I miss having a dog. Every once in awhile I catch myself poking around on breeders’ websites, until I’m reminded by a sensible little voice (and a demanding little parrot) that now just isn’t the time. My first childhood dog was half samoyed, and he was always the saddest, mopiest-looking old boy, but full-blooded sammies are big, happy, fluffy teddy bears. I love ‘em.
on Jan - 02 - 2012 under Field Sketches
New Bird, Bluebird
I was a bit bummed to dip out on the Barred Owl that’s been hanging around Guelph Lake during my last outing on New Year’s Eve, but my first lifer for 2012 made up for it — a little female Mountain Bluebird eating berries along a rural road near Morriston. A chance find by a couple of local birders, and a very good one.
on Dec - 04 - 2011 under Digital Ink
Griffins
I spent Sunday at my parents’ place (it’s tradition for me to be the one to wrestle with the tangle of Christmas lights, and I still drop by the first weekend every December to light the tree). The rain didn’t let up once all day, so in between decorating, my neice and I passed the time playing video games or messing around with my tablet. She asked me how long griffins had been extinct.
on Oct - 16 - 2011 under Field Sketches
Colpoy’s Bay Loons
It’s that time of year again already?
on Oct - 07 - 2011 under Science
The Enchantress of Numbers
It’s Ada Lovelace Day! How cool is it that the individual most frequently cited as the world’s first computer programmer was an elegant, charming noblewoman who loved dancing, gambling and socializing (completely at odds with the field’s contemporary stereotype)?
'Hardcore' is programming technology that hasn't even been invented yet.
Born in 1815, Ada was the sole legitimate child of the famed poet Lord Byron, though she would never have any sort of relationship with him. Her mother, determined to purge any sign of dangerous poetical tendencies that the girl may have inherited from her father, was fanatical about her tutoring and ensured that her instruction in mathematics and the sciences began at an early age. By the age of seventeen, Ada’s talent for mathematics had begun to make an appearance, and her passion for the field would remain with her for the rest of her relatively brief life. It was around this time that she was introduced to the inventor Charles Babbage, and the two of them corresponded at length over various intellectual topics. Ada was fascinated by Babbage’s two great works in progress, the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine (an early model of the programmable computer). Neither Engine would be completed within their lifetimes.
It's a Babbage!
Babbage generally did not write about his own inventions, and he lacked Ada’s ability to adequately express his vision. He enlisted Ada to produce a translation of Luigi Menabra’s memoir on his Analytical Engine, suggesting that she augment the paper with a set of notes. The resulting addition was longer than the translation itself, and included a description of an algorithm for use by the Engine to calculate Bernoulli numbers. This algorithm is credited by some as the world’s first computer program.
There is some disagreement as to how much of the contribution was genuinely Ada’s and what belonged to Babbage, as well as whether the algorithm could correctly be considered the first program written for the Engine. Nonetheless, there is little doubt about her talents as a mathematician. And her contributions remain impressive given that they were made in an era when science and mathematics were still considered gentlemanly pursuits (and women were generally discouraged from participating). Ada was also credited with greater vision than Babbage (who mostly viewed the Engine as a calculator), suggesting that such machines could one day perform far more general functions, and perhaps even create computerized music.
Ada Lovelace Day is all about celebrating women in science, technology and mathematics — swing on over to the website for more.
on Oct - 04 - 2011 under Field Sketches
Fall Yellow-rumps
First proper birding session since … June? Gads. I bought a house during the summer, and between the hunting, closing, moving, painting, reflooring and furnishing, I’ve hardly had any free time at all. I kept telling people yes when they asked me if I was excited to finally own my own place, but truth be told, I hated every stressful, time-consuming minute of it and just wanted the who process to be over and done with.
On Sunday I slipped out after the rain let up a bit and managed to track down a small flock of warblers. Yellow-rumps, mostly, but a Nashville and a Black-throated Green foraged with them.
on Jul - 09 - 2011 under Astronomy
Final Flight
I was worried I’d miss out on the final launch of Atlantis – I had a company event to leave for at the same time as the scheduled launch yesterday morning, but thankfully the countdown proceeded with only a brief pause at thirty seconds, and then she rocketed skyward for the very last time. She’ll rendezvous with the ISS to deliver supplies, and then, twelve days after liftoff, she’ll return to Earth for good. And so will end the Shuttle program.
This isn’t the end of manned spaceflight for NASA, but it’s emotional nonetheless. For the next several years, they will be dependent on the Russians to bring astronauts into orbit, until private companies such as SpaceX are able to pick up the slack. And at the same time that the Shuttle program is retired, other important programs are perched precariously on Congress’ chopping block (perhaps most unbelievably the JWST — Hubble’s successor, and currently in its final stages of completion before launch in 2018).
The uncertainty is disheartening. But fans of space exploration are familiar with facing the unknown. What will come next?
on Jun - 28 - 2011 under Field Sketches
Bobolinks
If I had nothing but Bobolinks to sketch for the rest of my life, I’d be quite content. The fields at Grass Lake had been mowed since my last visit two weeks ago and I was worried that the birds may have departed, but there was still a handful of males hopefully singing and displaying over the remaining stubble.
on Jun - 28 - 2011 under Field Sketches
Grass Lake
Guelph is not an area known for its stellar birding. We get the odd fallout during migration, and a good rarity might turn up in the winter, but for the most part it’s, at best, pretty average. Even during migration periods I seem to hit a lot of ‘quiet days’ with little going on in the woods.
But there are two spots in the region that I find to be stand out locations, and I’m rarely disappointed when I visit them. One is Curry Tract, a well-hidden trail near Campbellville that teems with warblers, grosbeaks, towhees and tanagers. The other is Grass Lake, a quiet section of Shouldice Road in North Dumfries that attracts uncommon species such as Sandhill Crane and Grasshopper Sparrow. The roadway next to the marsh is a great place to watch the resident Common Moorhens tend to their chicks with little disturbance, and there’s a good sized colony of Bobolinks to be found in the surrounding fields (or at least until the hay is cut).
Horned Lark.
Bobolink and Savannah Sparrow.
Grasshopper Sparrow.
Juvenile Tree Swallow.
Preening swallows.
Common Moorhen.
Common Moorhen.
