with droplets of pee during their nocturnal activities. It’s the price one pays for hosting hundreds of bats in five bat houses on the property. One is visible in the image below.
DoorDash delivery by Mama Osprey...
with a teeny serving of carp this evening, trying to coax Junior into flight. It worked!
American Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
Junior is clearly not happy with the tiny portion size. Not putting up with the squawking, Mama takes flight nearly immediately.
After consuming the meager morsel, Junior exercises its wings and immediately takes flight off the platform! Godspeed!
A buck in the brush...
on the back forty, caught on another hot and dry and smoky afternoon.
Mule deer buck in velvet (Odocoileus hemionus).
A wise old friend...
visits the bird bath after a hot and smoky afternoon. It appears to be a youngster.
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus).
Digitally recording the heartbeat of groundwater...
rising and falling in my rural water well, a HOBO water level data logger is placed in the 300 ft (91 m) deep well as part of a regional project. This intelligent device stores and transmits water level data by Bluetooth, and corrects for atmospheric pressure effects. Hey, it’s the 21st century, you know.
Former colleague Dr. C. Pritchard (EWU Geology) measuring the static water level with a well sounding tape and preparing the data logger for installation.
The water level measuring tape indicates the static water level is 223 ft (68 m) below the lip of the metal collar. The data logger is the shiny metal device and will be suspended by a cable to nearly the bottom of the well, hanging slightly above the pump.
A Wild Turkey hen...
struts her stuff through the brown and tinder dry brush with her brood of four little ones (not seen in the image below).
Wild Turkey hen (Meleagris gallopavo).
Mama delivers fresh fish...
to Junior in the nest this evening. Looks like it’s carp sashimi on the menu. They’re not called fish hawks for nothing!
American Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
Having driven both Zodiacs and Zambonis...
it is imperative that one continues training and honing their skills through time, so today I once again took the magnificent Zamboni out on the ice at the University Recreation Center. It was a terrific review on the operation of the boxy behemoth conducted by geology undergraduate student Silas. Informative and fun!
Silas backs the Zamboni out of the garage and onto the ice.
Yours truly behind the wheel, zooming along at 5 mph (8 kph)! Although I wanted to feel the wind in my hair, I wore the ball cap to keep my hair out of my eyes at this blistering speed.
Driver’s point-of-view over the long hood. It does take some real skill to command this three ton beast but it pirouettes on a dime.
But, honestly, Zodiac MilPro MK4s are way more fun to drive! Happy geologist and Zodiac captain examining turbidites at Gold Harbour, South Georgia, in 2018.
Considerable plaintive screeching...
did not summon Mama with a delivery of fresh fish during Operation Osprey Watch this evening. Junior is just beginning to wiggle its wings and it will be a while before it’s flight capable.
American Osprey chick (Pandion haliaetus).
The singletrack in the wetlands...
is a very different riding experience than in red rock country. It’s a nice change of pace and environment, but I miss the vertical challenges of canyon country and there’s no downhill flow.
Secure behind a ceramic sun face...
and clinging to the cedar siding is a solitary bat, hanging head down next to my secret house key. It clearly prefers solitude as opposed to occupying the nearby bat house with more than 200 residents.
Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).
Here’s the bottom of the two-chambered bat house this afternoon with 40+ individuals peeking out in this image. It’s crowded in there!
Bats need friends! If you’d like to build and successfully locate a bat house the classic guide was published in 1994 (now out-of-print) and co-authored by my late wife: Bat House Builder’s Handbook.
A blockade of birds on the trail...
shortened my morning ride by about a mile.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).
A pair of preening pelicans...
relaxing on a log in the wetlands early this morning.
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Big Brother is spying on you...
with remotely operated and solar powered Flock cameras, engaging in unconstitutionally broad and warrantless surveillance of all citizens. Eight such spy cameras have been installed in my rural community in eastern Washington in a clear violation of civil liberties, and seemingly in violation of state law as well. Shame on the mayor, members of the city council and police chief. George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984 was meant to be a cautionary tale and not an instruction manual for government!
Flock spy camera violating the 4th Amendment.
Helpful link: See if you are being spied upon where you live.
Cool gifts for science nerds...
across all disciplines are available at Cognitive Surplus. Here’s a stainless steel thermos bottle with the geologic time scale nicely printed on the exterior that arrived today for this geo-nerd. (No commission earned.)
Sometimes known as nature's Velcro...
because the sticky leaves can easily attach to fabric, this showy plant is found in sandy and disturbed soils. Appropriately named, the fully open blossom seen below is nearly the size of your hand.
Giant blazingstar (Mentzelia laevicaulis).
The guided tour of Boundary Dam...
on the Pend Oreille River at the US-Canadian border, a concrete arch-gravity dam constructed in 1967 for hydroelectric generation, was nothing short of excellent. A big thank you goes to the engineers from Seattle City Light that owns and operates the structure for a terrific exploration of the facility.
View due north, down river and into Canada from the top of the arch dam, 338 feet (103 m) above the water surface.
View of Boundary Dam from river level, with the six transformer stations on the right where high voltage power lines exit the underground powerhouse.
Service tunnel entrance to the subterranean powerhouse, including the generator hall, transformer stations, the control room for operation of the structure and administrative offices.
Generator Hall, an enormous chamber excavated out of limestone bedrock, showing six turbines with one undergoing refurbishment.
A geology field class at Gardner Cave...
in Crawford State Park, Washington where university students learn cave science and mapping techniques. A former colleague invited me back into service given my long experience and expertise in the subterranean environment, and which turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable two day-long project with a dozen undergraduate students.
Students learning to survey the illuminated upper part of the cave through which guided commercial tours are offered using tape and compass techniques.
Students recording carbon dioxide concentration in the cavern atmosphere.
Jazzed students exploring the wild, deeper part of the cave in a steeply descending passage. Note the flowstone false floor spanning sediments of glacial origin that were washed into the cave during the Pleistocene, and now are presently eroding by water flowing into the cavern from the surface.
Closeup view of delicate crystalline rimstone on the floor of the cave. Field of view is about three feet (one meter) wide.
Operation Osprey Watch is on again...
this summer as the platform nest is once again occupied, much to my delight. Mama’s housekeeping hasn’t seemed to improve in the interim. There may be a second, smaller fledge in the nest, too.
American Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
Black and granular gold...
accumulates on the back deck below a double-chambered bat house. Some lucky gardener friend of mine is going to receive more than five pounds (2.3 kg) of premium organic free range bat guano in the near future.
Bats need friends! Provide free housing and they will eat insects and produce nitrogen-rich guano.