Feasting Finches

A diversity of finches, eh? Well, to such we owe our understanding of evolution (thank you Charles D.) but what can we opine from the increasing prevelance of finches in UK gardens? The annual survey by Britain's birders has shown a continual decline in overall bird numbers in 2008, but that several finches are staying on these islands longer, moving into gardens from wooded areas and becoming more numerous than some traditional residents. Winter numbers of finches are higher than any count in the last 5 years.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/results/

They are pretty, these finches and they rejoice in such delightful names as "siskin", "brambling" and "redpoll". But are they also harbingers of doom? Are they indicators of a changing climate unsettling natural balance? While welcoming those Norwegian siskins, are UK residents aware that the contents of their seed-feeders are supplanting a lack of natural seeds for the siskins back home? While we observe and adapt, we might ponder where we will fly to when our own food supply runs low. Perhaps we can feast on finches?

What firstborns always secretly knew

Research just published by Keith Sockman -

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001785

shows that firstborns do not get it all their own way, at least not if you are a Lincoln's sparrow. Exposing those first eggs to a touch of neglect seems to increase the chances of survival for the whole brood and therefore the different types of talents they represent.


What a rich seam of speculation within this finding... what do you think, human firstborns?

A Nose for Business

Well, we can be all scientific and professional about this.... we can look at the mutual dependency that has driven the domestication of canid species on behalf of hominid survival etc. We can examine the different benefits of dog ownership for an increasingly stressed (and hungry) human global population and all the types of talents used on our behalf by working dogs and gun dogs. We can wrack our brains as to the survival value of the designer dogs carried around by the likes of Paris Hilton (but that would lead us into the realm of imbalance in the use of global resources that I'll pick up at another time). We can view the announcement of UK/New Zealand cooperation to breed the best noses in the business as an advance in the field of preventing transmission of agricultural pests across borders.

Or we can just sit back and enjoy the quintessentially cute litter of beagle puppies in the embedded video...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4438334a11.html

Refreshing news for elephants, ants and all of us.

Date mark this post. Aceh's Green Governor is not waiting for the rest of the world to wake up.

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/03/11/merrill-lynch-turning-trees-into-money/?mod=hpp_europe_blogs

(Further background on http://www.climate-standards.org/news/news_zwick_feb2008.html)

Arjay is celebrating this ray of hope for Future Earth. As visionaries dig deep into their pockets, those at the coal face (carbon face?) are rolling up their shirt sleeves to make it work.

Tilting at windmills?

So, we've got 20 years before the sh.. hits the fan(s) have we? Never mind, James Lovelock won't be here to say "I told you so" as we fry and die (eating powdered nematodes as our last meal, perhaps). He is the grandfather of doom with a cheerful smile and an irritating habit of being right. In last Saturday's Guardian he uses an interesting analogy about humans and war, which focuses the mind and creates ("enjoyable"?) collaborative behaviour, apparently:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/mar/01/scienceofclimatechange.climatechange

So, do we just throw in the towel, party, party, party and watch it happen? Personally, I'm all for tilting at those windmills, and betting on the human race not following the foibles of fabled fantasist Don Quixote.

Corporate gorillas.

Mea culpa. I admit to a fascination with how groups of people interact, how teams work and how they become dysfunctional. Families too. In my defense, I can't help it - I've spent far too much time lolling around with apes... I mean "studying primates in the wild". Primatologists are warned about anthropomorphism, but not about the converse. I look around the room at a corporate meeting now and find myself picking out the characters....

.... ah, yes, there's the dominant silverback - quite a young one, not yet confident in his role and chest-beating for self assurance;
.... oh and there's the glossy young blackback looking to challenge. Pant-hooting with no real reason or resonance.
.... watch out for that experienced female - the others are looking to her for guidance, a real pivot point for action, we'll have to convince her to move up the mountain first;
.... there's the young adult who has been picked on and marginalised. She'll be transferring to another group before long. She's watching, knows where all the best foodplants are and is full of emotional intelligence, we just don't have access to it - how can we draw out her contribution and get the others to listen?
.... and there has to be a young rascal, jumping all over everyone and making them laugh. We'll book him to plan the break-out session.

Yes, many types of talents needed for groups to gel and societies to function. Ignoring that can lead to management mayhem - whether you are a corporate captain striving for success in the urban jungle or an itinerant ape eking out a living on the forested volcanic slopes of central Africa.

Just watch out for ethologists - keep an eye on them as they are keeping both eyes on you.

Cowzat!

Thanks to biomes blog for this one (http://biomesblog.typepad.com/the_biomes_blog/2008/02/entry-1531-maps.html)

Proof that Australia is down udder?