The Urban Pantheist

Yesterday I led a "Fungi Field Walk" at Drumlin Farm. Because of this summer's wet weather, it's been an incredible few weeks for mushrooms. I had the biggest group I've ever led (the registrar stopped letting people in after the 16th person) and found more mushrooms than on any other walk. I got there early and researched some things I was a little unsteady on, and we had a great time. This is a clump of Mycena mushrooms, probably M. galericulata. We came across many clumps of them in many locations.

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This is a craptastic photo of the inside of our American Kestrel exhibit. A better photo is here. This pair is an interesting case for us. Usually my workplace exhibits non-releasable animals, but these kestrels will eventually be released. Each one suffered feather damage from having perched on a chimney or smokestack: hot gases or smoke scorched their flight feathers to the point where both birds cannot fly. But feathers grow back. And when these birds regrow their flight feathers, they will be released. Timing is important, however. American kestrels are migratory birds (following their insect prey south), and we hope that their feathers will regrow before the fall migration is finished--unfortunately, we haven't found any information indication when this species molts. Most likely it is in the late summer. We shall see.

American kestrels are urban birds: they do fairly well around civilization, eating grasshoppers in farm country and exchanging that diet for sparrows and mice in the city. North American kestrel populations seem to be declining, in part (it is thought) due to the success of another urban raptor. The Cooper's hawk, which does extremely well as a suburban predator that strikes around bird feeders, will also feed on kestrels when they have a chance. Cooper's hawks are about the size of a crow; the American kestrel is North America's smallest raptor--scarcely the size of a robin.

On this day in 365 urban species: Black-and-white warbler. This small woodland bird passes through Boston on its migration, feeding in the bark of trees like a nuthatch. Some of them stay in our large city parks for the summer months, while most spread to more forested places.

Disgusting substance of the day: the moisture inside a previously worn latex glove.

Mixed species exhibit.

Good god, they're almost finished.

This snapshot is a wholly inadequate representation of the frigid and arduous way that I spent my day, my third wedding anniversary, which should have been spent with my wife, intoxicated and well-fed in a warm and sunny getaway.

More cage work, this time in the cold.