Cool pigeon project.

Thanks to bunrab for this story (I'm paying attention!)

I shan't debate the "usefulness" of ticks here today, but pigeons are yet again proving themselves to be very useful. Historic uses for pigeons have included food, amusement, and communication--now they're going to be used as scientific probes.

( article text here )

Here are my questions: How many times can you use the word "blog" in a 250 word article? (This is one of the things I hate about a lot of science writing for the public--there's a need to be "grabby," to use some pop culture phrase that is part of the zeitgeist to lure the otherwise uninterested into reading the article--"blogs are hip right now, emphasize that aspect of the story!" 1/37th of the story is the word "blog." This article will be the most dated piece of writing in the world in 5 years.)

That aside, I'm actually much more interested in the photos the pigeons will be taking than the air pollution data. One of my fantasy projects is a movie filmed from the point of view of a pigeon. With this technology, plus rc helecopters, and some cgi, you could do a real convicing job. The tough part would be writing a script that anyone besides me would want to see. After all, I liked "Falken's Oga."

Another question--whose pigeons are these? I assume they didn't trap wild pigeons from San Jose, they must be using someone's captive flock. If so, are they protected at night in a dovecote? Or were they released, fully? (I doubt that's legal--but I don't know the laws regarding pigeon-keeping...hmm, how come pigeon keepers can release their birds into the city but if you did it with, say, goats, you'd get in trouble?)

The potential for using pigeons as scientific probes and spying devices I think is enormous. I can't wait to find out what happens.

That's right, I said "shan't."

365 Urban Species. Species #037: European Beech

European Beech in the Riverway, Boston, February 2006.

Urban species#037: European beech Fagus sylvtica

While The Urban Tree Book says the beech is "usually an isolated specimen in town," in the town of Brookline and the areas in Boston that border it, there are dozens. In the mid 1800's local notable David Sears ordered over 5000 beeches from a Liverpool company. Most are gathered in a square called Longwood Mall, often called the largest grove of European beeches in North America (for whatever that's worth).
( views of the Longwood Mall )

There are also several specimens dating from the same time on nearby streets in Brookline, as well as lining the Riverway (on the Boston side) and in the Mount Auburn Cemetery.

( Brookline )

It's easy to see the appeal of the European beech. It's a magnificent spreading tree nearly 100 feet tall at maturity, whose branches bend to reach the ground, creating a shady enclosed space, well-suited to picnics. Depending on what the nursery specified, the foliage can be purple, copper, or rich green. The bark is cool, smooth, and gray, and when the tree is old is bears distinguished folds and wrinkles, like the enormous leg of a vegetable elephant.
( vegetable elephant?! )

The bark is an irresistible temptation to vandals, whose decades-old scarifications can be seen smeared and elevated by the passing years. One wishes that lovers felt compelled to scratch a heart into the thin skin of a beech tree, that at least they would leave a date so that their disfigurements had historical value.
( loves come and go, the tree continues to grow )

The native North American beech is Fagus grandifola, distinguished by lighter, less-wrinkled bark, and an ability to grow in warmer climates than the European species. American beech is more prone to suckering, a form of vegetative reproduction wherein new saplings sprout from the roots of the parent tree. This leads to forested areas where American beech trees thickly cluster into miniature groves.

( miniature urban grove )

Beech trees are ecologically important on the east coast of North America. Beech nuts provide autumn and winter food for a vast variety of birds and mammals, including humans. European beech may have been introduced the British islands by prehistoric humans carrying beech nuts.