We Need More Feathered Dinos

John McLoughlin was writing about them in the late SEVENTIES. Isn't it time yet to acknowlege, preferably before the next Jurassic Park, that dinos resemble eagles and turkeys and Roadrunners more than, oh, fence lizards?

Especially with all the good artists around...

These last would be so good if they weren't lizard- naked!

This guy has known it for a long time...

And this one; well, these ones holding their long - ago first books in front of my house some years back, but I learned at least partly from the guy with the beard.

Hans Windgassen, Pigeon Impressionist

The late Hans Windgassen,  Pennsylvania artist and lifetime pigeon fancier, was one of the most interesting thinkers--no, scratch that, we were all interesting thinkers!-- in our pigeon rearing art and genetics group. He visited once, but we kept up a constant correspondence, and the genes of pigeons he sent-- our tastes were similar-- live on in my loft.

Recently I had a note from his widow, Barbara Polny,  and I asked if she had any of his pigeon portraits. She had one, and sent it, refusing any money. What she may not have known was that it was of one of my favorite breeds, the (German) Beauty homer, an ornamental descendant of flyers, with a distinctive profile and a long graceful neck.

 

(They really have that profile. Here is one from Patrick in Massachusetts, who crossed back to flying homer to get both ability and showiness-- this bird has returned swiftly from a race distance of 300 miles, same day, no sweat! I want some young ones to fly...)

Here is a small Hans portfolio-- me, the girls in their prime...

And a few international pigons, including flyers in Jerusalem and a breed we tried to cross back to but  couldn't revive in our own lofts...

Aristocracy

Five inch gold- leaf bronze of an old- style Afghan by D L Engle, with a hint of Bugatti in its planes...

I would own this one in a SECOND.

Serendipitous semi-random hound meeting

This is a very preliminary photo batch, as we are having dinner with Joel, and photos are not yet all in. But Dutch Salmon invited us to meet him at the Owl in San Antonio (our S A, NM not  TX) where he was picking up a young female part- Azawakh from Marya. (I hadn't seen him since his successful Deep Brain Parkinson's op). We were barely seated when Sis Olney came in, with a phone full of SCENT hound pics (her unique Gascon crosses, now hunting lion in at least two states), trail hounds with French genes and heat- tolerant sighthounds & how & why &...

Two more random observations: we live in a culture where "PHONE full of trail hound pics" is natural; and, if I continue to be vain I must eat less...

Save the Dioramas!

I grew up looking at great dioramas, the magical combinations of painting and taxidermy that rose to a high art in the early twentieth century. Perhaps their highest expression is in two halls that depict the habitats and wildlife of North America and Africa in my favorite museum in the world, The American Museum of Natural History in New York. Every lover of "naturalist" art should make at least one pilgrimage to see them, but meanwhile, Stephen Quinn has written an excellent book that shows most of them and explains their genesis: Windows on Nature.

Yesterday a good friend, the artist and sculptor Tony Angell,  forwarded an alarming letter from Quinn. Apparently another unique set of dioramas in Minnesota, featuring painting by such masters as Francis Lee Jacques, is under threat of destruction by the usual flock of visually and historically ignorant illiterates who think change and trendiness trumps beauty and history. His is a long letter, but dense with information-- let me snip a bit.

"I'm writing to inform you all of some disturbing plans that I have just learned about for the James Ford Bell Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Many of you may know that the Bell Museum possesses what are, arguably, the most magnificent collection of natural history dioramas done by the great wildlife and bird artist, Francis Lee Jaques. Also represented in this priceless diorama collection are the contributions of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Robert Bruce Horsefall, Charles Abel Corwin, and pioneer diorama designer, famed Ornithologist and early conservation activist Frank Chapman.

"Late in his career at AMNH, Jacques assisted in the design of the Bell Museum building to facilitate and assure its primary objective of optimum display for its dioramas and, through the 40s and into the 50s, designed, directed construction of, and painted the backgrounds for a series of dioramas that can be considered his best... Jacques was originally from Minnesota, grew up on its prairies, northwoods boundary waters, and hunted waterfowl on its, then, vast and wild wetlands... These scenes of thousands of Snow Geese over windswept marshes, Sandhill Cranes alighting on a spring prairie meadows, or majestic Moose in the northern lake country all evoke such a compelling illusion and sense of place and personal presence that one is struck by the ABSENCE of the cries of the birds or the chill of the north wind on one’s cheek when standing before them.

"Sadly, I have learned last week that the Minnesota State Legislature has approved funds to build a new natural history museum on the University of Minnesota campus at Saint Paul and this new plan calls for gutting the interior of the Bell Museum in Minneapolis, an attempted removal of some of its unique collection of irreplaceable dioramas in order to “reinterpret” some in the new museum, and the possible storage or disposal of the rest.

(Snip)"...  to attempt to extract these great works from the alcove settings in which they were specifically designed and fabricated to be viewed in, is a folly and loss for the generations to come that will never see them under those intended conditions. Removed, "re-purposed", "re-interpreted", or "re-designed" to become "relevant" and "useful" to today's University of Minnesota, will inevitably mean that they will find themselves adapted as "open-air", "immersive", or "walkthrough" dioramas... they will become even more vulnerable to the whims of ambitious exhibit designers, short-sighted curators, and a nature-deprived public who, with a constant diet for the latest techno/interactive bombardment, cannot begin to understand their value historically, scientifically, or artistically as the remarkable replicas and record of a wilderness they can not comprehend, in this new setting."

(Snip) "The James Ford Bell Museum is THE ONLY remaining building in NORTH AMERICA that was specifically designed, in its entirety, as a standing theater for natural history dioramas. It's very exterior structure; site plan and interior floor plan reflect this. It is superbly, and perfectly “fine-tuned” for this purpose. There are NO OTHER buildings like it in the US or Canada!!!  As such, it is just as significant, both architecturally and artistically, as the Biological Museum of Gustaf Kolthoff and Bruno Liljefors in Stockholm, Sweden, and the grand Akeley Hall of African Mammals or the magnificent Hall of North American Mammals in New York....  They were all created by the great naturalists/artists/ scientists and educators of their time, requiring extensive and costly travel and expeditions, unique and groundbreaking fabrication techniques, and embraced a mission to present an illusion of nature so powerful and compelling that, it can be argued, they will NEVER be equaled again.

(Snip) "We MUST all spread the news of this impending tragedy with a letter-writing campaign to the critical individuals involved... The threat to that building and those dioramas needs to be clearly known and it’s loss clearly recognized and understood by all who are making this decision.

 "... Also, notably, I have learned that the University, itself, does not view the dioramas favorably, but sees them as “archaic and old” and does not consider them a priority in the plans for their future museum, and would prefer not to address them at all. What is to prevent the University from, in the future, allocating funds away from the dioramas, sighting the VERY high costs for the proper removal, conservation, and reconstruction of these dioramas as not worth it?... In a relatively short time, they are likely to be considered diminished in value and therefore disposed of."

Here is a site with more links and images. I will update this as soon as I have more contacts. Stay tuned...

One afterthought: friends and scholars-- Jonathan Kingdon, John McLoughlin-- and writers and scientists I have never met-- Stephen J Gould, Ed Wilson, Richard Dawkins-- have all written in praise of the traditional museum that formed and nurtured them. Do ultramodern, interactive, "Game"- themed, info- free installations have any such potential? Without the Harvard and later,  New York Museums, I don't know that I would have the interests I do today, or this blog.

A Baby arrives

From Dan Konkel in Sheridan-- a male, 3/4 Gyr, 1/4 Saker. At this age his schedule is pretty simple...

Post- Apocalyptic Images

NOT Detroit. Think more maritime. Haunting, IMAO...

UPDATE: My brother- in- law George, who took these, explains:

"Glad you've enjoyed these. This is the former Naval Ammunition Annex, a WWII fabrication facility in a closed area, Wompatuck State Park, Hingham, MA. It's been abandoned for over 40 years, the state finally has the funds to demolish it. As Karen said, we've enjoyed the "forbidden ruins" as military historians and urban decay explorers. It's also part of what locals called "the creepies". Taggers entered the area en'force about eight years ago...there's been some serious competition in that place, magnificent artistry. I've been collecting maps, taken photos, some video and now artifacts collecting during the demo.. Sad to see it go...the early am maritime fog that particular morning was a jackpot for capturing the eerie feel, or premonition or even pre-apocalyptic. Yes...the mind can really wonder in that environment. We'll miss that place."
...George Graham

George, at your leisure I would love to  see more!

Curriculum

Trying hard not to spend much time here but some things are too interesting to ignore. Via Prufrock I found this excellent suggestion for early education, by a poet, in the NYT.

Its real effort echoes my spontaneous reply to an academic in Amherst Mass, back in the 70's, who demanded at a party what I would offer, since I rejected her PC touchy- feely course list. Having had too much to drink, my list was short, though not too bad for off- the cuff improvisation. I replied:

"Poetry, history, evolutionary biology, and how to use a chainsaw."

Adjust for local conditions, ie rope a calf/ catch large fish for use a chainsaw...

Jack's evolution through Classics , voracious reading, and river guiding wasn't bad either. And I would definitely add at least a language, but preferably two-- one familiar enough to be easy-- French, Spanish-- and one with at least a different alphabet-- Russian, Chinese.

Guardian Dogs & Wolves in the Alps

Wolf damage to livestock herds in the southern French Alps continues to be a chronic problem, with more than 2,400 head of livestock killed by wolves in 2013. Researchers have indicated that the region is facing the limit on the efficacy of the use of Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs) in that region.

Researchers
Preliminary results of the most recent detailed research project were published in the Spring 2014 Carnivore Damage Prevention News. The paper, “The CanOvis Project: Studying Internal and External Factors that May Influence Livestock Guardian Dogs’ Efficiency Against Wolf Predation,” was written by Jean-Marc Landry, Gerard Millischer, Jean-Luc Borelli, and Gus Lyon of the Institute for the Promotion and Research on Guarding Animals in Switzerland, and Parc National du Mercantour of France.

Methods
Researchers were equipped with a long-range infrared binocular with recording capabilities. They were able to record night-time interactions between wolves and LGDs in the Maritime Alps. Research involved three flocks of sheep, two of which had high wolf pressure, including one grazing in an area where no wolf shooting permits are issued – not even to livestock producers experiencing wolf attacks on their herds. Flock sizes ranged from 1,750 to 2,500 sheep. One area had two flocks at the start of the grazing season, but these were combined at the end of the summer due to frequent wolf predation on one herd. All three flocks were protected by LGDs, mainly by Great Pyrenees dogs, or Great Pyrenees/Maremma crossbreds. One flock had 11 LGDs, while the other two herds had four LGDs each. The LGDs were fitted with GPS collars each evening, and their movements were tracked until sunrise.

How did the LGDs react?
LGD reactions ranged from no reaction, to barking, social or close contacts (33% of the events), and chasing. Using the infrared binoculars, researchers were able to document wolves passing by the flock, feeding on freshly killed sheep, and attempting to attack sheep – despite the presence of LGDs. The researchers noted: “Wolves were apparently unafraid of LGDs. Although wolves were chased by LGDs or had agnostic encounters, these experiences did not prevent them from returning the same or following nights. Moreover, we recorded several occurrences in which a single LGD faced a wolf and exaggerated its behaviors instead of attacking, allowing enough time for the wolf to escape. Thus, the LGDs observed (either naïve or experienced with wolf encounters) seemed to be very cautious around wolves.”
The researchers suggest that LGDs should be considered a primary repellent by disrupting a predator’s behavior, but they do not permanently modify that behavior. Wolves become habituated to the presence of LGDs, according to the researchers. They found that both LGDs and wolves seem to evaluate the risk of escalating confrontation.

Aggression
Great Pyrenees LGDs are often selected for use in areas with a high degree of tourism, because they are known to be less aggressive to humans and other dogs. In fact, they are now bred and promoted for their docility. But LGDs that are expected to be effective guardians in wolf territory must have a higher level of aggression to predators. They must have a willingness to confront and fight the predator, as certain LGD breeds are known to do. Researchers pointed to the Karakachan from Bulgaria as a breed known its aggression to intruders.

Stepping away from the research paper for a moment, I would note that our family started with Great Pyrenees LGDs but found they were not aggressive enough for the predator challenges they faced. Thus we moved to Akbash, which have a higher level of aggression to predators while not posing a threat to humans; and to Central Asian Shepherds, which have a high level of canine-aggression. We have found them to be very effective in wolf-inhabited areas of western Wyoming.



Yearling females: tri-colored is a Central Asian Ovcharka, while the white dog is Rena, an Akbash.

Barking
The researchers found that LGD barks do not modify wolves’ ongoing behaviors, but these vocalizations do seem to transmit information. “Because barking is easy to pinpoint, they might give valuable information to the wolves about the LGDs’ location, the number of individuals, their distance and maybe even temperament. Nevertheless, LGDs’ barks can attract other LGDs, even if they are not able to observe the scene.”

Marking
The LGDs in the study were often seen leaving the flock in the early mornings to defecate and urinate before returning. Some LGDs and wolves defecated on the same spot, so these “scent markings” did not serve to deter wolf presence.

Age & Courtship
Just as wolves become more sedentary and their predatory performance declines with age, the same appears to be true with LGDs, especially as it pertains to a weakening physical condition that comes with age. Thus, the age structure of the LGD pack is a key factor in protecting skills.

The researchers also noted that female LGDs in heat poses a separate problem that needs managed by the herder or flock owner. “The energy to protect the flock is wasted on courting females and fighting males,” the researchers noted. “In our case, a strange male LGD managed to reach a female in heat in the middle of the flock despite the presence of three males, probably because they were wounded during a fight at the beginning of the evening.”

Young Wolves
Particular wolves were seen staying near the flocks, attempting (and failing) to attack, and interacting with LGDs. Researchers believe these were young wolves learning to hunt and testing the LGDs. “Consequently, if these first encounters are not associated with negative consequences, we hypothesize they will learn that LGDs and shepherds are not a danger and will perceive sheep as an available resource. This knowledge may then be passed to the next generation through associative learning. Thus, more aggressive LGDs may be necessary to teach young wolves that encounters with LGDs have severe consequences.”

Shepherds aren’t a threat either
The researchers found that shepherds aren’t viewed as much of a threat to the wolves either. Since their only option is yelling and throwing rocks, the effect on wolves is negligible. The researchers found that the wolf flight distance when confronted by the shepherds was sometimes as short as 100 feet.
Recent wolf attacks on sheep herds are happening more often in daylight (52% of all attacks) and a shepherd reported being challenged by a wolf while trying to retrieve a wounded lamb.

Future
The CanOvis project research project will continue, with researchers continuing to observe how LGDs react to wolves and how wolves counter-respond. To read the full paper, click here.

Ratting Party

Boys with a terrier and rats in Edinburgh, the Writer's House, from Guy Boyd.

High Lonesome

This one is for Chad Love, in response to this essay and in thanks for this one .

Random Doggage

Micaela Lehtonen's J Litter in Finland.

Why I Carry (part 2)

I read an editorial yesterday suggesting that "the only two legitimate uses of guns" are for hunting and target shooting. The writer advocated that guns be kept in armories, where gun owners would be able to come and check out their firearms for these uses. The writer of the editorial simply lives in a different world than I do, so let me explain.

As many of you know, I'm a rancher, so I spend time out on the range alone with my herd, in country inhabited by a variety of large carnivores, some of which I come in close contact with when they try to enter the herd for a meal I don't intend they receive. Each one of our ranch trucks are equipped with needed tools: fencing pliers, knives, flashlights, shovels, jumper cables, ropes, gloves, and firearms. Our firearms are tools, used to provide protection for our family and our herd, to make noise to deter predators, and to put down an animal that is suffering. Firearms are a necessary tool in the ranching trade.

I am also a woman who travels – alone – thousands of miles each year, often on the gorgeous open roads of the Rocky Mountains, where a response to a call for help could be at least an hour away (at best). Some parts of my sheep range are 60 miles from town and have no cell service, so being able to place a call for help simply isn't possible.

I have a concealed carry permit, and carry a firearm when I travel - as I have for decades. I've been through gun-safety training, worked with a law enforcement officer when selecting my pistol and my method of carry, was fingerprinted, and underwent a background check in order to get my permit. Very few people I encounter are aware that I have a firearm. But when I want to enter a remote rest area for a bathroom break, I slip my pistol into my purse before I depart the truck, as I do when I get my luggage to head for my lodging for the night.

I'm cautious not from a sense of paranoia, but from a sense of responsibility. I know my safety depends a large part on my own actions. I cannot and will not pawn what I believe to be my personal responsibility for my own safety off on law enforcement officers who can't be everywhere there may be trouble. I obey concealed carry laws, am comfortable and familiar with the specific firearms I shoot, and I don't flaunt firearms in public.

I enjoy the solitude that comes from living and working in a wild landscape, but I have no intention of going out without the tools I need. Like throwing on your slicker before going out into a rain storm, living with firearms, practicing gun safety and responsible gun ownership, is part of the package.

In 2010, I wrote an editorial "Why I Carry" on this blog. I described the threats I had received in my time as a news reporter, in separate incidents, from two men who had mental disorders and had gone off their medications. One of them was later institutionalized, released, institutionalized, then released again. He's back in our community now. I believe he still poses a threat to the safety of women in our community – but unlike some women who haven't been his target, I am well aware that he is a threat. Since the newspaper spread featuring me going through the process of getting a concealed firearm permit, he also knows I'm armed.

It's not my intent to start an argument about gun use and ownership. Instead, I want to share why I feel so differently than the editorial writer from Milwaukee. I'm a law-abiding gun owner, and intend to stay that way. I'm not the one who should be disarmed.

Found Object

From Paul McCormack:

Anniversary!

Matt who keeps better track than I do tells me this is our NINTH anniversary. Hard to believe... but there have been 3583 posts!

Maybe I can convince him to write something about this subject...

Shooting Smallbores

... and WHY smallbores. No time for deep analysis today--  an eagerly awaited guest, last minute prep for the new tiercel including expanded housing, gunsmithery, cooking. But it would come as no surprise to most readers that I am down to using two smallbores: my all- time favorite English .410 (sold away years ago, fortuitously regained thanks to Tom Quinn and Libby), and a total surprise, suggested to me by Mel Merritt at Ron Peterson's, a sidelock Spanish 28 made for the US market in 1959. In the first photo, Jessica Abberley shoots the .410 and smashes her targets as husband Piet Ditmars of Dunhill Ranch runs the machine. Double or right click for a bigger image.

That this is the first time she ever shot a side- by- side, two triggers, or a .410 makes her ability even more amazing. But I shoot well with it too,  better than almost any gun I have ever owned, and I am not a natural with a shotgun despite my having shot one since I was eight.

Below that are the guns-- more on them later. Meanwhile, see Steve Hughes' column in the July/ August  Shooting Sportsman, where he examines Ben Williams' 28 bore Holloway and Naughton, a gun amazingly like my Turner .410 in everything but name and gauge.

Hybrid Update

Terence Wright just last night sent this photo of the hybrid Black X Red Shouldered Hawk in CA, with this short  note: "Here is a pic of the hybrid chick during  banding." We will continue to add any updates. I want to see what it looks like after it fledges--  those are two such different Buteonines. The long yellow legs suggest Black Hawk...

Real time

Andre Baca took this phone shot of his uncle, my old friend Lawrence Aragon, and I at the Spur tonight, an hour ago.

Bumper Sticker

Seen on Colorado Boulevard in Denver, Monday afternoon:

Sometimes I wrestle with my demons
Sometimes we just snuggle

La Brea Bees

As I am interested in both bees and the Pleistocene, as any reader knows, this article about bees preserved in the La Brea Pits is impossible to ignore.

Oddly, the best explanation of the methods and meaning of the find was in the Comments, by one John Turner:

"The original article says the specimens were actually excavated in 1970. They were so tiny that curators set them aside until there was a method to nondestructively analyze them...

"That method arrived with the SCANCO Model uCT 50, a 51 x 51 x 30 inch cabinet housing a complete CAT-scan X-ray machine that can be parked most anywhere you'd put a fullsize copier...

"The illustration for this article, the red 3-D model of a bee pupa, was scanned as 2,172 slices, the slices converted to a 3,021,012-triangle polygon mesh and then cleaned up a bit in software before being rendered...

"What a wonderful tool! The specimen can now be dissected over and over in digital form, while the original remains safe in a little box in the store room. The "voxels" of the digital model are two to four cubic microns each, about the size of the cells in the tissues. You could trace this insect's complete nervous system, count the hairs on its legs and the lenses in its compound eyes, even spot tiny parasites without ever having to shred the specimen into thousands of little slices with a microtome. Mommy Mommy buy me one!"

I might add that when I published my first book,  A Rage for Falcons, in 1984, I walked into the shop at la Brea and they had three copies.