Starling murmurations create fantastic show in Scottish sky

Paul Bunyard films the poetry-in-motion spectacle of nature, puts it to music

November 27, 2013 by David Strege

A giant bird is created out of the starling murmuration in Scotland; photo is a screen grab from the video

 A flock of 10,000 starlings put on quite an impressive show near Gretna, Scotland, with a photographer capturing the imagination with still photos of a gorilla, two dolphins, and a giant bird painted in the sky by starling  murmuration, featured in the U.K. MailOnline.

Photographer Paul Bunyard of England went a step further by filming the spectacle of nature and putting it to music. Use your imagination and you might see a whale, a racecar, and any number of other images. The amazing display is pure poetry in motion. Enjoy:

MailOnline reported that the weight of the starlings resting on electricity wires caused minor power outages in a rural village near Gretna, which has a population of around 2,000. But the starlings were a welcomed sight when in flight.

“People can see in them what they like,” photographer Owen Humphreys told MailOnline.

So why do the starlings make these creative gyrations?

“There are several theories as to why starlings gather in this way,” Chris Collett of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds told MailOnline. “Some say it’s for fun, or for communication, but the most likely reason is for survival, the theory being that the sheer number of birds will confuse a bird of prey.”

Whatever the reason, we get to enjoy the show.

source:  http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/outposts/post/starling-murmurations-create-fantastic-show-in-scottish-sky/

Be Prepared for Winter Driving in National Forests – Your Life Could Depend on it

timely article ---- perhaps, share it with family or friends who may not be familiar with this

Be Prepared for Winter Driving in National Forests – Your Life Could Depend on it

Posted by Keith Riggs, Office of Communication, U.S. Forest Service, on November 27, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Even the family dog enjoys cross-country skiing on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California. (U.S. Forest Service)

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend tradition has long included the unofficial kick-off to ski season and a time when families head out to find their Christmas tree, and many times those events involve a trip to U.S. Forest Service lands.

Recreationists find some of the best downhill, cross-country and snowshoeing opportunities with 122 ski areas in 13 states using a total of 182,095 acres of Forest Service-managed land. Add to those opportunities snowmobiling and winter camping, which makes public lands a great family destination. With a permit, you can even find your perfect Christmas tree.

But getting to those lands in winter can sometimes mean less than ideal road conditions. Although GPS systems are valuable tools for navigating forest roads, they cannot always be relied on to provide the safest routes based on local current conditions. A GPS system can easily lead you to a route that is impassable due to snow.

Make sure you check with the local U.S. Forest Service office about weather and road conditions BEFORE you set out on your trip. And before you leave, notify a responsible person of your planned route of travel, your planned departure time and your planned time of return.

Traveling on forest roads during the winter months is serious business. You should always carry a survival kit in case you’re stranded.

A GPS system might lead you to a route that is impassable due to snow. (Singletrackworld.com photo used by permission.)

Make sure your equipment includes:

• PMA! (Positive Mental Attitude!) The most important survival tool, along with common sense.
• One sleeping bag or two or more blankets for every person in the vehicle. You may also use a “space” blanket, plastic tarp, or two large green or black plastic leaf bags to help retain body heat.
• Matches and small candles stored in aluminum foil. A blanket over your head, your body heat and the heat from a single candle can prevent freezing. The candles can also be used to melt snow.
• An empty 1-, 2- or 3-pound coffee can be used to melt snow, heat water and as a tool to dig.
• Dental floss – it’s strong and may be used for lashing branches for improvised shelters.
• Bottled water. Because of the cold, the water will likely freeze so leave room for ice expansion.
• High-energy foods such as candy, nuts, dried fruits and raisins and several packets of instant soup, hot chocolate, tea, bouillon cubes, etc.
• A spoon.
• An LED flashlight with extra batteries and a whistle – good for signaling for help.
• Extra winter clothing – hat, mittens, heavy socks, gloves, coveralls, etc. Cotton is not recommended because it provides no insulation when wet.
• A first aid kit that includes any special medications needed by you or your passengers.
• A basic tool kit with a jackknife.
• Paper towels or toilet tissue, which can also be used as fire starters.
• Pieces of bright cloth 2 inches by 26 inches to tie to the car’s antenna or door handle.
• Money (two nickels, two dimes, two quarters, $20 bill –helpful for making phone calls or paying for gas if broken down along highway.)

Many of these items can be stored in the coffee can; place a stocking cap over the kit and carry in the passenger compartment for easy retrieval.

Emergency gear for the vehicle:

• Jumper cables
• Sand for traction (note, kitty litter dissolves in water and isn’t as good.)
• Ice scraper, snow brush, and a small shovel with a flat blade
• Warning devices such as flares and reflectors
• A tow chain or strap and braided nylon rope at least 25 feet long
• Bailing wire.

Using parts from your vehicle can save your life:

• A hubcap or sun visor can be used as a shovel.
• Seat covers can be used like a blanket.
• Floor mats can be used to shut out the wind.
• Engine oil burned in a hubcap creates a black smoke that can be seen for miles. Prime the fire with a little gasoline taken from the gas tank with a wire and tissue or rag.
• The horn can be heard as far as a mile downwind. Three long blasts at 10 seconds apart every 30 minutes is a standard distress signal.
• A rearview or side mirror can be used as a signaling device.

Remember that if a storm traps you inside your vehicle or if you become lost and stranded DON’T PANIC. Think the problem through and decide on a course of action and implement it slowly and carefully. Above all, stay with your vehicle.

More winter driving safety tips can be found at Winter Driving & Travel Safety. And watch how one family finds their perfect Christmas tree.

Most of your survival items can fit in a can like this. Use the can to melt snow, heat water and to dig. (SoloRoadTrip.com photo used by permission.)

    

- See more at: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/11/27/be-prepared-for-winter-driving-in-national-forests-your-life-could-depend-on-it/#sthash.XH7PHxJC.dpuf

More Map News - Forest, Grasslands Users Now Have Access to Digital Maps

Forest, Grasslands Users Now Have Access to Digital Maps

Posted by Kathryn Sosbe, Office of Communication, U.S. Forest Service, on November 20, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Digital maps available for your smart phone will help visitors find their way around U.S. Forest Service forests and grasslands.

Scaling a mountain or hiking across a meadow is a peaceful, exhilarating exploration – unless you don’t know which fork in the trail to take.

It used to mean taking out a folded map, holding onto it tightly so the wind won’t blow it away or trying to shelter it from raindrops. Now dealing with a map may be faster, easier and more convenient by opening your smart device and using a U.S. Forest Service digital map you downloaded for free or for a nominal fee.

“In many areas of our national forests or grasslands, internet connections are just not available,” said Joan Steber, a cartographer who worked on the digital map project. “The free app and static maps will help because the user downloads the maps to their Apple or Android device before heading to a national forest or grassland.”

The Forest Service maps are available through the PDF Maps Mobile App developed by Avenza Systems Inc. The geospatial PDF maps allow you to use the information without the need to be connected to a live network. Users can measure distance and area, find coordinates, zoom, plot marks, save place marks and add labels and other convenient ways to customize for your own experience.

The app is available for free through iTunes and the Android Play Store. The app provides access to Forest Service maps, such as motor vehicle use maps, which are free while national forest atlases are 99 cents and forest visitor maps are $4.99. Prices are pending for other agency maps.

The maps are geo-referenced with the user’s location appearing as a blue dot. The app works on iPhones (3GS or newer) and iPads with WiFi+3G. It also works with Android 4 or newer operating systems on devices with at least 1 gigabyte of memory.

“Through our web surveys, we know visitors want this type of information, and they want it mobile,” Steber said. “We have worked to offer them a product they can use easily.”

Digital maps showing U.S. Forest Service lands are available for your smart device and will augment age-old tools like your compass. (U.S. Forest Service)

In geographic areas with Internet availability, you will be able to use the products with live data. The interactive map is expected to be available on a limited basis starting in March 2014.

The digital maps are part of the agency’s work regarding President Obama’s initiative to create a paperless government that also provides the American public with better, more accessible information. The Forest Service is currently working on the first phase of a website redesign, expected to debut early in 2014, which centers on a map-based tool for planning trips onto our nation’s forests, grasslands and other special places.

The Forest Service differs from other federal government agencies in how the Forest Visitor map is funded. The Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 calls for the sale of maps as the funding mechanism to revise and produce maps for the public. In 1999 the Act was amended to include products available through the web as “geo-referenced data.” The Forest Service’s seven regions are tasked with uploading maps. Users should contact theregional office where a forest or grassland is located if maps are not available on the app.

Paper maps are still available for purchase online at the National Forest Store.

Digital maps available for your smart phone will help visitors find their way around U.S. Forest Service forests and grasslands.

- See more at: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/11/20/forest-grasslands-users-now-have-access-to-digital-maps/#sthash.7wSTkYVL.dpuf

Another interesting map idea - watersheds

Map: The United States of Watersheds

• BY REID WILSON

• November 19 at 8:30 am

When American settlers moved westward in the 19th century, they went in search of precious gold, furs and land. But today, as the West booms, there’s another limited commodity that states need to carefully ration: Water.

John Wesley Powell saw this coming. The 19th century geologist and explorer, who navigated the Colorado River in 1869 and 1872, realized that the limited water in the arid West would eventually lead to conflict between the states. Therefore, he suggested the boundaries of Western states be determined by watersheds — the topographical basins that funnel surface water to a single exit point.

Why use watersheds to draw boundaries, instead of the sometimes-arbitrary, sometimes-geographical boundaries for states? Water usage, especially along the Colorado River, is the subject of innumerable state vs. state lawsuits, strict rationing and increasing conflict between urban areas and agricultural industries. Sorting states by watersheds would force the individual states to make their own decisions balancing water usage, rather than fighting among themselves. And those states would be able to use water within their own boundaries, rather than shipping water tens, even hundreds of miles away.

link to the Washington Post article http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/19/map-the-united-states-of-watersheds/

Most maps are lying to you about how big Africa really is (it's really big)

Baindu Kallon

The US, China, India and most of Europe could fit inside Africa and there'd still be room.

The True Size of Africa by Kai Krause

---

Ever notice how huge Greenland looks on a map? It's because most maps use the Mercator Projection. On it, Greenland looks to be the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is actually 14 times larger. Replicating the globe onto a flat surface distorts the sizes of the countries yet many have no idea.

Or as the West Wing so aptly explains, "Nothing is where you think it is":

Computer graphics designer Kai Krause created the illustration above showing the true size of Africa. Yes, we know Africa is a continent being compared to countries but it's fascinating to see its sheer size next to common references.

Writers at The Economist created a similar map below using Gall's Stereographic Cylindrical Projection. Even though the result is different, they still draw a similar conclusion. Africa is much bigger than we thought. 

via The Economist

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/131028/africa-its-bigger-it-looks

Google Earth Interactive Map on Forests - change from 2000 to 2012

http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest


nice presentation

Range of Bull Trout in Oregon’s McKenzie River Indicates Improved River Health

Range of Bull Trout in Oregon’s McKenzie River Indicates Improved River Health

Posted by Trish Carroll, Pacific Northwest Region, U.S. Forest Service, on November 14, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Bull trout spawn in a spring of the Middle Fork Willamette River. They were transferred from the McKenzie River to historic habitats in the Middle Fork. (U.S. Forest Service)

The bull trout in the McKenzie River on the Willamette National Forest have a survival story to tell, thanks to U.S. Forest Service stewardship of local rivers and fresh, healthy sources of groundwater.

“We’re reintroducing the top predator back into the river ecosystem,” said Ray Rivera, the district fisheries biologist on the forest’s McKenzie River Ranger District. “Their presence means two things to us. First, because bull trout are very sensitive to environmental changes compared to other salmonid fishes, their existence means the river’s water quality is excellent and the physical quality of their habitat is also good. Second, since bull trout are the top predator and they are doing well this means the overall ecosystem is doing well. Their presence is an excellent barometer of a river’s health.”

Bull trout, which are actually a char, are a groundwater dependent species. They require the coldest and cleanest water in order to fulfill their life cycle, with stream temperatures between 39.2 to 50 degrees for spawning. Optimal fry growth occurs between 39.2 to 40.1 degrees.

Within the entire McKenzie River sub-basin, only five small stream segments – a total of less than six miles – meet these requirements and all are found on the district. These cold temperatures exist because of groundwater discharge and are one reason bull trout were able to hang on in the McKenzie River sub-basin while other sub-populations in the Willamette River basin became extinct.

However, the McKenzie is no longer the only habitat for bull trout. Their range has increased due to the forest’s efforts in the last 16 years to restore their habitat and re-introduce bull trout to their historic territory in the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. Now these splendid, groundwater-dependent species are living in ecosystems that better reflect their historic range because of cold water springs like those found in the McKenzie.

The McKenzie River at the base of Tamolitch Falls – meaning bucket in Chinook – flows during the spring runoff. Five miles downstream of Clear Lake, the falls was created when a lava flow dammed the McKenzie. (U.S. Forest Service)

Where does the cold groundwater come from? The source is young, porous basalt lava flows in the upper McKenzie River watershed.

“Volcanos erupted throughout the High Cascades region as recently as 1,500 years ago, leaving lava flows with a large network of underground fractures between the rocks,” said Gordon Grant, a fluvial geomorphologist with the agency’s Pacific Northwest Research Station. “Precipitation filtering from the surface collects in those fractures, creating a gigantic hydrological sponge. The McKenzie and other High Cascade rivers are fed by groundwater that literally springs out of the earth.”

By September, many western rivers that rely on snowmelt runoff are reduced to a trickle. But groundwater keeps systems like the McKenzie River robust with water temperatures ranging around 48 to 53 degrees. The temperature of the cold water springs in the McKenzie range between 39 and 44 degrees.

These very cold groundwater-fed streams where the fish spawn also benefit the main stem river by providing abundant, cold summer flows for adult and sub-adult bull trout that can tolerate temperatures up to 68 degrees. For example, Olallie Creek, with a constant 40 degrees year-around, provides a large influx of cold water to the McKenzie in the summer and allows bull trout to dwell in the entire river.

Bull trout associated with glacial melt water are in trouble. As glaciers recede due to climate change the cold water supply becomes less robust and may eventually disappear entirely. However, bull trout associated with cooler groundwater sources will fare much better in a warming climate.

A bull trout habitat in the upper McKenzie River is one of five segments in the McKenzie where bull trout can spawn. Most of the wood in the photo is material added during a U.S. Forest Service restoration and enhancement project. (U.S. Forest Service)

    

- See more at: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/11/14/range-of-bull-trout-in-oregons-mckenzie-river-indicates-improved-river-health/#sthash.9FcmvKZG.dpuf