The Urban Pantheist

The great black-backed gull Larus marinus* is larger still, in fact it is the largest gull in the world, with a wingspan approaching or exceeding 5 feet. They often flock with herring gulls, and are similarly predatory on other birds' chicks. They will quite readily, as the picture above attests, take advantage of human sources of food as well. The great black-backed gull is only found in the Northeast, migrating from the Canadian maritimes to as far south as the Carolinas. They winter as far west as the Great Lakes. They can be found in and around Boston year round.


A checkered youngster takes flight with a couple adult blackbacks and a herring gull.

* this is rather embarrassing. It translates to "sea gull."

It's become a naturalist's cliche to say that there's no such thing as a seagull. We just say "gull," or if we know the species, as in this case, we say "ring-billed gull" Larus delawarensis.* The ring-bill is one of the most common urban gull, and the smallest in our area. About the size of a small crow, these gulls happily feed in parking lots and other places where humans leave edible trash. Among gulls in New England, they're the worst ones to call "seagulls." They prefer to nest near fresh bodies of water.

* Delaware gull. (tough one)

I've decided that in 2014 Urban Nature Walks will be scheduled for the last Sunday of every month. I was planning to go to Constitution Beach but last Sunday was not a good beach day (lots of rain--better for the woods), so I postponed it by one week. Constitution Beach is in East Boston--the same neighborhood as Logan Airport.

( Read more... )

Is it too late to create a tag for "Zoo Horror Movie Stills?" I made one for my tumblr.




A flock of gulls swirls overhead first thing in the morning, signaling a change in the weather.

Ever since I learned it existed, I've wanted to see the La Brea tar pits. That alone was reason to go to Los Angeles. This main lake by the road is actually a pit created by humans 100-150 years ago, digging the tar out because it's a useful substance. Native Americans also dug the tar out to use as an adhesive and water-proofing agent. I had the impression before that the animals would sink in tar over their heads, but that's probably not what happened. According to the information in the Page Museum (the museum associated with the tar pits) a large animal got stuck once a decade or so, and predators would swarm in and feed--getting stuck themselves. Fossilized fly pupae and other insects show that the trapped animals were exposed for some time before their remains sunk into the tar to become the most important record of ice age life known.

( more tar pit, more museum! )

Alexis at her new (antique) kitchen table. The top is enamel, and looks like it was made last year. Underneath the moving parts are hidden, that allow it to slide open another foot and a half; the springs and latches are so rusted that I didn't expect the stuff to survive assembly. We moved the legs and top separately--the legs are nearly weightless, while the top weighs about 6000 pounds. Assembled, it feels quite sturdy.


Leaving the neighborhood, we came across this bird. Nearby was a fruit crate. I went over and checked it out: droppings in the crate made it clear that the rooster was in there fairly recently, and he sprinted away from my attempts to be friendly. I strongly suspect that someone didn't have the guts to dispose of the animal properly, and chucked it out on the side of the road. We told the local animal rescue league about it, and hopefully they took care of it (it was gone the next day).


Later on we went to the supermarket, and my attention was drawn to these birds up on the lights. The crow was calling, and sounded to me like a juvenile. Was it begging from the gull, or was their presence there together just a coincidence?

A young red-tailed hawk (probably this one), looking toward the gulls wheeling over the Franklin Park playing fields.

We drove up to Conwy (which we are assured is pronounced "conway") and found more castle-y stuff. What's up with that?

( funny you should ask )

Much of the most beautiful and fascinating wildlife on Antigua is at the beach. This is a tiny mollusk with mother-of-pearl and a spot of copper blue.

( Read more... )

On our last full day in Iceland, we took the Golden Circle tour, which is the standard day tour for tourists. From the bus, I was fascinated by the landscape: miles and miles of rugged cracked lava fields, coated with gray-green moss.

( 20 prettier pictures )