mountains outside Fort Davis, Texas, at an elevation of over 6200 feet. This site hosts a total of 24 Perky Pet Grand Master hummingbird feeders, and during peak migration can attract hundreds of hummingbirds from a dozen species that are migrating through the arid mountains.”

Link via MetaFilter: Best work-safe live webcams/live streams 2018.

Science Podcast

Motherboard: Science Solved It podcast.

“I grew up on shows like The X-Files and Unsolved Mysteries. I checked out books on UFOs and Bigfoot from the library. I was fascinated by all of the wondrous, unexplainable things in the universe. And I still am. Only now, as an adult, a science journalist, and a skeptic, I’m much more interested in the explanations behind these mysterious phenomena.

That’s why I created Science Solved It, a new weekly podcast from Motherboard. Each episode, I explore one of the world’s greatest mysteries that was solved by science. I talk to the actual, real live scientists who cracked the case, while also indulging in some of the bizarre conspiracy theories that accompany these mysteries. Throughout the season, you’ll hear about unexplained, underwater noises, floating lights, moving rocks, and even a cartoon that gave people seizures.”

I found the podcast via this MetaFilter post: Science Solved It: theories and solutions to strange occurances, which has links and summaries to all the episodes in the first two seasons. I especially liked the episodes about the underwater flies at Mono Lake and the moving rocks in Death Valley, because I’ve been to those places years ago – plus, now I want to go see albino redwood trees (which probably won’t happen, as their location is being kept secret for good reasons).

I’ve got a cold at the moment and spent the past two days on the couch binge-listening to all 14 episodes in the first two seasons. Highly recommended!