Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
"Josh Williams sings Mordecai at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival at Denton Farm Park in Denton, NC on May 5, 2011. During this song, a small bird lands on Josh's guitar while he's singing. Watch his reaction as he keeps his cool and finishes the song."
Notice how intently the little bird watches and listens to Josh !
An eared grebe in need of rescuing, after it crash-landed onto the snow-covered ground in St. George, UT, mistaking it for a lake. Credit: Utah Division of Wildlife, Lynn Chamberlain
"Thousands of migrating birds crash-landed onto parking lots and other thinly snow-covered surfaces in St. George, Utah, Monday night (Dec. 12), apparently mistaking the glinting open spaces for lakes. Community members and state wildlife officials are working together to clean up from the disaster, rescuing survivors and disposing of the casualties."
"After monsoon season, usually in September and October and only occurring on dark moonless nights, 44 species of bird in Jatinga suddenly become disturbed between the hours of 6-9:30pm. Strangely becoming disoriented, the birds plunge toward the torches and lights of the cities.
While birds have been known to occasionally plunge to their deaths (though almost certainly not intentionally), usually it is the villagers in Jatinga who do the actual killing. Believing the birds to be "spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them" the villagers took to capturing them with bamboo poles and beating the birds to death.
Despite the danger and the repeat performances every year, the birds continue to fly to their death in this small area of 1500 by 200 meters. A number of theories have been proposed, one suggesting that a combination of high altitude, high winds, and fog leads disorients the birds and they are attracted to the light of the village (bright light itself has been known to disorient birds) as a source of flight stabilization. Another theory suggests that the weather of the region leads to "changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water" causing the birds disoriented state."
by Isaac Gutiérrez Pascual
Sometimes the sky above can become quite a show. Last week, for example, the Moon and Venus converged, creating quite a sight by itself for sky enthusiasts around the globe. From some locations, though, the sky was even more picturesque. In the above image taken last week from Spain, a crescent Moon and the planet Venus, on the far right, were captured during sunset posing against a deep blue sky. In the foreground, dark storm clouds loom across the image bottom, while a white anvil cloud shape appears above. Black specks dot the frame, caused by a flock of birds taking flight. Very soon after this picture was taken, however, the birds passed by, the storm ended, and Venus and the Moon set. The Moon and Venus have now separated, although Venus will remain visible at sunset for the rest of this month.
