Lyrics

When I posted my last snapshot (of a fluorescent light panel) I skipped songs until I got to "Fluorescenses" by Stereolab. Yes I'm terribly clever. Then just now I turned on the music again and heard the coda at the end of the song. One of Stereolab's singers speaks French as a first language, so when she sings in English she accents words slightly strangely, the emphasis often falling on an unexpected syllable. More than once I've listened to one of their songs a dozen times then all of a sudden understand something new. This time I heard this:

i'm ok
i feel good
i can breathe
fill my soul
i'm ok
feeling good
why do i
swim in blood?

3:00 snapshot #1615: Wednesday

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3:00 snapshot #1616: Thursday

Mostly toys, I mean enrichment items, for black bears.

Suburban wildlife

I picked up a big piece of Dedham granite with the intention of hurling it at the center of a section of yew wood, in order to break it into firewood size. I noticed a moist worm under the rock, then paused realizing that the worm was actually two salamanders.

Despite the color difference between these, they are the same species, Plethodon cinereus, the "red-backed salamander." The one here that is not red-backed might be called a lead-backed salamander, as in the color of lead, the metal. Growing up in western New England, turning over rocks and logs I saw hundreds of redbacks, but I can't remember seeing the lead-backed phase. I discussed this with some of last week's Urban Nature Walk participants, and consensus seemed to be that lead-backs are more common in eastern New England.

Throughout New England, and much of North America, this species is far and away the most numerous of the tailed amphibians, particularly in those ecosystems affected by human impacts. These small lungless creatures are predators of tiny invertebrates. They survive by keeping moist and allowing oxygen to dissolve directly into their bodies through their skin.

3:00 snapshot #1617: Friday

Yesterday I left work early and met my friend and coworker Kiki at the Capron Park Zoo! We're standing in front of the golden lion tamarin exhibit.

Capron Park Zoo!

Capron Park Zoo is a small zoo in Attleboro Massachusetts, near Rhode Island. It's the closest zoo to me that I hadn't been to yet (now York's Wild Kingdom holds that place), and a former coworker is a zookeeper there. In fact, I've met most of the staff from this zoo, owing to our regular zookeeper meet ups! I thoroughly enjoyed this zoo, which was clean and attractive, providing a lot of value for a relatively small space. Their lions look very different from the one at Franklin Park--a different subspecies I think.

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