Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: Green Streak

Aw, yeah, it’s the return of the UFDs! I’ve been extremely lax. Also, the birds were buggers this summer. So I’m reaching into the past for a few likely candidates.

I’ll start us easy, with some serene little water birds. I quite like these. They’re tiny, and they’ve got that pretty green streak in their wings.

UFD I: a mottled brown duck-like swimmer with a green streak in its wing.
UFD I

I see these round here a lot. I suspect I know what they are, and they’ve got to be dead easy, but they’re cute, so why not?

UFD II: Same sort of bird, with what looks like a female of the same species.
UFD II

These little delights were at a pond on North Creek last winter, along with about ten billion other water birds. They don’t seem to mind ice a bit.

Right. There’s a little something for ye. Let me know what we’ve got!

 

Unidentified Flying Dinosaur: Green Streak
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The Cataclysm: “One of the Most Dramatic Mass-Movement Events of Historic Time”

In memory of Dr. Harry Glicken, 1958-1991.

Dr. Harry Glicken, USGS. His work on the Mount St. Helens debris avalanche has greatly increased our recognition and understanding of these catastrophic events. Image courtesy USGS.
Dr. Harry Glicken, USGS. His work on the Mount St. Helens debris avalanche has greatly increased our recognition and understanding of these catastrophic events. Image courtesy USGS.

Eruptions seem like simple matters: pressure builds, something goes boom, lots of stuff comes out. But that’s not the story of every volcanic eruption, and it doesn’t capture the complexity by half. Pressure was building within Mount St. Helens. It had been booming, and promised a bigger boom, and delivered on that promise – but not in the way anyone expected. Continue reading “The Cataclysm: “One of the Most Dramatic Mass-Movement Events of Historic Time””

The Cataclysm: “One of the Most Dramatic Mass-Movement Events of Historic Time”

Sunday Song: Very

According to my cat, it is very very cold. Tis the season wherein she stops disdaining my lap and begins to demand it, except when I’m in a room that’s less well-heated than another, in which case she’s curled up as tight as she can get in a nice warm bed.

We’ve been spending a lot more time together lately. It began whilst I was sick, and spending more time than usual in bed reading and dozing. She saw this as a prime opportunity to have her lap and her warm cozy room, too, and would plop down atop me for a long session of purring and snuggles. She looks smug about it, too. She knows all about feline paralysis and the causing thereof. Continue reading “Sunday Song: Very”

Sunday Song: Very