walk today

I thought that was a great bra in the sky, but jokes aside, I found the combination of clouds to be fascinating. This was from a week or so ago.

Cherry blossoms starting on Monday.

Above Vinca vines are used as ground cover. Vinca minor is also called lesser periwinkle or dwarf periwinkle. 

There were some interesting andromodus. Pieris japonica is shade loving and low maintenance. I think it's my next girlfriend.  

Cori says there's a double broad, lots of cicadas. There's a 13 year cycle, and a 17 year cycle and sometimes a big one of both those cycles happens together. 

I also note, some odd creatures have been washing up in bulk on California shores.

First flowers

March 11th 2024, Kew Garden Hills, NYC, New York, USA

Now I'm not out there finding the first flower, I just noticed this, so not making any almanac claims. I wonder if the rhyme should change to "February showers bring March flowers".

Amazing animals

Blue Dragons These sea slugs are pelagic; they float upside down by using the surface tension of the water to stay up, where they are carried along by the winds and ocean currents.

Axolotl These aquatic salamanders have one of the most incredible abilities of all animals on Earth: They can regenerate a missing limb, tail, spinal cord, parts of their brain, heart, and lower jaw, and other organs.

Dung Beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night.

Tardigrades survive in the most extreme conditions, including the bottom of the ocean and Mount Everest. Tardigrades are also the first animal to survive in space.

Colugo are arboreal gliding mammals that are native to Southeast Asia. Sunda flying lemur is also a flying lemur.

Mantis shrimp are very colorful.

Sea Gulls have unhinging jaws which allow them to consume large prey.

Pigeons

The domestication of pigeons occurred as early as 10,000 years ago (Wikipedia). Pigeons have held historical importance to humans as food, pets, holy animals, and messengers. Due to their homing ability, pigeons have been used to deliver messages, including during the world wars. Despite this, city pigeons, which are feral birds released for one reason or another, are generally seen as pests, mainly due to their droppings. Feral pigeons are considered invasive in many parts of the world, though they have a positive impact on wild bird populations, serving as an important prey species for birds of prey.

My soccer team's nickname, which many reject, is the pigeons. They are building a stadium in the valley of the ashes, over by Northern Boulevard, next to Mets stadium, for NYCFC that will supposedly be open in 2027. Some want to call the stadium "the coop". 

I just read The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind, in which a pigeon in his hallway freaks out the story hero Nathaniel Noel, that precipitates a crisis, and a resolution. 

"The titular pigeon can be a symbol for disorder intruding on the protagonist's meticulously organized existence, and may be seen as similar to Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem The Raven, which features its titular bird perched over its protagonist's door instead of Noel's pigeon."

I think they've built a nest under and next to my air conditioner in my window.

In the movie Holy Motors (2012) towards the end, the actor says, "taxi! follow that pigeon!" and they laugh.

Pigeons were not introduce into North America until 1606!

When I look out my window I see pigeon flocks swooping in circles. There's one who hangs out a cooes on my window sill. Sometimes they fly between the sun and have a momentary shadow that makes me feel like there's a glitch in the matrix. 

Links:

That Time the U.S. Tried to Steer Bombs with Pigeons (Popular Mechanics).

An appreciation: According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology “Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets and Egyptian hieroglyphics suggest that pigeons were domesticated more than 5,000 years ago. In fact, these birds have such a long history with humans that it's impossible to tell where the species' original range was.”

"Rock pigeons have been known to raise over six broods per year"

"rock pigeons are monogamous and mate for life"

"They can maintain speeds of 40 mph or more for long periods of time (another reason they made great messenger birds)."

All About Birds

6/21/24: Why do people persecute city pigeons? (BBC)

Bluesky thread by Sarah Winnicki, PhD

The Origins of Our Misguided Hatred for Pigeons (Audubon)

Images