Pamelia woke me from a deep sleep at 4 a.m. "Sorry," she said. "But we have to drive to Bates." I was too groggy to process this unexpected announcement, but an hour (and two cups of coffee) later, as we began the 150-mile drive south to Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine, to scout the location of our upcoming TEDx conference outdoor installation, I knew we were off on a worthwhile adventure.
Pamelia and I studied the outdoor amphitheater and Lake Andrews—a small, man-made body that Bates students often call the Puddle—to figure out how best to present the Notebook’s outdoor 13.7-billion-year, history-of-the-universe walk during the TEDx conference in October.
Bates is a small school (1,700 students) that has been recognized as one of America's greenest colleges. I had never been there, but immediately liked the feel of the compact campus and the brick buildings. The TEDx conference will be held at the Olin Arts Center, which sits next to a stone-and-grass outdoor amphitheater and pond-sized Lake Andrews. Between sessions at the conference (which will focus on the theme of villages and will feature a variety of compelling speakers), attendees will go out onto a stone terrace overlooking the amphitheater and the lake. We hope that many of them will be drawn to our fun, color-coded, lakeside walk through the history of the universe.
The quarter-mile walk around the scenic lake took us past not only the osprey but also glowing spider webs, a flock of black ducks, assorted leaf-munching caterpillars and a splendorous mix of trees, grasses and flowering plants.
About a dozen of these white hickory tussock moth caterpillars were on the trunk of an oak tree. This type of caterpillar has been growing in number in Maine. Be forewarned if you see one: Touching its hairs can cause an allergic reaction.
We should have brought some of our Notebook brain-bogglers to work on at this lakeside sitting spot.
Whether or not you attend the TEDx conference, you should try to take in this show of astrophotography, which will run at Bates through the end of the year.
We hope to see some of you at the TEDx Dirigo event at Bates. The group's slogan is Maine Ideas Worth Sharing, but the talks and conversations will reach far beyond the Pine Tree State in their insights and importance. Even the walk around the lake will (we hope) be memorable.
Wildlife Back Home We've had many distractions lately—pretty much anytime we step out the door or look out the window. Our house and its surroundings are a hub for black bears, raccoons, skunks, foxes, migrating birds, frenetic fish, butterflies, dragonflies and a flock of wild turkeys that is growing in number, as it does at this time each year. A few pictures:
This morning we looked outside at 6:30 and saw a pair of young foxes. We’ve seen fox kits here in mid-September for several years.
Doesn’t this caterpillar look a bit like a hippo? Pamelia and I found it marching across our dirt road. I couldn’t find it in my caterpillar field guide. Any thoughts on what type it is? It has evolved a wonderful camouflage to hide in leaves.
A top view of the same caterpillar. The design itself looks like an insect.
We found this beautiful dragonfly on the road. Don’t know what happened to it, but it had expired. Scientists have long studied dragonfly wings for insights into building strong, lightweight, aerodynamic structures.
Cute animal face? No, a bone found on the shore near us by our friend Betsy. What is it? We’re trying to find out.
Here’s a bottom view of the same bone. Or maybe this is the top view.
Caterpillars have been carving meandering paths on these leaves. Each leaf has a different pattern.
The waters at our house were alive with swarming fish yesterday afternoon. We guessed that they might be mackerel, but couldn’t tell. They were literally jumping into the air—perhaps to escape a hungry seal?
Back to those foxes. Julie, who's living with us, had the wits scared out of her the other night by a screaming red fox when she got out of her car in our driveway. You laugh? Listen to what a fox scream sounds like:
Birding Tips from the Cornell Ornithology Lab The lab e-mailed me this video link the other day about the methods it uses to track the small birds we find in our backyards:
Worrisome Words From a story in last week's Ellsworth (Maine) American on the lack of cod and other groundfish in the eastern Gulf of Maine—an area that MacArthur Fellow Ted Ames, a longtime Maine fisherman and historical fisheries ecology researcher, calls "a depleted suite of fisheries":
James "Howdy" Houghton, a Bar Harbor lobsterman, said the bottom temperature around that Frenchman Bay harbor had been "45 degrees forever," but has increased significantly over the past few years. Five years ago, he said, the temperature had risen to 50 degrees.
"Now it's up to 60. We're seeing all kinds of squid around we never see."
Bat Watching
The U.S. Forest Service sent me a press release this week saying that it will be co-sponsoring a live educational webcast about bats on Tuesday, September 18, from Bracken Cave near San Antonio. Twenty percent of the world's known mammal species are bats, and if you'd like to learn more about them, tune in (or tell your local school to tune in) by going to http://www.batslive.pwnet.org. The webcast will take you on a field trip to view millions of Mexican free-tailed bats and find out the latest on the white-nose syndrome that has killed off more than 6 million bats, mostly in the eastern U.S.
Bats leaving Bracken Cave in Texas.
Here's a link to a very good Q-and-A about bats:
http://www.batslive.pwnet.org/pdf/Q&A.pdf
Bottle Cap Art Anne, our Russian correspondent, sent along this link to a story about a woman who has taken recycling in a different direction. She has covered her house with art she has made from plastic bottle caps. The piece is written in Russian, but you can get the basic idea from the photos:
http://www.ridus.ru/news/45059/
Answers to the Last Puzzlers
1) How much salt is in the average human body? Answer: c) enough to fill two salt shakers
2) What is the name for that crown-like, five-pointed star on top of a blueberry? Answer: b) calyx (from a Latin word meaning outer covering)
Today's Puzzler
We saw this creature at the side of the road.
1) What is the insect shown above? a) a two-striped grasshopper b) an Eastern locust c) a yellowback katydid
2) A very smart five-year-old girl visited The Naturalist's Notebook and told us a joke she had made up:
What do you call the time in history when dinosaurs were eating candy?
Can you guess the answer?