Microscopes at the Darwin Centre in London, based on a photograph by Pamelia and altered with a palette-brush painting technique with my computer.

Painting Science and Nature Without a Brush (And a Super-Slo-Mo Eagle Owl)

March 26, 2012

In my few spare moments lately I've been playing with images. I'm not a digital expert—other than being able to count my fingers and toes—but I've been taking photographs and using digital tools to change their look. It's all rudimentary stuff. My colleagues who work in the art department at Sports Illustrated would no doubt liken my efforts to finger-painting. No matter. It's fun. If I had a finger-painting tool on the computer, I'd try that too.

This is a hoopoe specimen that Pamelia photographed at the Natural History Museum in London and I photo-doctored with a colored-pencil tool.

This is a watercolor twist on an iris Pamelia photographed at the Asticou Azalea Gardens on Mount Desert Island.

A paint-daubing tool enabled me to alter my photo of a fox in the snow at our house.

This is supposed to have a plastic feel—very unlike The Naturalist's Notebook, of course, but an interesting effect.

I gave a wave treatment to this photo of a juvenile bald eagle (taken, I think, in 2009 by young ornithologist Pat Johnson, part of the Notebook's founding team).

A photo I shot of a water drop on lupine, made more abstract with a cutout-paper technique.

Pamelia's moonrise photo, tweaked with a smudge tool.

Guess what? This isn't computer-doctored at all, even though (at least to me) it looks awfully painterly. I took this sunrise photo at our house a year or two ago.

A Planetary Follow-Up

In a recent blog post I showed a mussel shell that resembled a globe with the continents merged. I said that the continents looked that way hundreds of millions of years ago. Well, here's a map of the Earth from 200 million years ago, when continent… — In a recent blog post I showed a mussel shell that resembled a globe with the continents merged. I said that the continents looked that way hundreds of millions of years ago. Well, here's a map of the Earth from 200 million years ago, when continents were connected in a supercontinent called Pangaea. Note that what's now Maine was connected to Africa and was below the equator. The continental plates are still constantly shifting beneath our feet. Right now Maine and the rest of North America are moving away from Europe, toward Asia, at the same rate your fingernails grow.

The Eagle Owl in Super Slow Motion Thanks to LJ for sending along this remarkable video of a large Eurasian owl called the eagle owl, shot at 1,000 frames per second. Watch it and be mesmerized...

Good News Remember that abandoned Lowe's big-box store I wrote about a couple of months ago? This week the globally respected Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor said that it plans to buy the Ellsworth, Maine, store and use it to expand the lab's mouse-breeding operations. In addition to its extensive research work in genetics and other fields, the Jackson Lab breeds mice for scientific use around the world. The lab said that the Lowe's operation could employ 300 people within a few years.

Answer to the Last Puzzler

a) It's TRUE that President Martin Van Buren had two tiger cubs as White House pets. b) It's TRUE that President Andrew Johnson had white mice as White House pets. c) It's TRUE that President William Taft had a cow as a White House pet. d) It's TRUE that President Calvin Coolidge had a raccoon as a White House pet. e) It's NOT TRUE that President Harry Truman had a donkey as a White House pet. In case you're wondering, some of the animals above were gifts from state or foreign leaders. The presidents didn't want to insult those leaders by getting rid of the animals.

Calvin Coolidge's wife, Grace, with their pet raccoon. Among the other animals the Coolidges kept in the White House were a pair of collies, a donkey, a bobcat, canaries, a goose and a mockingbird.

Today's Puzzler

I mentioned above that the North American continental plate is moving away from Europe and toward Asia at the speed your fingernails grow. Roughly how fast do an adult's fingernails grow?

a) about an inch a year
b) about two-and-a-half inches a year
c) about three-and-a-half inches a year

Inside the MDI Biological Lab

March 22, 2012

While roaming the frontier of science, you might be lucky enough to come upon a scenic 200-acre coastal campus in Salisbury Cove, Maine. The Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory is a 114-year-old institution that traces an arc from the scientific era of Thomas Edison and taxidermied animal specimens to the age of nanotechnology and decoding the human genome.

The story begins at Tufts. That respected university in Boston set up a summer science operation on the southern Maine coast, in South Harpswell, in 1898. This so-called Tufts Summer School of Biology focused on studies of marine animals and plants. It soon relocated, changed its name and shifted its focus. It moved up the coast to Mount Desert Island in 1921 when George Dorr—the wealthy gentleman scholar and nature lover who was a driving force behind the founding of Acadia National Park—donated an old farm property that would be transformed into today's larger, world-respected lab complex.

The lab's 200-acre campus on Salisbury Cove has a relaxed, woodsy feel.

Pamelia and I visited the MDIBL on a recent sunny afternoon. We strolled the piney campus with the lab's delightful Shannara Gilman. The lab now conducts research year-round, with permanent and visiting scientists, but the grounds were a little quieter than usual on this day because no classes or symposia were underway, and no college biology groups from Bates or other Northeastern colleges were in residence in the dormitories or guest cottages.

The campus bursts to life in summer. As we walked past the dorms we could imagine the grounds in July and August, filled with promising high school and college students as well as visiting scientists and their families, some of whom have come here every summer for decades. The empty outdoor glass tanks would be filled with sea life specimens. The lodge-like dining hall would be abuzz, its Ping-Pong table alive with the happy tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap of an all-comers tournament. The new three-story, LEED-Gold Certified (for energy conservation and environmental-friendly design) lab building would be lit up with all manner of brain power.

If you're envisioning the most intelligent summer camp on the planet, a hands-on, working laboratory where internationally prominent science researchers extend that frontier of knowledge by day and in the evening play volleyball on the lawn with teenage biologists-in-the-making, well, you're on the right track. The friendly, family atmosphere blends with a serious level of experimentation, observation and analysis. That atmosphere fills the MDIBL all year, of course, not just in summer.

One of the labs in the new green-designed complex. In addition to the high-level reseach done here by top scientists, high school and college students learn to do things like clone genes and synthesize DNA.

Back in the 1920s, the lab began focusing on kidney research. The lab's symbol is the dogfish shark because for decades that animal was a favorite study subject. If you're trying to understand human kidneys and the blood-pressure problems caused by high sodium levels, what better creature to examine than one that can regulate its salt levels even while living in salt water? Marine toxins were among the many other areas of study on which the lab left its mark in the decades that followed. Today MDIBL researchers are making breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, environmental science, cellular and molecular biology and other realms. The lab also is home to geneticist, biologist and educator Jane Disney, a dynamo who helps develop young scientists and environmentalists and has spearheaded efforts to restore eel grass and a healthy overall ecology to adjacent Frenchman's Bay.

Perhaps you'd like to look around the place? Come on...

The dogfish shark symbol in a mosaic in the dining hall. That 16-inch-long shark's ability to regulate salt in its body has provided clues to help address kidney disease. Lab researchers have also studied the dogfish shark in search of a cure for cy… — The dogfish shark symbol in a mosaic in the dining hall. That 16-inch-long shark's ability to regulate salt in its body has provided clues to help address kidney disease. Lab researchers have also studied the dogfish shark in search of a cure for cystic fibrosis.

There's a natural-stone arch by the water at Laboratory Point. That's Frenchman's Bay in the distance.

Zebrafish now are used for a lot of MDIBL studies. Among their research-friendly traits, they develop quickly, their genome has been sequenced and their bodies are virtually transparent, allowing a clear view of what's happening inside them. Perhaps… — Zebrafish now are used for a lot of MDIBL studies. Among their research-friendly traits, they develop quickly, their genome has been sequenced and their bodies are virtually transparent, allowing a clear view of what's happening inside them. Perhaps most important, given the MDIBL's work on regenerative medicine, zebrafish can regenerate their own fins, spinal column, retinas and even heart muscle.

Scientist Jane Disney has expanded her eelgrass-restoration efforts into local schools, where she runs a program she calls Sea Grasses In Classes.

From left: Yours truly, Shannara Gilman and Jane Disney in Jane's lab. As one scientist at the lab told me, if you're ever having a bad day at the MDIBL, just look out the window at the gorgeous view and everything will seem better.

On Wednesday night we went to another in the MDI Bio Lab's Science Cafe series. Jackson Laboratory scientist Kyuson Yun explained the work she and others are doing on a hugely important discovery: cancer stem cells, which appear to be the cells that… — On Wednesday night we went to another in the MDI Bio Lab's Science Cafe series. Jackson Laboratory scientist Kyuson Yun explained the work she and others are doing on a hugely important discovery: cancer stem cells, which appear to be the cells that drive the spread of tumors. Until the last few years, no one knew that these cancer supercells (that's my term, not the scientific one) existed. Finding a way to attack those cells (which aren't always easy to identify) is a new challenge for researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

An Amazing Artist and His Kinetic Sculpture Thanks to ornithologist Pat Johnson, who was a member of the original Notebook team in 2009 and continues to inspire us, for passing along this link to this must-see video:

Global Blog Note of the Week According to the latest statistics, The Naturalist's Notebook blog has been read over the last 30 days by people in 81—yes, 81—countries, from Mongolia to Macedonia to Malayasia. That makes me happy.

Answer to the Last Puzzler

The bird was named the cardinal because Catholic cardinals wore bright red robes. How did Catholic cardinals get their name? It is derived from Latin word cardo, meaning "that on what something turns or depends," or, literally, a "door hinge." The church cardinals were so powerful that major issues hinged on their decisions.

Whether you decide to paint your door hinges cardinal red in order to remember this is entirely up to you.

Today's Puzzler

Which one of these statements is NOT true?

a) President Martin Van Buren had two tiger cubs as White House pets
b) President Andrew Johnson had white mice as White House pets
c) President William Taft had a cow as a White House pet
d) President Calvin Coolidge had a raccoon as a White House pet
e) President Harry Truman had a donkey as a White House pet

Through the Lens

March 19, 2012

A few shots from the weekend...

Pamelia found a mussel shell that looked to us like a globe—perhaps one showing the world hundreds of millions of years ago, when the continents were joined in a different configuration.

In the warmth on Saturday, legions of spiders skittered around the cove beach near us. Can you spot the spider camouflaged by this dried rock weed?

Olympic track champion and Notebook friend Lynn Jennings snapped this swirling shot of her companion Towhee during a brisk Sunday hike through Forest Park in Portland, Oregon. Towhee, an Olympic-caliber trail runner and nature observer, celebrated h… — Olympic track champion and Notebook friend Lynn Jennings snapped this swirling shot of her companion Towhee during a brisk Sunday hike through Forest Park in Portland, Oregon. Towhee, an Olympic-caliber trail runner and nature observer, celebrated her 11th birthday last Friday.

Yellow lichen on rocks along our shore. Lichens are lovely but strange. They're actually two organisms living in combination—algae cells linked with filaments of fungi.

Our 15 wild turkeys were in full strut on Saturday afternoon.

This one is courtesy of NASA. It's a new, false-color, ultraviolet shot of the recently stormy Sun. It's in 3-D, so if you have the glasses you should be able to see the solar flare jumping out at you. At least in theory.

Answers to the Last Puzzlers

1) The grackle gets its name from gracula, the Latin word for the European jackdaw.

2) Abraham Lincoln is the one who said, “All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.”

Today's Puzzler

1) Did the bird known as the cardinal get its name from Catholic cardinals, who wear red, or did Catholic cardinals get their name from the bird?

500 Years of Women In Art In Less Than 3 Minutes (and Other March Madness)

March 17, 2012

Spring arrives on Tuesday, when the Sun shines straight down on the equator and we receive the same number of hours of daylight and darkness. In honor of the extraordinary changes that come with the new season—the transformation of larvae into insects, of caterpillars into butterflies, of bare branches into leafy trees—here are three videos filled with transformations from the worlds of art and nature. How many of the paintings, actresses and living creatures shown in them can you name?

Now, on to actresses:

And finally, through some lovely drawings, nature:

Why Writer E.B. White Once Said Of His Beloved, Adopted State, "I Would Really Rather Feel Bad In Maine Than Feel Good Anywhere Else"

Just to illustrate how the Sun's position is changing (and show you how beautiful Maine is, as E.B. White knew), here's a shot of yesterday's sunrise at our house. Back in December, the Sun rose on the far side of that tree and those mountains on th… — Just to illustrate how the Sun's position is changing (and show you how beautiful Maine is, as E.B. White knew), here's a shot of yesterday's sunrise at our house. Back in December, the Sun rose on the far side of that tree and those mountains on the right.

March Madness

For you fans of the NCAA college basketball tournament, that crazy event in which lesser teams can suddenly transform themselves into giants, I feel obliged to mention that my brother, Brian, went to Lehigh University, which shocked the sports world in the opening round by upsetting powerhouse Duke. Lehigh, despite being set in the middle of an old steel-making city, gets its name from nature. Lehigh is the name of a Pennsylvania river whose name derives from Delaware Indian words meaning "where there are forks." Sadly for my brother's alma mater, I don't think one of those forks is going to lead to the national basketball championship.

Answers to the Last Puzzlers

1) It's true that minerals are made of substances that were never alive but not true that they're never found above ground.

2) A barred owl gets its name from the bars of light and dark on its feathers.

Today's Puzzlers

1) The grackle (above) gets its name from:

a) gracula, the Latin word for the European jackdaw
b) krakssen ekol, a Swedish term for "corn thief"
c) growe ceal, old English for "many-colored flock"

2) Who spoke this famous line: "All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind."

a) Johnny Appleseed, the Massachusetts-born nurseryman whose actual name was John Chapman
b) Marie Curie, the Polish physicist and chemist who (among many other achievements) came up with the theory of radioactivity and was the first person to win Nobel prizes in two different sciences
c) Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President

Here's the beautiful barred owl that Sarah photographed.

The Barred Owl and the Tree Lobster

March 14, 2012

The other day on Mount Desert Island here in Maine, Dave Marks and others working at Morris Yachts saw a barred owl. Here is Dave's account:

"It was about 11 a.m. on a nice sunny day at a boat storage building in Tremont. The owl flew off the ground as we walked by and went to a tree branch 15 feet away and three feet off the ground. It turned and look at us for quite a while. It then flew back to the ground about six feet away from us, pecked once and scratched the ground twice with its back to us then flew back to the same spot. It wasn’t concerned with us at all. In fact I talked to it quite a bit and it seemed only bothered by the chance we may have caused it to lose a possible lunch. I went to work in the building and came out an hour later and it was in a different tree overlooking a grassy area in the woods. I yelled and it turned its head around then went back to its business. I’m kind of a bird nut and I’ve never heard one in the area let alone seen one and I’m at those buildings quite a bit. The pictures were actually taken by Sarah Brandon; she paints names and hails on boats for us."

If you haven't heard one, the barred owl's call often sounds like the words "Who cooks for you?" The owl, however, appears to prefer its mice and squirrels raw.

Other Avian News

The Naturalist's Notebook has become a sponsor of the 14th annual Acadia Birding Festival. The event, which includes lectures, walks and a pelagic seabird boat trip, will be held on Mount Desert Island from May 31 to June 3. During past festivals, participants have seen more than 180 bird species, from ospreys to swamp sparrows to scarlet tanagers to all sorts of warblers. (Roger Tory Peterson once called Mount Desert Island "the warbler capital of the world.")

Put the festival on your calendar if you'll be in Maine then. As event organizer Michael Good of Down East Nature Tours says, "I had my first yellow-rumped warbler on the 8th of March so the birds and spring are coming!"

Adventures With The Tree Lobster

Robert Krulwich of National Public Radio recently reported on a rare creature that was found living on Ball's Pyramid, an 1,844-foot jag of rock poking out of the Tasman Sea, off Australia.

It was discovered (or, as we will learn, re-discovered) by a pair of rock-climbing scientists. They saw fresh, large insect droppings under a lone melaleuca (myrtle family) bush that was sticking improbably from a sheer cliff 225 feet above the shark-infested waters. But the climbers saw no insects. Only when one of the scientists and a local ranger scaled the cliff again, at night, by flashlight—yes, field biology can be a daredevil sport—did they find that same bush and the ground below it covered with hard-shelled critters almost five inches long.

The creatures were Lord Howe stick insects, the heaviest flightless stick insects in the world. They are known as tree lobsters for their size and lobster-ish exoskeletons. Once prolific on nearby Lord Howe Island, they were thought to have gone extinct after a ship ran aground on Lord Howe in 1918 and brought in black rats, which ate every Lord Howe stick insect they could find. From 1920 until 2001, when the Australian scientists rock-climbed on Ball's Pyramid (following up on 40-year-old rumors that other climbers had found insect carcasses there), no one saw a single Lord Howe stick insect.

As far as researchers can tell, the insects now live in the wild only on and under that one bush on that one spire of rock in the middle of the ocean. But the Melbourne Zoo has started breeding them in hopes of reintroducing them to Lord Howe Island. As Krulwich notes, this will require a major rat-eradication effort as well as a public-relations campaign to make the human inhabitants of Lord Howe Island more comfortable with an influx of fist-sized, hard-shell creepy-crawlies. The video above of a Lord Howe stick insect struggling to hatch (you may find yourself saying, "Come on! You can make it!") is part of the campaign to reposition the insects as courageous and lovable.

Ball's Pyramid, where the climbers found the stick insects.

One of the lessons of the Lord Howe stick insect is that some animals survive only in the most specialized of habitats. Another is that scientists often display an inspiring level of dedication in pursuit of knowledge. A third is that invasive species, especially on islands, can quickly wipe out other animals. But the lesson that, if you will, sticks with me is how strange we humans are in our relationship with other animals. We kill 'em off, bring 'em back, try to make them 'em sound so cuddly that Disney would turn them into cartoon characters. We're probably fortunate that our survival doesn't depend on whether another species thinks we're cute enough to keep alive.

Jumpin' Jupiter and Venus!

Have you looked up lately? Right now you have the chance to see at least two sights that you won't see this clearly for years to come.

The two bright objects fairly high in the western sky, quite close to each other, in the four hours after sunset are Jupiter and Venus. Venus is the higher and brighter one. On the night of March 15 the two planets will be just 3 degrees apart. This moment of visual proximity is called the Venus-Jupiter Conjunction.

Mind you, Venus and Jupiter aren't actually close to each other—they're just temporarily lined up from our perspective—and they're certainly a long way from us. At different points in our orbits Venus gets as close to the Earth as 26 million miles and as far away as 160 million miles; Jupiter's distance from us ranges from 391 million to 599 million miles. (Flying the latter distance at the speed of a commercial jet would take you a mere 137 years.)

When you go outside to look at Venus and Jupiter in the west, take time to look east as well. The red light you see will be Mars. It won't be this bright in our sky again until April 2014. You can see it from dusk to dawn.

The Turkeys Are Getting Frisky

I posted this quick video on youtube yesterday after watching male wild turkeys strutting and displaying their tails in our driveway:

Daylight Savings Idea

Einstein discovered that as we near the speed of light, time slows down. Anyone who has ever toiled in an office knows that the same thing happens during work hours on Mondays. So here's my idea. Instead of moving our clocks an hour ahead in the middle of a Saturday night to start Daylight Savings Time—a cruel mandate that costs us not just one hour of precious sleep, but one hour of precious sleep during the weekend—let's move the clocks ahead at 4 p.m. on a Monday, thus chopping an unwanted hour off the most hated work day, raising national morale, and giving us all a reason to think of Albert Einstein. We can brand the event as Relativity Monday.

Answers to the Last Puzzlers

1) One of the distinguishing traits of mammals is that they—and no other animals—have a middle ear containing three bones. That configuration has helped scientists trace mammals' evolution. For a fascinating account of how bones, fossils, DNA and other evidence have revealed the course of change and adaptation in animals (including us), read Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin, a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago. That mind-opening book, which among other honors won the Best Book award from the National Academy of Sciences and the Phi Beta Kappa Science Book Award, should be required frontier-of-knowledge reading for anyone who wants to understand how biologists, geneticists, paleontologists, anatomists and other experts have pieced together, with physical evidence, the connections between humans and all other life forms on Earth. The book also offers a fun look at how both detailed planning and extraordinarily good luck are sometimes required to find tiny, hundred-million-year-old bones buried in the surface of our vast planet.

2) The branches in the photo are turning red because spring sunlight is causing the plant to produce anthocyanin, an antioxidant that also gives grapes and berries their color.

Today's Puzzlers

1)Geologists use several criteria to distinguish minerals from rocks. Which of these is NOT true?

a) Minerals are made of substances that were never alive.
b) Minerals are never found above ground.
c) Minerals have the same chemical makeup wherever they are found.
d) The atoms of minerals are arranged in a regular pattern and form crystals.

2) Why is a barred owl called a barred owl?

a) Because it was barred from churchyards in medieval times as a symbol of death
b) Because of the bars of light and dark across its feathers
c) Because it often roosted outside a famous prison in Shropshire, England
d) Because its wise look suggested a lawyer, or barrister; it was originally a "barristered" owl

(Thanks to Notebook friends and correspondents Kathy Weathers, Regina Ryan and Leanne Nickon for their blog contributions.) —Craig Neff, The Naturalist's Notebook

We came across this quotation at the Natural History Museum in London. Arthur Harry Church was a painstakingly precise botanist and illustrator who worked from specimens at Oxford University, where he taught. He was so absorbed in plants that the mi… — We came across this quotation at the Natural History Museum in London. Arthur Harry Church was a painstakingly precise botanist and illustrator who worked from specimens at Oxford University, where he taught. He was so absorbed in plants that the middle names he gave his three daughters were the Latin terms for hollyhock (Alcea), leopard's bane (Doronica) and hazel (Coryla).

Observe. Draw. Don't Mind the Arsenic.

March 10, 2012

We've recently made a couple of visits to the Acadia National Park archives. They're a fascinating resource located at park headquarters. Our Notebook colleagues Eli and Virginia have been doing research there for College of the Atlantic projects (http://thereisasaltyoat.blogspot.com/). They obtained permission for Pamelia and me to join them and look at some of the mammals, birds, insects, art, photographs, books and other preserved Acadiana.

Pamelia, as is her wont, brought pencils and sketchbooks so we could draw. Or sketch. Or doodle. Or scratch out stick figures. She has a simple answer for all those people—you know who you are—who say, "I can't draw." Yes you can, Pamelia says, and she is quite effective at inserting pencils into the hands of self-described sketch-o-phobics. These folks then rediscover their inner first-grader, start smiling and leave feeling enriched.

Pamelia sketching a bald eagle, one of the many specimens at the archives. That's a great blue heron on the right.

The quote at the top of this blog offers one good reason why anyone interested in nature should at least try to draw. No matter what you sketch, the act of studying the scene or object or animal you're illustrating will give you a better appreciation of the subject. It also will make you aware of your own powers of observation. You don't have to show anyone what you draw, or write a dissertation about the electrifying feather pattern you noticed on a bird's wing, or shout from a rooftop that—woo hoo!—you've finally started seeing the world more clearly. You can just close your notebook and realize that you've had fun.

You won't realize it, but your brain will have changed. It will have formed new connections and pathways that you will be able to build on if you dare to pick up a pencil and paper again.

Though Arthur Harry Church never thought of himself as an artist, his flower paintings have been compared to Georgia O'Keefe's.

Pamelia also studied and sketched a snowy owl, the type Harry Potter fans would know better as Harry's companion Hedwig. That's a goshawk on the right.

O.K., so odd things happen sometimes. I like this little creature I sketched...but I was trying to draw an owl. Midway through, I realized I was blundering badly, so I channeled my inner Charles Darwin and hastened the evolution of what I decided to… — O.K., so odd things happen sometimes. I like this little creature I sketched...but I was trying to draw an owl. Midway through, I realized I was blundering badly, so I channeled my inner Charles Darwin and hastened the evolution of what I decided to call a beaver-toothed mouse.

This sign on the door to the main archive room was not a joke. The bird specimens, which are kept in tight-sealing, glass-doored metal lockers, were long ago treated with arsenic, which killed the microbes that would have gradually destroyed the spe… — This sign on the door to the main archive room was not a joke. The bird specimens, which are kept in tight-sealing, glass-doored metal lockers, were long ago treated with arsenic, which killed the microbes that would have gradually destroyed the specimens. Pure arsenic may be odorless, but arsenic compounds can smell quite unpleasant. The birds and other preserved animals in the archive exude a strong garlicky, chemical odor that I couldn't take for too long.

About the Arsenic...

Carl W. Albrecht, Curator of Natural History, Ohio Historical Society, has written about the use of chemical element 33, one of the world's most famous poisons (and most insidious groundwater pollutants), in museum preservation in an article called "Arsenic and Old Collections":

"Mixtures of arsenic and soap, often with other ingredients, were developed early on. These were to persist well into the twentieth century as widely used poisons in the preparation of natural history materials. Naturalists developed many variations, including rubbing arsenic with vaseline or powdered chalk when wet treatments were not appropriate. Also, they sprayed or dipped specimens in various poisonous solutions. And, the types of materials that were treated expanded to include botanicals, bones, fur rugs, and anthropological objects. Poisons, especially arsenic, as you will see, could cause severe problems for people who handled them.

"Often unknown to managers and curators, museums today frequently have these objects and specimens in their collections. After having been collected and prepared many years ago, and stuffed and mounted using the accepted techniques of the day, these potentially dangerous objects have found their way into today's institutions. Museums may receive these 'curatorial time-bombs' from private collections or other museums. Regardless of the source, however, wary professional and volunteer curators must handle all specimens with caution."

Among the other specimens at the archive are this black-billed cuckoo...

...and this howling coyote, whose cousins have been baying lately in the woods within a mile of our house.

Flying ants? Yes, the archive has insects galore, labeled and mounted by entomologists and other naturalists who have explored the national park.

Drawing Birds Here is a quick and simple way to do basic drawings of birds—not Audubon-realistic renderings but starting points from which you can build and refine.

Arsenic and Old Pencils?

Though the black rod inside a pencil is graphite, not lead, pencils were a cause of lead poisoning until the mid-1900s. That's because they were coated in lead paint and frequently chewed by nervous artists and students.

Answers to the Last Puzzlers

1) Here are the unscrambled words from nature, science and art:
a) flacterych = flycatcher
b) exfoglov = foxglove
c) ioncrate = reaction
d) loarchac = charcoal

2) The word kite comes from the Old English word cyta, meaning a bird of prey such as the species we now call a kite.

Today's Puzzlers

1) Mammals are warm-blooded animals that have hair, backbones, milk-producing mammary glands and which of these other distinctive characteristics?

a) kidneys
b) symmetrical teeth
c) a middle ear containing three bones
d) the ability to see color

2) It's March. Why are the branches in the photo below turning bright red?

a) iron in the soil rising up through the roots
b) greater sunlight causing the plant to produce anthocyanin, an antioxidant that also gives grapes and berries their color
c) chemical transformation in the bark signaling that a male tree is beginning its reproductive cycle
d) embarrassment at being bare branches

News, Notes and Photos from the Field (Craig and Pamelia's Blog)

Craig & Pamelia's Past Posts

Darwin's Past Posts