Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture (Carthartes aura): Very large, common birds with a dark underbelly, white underwing feathers and a small, bald, red head.  They fly at a high dihedral, cruising high overhead for carrion. 

I saw two turkey vultures on a hike last Saturday through Mt. Tamalpais/Muir woods. At first, I thought I might be seeing a red-tailed hawk, but using my bird guide and class knowledge, I was eventually able to determine that it was a turkey vulture because of its high dihedral and the coloration on the underbelly. It was pretty cool to finally see a turkey vulture after talking about them all semester - I had already gotten to see/identify about 20 red-tailed hawks!

Born To Run

Over winter break, I read a book called Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. It is a piece of literary journalism that outlines the story of the Tarahumara Indians, a small civilization of people living in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. These people are the best distance runners on Earth. Their style of running and their diet are the same as they have been for the last several hundred years. They don't wear modern shoes, utilize modern sports medicine or eat a typical runner's diet. The book gives an overview of their traditional style and then attacks the modern way of going about running. After this is established, the book goes into detail about human's evolution as distance runners. It it believed that humans used to run down their prey through a long-distance pursuit. I watched a video of a tribesman in Africa performing this kind of hunt and it was awesome and very interesting. I think it's really interesting that humans seem to have no idea that their bodies evolved to be distance runners capable of running down every other animal on Earth. It was a really great read for me because it was a combination of my three biggest passions: environmental studies/evolution, journalism, and athletics. I'm considering the topic of "the evolution of humans as runners" for my final paper, using Born To Run and Darwin.

This is the persistence hunting video!

Cherry Blossom

I took this photo on main campus last week :)

Cherry Blossoms: I don't know what specific type of tree this is, just that it's flowers are called cherry blossoms. I think they are gorgeous flowers and a love when the trees bloom, as they are now. I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown and it was a lot of fun. I think celebrating the beautiful things in nature is a good way to ensure the protection of all of Earth's plants and animals. Who could destroy something that is celebrated?

Steller's Jay

Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri): A native Jay with a long dark gray or black crest, a dark head and a blue body and tail feathers. They are common in coniferous forests and mixed woods. Two varieties include the Pacific, found along the coast from Southern California to Alaska, and the Interior West, found in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. and Canada. The males of the Interior West variety have white markings on the forehead.  

I saw a Steller's Jay on a run in Golden Gate Park. I remember the difference between Steller's Jays and Scrub Jays because the long crest, which looks like a mohawk to me, is "stellar," and the Scrub Jay is "scrubbed" of it's mohawk. 

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk: A bird of prey found all over North America. These birds are very adaptable and live in a variety of biomes. They are usually brown in coloration, lighter on the underbelly with a dark brown streak. Adults have reddish tail feathers, adolescents do not. Female Red-tailed Hawks are on average 25% bigger than males and weigh between 2 and 4.5 pounds. Males weight between 1.5 and 3 pounds.

There are Red-tailed Hawks on main campus and Lone Mountain. I see these birds very frequently in San Francisco and at home in Oregon. I identify them by their low dihedral, splayed wingtips, patagial markings and red tails, if present.

The Media and the Environment

The conversation with KPFA reporter Brian Edwards-Tiekert was very interesting and engaging for me. I  am an Environmental Studies major/Journalism minor so his career is similar to something I want to do in the future.  I wanted to hear more about what it's like to report on environmental issues. He said it can be depressing, which I'm sure is true - I get depressed just learning these issues in class. It would be so much harder to hear all the grave details and then watch, talk to, and report on politicians who fail to make the necessary changes to fix the problems. I think the struggle with this career would be the feeling of helplessness. Clearly, environmental reporting is important and necessary, but I think I might feel like I should be a part of the things I would be reporting on, rather than just covering the story. Altogether, Brian said some interesting things about anthropogenic climate change that have stuck with me, and, even though he does radio and I'm interested in newspaper, he got me thinking more about a future in environmental media and how best to utilize my education. 

Rango and Water Rights

I watched the animated movie Rango a few days ago and was surprised to see an environmental protection/resource management theme present throughout the film. The film is about a pet chameleon who finds himself lost in the dessert. He runs across a town of small animals that has a serious water problem. The bank of the town (which is named Dirt) runs on a water currency, and the town basically worships the small amount of water they do have in reserve. The richest person in the town is the mayor, a turtle who seems to have limitless water and an obsession with purchasing property. The water situation presented in the movie closely follows the story of Los Angeles water acquisition in the early 1900's. The mayor of the town seems to be a mixture of the mayor of Los Angeles at the time and William Mulholland, LA's water superintendent. The townspeople symbolize the water-starved people of Owen's Valley, CA, and they go on to sabotage the aqueduct just as the Owen's Valley people did to LA's aqueduct. I'm curious to find other similarities between Rango and the true story of LA's water acquisition. In the film, the water is being taken to Las Vegas, not Los Angeles. Maybe parts of the story come from Las Vegas's water history? The movie shows how deeply important water rights are to society and I found it to be portrayed in a very interesting way in Rango. If you haven't seen the movie, it's definitely worth watching!

American Robin

American Robin (Turdus migratorius): A common bird found all across North America. Characterized by a a gray upper side and a rusty orange or red breast and flanks. They are often seen on lawns and in suburban areas.

Yesterday I saw an American Robin on main campus. It was a very brightly colored male, with a deep rusty red chest and dark wing and tail feathers. The white around his eye stood out starkly as well.

Chicken Tacos

Chicken Taco Dinner Night!

I really enjoyed the cook a meal for friends assignment. It was an interesting thing to have Environmental Studies students do because of how much of environmentalism surround food production. I debated doing a vegetarian, locally grown, organic meal just on environmental principle - but I don't really eat that way. I know I should, and hopefully some day I will. It's just so impractical for a college student - if that kind of environmentally friendly, sustainable eating is really going to take-off, it's going to have to made much simpler and cheaper. Next year I won't be entirely on the school meal plan, so maybe more environmentally friendly eating will be possible. I know that eventually I can change my habits in order to eat more seasonally, locally and organically, and I will work to get to that point. I also hope that this way of eating will become a widespread trend that leads to bigger changes in the way Americans and the other developed countries of the world eat their food. 

What to eat, what to eat, what to eat?!

This is a drawing I did of a chocolate covered strawberry. It makes me think about Sarah's presentation about the pesticides and chemicals sprayed on California strawberries, and then about all of the chemicals and junk that is in the chocolate coating...it looks so yummy and healthy on the outside, but really it's full of some nasty stuff. Oh food. It's all so confusing!