Daycare, Take 2 is going much better for our now 16 month-old. We made it about 2 days into the first attempt before feeling like we had to pull him due to seeming staffing and communication issues. He's almost through the first week at his new place and feeling much more at ease. Definitely worth the 3 month delay to feel better about where he's at.
Finally got out unencumbered by baby or dog and spent a few hours out at Granger Lake. Not huge numbers of fall migrant shorebirds and waders, but there were some decent finds, including a flock of avocets, a number of both black-bellied and American golden plover, a buff-breasted sandpiper, stilt sandpiper, and this little Merlin, waiting for an opportunity.
CSB, I almost moved to SF for at least 16 months for my wife's clinical rotations. I was very much looking forward to wandering around the mountains and skiing while she was preoccupied with school. At the last minute, they decided they no longer wanted Greenspoint-style nursing students. We were instead sent to beautiful Decatur, Texas, where some friendly neighbors wrote racist shit on our cars and drextras.
So I can't speak much to NM (10,000 waves was still there and still awesome in 2019), but I would advise avoiding the Fort Worth exurbs.
There's been a single presidential yard sign in my Round Rock neighborhood for months, and it's for RFK Jr. It really would be glorious if the crazies help to save us from ourselves in 2024.
Cross-post from climate thread. Can we just turn off our lights when not using them? It's not hard.
Window strikes of single Chicago building kill 1,000 birds in one night
Speaking of light pollution...
Bird window strikes in Chicago
How hard is it for businesses to turn off their lights when closed, at least during migration, but really all the time?
Feeling surprisingly zen after that gut-wrenching loss. It always sucks to lose ot ou, but it's a pretty big fucking wake-up call and we get an extra week to get our minds right. A second loss changes everything, but barring a miraculous season by WVU, this just gives us ammunition for the sweetest revenge in the B12 title game
I might be getting back into the game after a 3 year hiatus. My 15 month-old loves looking at fish (for now), and I'd love an excuse to get another tank now that I will finally not be moving every year or two. I've already convinced my wife we need to do more than a beta bowl. Now I just need to see if I can bump up from a proposed 10 gallon to 20+.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/animalkind/2023/08/17/maui-bird-conservation-center/70591965007/
Cool story of a brave woman who may have saved 2 native Hawaiian birds (Hawaiian crow- extinct in the wild, akikiki- i think fewer than a dozen pairs remaining on Kauai) from extinction during the Maui fires.
Climate change and the subsequent elevation climb of avian influenza has devastated Hawaii's native songbirds. Releasing genetically modified mosquitoes that produce sterile offspring has been discussed, but I don't believe approval has been given, although I want to say this has been done elsewhere in the US.
I doubt this will benefit a middle-ager like me(how did this happen!?!?), but as someone trying to break into a career working in/for the natural environment, that's awesome to see. There should be a lot more stuff like this out there.