Archive of entries posted by jfleck

In which your backyard naturalist blames nighthawks and swallows on drought

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In the last five years, I’ve somewhat haphazardly accumulated what’s turning into a pretty good time series of data on the ecology of my backyard. Or, more specifically, the birds therein. Since 2008, when I caught the eBird bug, I’ve submitted 483 lists for the yard. Number 484, collected this evening, is a puzzle. Sometimes …

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Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Colorado River shortage possible by 2016

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In conservations with reporters over the last week, Mike Connor of the US Bureau of Reclamation has mentioned an agency analysis showing a substantial chance of a Colorado River lower basin shortage declaration happening by 2016. This would occur if Lake Mead’s surface elevation drops below 1075 feet above sea level. Here’s my story, explaining …

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Pat Mulroy doesn’t think much of the Salton Sea

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Via Henry Brean, Pat Mulroy shares her views of the Imperial Irrigation District’s efforts to funnel water into the Salton Sea: Mulroy is definitely worried about Lake Mead, which supplies about 90 percent of the Las Vegas Valley’s drinking water. But she also voiced broader concerns about river water being used to prop up a …

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the global shit trade

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Supplying European farmers with guano would involve transporting large quantities of excrement across the Atlantic, a project that understandably failed to enthuse shipping companies. Charles Mann, in his fascinating 1491, on the slow uptake in Europe of the South American innovation of mining for fertilizer from Peru’s 147 guano islands. Poop jokes notwithstanding, the 19th …

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Rachael Ludwick on Monsanto

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How to really march against Monsanto: The problems in agriculture aren’t related to particular technology. They are related to what we, as a society, have valued. What we value (either in making law or making purchases) drives what farmers grow and thus why Monsanto is so successful. The full item is worth reading.

Vacation

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On vacation, we found and then refound this little pullout on the west side of Whidbey Island facing out to the Strait of Juan Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a little public parking area wedged between beach houses. When Lissa and I revisited Thursday, there were a couple of surfers desperate to try to …

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Getting nature right is hard, Episode XVII: restoring the Elwha

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PORT ANGELES – The Elwha River is, as U.S. rivers go, a dinky thing. It rises in the Olympic Mountains, draining a basin of a bit more than 300 square miles and flowing north some 45 miles before dumping its cargo into Strait of Juan de Fuca just west of Port Angeles, Wash. By my …

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