Spring Banter & General Discussion/Observations

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

There's no mulch in that bed. Zero 

Let's make this the year we get your data online 24/7.

[weathafella]

Happy Birthday Brian!   Congrats on flying under the radar as a big time weenie!

[forkyfork]

17 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

My painted bunting sighting in Texas beats all ya'll's nonsense.

this wins

https://nytimes.com/2015/12/03/nyregion/painted-bunting-bird-making-rare-brooklyn-visit-adds-color-to-a-dreary-day.html

[ORH_wxman]

11 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

this wins

https://nytimes.com/2015/12/03/nyregion/painted-bunting-bird-making-rare-brooklyn-visit-adds-color-to-a-dreary-day.html

That's insane...that far north.

[dendrite]

24 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

this wins

https://nytimes.com/2015/12/03/nyregion/painted-bunting-bird-making-rare-brooklyn-visit-adds-color-to-a-dreary-day.html

Loses to this

http://www.wmur.com/article/rare-flying-rainbow-bird-spotted-in-northern-new-england/5209631

[forkyfork]

17 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Loses to this

http://www.wmur.com/article/rare-flying-rainbow-bird-spotted-in-northern-new-england/5209631

do butterflies count? i collected this european peacock in the late 90's

[powderfreak]

63/22 under full cobalt blue skies.  

This is seasons in seasons when you start getting to the 20% RH range.

[radarman]

need some of these:

 

[dendrite]

Been poppin some lenticulars on the loop over the past hour. 

http://www.newenglandwx.com/northfield-nh/1-sky-cam-4hr-timelapse.htm

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, forkyfork said:

do butterflies count? i collected this european peacock in the late 90's

Randy has been collecting european peacocks for a decade

[Ginx snewx]

Let me know when you see a Red bellied Sapsucker 

[Cold Miser]

There is a horse named "Thunder Snow" running in the Kentucky Derby this weekend.

[scoob40]

7 hours ago, Cold Miser said:

There is a horse named "Thunder Snow" running in the Kentucky Derby this weekend.

Cantore's heading to the $100.00 window.

[dendrite]

45F -RA

great cinco de mayo wx

[eekuasepinniW]

This weather is hell on my seedlings. Prolonged low light really makes things stretch. Going to shut off the greenhouse heat and try to use cold to hold things back.

[dendrite]

34 minutes ago, eekuasepinniW said:

This weather is hell on my seedlings. Prolonged low light really makes things stretch. Going to shut off the greenhouse heat and try to use cold to hold things back.

my kale is getting a little leggy. time for the grow lights?

[eekuasepinniW]

54 minutes ago, dendrite said:

my kale is getting a little leggy. time for the grow lights?

yes. 

I moved 12 trays of my more light-needy stuff like amaranthus, pentas, and celosia back into the basement under 120,000 lumens of T5 bulbs.  

[Typhoon Tip]

Not to spark an angry internet monkey, turd tossing expedition ...  but, species migration is one in a gagillion different predicted consequences of a global warming.  

When said global warming is fast, we probably could go ahead a call that 'species refugees' at that - 

See... the thing is, humans think of the world in their own parlance of experiences.  However, most other species are not like us; we posses one of, if not the most, adaptable innate abilities of all biota on the planet larger than telescopic scales.  From insects ...right up the scale to mammalian, greater than 50 kgs of biomass, most species on the planet can't tolerate abrupt changes in their ecological systems the way we can - where injecting a abrupt and persistent warming of even just a few short degrees can quantify the sort of detrimental change that may trigger a local extinction event. 

Humans don't think outside the box of their purview very well... Add in that we also tend to dismiss those conception first before analytical thinking, and this is bullcrap - right?

We do from time to time think outside the box, and that gives us Mozart to Einstein, Shakespeare to Rembrandts..etc.  But the bell curve of the human condition is limited to the ability to use language and balance a check-books ...and dreaming. With flits and starts of examples where commoners might exceed expectation, those are rarely in any form that can modulate systems in greater leaps and bounds, however.  In a sense, we are in a slope of evolution in that regard; give us another 100,000 years, and if we haven't used this technological infancy to annihilate one another, perhaps that evolutionary vision will include more Einsteins per capita?  

But that's all a different discussion... Point was going to be, other species adaptation/coping mechanism to abrupt changes, is to to take flight - those that can.  Otherwise, they die.  Seeing this and that life form "this far north..." ... it strikes me candidate species doing just that.  There is a tick scare in NE now that is also related to this subject matter - they carry pathogens that were not thought to be part of our background pathogenicity - bugaboos previously known as native to warm climates in the deeper south.  Now, we get gems like brain eating amoebas to go along with Lime.   And, even if these exotic seemingly new pathogens have been around longer, the fact that tick species are lacking die-off rates in winters means that the remaining increased numbers are more likely carriers - that's just arithmetic. 

[eekuasepinniW]

Just discovered Gunstock has a streaming summit cam.

http://www.gunstock.com/discover/webcam/

Pretty neat. Clouds quickly zipping by probably a few hundred feet overhead.

[mreaves]

48 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

Not to spark an angry internet monkey, turd tossing expedition ...  but, species migration is one in a gagillion different predicted consequences of a global warming.  

When said global warming is fast, we probably could go ahead a call that 'species refugees' at that - 

See... the thing is, humans think of the world in their own parlance of experiences.  However, most other species are not like us; we posses one of, if not the most, adaptable innate abilities of all biota on the planet larger than telescopic scales.  From insects ...right up the scale to mammalian, greater than 50 kgs of biomass, most species on the planet can't tolerate abrupt changes in their ecological systems the way we can - where injecting a abrupt and persistent warming of even just a few short degrees can quantify the sort of detrimental change that may trigger a local extinction event. 

Humans don't think outside the box of their purview very well... Add in that we also tend to dismiss those conception first before analytical thinking, and this is bullcrap - right?

We do from time to time think outside the box, and that gives us Mozart to Einstein, Shakespeare to Rembrandts..etc.  But the bell curve of the human condition is limited to the ability to use language and balance a check-books ...and dreaming. With flits and starts of examples where commoners might exceed expectation, those are rarely in any form that can modulate systems in greater leaps and bounds, however.  In a sense, we are in a slope of evolution in that regard; give us another 100,000 years, and if we haven't used this technological infancy to annihilate one another, perhaps that evolutionary vision will include more Einsteins per capita?  

But that's all a different discussion... Point was going to be, other species adaptation/coping mechanism to abrupt changes, is to to take flight - those that can.  Otherwise, they die.  Seeing this and that life form "this far north..." ... it strikes me candidate species doing just that.  There is a tick scare in NE now that is also related to this subject matter - they carry pathogens that were not thought to be part of our background pathogenicity - bugaboos previously known as native to warm climates in the deeper south.  Now, we get gems like brain eating amoebas to go along with Lime.   And, even if these exotic seemingly new pathogens have been around longer, the fact that tick species are lacking die-off rates in winters means that the remaining increased numbers are more likely carriers - that's just arithmetic. 

Just happened to read an article this morning about diseased red pines where the bolded is seemingly a factor.  

https://vtdigger.org/2017/05/04/rutland-plans-harvest-100000-red-pines-due-invasive-insect/?utm_source=VTDigger+Subscribers+and+Donors&utm_campaign=31c61a6a7a-Weekly+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dc3c5486db-31c61a6a7a-405566485

[Hoth]

Absolute deluge in southern CT right now.

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, mreaves said:

Just happened to read an article this morning about diseased red pines where the bolded is seemingly a factor.  

https://vtdigger.org/2017/05/04/rutland-plans-harvest-100000-red-pines-due-invasive-insect/?utm_source=VTDigger+Subscribers+and+Donors&utm_campaign=31c61a6a7a-Weekly+Update&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_dc3c5486db-31c61a6a7a-405566485

No boldface when I opened it, though that may be due to my workstation.  A nitpick:  Seems a high end number of trees for 150 acres of plantation that's 80-90 years old, though 18" diameters don't look unreasonable.  100K trees on 150 acres is 667/acre, and since 18" red pine will run more than a half cord each, that would be volumes per acre possible in CA redwoods and OR/WA softwoods west of the Cascades, but far greater than found in the East.  I'm guessing there's fewer stems per acre, or lots that are smaller than 18".

We had European pine shoot moth in some red pine plantings of similar age in a midcoast tract, and cut the worst-damaged ones in 2000, plus others where the insect had not impacted so to release the more vigorous trees.  There are still some dying, though not as much as pre-harvest.

Back on topic, invasives are the biggest threat to our forests if warming continues.  Trees have enough genetic breadth to accommodate considerable temp change, but bugs and fungus move faster than trees, and invasive understory plants tend to propagate faster as well.  The first can kill the trees, as the article makes clear, while the second can block trees from reproducing by out-competing the seedlings.

As far as adaptable critters, for North America I'd nominate the whitetail deer in the over 50 kg class.  Coyotes are even more adaptable, but any canid at or even near 50 kg is a wolf, and they have tended to be less adaptable.. 

[CapturedNature]

I've read several comments on how species migration is climate related.  How much of species migration is climate related and how much is caused by other human factors?  With all the human activity going on across the planet, we know that species will migrate as we do.  Just look at rats and roaches which hitched a ride with us centuries ago.

Then there are species like Canadian Geese or seagulls which adapt to where they find themselves, not because of climate but because of available food sources.  I guess I'm questioning the presence of a creature not because of climate but rather because they wound up here by coincidence simply because they found supportive conditions along the way.

[ORH_wxman]

10 minutes ago, MetHerb said:

I've read several comments on how species migration is climate related.  How much of species migration is climate related and how much is caused by other human factors?  With all the human activity going on across the planet, we know that species will migrate as we do.  Just look at rats and roaches which hitched a ride with us centuries ago.

Then there are species like Canadian Geese or seagulls which adapt to where they find themselves, not because of climate but because of available food sources.  I guess I'm questioning the presence of a creature not because of climate but rather because they wound up here by coincidence simply because they found supportive conditions along the way.

There's actually a lot of literature on bird migrations being affected by the huge increase in popularity of bird feeders...many birds that were rare in winter are now more common because they have plentiful food sources from feeders. It's an interesting topic regarding our impact on animals outside of just climate change. The moose is another one...we drove the moose pretty much completely out of southern New England over a century ago (and even out of a lot of VT/NH...esp VT) when we had clear-cut much of the forest for farms and fuel...but as the forests grew back in rapidly during the mid and late 20th century, the moose expanded back south. Now they are relatively common in chunks of Massachusetts whereas 30-40 years ago they were not. Our land use was the dominant factor.

[NJwx85]

Congrats day 9?

Euro gets it cold enough in parts of Southern NY State for snow

[mreaves]

53 minutes ago, tamarack said:

No boldface when I opened it, though that may be due to my workstation.  A nitpick:  Seems a high end number of trees for 150 acres of plantation that's 80-90 years old, though 18" diameters don't look unreasonable.  100K trees on 150 acres is 667/acre, and since 18" red pine will run more than a half cord each, that would be volumes per acre possible in CA redwoods and OR/WA softwoods west of the Cascades, but far greater than found in the East.  I'm guessing there's fewer stems per acre, or lots that are smaller than 18".

We had European pine shoot moth in some red pine plantings of similar age in a midcoast tract, and cut the worst-damaged ones in 2000, plus others where the insect had not impacted so to release the more vigorous trees.  There are still some dying, though not as much as pre-harvest.

Back on topic, invasives are the biggest threat to our forests if warming continues.  Trees have enough genetic breadth to accommodate considerable temp change, but bugs and fungus move faster than trees, and invasive understory plants tend to propagate faster as well.  The first can kill the trees, as the article makes clear, while the second can block trees from reproducing by out-competing the seedlings.

As far as adaptable critters, for North America I'd nominate the whitetail deer in the over 50 kg class.  Coyotes are even more adaptable, but any canid at or even near 50 kg is a wolf, and they have tended to be less adaptable.. 

Oops, the bold was in the post of Tip's that I quoted.  Anyway, I'm with you on the deer and coyotes.  Amazing and fascinating animals.  I've never understood the coyote hate.  I guess they compete with human deer hunters but they are villing the predator void at the top of the food chain.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, ORH_wxman said:

There's actually a lot of literature on bird migrations being affected by the huge increase in popularity of bird feeders...many birds that were rare in winter are now more common because they have plentiful food sources from feeders. It's an interesting topic regarding our impact on animals outside of just climate change. The moose is another one...we drove the moose pretty much completely out of southern New England over a century ago (and even out of a lot of VT/NH...esp VT) when we had clear-cut much of the forest for farms and fuel...but as the forests grew back in rapidly during the mid and late 20th century, the moose expanded back south. Now they are relatively common in chunks of Massachusetts whereas 30-40 years ago they were not. Our land use was the dominant factor.

Unlike deer, moose are pretty much independent of snow depth.  Some of the most heavily used "moose yards" are in sapling stands on hilltops where snow is deepest.  What moose need is young growth for winter browse and summer leaf-stripping.  Ponds with weeds are also important - high in needed minerals.  The heavy cuts during and following the 1970s-early '80s spruce budworm epidemic set the table on hundreds of thousands of acres, and the moose population exploded, especially in Maine.  The rest of New England does not have that kind of young-forest acreage, but moose looking for a home away from the crowds (of moose, not people) in Maine have colonized south and west.  Those heavy budworm-salvage cuts have grown beyond moose use - they're almost to deer winter cover - but harvesting continues to establish new young stands.

Now if the moose ticks would relent.  Animals have been found with 40,000 of the things, which when engorged with blood are the size of large blueberries.  It was not as bad this winter, but in the two before it mortality of collared moose calves exceeded 60%, with tick-caused anemia the major culprit.  Some calves had the things shoulder to shoulder (metaphorically) on much of their bodies.

[ajisai]

just got a flash flood warning alert on my phone... never got one of those since moving to boston.

[dendrite]

We rain and we rain some more. 

[wxeyeNH]

43F  light to moderate rain.  Main batch about to exit east.  .65"  Big story is the wind the past hour.  Roaring through the forest.  My old Davis anemometer just gusted to 33mph but seems much stronger than that.  Trees just leafing out with small leaves.  Good thing or else we would be having power issues.  Really surprised how light winds are down below...

 

Edit:  (630pm)

Ten minutes after I posted the above the rain shield has passed and down to just very light rain.  Wind also has greatly reduced to just a breeze.  Maybe the rain was bringing down winds from above.  Whatever, the strong winds of the past hour or two have passed....