The Large Billed Reed Warbler

Afghanistan protects newly rediscovered rare bird

By KAY JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Kay Johnson, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 28, 5:55 am ET

KABUL – Afghanistan's fledging conservation agency moved Sunday to protect one of the world's rarest birds after the species was rediscovered in the war-ravaged country's northeast.

The remote Pamir Mountains are the only known breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler, a species so elusive that it had been documented only twice before in more than a century.

A researcher with the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the tiny, olive-brown bird during a wildlife survey in 2008 and taped its distinctive song. Later, a research team caught and released 20 of the birds — the largest number ever recorded.

On Sunday, Afghanistan's National Environment Protection Agency added the large-billed reed warbler to its list of protected species, which was established only last year.

Mustafa Zahir, the agency's director-general, acknowledged the difficulties of trying to protect wildlife in a country preoccupied with the Taliban insurgency. On Friday, suicide attackers killed 16 people in Kabul, the capital, and thousands of Afghan and NATO forces are fighting to root out the hard-line Islamists from their southern stronghold.

But Zahir, who is the grandson of Afghanistan's former king, said the discovery of the large-billed reed warbler provided some welcome positive news.

"It is not true that our country is full of only bad stories," Zahir said. "This bird, after so many years, has been discovered here. Everyone thought it was extinct."

The bird's discovery in Afghanistan kicked off a small flurry in conservation circles.

The large-billed reed warbler was first documented in India in 1867 but wasn't found again until 2006 — with a single bird in Thailand. The Pamir Mountains, in the sparsely populated Badakhshan province near China, is now home to the world's only known large population of the bird.

The Afghan environmental agency also added 14 other species to the protected list on Sunday. It now includes 48 species including the rare snow leopard, the Asiatic cheetah and the markhor, a type of wild goat with large spiral horns.

While conservation efforts are in their infancy in Afghanistan, there have been some recent successes. Authorities in Badakhshan last week seized a snow leopard from villagers who had trapped it and planned to sell it. The snow leopard — one of an estimated 150 left in the wild — will be freed once its injuries from the trap are healed, Zahir said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_afghanistan_rare_bird

Cheese Grater Supreme

We bought this cheese grater at a junk shop out of the Olympic Peninsula about 10 years ago and I wanted to post a picture because it deserves recognion. It has been a faithful cheese grater and has never let us down. It grates the hardest of cheeses with ease and without complaint. If I were the prior owner of this cheese grater I'd be very sorry I gave up this wonderful kitchen tool.

 

Early Lessons

We bought skis, boots and google for our grandson for Christmas. His Grandfather and I took him up for his first lesson, which was intended to familiarize him with the gear. After arriving at Stevens Pass Ski Area we let him walk around in the boots for awhile, then we got him into the skis and we pulled him around a bit. He was pretty tentative, and didn't want to spend much time on them. That was OK........he is only three and just beginning. His Father took him up the next weekend, and he reported Austin did very well and had fun........even going down a small slope several times. We decided to get him back up the next weekend, so his Father, his Grandfather and I got him into the car and headed up. It was pretty much a disaster. We spent more time in the lodge looking out the window than skiing, and when Austin was on the skis he did a lot of complaining, so we got the hint and quit. We decided we wouldn't push it and told Austin that all he has to do is tell us when HE is ready to go up to the mountains and learn how to ski. I suspect he'll be more inclined to go up in a year or two when he's older, but for now we're not going to drive that far just for a hamburger.

 

 

The Engagement

Our oldest son and his girlfriend surprised us all on Christmas Day by announcing their engagement. We were all so very happy to hear of this as he and Nicole (Nico) have been dating for over two years, and it was quite obvious that they make each other very happy. They surprised us even more when they requested that the Wedding Ceremony take place outdoors at our property in Index and could the reception follow at our home in Woodinville? "Would that be OK with us?" Of course it is, and we can't explain how excited and happy we are to be able to do this for them. The date has been chosen.........September 18, 2010........now the work begins. In the months ahead, I'm sure I'll be adding more details and posting more pictures, but for now suffice it to say that we are delighted and happy to welcome Nico into our family and look forward to many years of enjoying the togetherness and love they share.

Christmas in Leavenworth

We drove to Leavenworth after meeting the kids up at the cabin Saturday morning. The drive was beautiful going over Stevens Pass and down the east slopes of the Cascade Mountains into Leavenworth. Although the skies were gray and there was rain in the forcast for that afternoon, the town of Leavenworth was packed full of holiday shoppers and holiday gawkers. After taking a drive out to look at the orchards, the wineries and the awesome veiw on North Road we headed back to town. There were dozens of buses parked at the park and ride........our usual preference.....and we eventually managed to find a free parking spot two blocks off of main street. After walking into town, dodging people and dogs and cars and horse drawn carriages we headed for the cheese shop. I bought a lovely bottle of ice wine which I'm going to open for dessert after Christmas supper. Nico bought cheese and the guys stayed outside with Neeka the dog and did some people watching. We'd arrived late in the afternoon, and were thirsty so we ended up at the Muchin House where we found roaringly happy crowds, warm fires and that great Alpine Ale. We sat and drank and talked to strangers and participated in the joyous comraderie we always find there. 4:30 was drawing near and it was time to get back out to main street for the traditional tree and town lighting. There were speeches given and carols sung and Santa even came. At the thundering of the cannon and the countdown from five one by one the trees, buildings and street lamps of Leavenworth lit up. Everyone was so merry and our surroundings so festive, this was a perfect way to welcome in the Christmas holiday. We had a long drive ahead of us and a turkey and stuffing dinner awaiting us at the cabin, so along with most of the rest of the crowd we slowly made our way back to the car and settled in for the long drive over the pass. We got the car warmed up, and played Christmas songs on the radio. We sang songs and talked about the holidays and before we knew it we were back to Index and our cozy little cabin.

 

The Pinks (Humpys) are Runny Hard

The river was just chock full of Pink Salmon last weekend. We spent much time down on the bank watching the show. We saw a huge and strikingly beautiful King Salmon muscle his way up river through the hoards and hoards of Pinks. We hope he got very far up stream and found a suitable mate.

I did a Wiki search and found this:

Reproduction
Male at spawning time

Pink salmon in their native range have a strict two year life cycle, thus odd and even-year populations do not interbreed. Adult pink salmon enter spawning streams from the ocean, usually returning to the water course, or race, where they originated. Spawning occurs between late June and mid-October. Pink salmon spawn in coastal streams and some longer rivers, and may spawn in the intertidal zone or at the mouth of streams if hyporheic freshwater is available. Using her tail, the female digs a trough-shaped nest, called a redd (Scandinavian word for "nest"), in the gravel of the stream bed, wherein she deposits her eggs. As she expresses the eggs, she is approached by one or more males who fertilize them as they fall into the redd. Subsequently, the female covers the newly-deposited zygotes, again with thrusts of her tail against the gravel at the top of the redd. The female lays from 1000 to 2000 eggs in several clutches within the redd, often fertilized by different males. Females guard their redds until death, which comes within days of spawning. In dense populations, a major source of mortality for embryos is superposition of redds by later-spawning fish. The eggs hatch from December to February, depending on water temperature, and the juveniles emerge from the gravel during March and April and quickly migrate downstream to estuaries at about one-quarter gram. The fish achieve sexual maturity in their second year of life. They return to freshwater in the summer or autumn as two year old adults. Pink and chum salmon sometimes interbreed in nature to form the hybrid known as the miko salmon; the hybrids are reproductively sterile.

 
 
 

We tried to get a few good pictures, but It is difficult as the salmon don't stay still very long + they meld in with the coloring of the background. If you look hard at these pictures, you will see the fish.

Once they are through with their reproductive cycle, the Salmon die. The air was getting rather pungent, and I imagine it is even worse now. Fortunately for us (but not the Salmon) they decay rapidly. It will all be over in a few short weeks.

Ever heard of the Equiux?

Hat tip to DmAa on the "Bear Stories" thread at Siliconinvestor.com


Notice I said that day and night will be approximately equal on the fall equinox. The equinox is a specific point in time when the sun is at a specific point in the sky. Since sunrise and sunset times vary greatly across the planet depending on location, true equality of day and night -- called the equilux (EE-qwill-lux) -- occurs on slightly different dates depending on where you live. Equilux for Duluth, Minn. is on September 25 when the sun rises at 7 a.m. and sets at 7 p.m. To find your equilux date, go to the U.S. Naval Observatory website http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php and type in your location to get the day's sunrise/sunset information. Are there exactly twelve hours separating them? If not, then go back, change the date a couple days ahead (or back) and look again. You may have to do this a couple times to find out when they're equal.

"http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php"