Archive for March, 2016

Notes from William Brewster: Signs of Spring

Friday, March 18th, 2016

Here in the Greater Boston area we’ve had a week or so of beautiful spring weather. Robins are out foraging over soft ground, Red-winged Blackbirds flash their wings in wetland areas, and Song Sparrows are singing again. While we’re still likely to have more cold snaps and snow, we’re definitely feeling the season shift.

For ornithologist William Brewster, a productive day’s work often looked like a long ramble outside with a notebook and a gun, or later on, a notebook and a pair of binoculars. His daily journal entries often run many pages long as he notes the places he visited and every natural detail that stood out to him.

On March 25, 1891, Brewster spent the day riding and walking from Lexington to Belmont with a friend, and noted many of the signs of spring that we’re seeing this week.

Song Sparrow, photographed in Sagamore, Mass. Photos courtesy of Evan Lipton. © Evan Lipton 2013.

Song Sparrow, photographed in Sagamore, Mass.

Red-winged Blackbird, photographed in Milton, Mass. Photos courtesy of Evan Lipton. © Evan Lipton 2015.

Red-winged Blackbird, singing and displaying, photographed in Milton, Mass. Photos courtesy of Evan Lipton. © Evan Lipton 2013 and 2015.

(This journal entry has been abridged and broken into shorter paragraphs for readability.)

March 25, 1891

Started at 8.20 this morning with F. Bolles and drove to the Bryant farm in Lexington. The past six days have been cloudy and dismal with snow, sleet, and rain falling much of the time, but this morning the sun rose clear and there was a light breeze from the N. W. which by 9 a.m. had increased to a typical March wind, roaring through the leafless woods, ruffling the most sheltered forest roads and beating the tall, withered meadow grass savagely to and fro.

The greater part of the day, however, was just warm enough to be delightful, especially in openings in the woods and on sheltered hillsides. The air was bracing but at no time raw and there was a smell of earth mould and wet leaves. In short Spring was in the air.

The roads were dry and hard in most places and the grass tinged with green on sunny exposures while about spring holes it was vivid green. There is little snow or ice left except under evergreens in the woods and on the north side of high banks. The ground is still very wet and sodden and there is hard frost under the leaves everywhere in the woods.

We heard a Bluebird or two before reaching Waverly and two Song Sparrows, one opposite the Adams place being an exceptionally fine singer. As the horse was walking slowly up the steep pitch past the lower mill pond there was a sudden whirring of wings behind us on the right and a bevy of twelve Quail hurtled over our heads like a shower of cannon balls. They crossed the ravine just below the house and disappeared over the knolls beyond flying very fast and nearly 100 feet above the earth when above the bed of Beaver Brook. What disturbed them I do not know; certainly not our carriage for they rose among the pines at least 100 yds. from the road.

The willows were wonderfully beautiful as we entered their eastern end, the sunlight bringing out their old gold tints and lying lovingly on the long, straight reach of road that led away across the great, half flooded meadow. There were hosts of Song Sparrows here. Indeed we must have heard nearly a dozen and others were continually flitting across the road or rustling through the dry grass on its borders. Two Rusty Blackbirds rose from the flooded meadow and alighted in the top of a maple uttering their tinkling medley.

In the woods at the western end six or eight Crows were sitting in pairs in the tops of the tall oaks. A Red-wing, the only one seen during the day, was singing in the top of a hickory under which we drove without disturbing him. We drove past the Bryant farm to the Theodore Parker place and then returned. Just before searching the Bryant farm we started a musk rat from the road where, on the edge of a pond of rain water, he was sitting in the sun. He floundered and skipped over and through the shallow water in haste and finally disappeared in a half submerged stone wall.

Our drive home was a fitting close to the long, restful, delightful day. As we entered the Willows the sun was setting and its level beams threw a strong light on the tops of the trees, the road itself being in shadow.

A great flock of Crows (Bolles counted forty five) straggled off in a long, swarming line northward apparently starting on a migrating flight but perhaps on the way to a roost.

A musk rat kept abreast of us for a little way clearing deep furrow in the smooth surface of the ditch on the right of the road and finally humping his back and diving so smoothly as to leave scarcely a ring on the spot where he disappeared. Near the Payson place more Crows, a small flock, starting on a flight but heading first west and then nearly south-west.

The wind blew cold and strong and the light was fading fast when we reached home at about six o’clock.

You can read the full journal entry here on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.

If you’re not familiar with the New England spring singers noted in Brewster’s journal entry, check out the videos below.

-Elizabeth Meyer

Notes from William Brewster: Winter Irruption

Tuesday, March 8th, 2016

For a few days in January of 1893, Cambridge was abuzz with an unfamiliar sight: a sudden ‘irruption’ of red and gold birds that drew lots of attention.

William Brewster recognized them as Pine Grosbeaks. They’re beautiful birds: the males a have a soft red head and breast that fades to light gray underneath, and dark wings with two white stripes or ‘wing bars’. In females and juveniles, the red head is replaced with a gold color. Large finches, they have stubby, thick, seed-cracking in beaks, similar in shape to a Northern Cardinal’s. In the winter, large foraging flocks of Pine Grosbeaks often strip entire trees of their fruits, crushing through pulp and seeds and moving on when the food source has been exhausted.

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Male (above) and female Pine Grosbeaks, photographed in Newburyport, Mass. Photos courtesy of Evan Lipton. © Evan Lipton 2013.

(These journal entries have been abridged and broken into shorter paragraphs for readability.)

Cambridge, January 10, 1893.

There were a good many Pine Grosbeaks scattered along the line of ashtrees on the ridge to my left and as I approached Mt. Auburn Street their numbers increased until upon reaching Mr. Hayes’s place I found the trees literally alive with them.

Soon after I stopped to look at them they began flying from every direction into a large white ash which stands near the foot of the avenue. This tree was loaded with fruit and with snow clinging to the fruit clusters and to every twig. In a few minutes it supported also more than a hundred Grosbeaks which distributed themselves quite evenly over every part from drooping lower to the upright upper branches and began shelling out and swallowing the seeds. The rejected wings floated down in showers and soon began to give the surface of the snow beneath a light brownish tinge. The snow clinging to the twigs and branches was also quickly dislodged by the movements, of the active, heavy birds and for the first few minutes it was continually flashing out in puffs like steam from a dozen different points at once. The finer particles, sifting slowly down, filled the still air and enveloped the entire tree in a gauzy veil or mist tinted, where the sun-beams pierced it, with rose, salmon and orange, elsewhere of a soft, dead white and of incredible delicacy and beauty, truly a fitting drapery for this winter picture- the hardy Grosbeaks at their morning meal.

They worked in silence when undisturbed and so very busily that at the end of an hour they had actually eaten or shaken off nearly half the entire crop of seeds. Some men employed in a marble cutter’s shop near the tree were neglecting their tasks to watch and discuss them. One of these men told me that a few Grosbeaks were seen in the tree late yesterday afternoon.

Cambridge, January 11, 1893

This was the great Grosbeak day; the city was simply flooded with them. Whenever or wherever I stepped out of doors I saw flocks of varying sizes flying overhead and the sound of their piping was always in my ears. Just after breakfast I took a walk up Brattle Street and found an immense flock feeding in an ash heavily laden with fruit in Mr. Piper’s place on the corner of Fayerweather Street. I counted 149 birds in this tree and there were fully half as many more in another ash in front of Mr. Richardson’s house on the opposite side of Brattle Street to Miller’s hearing Grosbeaks continually & seeing several flocks of from 30 to 50 birds each. They were in Hubbard Park the whole day and I saw a few on my own place but more visited the old cedar tree.

I had sent word to Faxon of this condition of things and at half-past three he arrived and we went together to the Piper place where we found the birds even more numerous than had been in the morning. They had stripped both ash trees and were operating on the fallen fruit.

Over the space covered by the spread of the branches of the Piper ash they were crowded together so closely as almost to conceal the snow[.] We divided into halves and made a rough count Faxon getting 108 and I 115 birds. We missed some and there were others in the trees and on the roofs of the neighboring houses. 250 would be a low estimate for the total number assembled here at this time.

They attracted much attention from the passers by and people in sleighs & on foot were continually stopping to look at them. One man asked if they were “harbingers of spring”, a question which gave us some grim amusement insomuch as we were suffering from the bitter cold and unable to stand still for more than a minute or two at a time.

As we were returning, about sunset, Grosbeaks were continually passing overhead coming from the direction of the Botanic Gardens and flying towards the West. I afterwards learned from Mr. Fernald that over 300 Grosbeaks spent the entire day in the Gardens and from Mr. Hoffman that there were about 70 in the College yard during the afternoon. These figures indicate that there total number in the city to-day must have exceeded 1000[.]

I visited the Hayes place this morning and again with Faxon in the afternoon but saw only a few stray Grosbeaks there. The men at work in the marble yard told me that the birds finished the fruit of the big ash before sunset yesterday. They spent most of the afternoon eating the fallen buds.

Cambridge, January 12 1893

Although Grosbeaks have continued very numerous through the day in the vicinity of my place their numbers have decreased very considerably as compared with yesterday – quite one half I should say. They have evidently exhausted the food supply hereabouts and are departing in search of fresh fields.

Brewster’s notes were the basis for an article published by the American Ornitholigsts’ Union in the ornithological journal ‘The Auk’. You can read Brewster’s article, ‘A Remarkable Flight of Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator)’ at the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.

-Elizabeth Meyer

New book list, March 3, 2016

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

An account of the decline of the Great Auk, according to one who saw it.
By Jessie Greengrass. London: JM Originals, 2015. HOLLIS# 014576531
PR6107.R44433 A6 2015

The alewives’ tale: the life history and ecology of river herring in the Northeast.
By Barbara Brennessel. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, [2014]. HOLLIS# 014597364
QL638.C64 B74 2014

The amphibians and reptiles of Oman and the UAE.
By Andrew S. Gardner. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Chimaira, 2013. HOLLIS# 014579980
QL661.O5 G37 2013

Animal electricity: how we learned that the body and brain are electric machines.
By Robert B. Campenot. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2016. HOLLIS# 014381606
QP341.C36 2016

Animal movement across scales.
Edited by Lars-Anders Hansson and Susanne Åkesson. First edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. HOLLIS# 014564276
QL754.A555 2014

Application of genetic engineering to research on tropical disease pathogens with special reference to plasmodia: a laboratory manual of selected techniques.
Editors, S. Panyim, P. Wilairat, Y. Yuthavong. Geneva: Director of Special Programme, TDR, World Health Organization, [1985]. HOLLIS# 014598311
QR201.T57 A4 1985

Arboviral encephalitides in Ontario with special reference to St. Louis encephalitis.
Edited by M.S. Mahdy, L. Spence, J.M. Joshua. [Toronto]: [Ontario Ministry of Health], 1979. HOLLIS# 014598355
RC141.E6 A72 1979

Atlas of early zebrafish brain development: a tool for molecular neurogenetics. [E-book]
By Thomas Mueller, Mario F. Wullimann. Second edition. London: Academic Press, [2016]. HOLLIS# 014602932

The bee: a natural history.
By Dr. Noah Wilson-Rich, with Kelly Allin, Norman Carreck & Dr. Andrea Quigley. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2014. HOLLIS# 014579151
QL568.A6 W557 2014

A biodiversity assessment of Yongsu–Cyclops Mountains and the southern Mamberamo Basin, Papua, Indonesia.
Editors, Stephen J. Richards and Suer Suryadi. Washington, DC: Conservation International, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Dept. of Conservation Biology, ©2002. HOLLIS# 014613598
QH186.5.B57 2002x

Biodiversity of the Southern Ocean. [E-book]
By Bruno David, Thomas Saucède. London: ISTE Press; Oxford: Elsevier, 2015.HOLLIS# 014602933

Bioinformatics and functional genomics. [E-book]
By Jonathan Pevsner. Third edition. Chichester, West Sussex, UK; Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley Blackwell, 2015. HOLLIS# 014598347

Biology and culture of percid fishes: principles and practices [E-book]
By Patrick Kestemont, Konrad Dabrowski, Robert C. Summerfelt. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. HOLLIS# 014602328

Biology and ecology of sardines and anchovies.
Editor, Konstantinos Ganias, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, [2014]. HOLLIS# 014564272
QL638.C64 B455 2014

Bird families of the world: an invitation to the spectacular diversity of birds.
By David W. Winkler, Shawn M. Billerman, Irby J. Lovette. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014561578
QL672.5.W56 2015x

The birds of the Iberian Peninsula.
By Eduardo de Juana and Ernest Garcia. London: Christopher Helm, 2015. HOLLIS# 014579152
QL690.S7 J83 2015

Bonobo cognition and behavior. [E-book]
Edited by Brian Hare and Shinya Yamamoto. Leiden: Brill, 2015. HOLLIS# 014602943

Catalogus fossilium Austriae: ein systematisches Verzeichnis aller auf österreichischem Gebiet festgestellten Fossilien. Band 4, Rodentia neogenica.
Schriftleitung, Werner E. Piller. Wien: Verlag der Österreichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2001- . HOLLIS# 013883856
QE755.A8C3 2001 Bd. 4

Chemical signals in vertebrates 13.
Bruce A. Schulte, Thomas E. Goodwin, Michael H. Ferkin, editors. Cham, Switzerland; New York: Springer, [2016]. HOLLIS# 014609676
QL776.I48 2014

The choanoflagellates: evolution, biology, and ecology.
By Barry S.C. Leadbeater, University of Birmingham, UK. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2015. HOLLIS# 014610262
QL368.C5 L43 2015

Coevolution of life on hosts: integrating ecology and history. [E-book]
By Dale H. Clayton, Sarah E. Bush, and Kevin P. Johnson. Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 2016. HOLLIS# 014602934

Contemporary ecology research in China. [E-book]
Wenhua Li, editor-in-chief. Berlin: Springer, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014602334

Cooperative breeding in vertebrates: studies of ecology, evolution, and behavior. [E-book]
Edited by Walter D. Koenig, Janis L. Dickinson, Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University; with illustrations by Stef den Ridder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [2016]. HOLLIS# 014602935

Cuba: Camagüey, Sierra de Cubitas.
Luis M. Díaz, William S. Alverson, Adelaida Barreto Valdés y and Tatzyana Wachter, editors. Chicago, Illinois: Field Museum, Environmental and Conservation Programs, 2006. HOLLIS# 014602320
QH109.C9 C82 2006

Cuba: Pico Mogote.
David Maceira F., Ansel Fong G., y/and William S. Alverson, Editors. Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum, Environmental and Conservation Programs, ©2006. HOLLIS# 014613665
QH109.C9 C83 2006x

Dengue hemorrhagic fever, 1981: proceedings of the First ICMR Seminar, November 21-22, 1980, Kobe, Japan.
Kobe, Japan: International Center for Medical Research, Kobe University School of Medicine, [1981?]. HOLLIS# 014598303
RC137.I36 1980

The early Cambrian tommotiid genus Dailyatia from South Australia.
By Christian B. Skovsted, Marissa J. Betts, Timothy P. Topper & Glenn A. Brock. Canberra: Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 2015. HOLLIS# 014610242
QE726.S56 2015x

Echinodermata.
Edited by Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, [2015]- . HOLLIS# 014595942
QL384.E2 S38 2015

Ecological parasitology: reflections on 50 years of research in aquatic ecosystems. [E-book]
By Gerald W. Esch. Chichester, West Sussex UK; Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2016. HOLLIS# 014602936

The eponym dictionary of birds.
By Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins and Michael Grayson. London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014. HOLLIS# 014579156
REF QL672.2.B46 2014

Die Eulenfalter der Schweiz: Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Pantheidae, Nolidae.
[By] Hans-Peter Wymann, Ladislaus Rezbanyai-Reser, Max Hächler; unter Mitarbeit von Anne Luginbühl. Neuchâtel: Info fauna–Centre suisse de cartographie de la faune: Schweizerische Entomologische Gesellschaft, 2015. HOLLIS# 014610230
QL561.N7 W96 2015

Evolution by natural selection: confidence, evidence and the gap. [E-book]
By Michaelis Michael. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, [2016]. HOLLIS# 014602937

Evolution: making sense of life. [On reserve]
By Carl Zimmer, Douglas J. Emlen. Second edition.Greenwood Village, Colorado: Roberts and Company Publishers, 2015. HOLLIS# 014569539
QH366.2.Z526 2015

Fishes: an introduction to ichthyology. [On reserve]
By Peter B. Moyle, Joseph J. Cech, Jr. Fifth edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, [2004]. HOLLIS# 014577330
QL615.M64 2004

Forensic entomology: international dimensions and frontiers.
By Jeffery Keith Tomberlin (Department of Entomology, Texas A & M University), M. Eric Benbow (Department of Entomology and Department of Osteopathic Medical Specialties, Michigan State University). Boca Raton: CRC Press, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014564273
RA1063.45.F665 2015

Guidelines for arbovirus surveillance programs in the United States.
By C.G. Moore [and others]. Fort Collins, Co.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases,1993. HOLLIS# 014598360
QR201.A72 M66 1993x

Handbook of larval amphibians of the United States and Canada.
By Ronald Altig, Roy W. McDiarmid; foreword by Aaron M. Bauer. Ithaca; London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press, 2015. HOLLIS# 014564274
QL641.A45 2015

Indicators and surrogates of biodiversity and environmental change. [E-book]
Editors, David Lindenmayer, Philip Barton and Jennifer Pierson. Clayton, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, 2015. HOLLIS# 014602938

Lyme borreliosis 1990: proceedings of the IV International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis, held in Stockholm, Sweden, June 18-21, 1990.
Guest editors, Birgit Sköldenberg, Göran Stiernstedt. Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell International, [1991]. HOLLIS# 014598334
RA644.L94 I56 1990x

Malaria and development in Africa: a cross-sectoral approach.
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sub-Saharan Africa Program. Washington, D.C.: The Association, [1991]. HOLLIS# 014598342
RA644.M2M215 1991

Malaria: meeting the global challenge.
[Alexanderina V. Shuler]. [Washington, D.C.]: Agency for International Development, U.S.A.; Boston: Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain,[1985 or 1986]. HOLLIS# 014598320
RA644.M2 S48 1985

Marine ecosystems: diversity and functions. [E-book]
Edited by André Monaco, Patrick Prouzet. London: ISTE, 2015. HOLLIS# 014602939

Metamorphosis: astonishing insect transformations.
Written and photographed by Rupert Soskin; foreword by Dr. George McGavin. London; New York: Bloomsbury Natural History, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2015. HOLLIS# 014610267
QL494.5.S67 2015

Microbial life of cave systems. [E-book]
Edited by Annette Summers Engel. Berlin; Boston: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., KG, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014602940

Monarchs in a changing world: biology and conservation of an iconic butterfly.
Edited by Karen S. Oberhauser, Kelly R. Nail, Sonia Altizer. Ithaca; London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press, 2015. HOLLIS# 014597366
QL561.D3 M6635 2015

Naturally curious: a photographic field guide and month-by-month journey through the fields, woods, and marshes of New England.
By Mary Holland. North Pomfret, Vt.: Trafalgar Square Books, c2010. HOLLIS# 012712988
QH104.5.N4 H65 2010

Omsk hemorrhagic fever: ecology of the agent and epizootiology.
N.N. Kharitonova and Yu. A. Leonov. New Delhi: Published for the National Library of Medicine by Amerind, 1985. HOLLIS# 014598328
RC147.H44 K45 1985

Parrots of the wild: a natural history of the world’s most captivating birds.
By Catherine A. Toft and Timothy F. Wright; foreword by James D. Gilardi. First edition. Oakland, California: University of California Press; [Lake Alfred, FL]: In collaboration with the World Parrot Trust, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014597367
QL696.P7 T64 2015

Patterns in nature: the analysis of species co-occurrences. [E-book]
By James G. Sanderson, Stuart L. Pimm. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015. HOLLIS# 014602941

Problematic wildlife: a cross-disciplinary approach. [E-book]
Francesco M. Angelici, editor. Cham: Springer, c2016. HOLLIS# 014602942

Quantitative viral ecology: dynamics of viruses and their microbial hosts.
By Joshua S. Weitz. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014609692
QR478.A1 W45 2015

A rapid biological assessment of the Konashen community owned conservation area, southern Guyana.
By Leeanne E. Alonso [and others]. Arlington, Virginia: Conservation International, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, 2008. HOLLIS# 014613651
QH125.4.R37 2008

Rapid biological assessments of the Nakanai Mountains and the upper Strickland Basin: surveying the biodiversity of Papua New Guinea’s sublime karst environments.
Editors, Stephen J. Richards and Banak G. Gamui. Arlington, VA: Conservation International, ©2011. HOLLIS# 014613637
QH186.5.R375 2011

Research on arthropod-borne viruses with special reference to dengue and related tropical viruses.
By Susumo Hotta. Kobe: Yukosha Printing House, 1978. HOLLIS# 002496064
RA644.D4 H68 1978x

The Robertson and Woolfenden Florida bird species: an annotated list.
By Jon S. Greenlaw, Bill Pranty, Reed Bowman; Jerome A. Jackson, editor. Second edition. Gainesville, Florida: Florida Ornithological Society, 2014. HOLLIS# 014601641
QL684.F6 R63 2014

The seasonal incidence of ixodid ticks of cattle in northern Nigeria and in the Netherlands, with particular reference to their role in the transmission of bovine piroplasms.
By Adamu Nayaya Mohammed. 1974. HOLLIS# 014600074
SF967.B17 M64 1974x

60 Cypriot spiders: an introduction to the spiders of Cyprus and their relatives.
By Duncan McCowan. Limassol, Cyrus: Mikrokyklos Books, [2014]. HOLLIS# 014494058
QL453.4.C9 M33 2014x

Snakes & snakebite in southern Africa.
By Johan Marais. Snakes and snakebite in southern Africa Second edition. Capetown: Struik, 2014. HOLLIS# 014579155
QL666.O6 M2556 2014

The toxicology and biochemistry of insecticides.
By Simon J. Yu. Second edition. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014564275
SB951.5.Y8 2015

Venomous reptiles and their toxins: evolution, pathophysiology, and biodiscovery.
By Bryan G. Fry. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [2015]. HOLLIS# 014597368
QP632.V46 V45 2015

Visual ecology.
By Thomas W. Cronin, Sönke Johnsen, N. Justin Marshall, and Eric J. Warrant. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014. HOLLIS# 014564277
QP475.C76 2014

Where have all the animals gone? : my travels with Karl Ammann.
By Dale Peterson; with an afterword by Karl Ammann. Peterborough, New Hampshire: Bauhan Publishing, 2015. HOLLIS# 014610266
QL84.6.A1 P48 2015