Mute Swans

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Swan Song

Yesterday, on my way to the beach, I found a mute swan on the road. Most likely it flew into the electrical wires across the street. Perhaps she was momentarily blinded by the low angle of the sun.

These are big beautiful birds, but frankly they don’t belong here. Introduced around 1860 as an ornamental attraction for estates, the mute swan population has exploded. An adult can eat upwards of 8 pounds of aquatic vegetation a day. And you can imagine how much stuff must come out the other end. Bad news. Besides that aquatic vegetation is need by native fish, shellfish, and birds.

Besides damaging our aquatic ecosystem, mute swans pose a threat. Never be fooled by their serene demeanor, mute swans are highly aggressive. Do not hand feed them! It’s flat out dangerous, particularly for children. The average male swan tips the scales at 25 pounds and has roughly a 7 foot wing span. It will charge suddenly, especially during the breeding season. Bruises, and fracture bones can be the result. And there are two human fatalities on record. Mute swans are trouble. We should get rid of them.

 

 

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Let the Boogie Begin

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Let the Boogie Begin

The horseshoe crab was the only thing new on the beach this morning. I saw the boogieman too.

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Horseshoe Crabs

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

8 weeks early???

Saw a horseshoe crab this morning. That’s about 8 weeks early. Crazy. Here in New England, I expect to see them beginning in late May, along sandy protected beaches during the new and full moons. At high tide they push in tight, and get down to business. Hell, if you stand still long enough, they will mount your wader boot and try to fornicate. Did
I mention that their eyesight wasn’t stellar?

We call them crabs, but actually they’re more closely akin to arachnids. Spiders? Yup. Flip a horseshoe crab over and take a close look. Its really a harmless, underwater spider with a prehistoric looking shell.

Horseshoe crabs look weird, but they are a contributing member of the marine community. A single female may release 60,000 eggs over the season, and those eggs are an essential source of fat for many migratory, coastal birds. Horseshoe crabs are also commercially harvested for bait in eel and whelk pots. In recent times the biomedical industry has been drawing blood from them too. Yes, they release them back to the water and the vast majority survive. What’s the blood used for? It contains a substance called Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate, which can be used to test for pathogen impurities in medical supplies.

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Venus and the Moon

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Monday night I stepped outside into a winter wind. Low in the WSW, I saw Venus accompanying a crescent moon. With her fiery light, she has long fascinated mankind. The Egyptians, the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Romans all knew her well.

Venus and a Crescent Moon

Down through the ages Venus’ brilliance has spawned many myths, but she is most revered as the goddess-of-love. One of the best descriptions of her temperament comes from 17th century astrologer Lilly. “She is a Feminine Planet, temperately Cold and Moist, Nocturnal, the less Fortune, author of Mirth and Joy; of the elements, the Air and Water are Venereal; In the Humors, Phlegm with Blood, with Spirit and Genital seed.”

Even today her mythological status is alive and well, but let us not forget that Venus also help us crack the universe. Through a primitive telescope, in 1610 Galileo saw that the phases of Venus were inconsistent with a geocentric solar system. It was a discovery that shone a light on Copernicus, while dooming the Ptolemaic system to the dustbins of history.

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Our Mild Winter: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Strange Weather

Man, what a mild/dry winter. Right now, here in Rhode Island, March is 10 degrees above normal. Astounding! What’s good about that? Well unless you’re a skier, the extraordinary mild winter brought with it beaucoup benefits. You saved a bundle on heating. You didn’t shovel your driveway. And your toes never turned blue. The list goes on and on. Nice.

So what’s bad about it? Without the snow melt, our rivers and reservoirs will suffer, especially if the summer turns hot and dry. Not a good time to be a trout. And remember too that some places, such as Block Island, depend entirely on snow and rain to fill their drinking water aquifers. Unless it rains hard this year, they’re in trouble.

Where’s the ugly? This winter was a killer. Hidden from sight, things died and are dying, even as we speak. Some marine life depends on a cold winter for reproduction success. When the temperature is even a few degrees above normal their young-of-the-year simply don’t survive. Winter flounder are a prime example. Decades in decline,this once abundant stock is only a tiny fraction of its historic size. Yes, fisheries mismanagement, and coastal nuclear plant entrainment played a role. But mild winters -which we now see more often – are a huge factor.

Back in December, I was standing on the bridge at Green Hill Pond, peering down into the clear currents, when a lone winter flounder swam by. She was on a spawning run, and probably carrying a million eggs. I gave her a quick salute, and wished her Godspeed, but I doubt her offspring are alive.

Posted in Environment, Looking Upward, On the Road, Outdoor Writing, Wild Things | 2 Comments