Roadrunner twice…

Posted on January 21, 2024 by John P

During 2019’s Big Bike Ride, roadrunners were a constant companion. Here’s a resident of Terligua, TX; the photo was taken the morning after our epic “Chisos Mtns. by Supermoonlight” night ride.

Sometime during the ride I had a revelation.

Way back, maybe the mid-aughts? – there were a smattering of news stories about getting chickens to express teeth . Looking back, it seems to have been the result of a particular mutation that unsupresses a gene. Always fatal, alas. But then in 2015 there was another mini-storm of stories, this time focusing on a couple facial development genes.

The researchers focused on two genes that help control the development of the middle of the face. The activity of these genes differed from that of reptiles early in embryonic development. They developed molecules that suppressed the activity of the proteins that these genes produced, which led to the embryos developing snouts that resembled their ancestral dinosaur state.*

From there, coverage jumped to Chickenosauruses – not a new idea (see this Jack Horner TED talk from 2011), but hey, clicks are clicks.

The revelation should be obvious: a better candidate for doing the throwback thing on would be everyone’s favorite ground cuckoo, Geococcyx!

Around the time of the bike ride, Andy Frazer/DragonsofWales kickstarted his book, Novosaurs. I jumped on the opportunity to support his work and when Novosaurs arrived, it did not disappoint. I contacted Andy about doing a commission, he was happy to do it, and so I give you the novosaur roadrunner, a feathered companion I’d seriously love to have.

Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen

Posted on December 14, 2023 by John P

-or-

Rock Me Amadeus

The music I like to listen to is all over the place, as you are about to see… We spent some time driving around this morning (laundry, donut shop, groceries, Bitter Lake NWR) and I’ve figured out that a semi-obsessive diet of news is not doing my head any good. So Maisie and I listened to the Aria Code podcast. The latest post is a throwback: a repost of season one’s “Mozart’s Queen of the Night” . I find opera quite enjoyable – having no idea what is going on most of the time is no barrier. I just let the sound flow over me. I like Aria Code, though; it’s good to get some insight into the stories, the history and the musicology.

We got to the point in the podcast when the featured singer performs the aria and yes, it was Sehr schön. But as it started… “Hey waitaminnit!” I recognized the passage from a very different context. Another fave genre is soul music and a staple podcast is Mr. Fine Wine’s “Downtown Soulville“. The podcast, as delivered to my player anyway, is a rip of the radio show and it never ends exactly when the radio show does. One always gets a couple songs from Nate K’s “Burn It Down“. It’s a good show too – I can’t find it in podcast form, so my listening is restricted to back at camp when i think of it (not often enough). The Burn It Down intro is very familiar to me – I don’t know where the monologue is from (though i probably should) but I can now positively ID the aria in the background. Yay me! Here’s the Dec 8 2023 show – you only need to listen for a minute or so to get it.

And yes, I’m listening to the entire Magic Flute at the moment.

Godzilla Minus One

Posted on December 12, 2023 by John P

Even here in southeastern New Mexico, land of cattle and oil, the echoes of The Bomb, WWII and the Cold War continue to reverberate. Seen in the checkout line last Sunday:

My friend S told me about a small museum at the airport devoted to the history of Walker AFB. Seemed like a perfect prequel to a Godzilla movie and boy howdy, was it ever. Walker AFB was where the 509th CG was based after WWII – the 509th dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the war, the 509th participated in Operation Crossroads – they were the first post-Trinity tests and took place at Bikini Atoll. You’ve seen footage of Baker (the second test), I’m sure. There was a photo of Baker in the museum; I didn’t realize at the time that there’d be a direct through-line to the night’s movie. Speaking of through-lines, I lived with the 509th as a neighbor during the Reagan years. They were flying FB-111s out of Pease AFB in New Hampshire and between a SAC base on one side and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the other, I took grim comfort in knowing that if Ronnie managed to start a nuclear war, I’d likely never know.

Then it was off to the movin’ picture show. Godzilla Minus One is, imho, really good. I’m not going to offer any criticism or analysis – when I watch a movie I’m fully engaged (at least the first time). If I can stand back and look at the movie as a movie, it’s either something I don’t like or it’s a “so bad it’s good” MST3K kind of experience. GMO was neither of those; it’s an excellent re-telling of the origin story (spoiler: Operation Crossroads did it) set in WWII, devastated post firebombing Tokyo, and finally Japan as the country was just starting to get back on its feet. Strong recommendation!

Oh, no reason…

Roadrunner once…

Posted on December 8, 2023 by John P

A confession: I’ve had a series of roadrunner posts rattling around in my head for a year and a half or so. Did I acually write them? We all know the answer. Just now I was about to post some pix to Instagram and realized that I had a post’s worth of captioning, so here goes. Not what I’d planned as the 1st roadrunner post, but perhaps this will break the logjam.

The Word of the Day is zygodactyl. Most bird feet are three toes in front, 1 in back; they’re anisodactyl. A few, including many woodpeckers, owls, parrots and cuckoos, have two in front and two behind: they’re zygodactyl.

This is a left foot I salvaged from a roadkill roadrunner yesterday (not to worry, legal eagles, I disposed of it after taking a couple pix). The X – and thus the very distinctive roadrunner track – is obvious.

After looking at the foot for a bit, I had a question. Does the same toe rotate back in all zygodactyl birds? Is there zygodactyl chirality?? Turns out the answer is yes, same toe always. BECAUSE THERE’S A DIFFERENT WORD IF THE OTHER TOE GOES BACK!

In the above diagram (yanked from this Wikipedia page) we’re looking at right feet, 4 is the outer front toe in anisodactyl birds and 2 is the inner toe. From that same Wikiped page, “heterodactyl arrangement only exists in trogons.”

New goal: see a zygodactyl bird (roadrunner) and a heterodactyl bird (elegant trogon) in the same area. If there are still a couple trogons hanging around far southern Arizona this January (there were last year), it might be possible after Christmas.

Subterranean islands

Posted on December 1, 2023 by John P

Greetings from southeastern New Mexico, on the edge of the Permian Basin. Maisie, the birds, and I are well into the ’23/’24 Southwest Peregrination and we’re all having a very nice time. Yesterday was forecast to be very windy – not a good day for flying the birds – so I traveled down to Carlsbad Caverns N.P. to take a walk underground.

First things first. The cave system was gorgeous and HUGE. The entrance was familiar – I’m positive it was the background for the freetailed bat illustration in my childhood Mammals: A guide to familiar American species Golden Guide.The shape? Yes. The scale? Yikes!

From the surface, it’s a 1.25mi/2k hike down switchbacks until you are 750’/245m down at the Big Room. The walk around the Big Room is a similar distance, but flat. A single chamber that takes about an hour to circumnavigate on paved paths. Big.

As I was walking, I couldn’t help but compare Carlsbad to Kartchner Caverns. I visited Kartchner last winter – it’s in southern Arizona and was discovered and opened as a show cave more recently than Carlsbad. There are obvious similarities: humidity, temperature, formations, but they felt different. I’m putting it down to what I’m calling metabolism (I’m sure there’s a real term of art for this). Kartchner has a higher metabolic rate – more dripping, more wet surfaces, more of a feel that things are growing – still on a very long time scale, but… Cave systems are unique – I knew this intellectually, but feeling the difference between 2 pretty similar systems was striking.

The other thing that I’ve been thinking about since yesterday’s hike has been the “island” aspect of cave ecosystems. Kartchner Caverns is in the Sky Island region of southern Arizona – a desert with mountaintop ecological islands. It makes for fantastic hiking and biking – moving through very different kinds of habitats as one climbs. Similarly as one descends below the surface, the parameters change. Temperature and humidity stabilize and light disappears. Something that has adapted to Carlsbad (below the twilight zone) is not going to be able to pull up stakes and migrate to the next cave system along. I’m thinking primarily of microscopic critters – bacteria and pals – but big respect to cave crickets and salamanders and all the other macro beasts, too.

I’ll be back in Sky Island country after the holidays – I plan on going back to Kartchner Caverns (note to self – look at their calendar for cameras-allowed special tours) and will definitely be rolling this stuff around in my head as the squad and I go exploring aboveground.

Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (2003)

Posted on March 24, 2023 by John P

Last Wednesday, alerted by Toho Studios on my Instagram feed, I put aside my distaste for indoor crowds* and toddled off to Albuquerque to see a special showing of Godzilla: Tokyo SOS. When I got there, I realized northern New Mexico was a perfect spot to watch a Godzilla flick: bomb references are everywhere, including the Fallout Trampoline Arena next door to the cineplex.

After the interminable coming attractions the show started with something I didn’t quite get. Was It a prequel clip? How was this going to tie in? Is Gigan in Tokyo SOS, too? It was really cool though, so this morning I googled around to see if I could find out more. Indeed I could; my goog-fu is still adequate!

Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex (… Gojira buiesu Gaigan Rekusu) is a 3D-animated Godzilla short film written and directed by Takuya Uenishi. It is a sequel to Uenishi’s 2019 fan film G vs. G, which he submitted to GEMSTONE’s Godzilla contest, winning the chance to work with Toho in an official capacity. It was screened during Godzilla Fest 2022 on November 3, 2022 and subsequently released on YouTube.*

Here it is in all its glory – if nothing else go to the 5 minute mark to see Gigan Rex power up. Watching in the theater, I didn’t notice that it was 3D animated. Part of the reason is that when I watch a movie, if I’m enjoying it I tend to immerse myself. There’s no little Roger Ebert on my shoulder analyzing things – it’s why I’d be a suck film critic. But the other reason is that Takuya Uenishi does a great job capturing the feel of Toho practical effects. Enjoy!

A musical observation… There are a couple of phrases (edit – the word I was looking fore is leitmotif – thank you Wikipedia) that put me immediately and directly into a cinematic universe. The first, obv, is Godzilla’s theme. And the second? Watch the last bit of Yojimbo.

*If I wasn’t stuffing popcorn into my face I was masked up for the duration of indoor time.

Chile Relleno diary no. 5

Posted on March 23, 2023 by John P

I’ll post more about the fun we’re having in the Santa Fe area soon, but for now, I’m going to cut to the chase.

Place: Rancho de Chimayo

Variety: Chile relleno entree.Two chile rellenos on top of salsa, with rice, calabasitas and OMG FRY BREAD. Wow. Presenting the rellenos above rather than below the salsa meant that the breading was as crisp and hot as could be. The salsa and chiles were perfectly spicy and for folks who might find them too hot, there’s fry bread dipped in honey to cool your mouth down. Exceptional! I’m going back to try their combo plate before I leave the area.

And there was flan for dessert. Also extremely delicious.

Rancho de Chimayo is tied with Chope’s for the best chile rellenos I’ve ever eaten. Yum.

Chile Relleno Diary entry no. 4

Posted on March 13, 2023 by John P

I decided to head up to Ferndale CA yesterday for lunch. Last year I drove the Lost Coast loop: around the Mattole Road from Weott (more or less) to Ferndale. By the time I got around the loop it was late in the day and the weather had deteriorated; I took a quick look at Ferdale’s famous Main St. and headed back to camp. This year the loop is a no-go. There’s either a quarter mile or quarter acre (I’m clear about 1/4, but not so sure on unit of measure) slide between 101 and Honeydew on the south end of the Mattole Road. I wanted to get back to Ferndale, so a much shorter and easier drive up for lunch seemed like a good idea. I googled around and there was a promising looking Mexican place right in the center of town.

Off we went and when we got to Tuyas (the restaurant in question) there was a chile relleno special. Of course I ordered it.

Place: Tuyas, Ferndale CA

Variety: Chile relleno special. One chile relleno smothered in mole with beans, rice and homemade corn tortillas. Another A+ lunch experience. The mole was amazing – spicy, rich, complex and umami-delic! And the tortillas were an unexpected surprise – really excellent. I’ll return; even if there isn’t a relleno special, enchiladas with their corn tortillas and mole would be amazing, I’m sure.

#FlowerReport, March 12, 2023

Posted on March 12, 2023 by John P

Centuries ago, in internet time, my friend Alyssa started the Sunday Flower Report on twitter. It was and is a celebration of “the persistence of beauty and the beauty of persistence”; folks tweet pictures of whatever is blooming in their neck of the woods with the hashtag #FlowerReport and A retweets to all followers. I locked my twitter account last year at about this time in anticipation of Leon Skum’s purchase of the bird site and with that, my contributions came to an end. Alyssa can see my tweets, but RTing is right out. So I thought this Sunday I’d do a long overdue post on a day trip I took a month ago – a blog based #FlowerReport.

Way back when I was building naturalistic vivaria and keeping poison dart frogs, my go-to for orchids was Andy’s Orchids in Encenitas. It and the La Mesa RR layout were my 2 primary reasons for visiting the San Diego area and my gosh, it was worth it. It’d take thousands of photos to do the place justice – I only took a few. Here’s a slideshow, with orchid species names in the caption, where possible.

The San Diego Model RR Museum

Posted on February 14, 2023 by John P

My post Clovis-flyabout time in Arizona was uneventful: some time boondocking near a ghost town and a week and a half at Kartchner Caverns SP. I’ve driven by signs pointing the way to KCSP for years and never bothered to look into it – turned off by eastern tourist trap caves I guess. This time round, I was looking for a campground near the southern AZ grasslands and gave KCSP a whirl. The campground in nice, but OMG the caves! Discovered in 1974, kept secret for 14 years, and developed prioritizing the cave environment; just incredible. If you visit when the bats are elsewhere (they close part of the cave during bat season), the Big Room tour is my recco.

From S AZ, it was off to San Diego. I had 2 spots on my high priority list. The San Diego Model Railroad museum was the first. They have multiple layouts: O, HO and N – I was there for the La Mesa Model RR Club’s HO scale Tehachapi layout. So, early on a Tuesday morning, I hopped on my bike and pedaled to Balboa Park. My plan was to be there when they opened and get some more-or-less quiet time before it got crowded. Ha! By the time they opened, I was one of a couple dozen people at the front door. It got crowded quickly and I’m still crowd-averse so I only spent and hour and a half or so inside, but it was time well spent.

The Tehachapi Loop is a famous track spiral in south central California. By spiraling, the railroad gains horizontal distance so that it can keep the vertical grade manageable, but the v cool visual benefit is that any reasonably long train ends up passing over/under itself. The La Mesa folks have modeled it, and modeled it well. I read somewhere that this layout is the largest model RR representation of a prototype in the world.

A westbound freight headed by 2 SP SD40T-2 tunnel snoots bracketing a UP U30C with an SP SD39 bringing up the rear.

The same train running downhill through the loop.

And just for grins, a shot of one of the CTC panel displays.

Between the museum, Balboa Park and a very interesting waterfront bike ride, an A+ day.

A few remarks on “The Last of Us”

Posted on February 13, 2023 by John P

First, a general strong thumbs up. I’m currently in L.A. with the west coast branch of the family and they’ve been watching, so I caught up (eps 1 – 3) before the post Super Bowl group viewing brought me current last night. Good characters, good story-line(s), good monsters. Yay!

Second, I’m glad that I watched episode 3 alone. No spoilers, but it really moved me. There was uglycrying.

Third, and finally, y’all will want to get busy schmoozing me, because as soon as I figure out the connection between this blog post and the THoU video game and then win $$$$ in my intellectual property suit I’m gonna be rolling in dough. Fabulously wealthy, I tell you! The key passage:

Blog post went up July 14, 2008 & The Last of Us video game began development in 2009. My simple country lawyer will make mincemeat of them,

Significant explanatory power

Posted on January 15, 2023 by John P

I’ve been trying to understand why Clovis took off a week ago. This morning I found a dropped primary under her perch:

Things just got clearer! I don’t fly during the moult for a couple of reasons. First, managing the bird’s weight is tricky. If you go too low while the falcon is making new feathers, you risk fretmarks – lines of weakness on the feather that mark moments of stress, especially nutritional stress. Second, and germane to the question at hand, moulting is part of a bunch of hormonal changes kicked off by longer days. One of the other effects is readiness for bonding/mating/nesting. My current best guess is that Clovis took off because it’s time to fly around, establish a territory and find a mate. It hasn’t been any kind of season anyway, so packing up the telemetry and the vest is NBD but still, dang, I was hoping for some more flights!

Diary of a Mad Natural Historian

"It's easy enough to stand still. The difficulty is to walk without touching the ground."

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