tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-208272182011-12-19T22:12:00.976-05:00Nature, science and Southern Appalachian lifeRikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-89404253247079549092011-12-19T22:12:00.000-05:002011-12-19T22:12:00.986-05:00

Birdwatchers at the crane refuge on the Hiwassee River spotted a black crane with a white head among thousands of grey sandhill cranes December 13. Soon it was identified as a hooded crane, an Asian species rarely found in North America. In fact, the Tennessee sighting is only the third known occurrence in the U.S. The second was this spring in Nebraska, and the first the prior spring in Idaho (

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-36625599071049162742011-11-30T22:58:00.001-05:002011-12-01T02:12:58.659-05:00

The most abundant butterfly on Caribbean islands is likely the gulf fritillary. Its wings from above are rich orange with black spots, from below a dirty orange mottled with white spots that glimmer silver in sunlight. Medium-sized, these butterflies reproduce all year long on Caribbean islands and along the gulf coast. Each year they spread northward as spring warms into summer, each generation

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-54987941862780320352011-08-18T00:04:00.000-04:002011-08-18T00:04:20.357-04:00

A trove of fossils in China from around the time birds were evolving continues to yield insights into how feathers and flight evolved. Science still does not have a good story for the evolution of birds, but the cast of characters has gotten bigger. With so many new clues, Archaeopteryx has now been dethroned as 'oldest bird'. Birds came off the dinosaur family tree near Archaeopteryx, but not

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-55616331974204418442011-06-12T02:31:00.000-04:002011-06-12T02:31:58.205-04:00

Right about now, your tomato vines need you to pick their first fruit so they will grow a dozen more. It is tempting to wait for the first red fruit, but foolish. A green tomato harvest is a must for a bountiful year. Do not succumb to red's seduction. Instead, harvest a handful or two of the ripest blackberries you can find, toss them in oil with a chopped onion or leek, salt and a dose of dry

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-18304313772016913082011-06-02T21:41:00.000-04:002011-06-02T21:41:28.697-04:00

This morning the blue-headed vireos were vigorously defending their territory from a blue jay. Though it was much higher up in the trees than their nest, the pair was scolding and dive-bombing the jay, hoping to drive it off. Unfortunately they may be protecting a young cowbird. The noise overhead roused a hungry nestling, just one, its eyes still closed. It seems too large already. Cowbird

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-74433752844407239852011-05-31T11:41:00.003-04:002011-05-31T12:25:40.115-04:00

If you've read anything about commercial fishing in the past decade or two, you know that industrial fishing practices range from irresponsible to appalling. The worst practices cause major seafloor destruction and grotesque slaughter of "by-catch," marine life ranging from rough fish to sea turtles. Over the past century, countless fisheries have collapsed under the strain of unsustainable

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-10622652317196908582011-05-22T20:53:00.003-04:002011-05-22T21:40:06.597-04:00

Red-eyed vireos nest in my yard every year. They are wonderful birds and welcome guests, but this year a different vireo seemed to be settling in the yard. I had heard it singing for a week, longer than migrants stick around, but I still did not tell anyone for fear of jinxing it. I thought a blue-headed vireo might be taking up residence!Both species are common in the eastern U.S., but red-eyed

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-9208344024670619892011-05-05T08:51:00.006-04:002011-05-05T09:19:15.192-04:00

History is full of scientists who are heroes: savers of lives, solvers of mysteries, builders of the future. They are, however, a pretty nerdy lot, achieving great feats of the mind like wrestling with mathematical equations, dismembering molecules and exploding paradigms, but rarely performing physical acts of courage and strength. Then there is Ken Sims, volcanologist from the University of

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-57584205322404691462011-05-01T21:30:00.004-04:002011-05-01T22:50:11.130-04:00

The white spot near the center of this photo is proof of a successful journey. It is an egg. The female that laid it flew some 1500 miles to get to the meadow behind my house, where she and at least one other monarch butterfly have been fluttering around for a week or two depositing eggs, one at a time, on butterfly weed and common milkweed plants.Their earliest eggs have already hatched. This

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-34684307476224161872011-04-16T22:22:00.003-04:002011-04-16T22:33:43.383-04:00

Don't hate me because I infest your cherry trees. Don't hate me because I may eat every leaf on the tree. I will not touch a single flower, you watch.The tree will grow a new batch of leaves and produce a full crop of fruits all the birds will love. Some of those birds will even eat me after bashing me to death on a twig to knock off my hairs.If you burn my tents, everyone suffers, especially the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-5956915986690158232011-04-05T20:46:00.002-04:002011-04-05T21:41:59.835-04:00

My friend Andrei noticed a link under one of the National Geographic photos that I had overlooked. It described a similar phenomenon at a park in Texas in 2007. During a wet period and an outbreak of midges and other aquatic and semi-aquatic insects, a tree near Lake Tawakoni became completely enmeshed in spider silk.An arachnologist collected about 100 spiders from the webbing and identified

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-83128465951585212362011-04-01T22:13:00.003-04:002011-04-01T23:12:44.628-04:00

National Geographic published this photo of trees covered in spider silk in Pakistan. This area was ravaged by major floods last year, and as waters receded, these trees became one giant web.According to the article, floodwaters "drove millions of spiders into the trees," but this is highly unlikely. For starters, most spiders are not at all social. Another spider is just something to attack and

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-11025552553544827522011-04-01T10:14:00.002-04:002011-04-01T10:45:18.179-04:00

I've long suspected that exhaust from airplanes, by virtue of being released high in the atmosphere, is more problematic than exhaust from cars and trucks. A new study in the prestigious journal Nature confirms that air travel causes more climate disruption, but not for the reason I imagined.It turns out that condensation trails, or contrails, trigger formation of cirrus clouds much like those

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-39426583757055122942011-03-29T21:09:00.004-04:002011-03-29T21:40:04.777-04:00

Though spring has just arrived, winged elms are already in seed. Orangish when they flowered in February, elms are now encased in a vaguely pinkish gray. When the seeds mature, they will dry and grow brittle enough to break from the twig in a wind. A shape not unlike a boat's propeller makes the oval seeds spin as they descend, keeping them aloft good distances from the parent tree.Elm seeds also

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-73797369920861511452011-03-03T23:38:00.003-05:002011-03-04T08:38:16.701-05:00

When cutleaf toothwort pokes through the leaves, falcate orangetip butterflies are not far behind. They are the primary native pollinator, a small white butterfly whose orange is but a blur. Falcate orangetips rarely spread their wings while perched, showing only the mottled grey underwings.A glimpse of their orange is a treat, and sitting amid toothworts for a few minutes is your best approach.

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-36196598415400012422011-02-26T21:13:00.003-05:002011-02-26T21:24:41.424-05:00

Toothworts sprouted today. Most have a good bit of growing left before they flower, but that will not take long while the days are as warm and bright as today. Soon our woods will be sprinkled with a pinkish white that is the starter's pistol on the wildflower bloom, cutleaf toothwort.Sure, bloodroot and hepatica can emerge earlier, but their appearance does not foretell spring like Dentaria

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-88340422331213518212011-02-20T20:32:00.007-05:002011-02-21T22:04:07.874-05:00

Ten Mile Creek runs through the heart of West Knoxville's sprawl, accompanied in segments by a paved greenway. Today I hiked there, and I found it clogged with privet and bush honeysuckle to the point that little else grows. The canopy is native trees, but much of the understory is invaders. Native vines have been crowded out and replaced by honeysuckle and bittersweet.Recent construction has

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-36193770489786948252011-02-02T21:06:00.002-05:002011-02-02T21:29:52.987-05:00

After a delicious lunch at Sweet P's BBQ on the Stock Creek embayment, I wandered over to the water to see what was around. A song sparrow lurked in the weeds, but mostly I saw great blue herons, about a dozen. Most had staked out a hunting spot, and the few that had not were squabbling over turf with swoops and squawks.Then the gulls moved in, at least a hundred ring bills. They glided over the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-14080978022241728782011-01-26T20:43:00.003-05:002011-01-29T18:49:20.843-05:00

No native tree is as easy to recognize as the sycamore. Its bark peels in unique ways, leaving smooth white branches and trunks that can not be mistaken. Sycamore trunks and branches curl and twist. In moonlight sycamores glow; in sunlight they offer odd shapes and shades of of green and brown.An animal you would never suspect of using camouflage: huge, mint green luna moths, wings edged in thick

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-6021477431677217402011-01-01T20:06:00.003-05:002011-01-01T21:18:24.334-05:00

It was one of those beautiful days when everything is wet. Between wind, rain and fog, moisture creeped in every crevice from all directions. Water being that which merits the most gratitude, I see wet days as beauty, though they break limbs and topple trees. Mist feeds things like mistletoe and lichen. Water is a rare delicacy they savor, and when they get a drink on a new year's first day, it

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-70584851676216213952010-11-01T16:00:00.002-04:002010-11-03T21:50:25.679-04:00

Science now estimates that we have 10 years left to stabilize carbon emissions before we doom the future to serious problems.Anyone who has taken chemistry is familiar with the principle behind the threat: the volume of a liquid increases with temperature. When the liquid in question is our ocean, each degree rise in temperature adds about 10 centimeters, not enough to drown coastal cities,

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-8250043265605822472010-10-16T09:51:00.002-04:002010-10-16T11:34:34.017-04:00

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is considering a proposal to allow hunting of sandhill cranes and is accepting public comments through January.This is a good sign in many ways. Nearly extirpated during our country's industrial expansion, these birds have rebounded to healthy population sizes, thanks mainly to the arrest of wetlands destruction. Another crane, the whooping crane, remains

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-45992399260711761942010-09-11T08:58:00.004-04:002010-09-11T09:49:52.634-04:00

If you are trying to learn tree identification, certain times of year are better than others. Right now is the time to learn black gum, sourwood, sumac and tuliptree. These trees get a head start on fall, turning colors while the rest of the trees remain green.Tulips are turning yellow, the others red. Sumac tends toward fiery tones like you might see in a sunset. It also has compound leaves, and

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-60347273572239096372010-09-07T22:28:00.003-04:002010-09-08T11:16:54.778-04:00

Butterfly weed is a native of meadows and clearings. It's rich orange color is among the most spectacular on the Southern Appalachian palette. Because it produces several flower clusters per stalk and they bloom progressively, its hue accentuates our meadows for weeks on end. The plant may even flower twice in good years.Pollinated flowers turn into okra-like seed pods that break open and release

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-70787784067509061902010-08-28T15:06:00.003-04:002010-08-29T10:08:26.465-04:00

A Nova episode currently in reruns on PBS features bird fossils discovered in China that have shed new light on the origin of flight in birds. Wind tunnel tests on a life-like model suggest a traditional assumption about hip articulation in fossil birds is wrong.Instead of attaching in a running posture capable of holding the animal's weight, the hind legs attach at a different angle. Researchers

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-37772136751835113722010-08-11T21:56:00.003-04:002010-08-11T23:11:36.738-04:00

This is the shed skin of a stonefly. Aquatic all its life, the insect crawled from Hazel Creek in July, cracked open its thorax, wriggled out, pumped its wings and took flight on misty night air. The white fibers on its head are like an umbilical cord, a remnant connection to the stonefly's former body.I found the skin on a rock the next morning. It could not have been there long since the rock

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-66562135203411989422010-08-10T12:10:00.009-04:002010-08-29T18:03:50.437-04:00

Evolution is a scientific theory; it explains much of what we observe in the living world. Atomic theory explains observations in chemistry. Gravity explains observations of the cosmos and movements of earth-bound objects. Theories are grand ideas which illuminate and elucidate what we see around us: life, the universe, all that.Many refuse to see the beauty and truth of evolution, and a common

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-18509350376192666852010-07-27T19:04:00.004-04:002010-07-27T21:32:39.945-04:00

The cowardly era of United States history enters its third decade. This week the U.S. Senate opted not to pursue long-overdue climate controls in favor of an easy cop out: tightening offshore drilling limits.Never mind that funding for regulators, a purge of corrupt Bush appointees and hires and the market demise of BP is all that is needed to prevent future Deepwater Horizon disasters, the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-17774533187856028692010-06-15T16:06:00.004-04:002010-06-15T22:16:21.085-04:00

The Cumberland Plateau is home to many unusual plants. A seafloor when the Appalachian mountains were younger and taller, the plateau's geology is distinct, but its forests are similar to Appalachian forests. Where the plateau's geological youth is most apparent -- at the eroding rim of the gorge and in the dynamic river channel -- the unique conditions posed an evolutionary opportunity.Plants

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-67228674366651074112010-06-03T14:20:00.005-04:002010-06-03T16:28:40.790-04:00

The same storms that flooded Nashville filled the banks of Big South Fork, the major eastern tributary of the Cumberland River. Most of the rocks in this photograph were submerged during the flood, and their surfaces were scoured of soil. Riverbank plant communities took a hit, but these plants are adapted to floods and should rebound before rains that improbable strike again.Yesterday along Big

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-73913947123390282262010-05-12T12:27:00.003-04:002010-05-12T13:26:47.724-04:00

Craneflies fly at night and seek shade during the day. Many begin life in streams and ponds as long, fat, white worms, and their physiology is geared toward cool and damp.This orange species sought perch inside a cluster of Virginia creeper leaves, refuge from the sun all afternoon until evening light crept in.In damp Southern Appalachia, craneflies are among the most speciose insects, coming in

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-86035484223272202192010-05-07T19:18:00.002-04:002010-05-07T20:25:37.162-04:00

Despite a vigorous spring for the native flora and fauna, bird migration has been slow this year. Not just me but many Southern Appalachian birders report late arrivals and low numbers of warblers and the rest of the lot that winters in the tropics. This week things picked up.An indigo bunting set up a territory in the front yard, joining the thrasher and field sparrow already raising families in

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-41764208117366339092010-04-30T13:05:00.003-04:002010-04-30T14:49:25.087-04:00

Yesterday I saw my first and second bald-faced hornets of the year but did not get a photo. They were queens looking for a good place to construct a nest. That might seem like something to discourage, possibly even grounds for extermination, but this is our only native hornet, so I tend to cheer for them.Years of encounters with stinging insects have lead me to be comfortable around them. They

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-66479431741944984872010-04-19T21:01:00.005-04:002010-04-20T11:57:28.907-04:00

Five people died in Oklahoma in March 2008 when their Cessna hit a white pelican during takeoff. Last November, a western grebe shattered the windshield of a small plane and crashed just over the pilot's head into the back wall of the cockpit. According to an FAA report published in September, planes have struck 30 species of duck since 1990.About 7,000 bird strikes are reported each year, up

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-63176141415694821992010-04-12T22:59:00.003-04:002010-04-13T07:24:56.564-04:00

Knox County's School Board faces a challenge, and they need strength. A parent has complained about a passage in an honors biology text that describes the seven-day creation story as a myth. The passage covers the battle over teaching evolution that has transpired for decades throughout the United States, sometimes flaring up in Tennessee, Kansas or Texas. It is Tennessee's turn again.Creation of

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-16089753628611413372010-04-07T22:43:00.005-04:002010-04-07T23:29:37.334-04:00

A lot has been said about the faith of mustard seeds, but not enough about the faith of spiders.Spiders choose a spot then wait. They find a gap to bridge with silk then set a strand aloft on a breeze to find purchase. They hang a spiral trap from a scaffold and sit in self-spun thrones, centers of a silken universe, waiting, and dinner does buzz in.This tiny, creekside spider gets a steady diet

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-68264808634699323032010-03-29T19:01:00.005-04:002010-03-29T21:30:01.127-04:00

This science news in USA Today pissed me off. I am a dogged champion of the idea that insect wings evolved as an aquatic structure. When I read about "two" competing theories of wing evolution I know someone will come up short.One theory, as Dan Vergano wrote, is "wings are brand new features" that evolved from an insect's shell. The other is that they are modifications of legs. In truth, there

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-22043837251004487412010-03-14T22:31:00.004-04:002010-03-15T09:15:52.942-04:00

Finally elms have flowered. Last year I took a photograph of elm flowers emitting pollen on February 21. They bloomed three weeks later this year.Elms are wind pollinated. So are maples, oaks and other trees. Wind-pollinated trees typically flower before they leaf out. Insect-pollinated trees do the opposite, and their flowers are large, even ornate. Wind-pollinated flowers are tiny. The plants

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-68185621215914479742010-03-10T18:59:00.002-05:002010-03-10T20:49:39.729-05:00

The ranting hysterics of the tribal right showed up in an unexpected place today, a supposed news article on the ESPN Outdoors website. Robert Montgomery has been writing about a proposed federal rule on fisheries management since October, but today's installment got picked up by a right-wing PR firm called Special Guests, which email-blasted the article with the subject "FEDS SET TO BAN ALL U.S.

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-31294788929608095502010-03-01T20:53:00.006-05:002010-03-02T14:21:38.153-05:00

Mushrooms are abundant in the moist forests of the Southern Appalachians, but I did not expect to find a colony growing in the dunes of Tybee Island, Georgia in February. Here they are. Dozens of these small, gilled mushrooms were sprouting from the sand at the toe of the dunes.An Internet search failed to turn up clues to its identity, but a few minutes with my Peterson field guide uncovered

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-63415963063161141042010-02-09T06:43:00.002-05:002010-02-09T07:29:45.178-05:00

A gall is an aberrant growth on a plant. Typically these are caused by an insect, and the growth acts as a rearing chamber for its larvae. How does the insect get the plant to grow it a nursery?The insect, usually a tiny wasp or fly, injects the plant with a poison of sorts. This photograph hints at the underlying chemistry. The injected compound is likely a mimic of the plant's own growth

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-11595032475653362332010-02-07T13:30:00.003-05:002010-02-16T12:25:32.268-05:00

While assessing the risks and pace of climate change remains a difficult task, our core understanding of the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere grows ever more complete. Last month a new study was published that helps explain why surface air temperatures have not increased as rapidly over the past decade as have ocean temperatures. According to NOAA researcher Susan Solomon and colleagues,

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-78400995427175269412010-02-04T21:33:00.004-05:002010-02-05T10:16:54.649-05:00

An ivory gull was spotted last week in Georgia at West Point Dam, north of Columbus on the Alabama border. This species of gull rarely leaves the Arctic circle, even in winter, though there are many records of vagrant individuals along the East Coast and around the Great Lakes. This was the first record of the bird in Georgia and one of the most southerly sightings ever. Twitchers drove from

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-9635797052784813102010-02-02T20:35:00.002-05:002010-02-02T21:09:52.482-05:00

To my eyes, male cardinals stand out like they want to be seen. Several resident birds have red markings, including several woodpeckers. None are as brilliant as a cardinal, but a pileated crest glares like a tanager from the woods. Red-headed woodpeckers, more common at lower elevations, also have bold red on their head. Red-bellied woodpeckers sport a full red cap, and flickers wear a long red

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-48529542256832355292010-01-13T18:38:00.004-05:002010-02-02T21:45:53.481-05:00

A tuliptree seed cone fell onto a freezing pond during recent snowy winds, and it wound up trapped in ice.There are several species of magnolia native to the Southern Appalachians. Fraser magnolia is most abundant in the Smokies, and umbrella and cucumber magnolias can be found. In the Cumberlands, bigleaf magnolia joins the mix. Most magnolias planted around homes and buildings are exotic, even

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-60224231571697783752010-01-08T10:40:00.003-05:002010-02-02T22:17:52.667-05:00

Earlier this week I visited a frozen farm pond and discovered a puzzle. The owner of the pond had scattered feed corn onto the ice, and all around it in the thin layer of snow were footprints. The corn was uneaten. The footprints were shapeless since no impression was left in the ice, so only size and gait could be detected.Raccoon and possum are the leading candidates, but both would surely be

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-22672691704011241282010-01-05T21:20:00.003-05:002010-01-06T00:21:27.869-05:00

When mountains go into deep freeze things survive in warm pockets of decay under the frozen crust. Mushrooms keep feeding, as do molds, worms and voles. Tiny, wingless insects barely large enough to be seen wriggle under rotting logs, collembola, one of the oldest insects.Modern insects have wings; collembola do not. They diverged from insects somewhere around silverfish, before mayfly. All those

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-89766702993861471062009-12-12T16:13:00.003-05:002009-12-12T17:38:17.231-05:00

I have long thought that the massive ash spill the TVA coal plant in Kingston was the result of the hard freeze on the night of December 22, 2008. After reading the analysis of the spill, I am even more convinced. Engineers who studied the event found no specific cause for the rupture, but they did not consider my hypothesis. They looked at weather, but only rainfall, which they determined was

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-64344120391979747942009-12-03T21:09:00.002-05:002009-12-04T08:50:33.797-05:00

Plagiarism has brought down many an academic career, scandalized politicians and cost reporters and speechwriters their jobs. It is a form of theft and thus covered in the Ten Commandments under "thou shalt not steal," so I expect Christians to treat it as a serious matter. I have been looking into a case of plagiarism involving a Christian author recently, and I found no evidence to support that

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-56096224371982020662009-12-02T08:44:00.002-05:002009-12-02T10:28:58.293-05:00

While the lower half froths over trivial emails taken out of context, SourPersimmon has discovered the true smoking gun of the massive global warming conspiracy. It's not just that every climate scientist has shunned the penny-ante bribery of free fill-ups at the local Exxon station for the more tempting lucre of grant money and carbon offset trading. They are smart guys who can clearly recognize

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-54551637981896491862009-11-28T10:23:00.003-05:002009-11-28T11:37:14.142-05:00

The humble crane fly comes in many sizes, with hundreds of species in the Southern Appalachians, but there is little superlative about them. They are leggy creatures, and the largest can span about three inches. These are often called "mosquito hawks" under the mistaken notion that they hunt mosquitoes. While they resemble mosquitoes, they are entirely harmless to people and to pretty much

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-86722957382840344102009-11-24T11:14:00.002-05:002009-11-24T11:43:00.347-05:00

In a smart play on the tradition of a Thanksgiving turkey receiving a Presidential pardon, the Western Grouse Project is requesting that President Obama pardon endangered and threatened grouse in the American West. Prairies are neglected within our system of national parks and forests. The few grasslands in public ownership receive inadequate management from the Bureau of Land Management, and

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-60832139418145778392009-11-23T08:40:00.002-05:002009-11-23T20:18:26.935-05:00

Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls it "our largest wood-warbler." "Arguably our most distinctive wood-warbler" says David Sibley. Descriptions of the yellow-breasted chat inevitably mention its exceptional traits in the first breath. It's scientific name, Icteria virens, suggests it is an oriole, and ornithologists have hypothesized it may actually belong with tanagers, vireos or thrashers, yet it

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-17669580508413011462009-11-18T10:41:00.003-05:002009-11-18T12:37:45.586-05:00

November seems late for flowers and bees, but a few hardy specimens stay active throughout fall. New England aster produces flowers even after most plants have shed leaves and withdrawn their life force underground.Underground is where halictid bees nest. An underground burrow offers protection from cold, especially as falling leaves blanket the ground. 56 species in eight genera are known in

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-39378792339251644542009-11-16T07:11:00.002-05:002009-11-16T09:04:07.012-05:00

El Nino conditions in the Pacific inhibited tropical storm formation in the Atlantic this year, resulting in a mild hurricane season. Upper elevation winds always flow from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and in El Nino years these winds are stronger than usual. They shear the tops of Atlantic storm systems, disrupting circulation and dissipating energy, so fewer storms form, and the ones that do

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-73219400496338474972009-11-15T13:50:00.003-05:002009-11-15T15:20:19.210-05:00

When Clarence Darrow squared off against William Jennings Bryan in the Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn. 85 years ago, both attorneys likely drank water from Richland Creek. The town's water supply once flowed out of a reservoir just below the confluence with Laurel Creek. The one-foot-diameter pipe still runs along the creek, broken in places and no longer connected to the small dam.Running through

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-1676407759440027102009-11-12T12:53:00.002-05:002009-11-12T13:15:43.621-05:00

Follow the link in the title of this post to my latest column in Metro Pulse. I propose a natural history museum in Knox County, capitalizing on the role of the Southern Appalachians in the evolution of terrestrial life. State leaders convened in Knoxville this week to lament Tennessee's lagging education system, and development of a major educational asset like this would be a step toward a

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-7975057243485314532009-11-11T17:31:00.005-05:002009-11-12T07:29:55.330-05:00

Experts in fall colors say heavy rains just before the leaves turn result in less spectacular colors. Maples seem consistently spectacular, especially sugar maples, and burgundy trees like dogwoods and sourwoods seem the same each year. Hickories have a few days of brilliant gold, and maybe they linger at peak color longer in drier years. The type of tree that varies most year to year is

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-45355791206178790102009-11-11T09:49:00.002-05:002009-11-11T10:46:30.636-05:00

The Environmental Protection Agency fined Knoxville Utilities Board $68,050 for sewage overflows over the past four years. This is a minuscule fine, less than two cents per year per customer, surely inadequate to cover EPA's expense in monitoring KUB's system and Knoxville's creeks. It's acceptable, however, because KUB has committed to upgrades that will cost about $120 per customer per year and

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-59280759729071791202009-11-10T16:28:00.004-05:002009-11-10T20:37:00.701-05:00

International conservation groups meeting in Merida, Mexico this week have released the Merida Message: "runaway carbon emissions are driving the climate towards irreversible tipping points, we are contaminating our planet with pervasive toxicity, destroying the diversity of life on our planet, exhausting freshwater supplies and causing acidification in our oceans, and over-exploiting our oceans,

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-84141599517180188752009-11-09T11:38:00.002-05:002009-11-09T16:33:59.421-05:00

Climbing fern is an unusual fern found in the higher elevations of East Tennessee. It grows like a vine, draping itself over other vegetation, but it is a fern. Ferns do not have woody stems. This plant actually produces very long fronds with leaflets every couple inches. The texture of the leaflets makes it apparent that this is a fern and not a woody plant. The stems are thin, more suggestive

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-59717401599143611792009-11-03T06:58:00.003-05:002009-11-04T15:58:59.418-05:00

Recessions and depressions can have natural causes -- a real event like a drought or hurricane -- or human causes like excessive risk taking and fraud. After watching William Black speak at UCLA, I am more convinced than ever that our current economic crisis is largely the result of conformist behavior. Sure, there was fraud, lots of it in layers, but what transformed an esoteric corner of the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-55998325574920643252009-10-29T12:33:00.003-04:002009-10-29T12:55:24.517-04:00

Winter birds have been arriving in my woods over the past month: kinglets, creepers, sapsuckers, yellow rumps and phoebes. Late migrants like catbirds and thrushes were around just a week or two ago. Arrivals and departures have been the main theme of bird life lately, but today seems different. A flock of chipping sparrows is foraging on the ground, darting up to low limbs then back among the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-69037683787635857362009-10-25T17:10:00.002-04:002009-10-25T18:08:12.611-04:00

Yet another major rock slide hit Interstate 40 last night. Boulders as large as houses tumbled onto the roadway, and the road is now impassable in both directions. One woman suffered minor injuries in the slide, which occurred around 2am while traffic was light.A slide twelve years ago closed traffic both ways for several weeks, and a more recent slide forced traffic to share one side of the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-26521256771372026592009-09-23T18:51:00.000-04:002010-03-05T18:54:06.525-05:00

A swarm of tiny black flies drew my attention to a flower cluster. They were mobbed all over a dead or dying bee. I looked for a crab spider dining on the bee, and only when I returned home and looked at this photo did I notice the ambush bug with its beak plunged into the bee’s throat. The flies were minute, the type you might find on a rotting mushroom or decaying persimmon. I presume the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-29925825406889384732009-09-15T21:46:00.001-04:002009-11-10T21:48:03.108-05:00

The health care economy has a fundamental flaw on the demand side, but it also behaves differently on the supply side. With a typical commodity, advances lower costs. Goods become cheaper to manufacture, more durable, more efficient, and the consumer gets better value for their dollar. This happens in medicine as well, but there is another dynamic at play. Researchers cure diseases.Obviously this

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-16689632606140970972009-09-10T20:47:00.000-04:002009-11-10T20:47:35.169-05:00

A free market is one in which buyer and seller can freely negotiate the price of goods or services. The market for health care can never attain this ideal simply because buyers are not always willing participants in the market. If a person can not afford a flat-screen TV, he or she does not have to buy one. They could buy a cheaper TV or a used one or simply go without television. If a person can

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-51085754359465553232009-08-23T14:54:00.004-04:002009-10-25T20:55:31.549-04:00

Governor Charlie Crist of Florida brought to light a persistent paradox in Republican orthodoxy. He suggested that a prayer he tucked into Jerusalem's famous Western Wall is protecting Florida from hurricanes. The notion that a piece of paper placed in a holy wall can control weather over the Atlantic Ocean is far more fanciful than the idea that billions of tons of carbon gases can change the

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20827218.post-76654992572582242802007-08-03T23:29:00.002-04:002009-06-28T21:52:06.842-04:00

In the political world, those who favor the status quo are at a distinct advantage. They do not need to persuade anyone to adopt their views; all they need to do is prevent change. They can criticize without offering better options or even understanding what they attack. They win by default if nothing happens. In this sense, they are like the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who beat the Minneapolis

Rikki Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13088662791871392489noreply@blogger.com0