Bell Museum of Natural History

This weekend I attended the annual Minnesota Ornithologists' Union Paper Sessions. The Paper Sessions is a day long event where MOU members, as well as other people who are interested in birds, get together and talk about birds. There are seminars and vendor booths just like there are at most other events of this kind.

Each year the Paper Sessions is held at the Bell Museum of Natural History, which is located on the East Bank Campus of the University of Minnesota. The James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History was established in 1872 to collect, preserve, display and interpret Minnesota's diverse flora and fauna for research and teaching purposes as well as for public enjoyment and enrichment.

This was the third time that I have attended the paper sessions and my third trip to the Bell Museum. During lunch I spent much of my time looking around the museum and snapping a few pictures to share with you.

The Bell has almost four million specimens of mammals, birds, fish, plants, mollusks and insects. Most of the collection is stored and used for scientific research however the museum is home to several floors of dioramas depicting the natural life of Minnesota. Above are just a couple of examples. If you are ever in the Twin Cities and have a few minutes to spare I would definitely recommend a trip to the Bell.

Carolina Locust

The Carolina locust is a large grasshopper that can be found through out most of North America . It is called a black-winged grasshopper in Canada which is a more appropriate name since the Carolina locust is actually a grasshopper and not a locust. It is often found in sandy areas or on dirt roads where its color helps it to blend in. I photographed this Carolina locust at Crex Meadows in August.

Today's Flowers

Crown vetch photographed near the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge in the Minnesota Valley NWR.

Isn't Peanut Cute!

Today our new little kitten, Peanut, went in to the vet to get her booster shots.

She is doing great. Besides being ultra cute she is very healthy which is good considering our recent loss.

Michelle got the fun job of bringing her in this time. I got to bring her in for her first visit about a month ago. I took her in after work and she was pretty calm because that is the time that she usually sleeps. Michelle took her in early in the morning when she is usually more active and the report is that she was pretty squirmy.

She has gained about a pound since her first visit and now weighs around four pounds.

Even though she is still quite small she is ferocious and always willing to throw down with her big brother Magic.

Clouds over the Yellowstone River

Have you ever wondered if the clouds ever stop over top of a shiny body of water just to check out their own reflection?

Butterfly

DDT and the Bald Eagle

In 1948 Paul Herman Muller, a Swiss chemist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovering of the use of the chemical Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane as an insecticide. This chemical was used to kill mosquitoes during Word War II, which lead to a decline in the number of people inflicted with malaria. After the war the use of the chemical was expanded and it was used as an insecticide on most farm fields.
It was not until 1962, with the publication of a book called Silent Spring, that people began to look at the long term effects of the use of chemicals. In the book Silent Spring, marine biologist and author Rachel Carson documented the effects of chemical pesticides on the environment.

In particular Carson noted that the chemical Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT, seemed to cause birds to produce thinner egg shells which resulted in decreases in the population of several bird species. DDT would travel up the food chain as insects with the poison in their system would be eaten by fish or small birds. The poison would be transferred to the fish or bird which would then get eaten by a larger bird. DDT would build up on birds that were higher up in the food chain each time they would eat some infected prey. Eventually the DDT would alter the birds calcium metabolism resulting in the production of thin shelled eggs that would usually break during incubation.

DDT effected many species of birds but some of the birds that were hit the worst were pelicans, brown pelicans worse then white, peregrine falcons, golden eagles and bald eagles. Silent Spring helped to launch the environmental movement and caused an uproar that eventually led to the ban of DDT in the US in 1972. Since DDT was banned all of the species mentioned above have made significant recoveries and all of those that were listed on the Endangered Species List have since been delisted.

The last to be removed from the Endangered Species List was the bald eagle which was removed in 2007. Bald eagles sightings are now quite common here in Minnesota. There are more eagles in Minnesota then any other state in the continental US. In 2007 they had counted 1312 nesting pair in Minnesota, in comparison their were only around 400 nesting pair in the entire continental US back in 1963, which was the year that I was born. In the winter eagles from all over Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and south central Canada congregate in several locations in southern Minnesota where they can find open water in which to fish. Reeds Landing is a small town on the Mississippi that sits across from where the Chippewa River empties into the Mississippi. The water typically stays open all year which is why you can great views of eagles like the ones above if you are willing to brave the intense January weather in Minnesota.

Hayden Valley

In the middle of Yellowstone National Park sits Hayden Valley, located along the Yellowstone River between Yellowstone Lake and Yellowstone Falls. Hayden Valley is a great place to view wildlife including bison herds, coyote, river otter, grizzly bear and more.

Hayden Valley was once under water, part of a much larger Yellowstone Lake. As the lake receded, over the years, it left behind this large valley filled with rolling green hills. The valley is also home to several small geothermal features including Mud Geyser, Mud Volcano, Black Dragon Caldron, Sulphur Caldron and Sulphur Spring.

Hayden Valley was discovered back in 1870 by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition, although Native Americans and fur traders had visited the valley prior to that. The expedition looked down on the valley as they reached the summit of Mount Washburn to the north. The valley was later named, back in 1880, in honor of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden who surveyed much of what is Yellowstone back in 1871. His surveys later helped in the forming of the worlds first National Park.

Variegated Meadowhawk

Many of the smaller sized skimmers are members of the Sympetrum or meadowhawks. Meadowhawks typically range in size from 1.2 to 1.5 inches. Several of the different types of meadowhawks are indistinguishable from each other except under a microscope or magnifying glass.

One type of meadowhawk that does not look very much like any other type and thus is pretty easy to identify is the variegated meadowhawk. We can tell that the variegated meadowhawk in the photos above is a female because the males are red and silver in color. Variegated meadowhawks can be seen as early as May and as late as mid September, possibly earlier and later in warmer climates. In the spring they are usually travelling north and in fall they typically travel east or southeast as the temps begin to drop in the north. I photographed this meadowhawk near the Old Cedar Ave Bridge in late September.

Today's Flowers: Thistle

I photographed this thistle flower at Wild River back in August.

Cedar Waxwings at Carpenter Nature Center

Each Friday morning they band song birds at Carpenter Nature Center so whenever I have some time off on a Friday I try to stop over and check out what kind of birds that they are banding. Since today was a paid holiday at work I headed on over to Carpenter.

It just so happened that today was the forth Friday in November and on the forth Friday of each month the public is invited to come in and watch the banding and learn a little about the process. Since many other people had the day off because of the holiday it was a pretty busy morning. So instead of taking pictures I spent most of my time helping out doing interpretation on the nature center raptors for new visitors. Even so I do have these pictures of cedar waxwings that I took back at the end of October.

Often in the fall wherever you find fruit that is still on the trees you know that the cedar waxwing are probably not too far away. They are one of only a few birds in North America that can survive by eating only fruit for months at a time. They do have to be a bit careful though because sometimes the fruit will begin to ferment later in the year and they can become intoxicated from the alcohol. This last photo is an immature waxwing. You can tell by the streaking on the breast.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I give thanks for all of the beauty that is in the world around us.

House Wren

Dark-eyed Junco

Reflections

Webster defines reflection as, "an instance of reflecting; especially: the return of light or sound waves from a surface". I do not think that Websters definition does the picture above justice. I think that the main reason that most people like to photograph water is because we are fascinated with the reflections that play across the surface. It is kind of like magic, the magic of nature.