So, that was one of the most uneventful Januarys in recent memory. Maybe February will be more interesting...
25 thoughts on “January 31, 2017: Meh”
He's right.
From last night: LeBron deftly destroys Charles Barkley in comments to @mcten https://t.co/jfqv8daENK
Apparently LeBron is good at things other than basketball.
cc to Rhu_Ru: Thanks to a tip in your Pledge Drive post I was able to use my institution's access to one of the major genealogical websites to save a photo of some relatives, including my great-grandmother, prior to emigration. Unless I have forgotten a photo that was in her house when I was a kid, I never had seen a picture of her parents or her brother, who was barred from entry, before last night.
cool! there are a lot of resources online now and a person never knows where data (or photos!) might be hiding.
I've seen fewer since the "Polar Vortex" winter of 2013-14. I assume a larger-than-usual number of those with the predisposition to not migrate perished in the extreme cold of that winter, which also prevented them from having as many offspring with that predisposition.
I have the same theory about Blue Jays and Cedar Waxwings. I found all three in general abundance in winters around my house up until that winter, and they've been scarce and erratic since.
Our drop in Blue Jay population down here seemed to be West Nile-related.
It's just a drop in the wintering population. No noticeable change in breeding-season and migration numbers. Hence my speculation.
With Blue Jays, they're a more social creature with learned patterns, so there could be some memory of the previous winter (though I doubt that), or they could have gone south partway into the winter and started the migration pattern.
Similarly, it could be that the loss of some number of the non-migrant individuals made those that survived more likely to merge flocks/families with those that migrate, and to follow them south the next fall.
Robins flock for migration but don't have family units that stay together (males typically migrate less far than females, to get back quicker and establish territories), so there's less a social dynamic there.
TBH, I just don't understand Robins. They seem to defy my attempts at anthropomorphizing. So I just assume flocking and migration are instinctual.
While the old "first robin of Spring" was a thing way up nort' when I was growing up, it's a buzzkill down here.
As most of the US lies in the area where Robins should be present all winter, I don't get how that concept ever caught on.
And the Robins* of Europe aren't migratory at all (or make a slight retreat from their northernmost range), so that's not where it came from, either.
*unrelated. America's Robins are actually Thrushes, as are Europe's Blackbirds.
At the same time, America's Blackbirds are their own family. That family includes our Orioles (unrelated to the old-world Orioles, which are closer to Starlings), and Meadowlarks (unrelated to true Larks**).
**Only one Lark is native to the New World: the Horned Lark of just about every open space from Alaska and Nunavut through Mexico. And Skylarks have been introduced to Vancouver Island off British Columbia, and have occurred as natural vagrants to Alaska and maybe the west coast.
On the topic of birds and confusing names . . .
Last weekend Mr. NaCl took the boys to Silverwood Park and he told them they might get to see a Great Horned Owl in a nesting box. They did, indeed, see the owl, but the peperoncino (who is 3) was a bit confused because he was under the impression that the owl would have actual horns.
If they didn't have actual horns, then they were in fact* Lesser Horned Owls.
*alt fact
They do have actual horns.
They just keep them somewhere else. Because let's see you fit a trumpet or saxophone into a nesting box.
NEGATIVE ONE DOLLAR.JPEG
here ya go:
(i think we need a [-onewgom] plugin...)
I was legitimately unsure whether this one was going to get a positive or negative dollar.
Seemed obvious to me. 😉
Oh you say that about all my puns.
ehh, in fairness, i usually punt on them.
Joe Nathan to sign with the Nats.
Good luck to him. I'll be surprised if he can both stay healthy and be effective, but it would be a pleasant surprise.
joe was always one of my favorite Twins. Good luck to him.
Friend of mine ran 100 miles this last weekend (Sat-Sun, 22 hrs 'ish). It's her 4th time. Awesome.
He's right.
From last night: LeBron deftly destroys Charles Barkley in comments to @mcten https://t.co/jfqv8daENK
Apparently LeBron is good at things other than basketball.
cc to Rhu_Ru: Thanks to a tip in your Pledge Drive post I was able to use my institution's access to one of the major genealogical websites to save a photo of some relatives, including my great-grandmother, prior to emigration. Unless I have forgotten a photo that was in her house when I was a kid, I never had seen a picture of her parents or her brother, who was barred from entry, before last night.
cool! there are a lot of resources online now and a person never knows where data (or photos!) might be hiding.
I never submitted my pledge.
I should do that.
There really are more robins around this winter.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/unknown/more-robins-decide-against-becoming-snow-birds-by-staying-north-20170121&template=mwdt
I've seen fewer since the "Polar Vortex" winter of 2013-14. I assume a larger-than-usual number of those with the predisposition to not migrate perished in the extreme cold of that winter, which also prevented them from having as many offspring with that predisposition.
I have the same theory about Blue Jays and Cedar Waxwings. I found all three in general abundance in winters around my house up until that winter, and they've been scarce and erratic since.
Our drop in Blue Jay population down here seemed to be West Nile-related.
It's just a drop in the wintering population. No noticeable change in breeding-season and migration numbers. Hence my speculation.
With Blue Jays, they're a more social creature with learned patterns, so there could be some memory of the previous winter (though I doubt that), or they could have gone south partway into the winter and started the migration pattern.
Similarly, it could be that the loss of some number of the non-migrant individuals made those that survived more likely to merge flocks/families with those that migrate, and to follow them south the next fall.
Robins flock for migration but don't have family units that stay together (males typically migrate less far than females, to get back quicker and establish territories), so there's less a social dynamic there.
TBH, I just don't understand Robins. They seem to defy my attempts at anthropomorphizing. So I just assume flocking and migration are instinctual.
While the old "first robin of Spring" was a thing way up nort' when I was growing up, it's a buzzkill down here.
As most of the US lies in the area where Robins should be present all winter, I don't get how that concept ever caught on.
And the Robins* of Europe aren't migratory at all (or make a slight retreat from their northernmost range), so that's not where it came from, either.
*unrelated. America's Robins are actually Thrushes, as are Europe's Blackbirds.
At the same time, America's Blackbirds are their own family. That family includes our Orioles (unrelated to the old-world Orioles, which are closer to Starlings), and Meadowlarks (unrelated to true Larks**).
**Only one Lark is native to the New World: the Horned Lark of just about every open space from Alaska and Nunavut through Mexico. And Skylarks have been introduced to Vancouver Island off British Columbia, and have occurred as natural vagrants to Alaska and maybe the west coast.
On the topic of birds and confusing names . . .
Last weekend Mr. NaCl took the boys to Silverwood Park and he told them they might get to see a Great Horned Owl in a nesting box. They did, indeed, see the owl, but the peperoncino (who is 3) was a bit confused because he was under the impression that the owl would have actual horns.
If they didn't have actual horns, then they were in fact* Lesser Horned Owls.
*alt fact
They do have actual horns.
They just keep them somewhere else. Because let's see you fit a trumpet or saxophone into a nesting box.
NEGATIVE ONE DOLLAR.JPEG
here ya go:
(i think we need a [-onewgom] plugin...)
I was legitimately unsure whether this one was going to get a positive or negative dollar.
Seemed obvious to me. 😉
Oh you say that about all my puns.
ehh, in fairness, i usually punt on them.
Joe Nathan to sign with the Nats.
Good luck to him. I'll be surprised if he can both stay healthy and be effective, but it would be a pleasant surprise.
joe was always one of my favorite Twins. Good luck to him.
Friend of mine ran 100 miles this last weekend (Sat-Sun, 22 hrs 'ish). It's her 4th time. Awesome.
AB Walker cut again.
I hope he catches on over seas.