Exoskeleton

Gazing at my potato tops this afternoon, I began wondering if it would be worth the effort to gather up the litter of pine bark detritus left behind from the woodpecker foraging and create my own mulch.  There’s quite a pile all around the perimeter of the tree, in fact the ground is starting to look like an extension of the tree.  There are huge plates of bark still remaining on the trunk, which I decided needed further inspection after hearing what I thought were bark beetles scurrying under the surface.

Peckers

Oh, I just had a thought…maybe I’ll get a lot of hits with that title.  We’ll see.

This must be the week of photos and birds.  I’ve been on a bird kick lately and for no particular reason.  I guess I was intrigued by the tales of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker and I just started paying closer attention to the birds in my yard.  Not that I didn’t pay attention to them before, I just didn’t make the effort to identify them.  I’ve got this great book, Field Guide to Birds of North America that the M. gave me several years ago, paired with the extinct woodpecker fables, sparked an interest.

Dune Camping

I would venture to guess that Florida is often overlooked as a potential backpackers destination waiting to be rediscovered.  Sure, we all know that Florida has Disney, beaches and alligators, though I think few people realize the extent of the biodiversity here.  Now I agree that backpacking and camping in 90 degree weather with 60% humidity are not opulent conditions, though consider this:

Spectacular Flurry

Yesterday, amidst cleaning the house, I went to the back door to gaze outside, which I often do and was graced with a flurry of bird activity.  I have 2 sliding glass doors on the rear of my house that backs up to several wooded lots.  So, even though the property is a mere 1/8 acre, it has the illusion of being much larger and more densely wooded.  I never put curtains up back there because I love the feeling that green back drop provides.  Anyhow,  I was amazed to look out yesterday and see 4 cardinals flitting about, 3 males and 1 female.  One was strutting around on Elvis’s cage.  There were a couple bluejays taunting each other and at the back of the lot, a Pileated woodpecker was hanging out in one of the oak trees.  I’ve only seen that type of woodpecker one other time since I’ve lived here and that was at the beach house where he was making a home in the neighbors palm tree.  The Pileated Woodpecker is sometimes mistaken for the (extinct?) Ivory Billed Woodpecker, both having the large red cap and being large in size, 16″ and 19″ respectively.  The main difference in the birds is the Pileated Woodpecker has a dark bill, white chin and black wings and body.  The Ivory Billed Woodpecker has the white bill, of course, is larger and has white patches on its wings.  So much diversity in my backyard.  What a shame it would have been to just clear cut the entire lot, which is so often the case.  Sorry, no pics.  They were there and gone.       

Ross’ Gull & Congestion Pricing

No, they have nothing to do with each other or maybe they do.

First the Gull, no one mentioned global warming, but isn’t everyone thinking it?  I suppose we’ve all just become immune to those words.  Anyhow, this rare Arctic bird made it’s way down to CA, where hundreds of birdwatchers flocked to catch a glimpse. 

Next, congestion pricing.  I think this is a great idea once they hammer out the details as they affect the residents of other boroughs.  Basically, transportation and urban planners would like to reduce traffic in Manhattan by imposing a fee to anyone that drives their car below 60th street.  All kinds of groups are jumping on board with this proposed policy in hopes of reducing the growing congestion downtown.  Of course, keeping in mind there are people that live outside the convenience of the subway, they would need to address this issue in order not to create undue hardship for those Manhattan workers.  Apparently, this charging concept has been implemented in London and has been shown to work.  They are expecting the population in Manhattan to increase by another 1 million people by 2025.

This is an example of some of the tough decisions that policy makers and citizens alike are going to have to make in order to change our course toward a more sustainable future. 

PCB Airport vs Ivory Billed Woodpecker

http://www.sowal.com/bb/showthread.php?t=9426

Now, ain’t that a fine How’d'e do this morning?  In the eleventh hour, 2 environmental groups based in D.C. no less and a local pilot’s association have filed a law suit in NY aimed to stop the Bay County Airport from being relocated to West Bay.  If this doesn’t cause a major upheaval in our area in the months to come, I don’t know what will.  Of course, this could just as quietly and quickly disappear as swiftly as it was brought to the table with little fanfare, news coverage or local awareness like we so often see here in nepotism/good ol’ boy/St. Joe land.  I’ll be following this one for sure.

More thoughts to come on the subject….have some work to tend to.

I don’t really have a solid opinion on the new airport, but one thing for certain is that it’s become the shining star for many a contractor, subcontractor, county official, retailer and property owner in Bay and Walton Counties.  Our area has experienced the luxury of being exempt from the fall out of the dot com bubble and 9/11, though NOT from the housing market slow down that’s currently rippling across the country.  In an area that relies predominantly on tourism and second home construction, the airport NOT opening would be a potential cause for alarm as to the sustainablity of our local economy.  On the other hand, just because “they” build it, doesn’t mean “they” will come.  No matter what anyone argues, the numbers say we are swimming in a sea of housing glut, two to three years of inventory.  A lot can happen in 2-3 years.  The new international airport claims to bring people from far and wide to our little piece of paradise often affectionately referred to as the “Redneck Riviera”.  Nice, huh?  And supposedly, all those people who travel from the corners of New York, California and Europe will buy up that housing supply and will demand even more.  You might think I sound a bit cynical for someone who is in the field of designing houses and should be fighting tooth and nail for the arrival of this great airport.  Maybe, maybe not.

Now, what of this Ivory Billed Woodpecker?  Well, there is a local man by the name of MC Davis that has declared over 53,000 acres of his property to be set aside for private conservation.  The land, Nokuse Plantation is a critical piece to a larger tract of connecting land rich in biodiversity that include wetlands, uplands and fresh water communities.  These communities of swamp bottomland happen to be the natural habitat for the ivory billed woodpecker, though the woodpecker is believed to have become extinct, logged out of existence since the 1930’s.  Over the last year, there have been claims of sitings of the great woodpecker and further research by Auburn University has indicated that there may indeed be an Ivory Billed Woodpecker in ‘dem dare woods’.  This is excellent news for Northwest Florida.  Birders from all over the country are traveling to the area in hopes of spotting this wonderful treasure.

Back to the airport.  The environmental groups claim that the FAA may have violated the federal Endangered Species Act due to the spotting of the woodpecker.  Also, they contend the environmental impact is too great and the current location is the best environmental choice.  Wouldn’t you know it, one of those SoWalers says, “It’s just a bird…”  That was probably the same SoWaler that declared (s)he had the right to build whatever beach armament necessary to protect their property from storm surge regardless of sea turtles lives because sea turtles don’t pay taxes.  Nice, huh?  And you wonder why it’s called the Redneck Riviera…

All this, right in my back yard.  Oh, speaking of woodpeckers and the back yard, once again recall my pine trees infested with pine bark beetles.  Well, those trees have attracted a few red bellied woodpeckers that come to feast on the beetles.  It’s almost sad to think that the pine trees will have to go soon.