Wintering Say's Pheobe

I've have been waiting for the Say's Phoebe that over wintered on the UCSC campus the last two years to show up and was starting to think it might have met its maker. Finally on Christmas Eve, as I was leaving the lab I saw a Say's Phoebe in the usual spot. I don't know that this is the same individual for sure, but I like to think it might be.

As you can see from one of the photos it likes to perch and hunt from a fence right next to the road so I get to do some road birding on my way into and out of campus every day.

In 2012-2013 I saw a Say's Phoebe in this spot as early as November and then saw it pretty regularly (several times a week with a 40 second search as I drive by, so pretty reliably) until February.

In the 2011-2012 Winter I saw one in January through February 2012.

We'll have to wait and see who leaves the UCSC campus first this Winter, me or the old Say's Phoebe.











On a totally separate note, it has been a while since I have posted at the Flickr rework has made it really difficult to embed photos using hmtl into a post. Looks to be the new frames feature. I'm also not super happy with the apparent loss of the old organization tab in Flickr. I'll need to spend some time with the new lay out to try and figure it all out and hopefully I will grow to like the changes, but as of now, get off my lawn Yahoo.

UPDATE: After posting this I started reading some Flickr forums and realized that the new Beta photo page is fucked if you want old school html embedding. So I opted out of Beta until they get it fixed and reembedded the images in this post. I also found the old batch organizing tool which is now called Organizr and is in a submenu rather than the header. Damn Flickr.

Bobcats in the Mist

Its that time of year in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Our summer (takes place on the calendar in what most consider early fall) is officially over and our good friend, the fog, rolls back in. That means you get a lot of condensation on your camera trap lenses, especially at night.

Its something to think about when making your sets, but I've never found a great solution. Rain-X helps some, but not as much as one would like.

You can at least point your camera away from the great Pacific, but then you have to worry about the rising sun coming up in the East.

Mainly you just learn to live with less than perfect images, like these two of a bobcat who came by the Ghost Deer cam during a single visit.




This Bob has a pretty well endowed tail. We may come back to that at a later date.

Ghost Deer

A spooky deer from the Santa Cruz Mountains for your Halloween pleasure.








LOOK ABOVE YOU!




Ghost deer was trying to haunt the coyotes by leaving a leg in the tree, but he only managed to scare this poor little doe. Either that or the leg did such a good job that no carnivores even came by this set.

Missing Weasel

SEE UPDATE BELOW:

UCSC press release below.

SHAME ON YOU. 

Look out for a stuffed weasel.

October 9, 2013

To:  UC Santa Cruz Community
From:  UC Santa Cruz Police Department
Re:  Community Crime Bulletin  (488 PC - Theft; Case # 13-759)

On Tuesday,  September 24, at 6:15 p.m., a stuffed weasel specimen was stolen from a table at the UC Santa Cruz Fall Festival. Affectionately referred to as Winston the Weasel (see photograph), this specimen had been in the possession of the UC Santa Cruz Natural History Museum for many years and been a part of many student projects, displays, and events.

It is the only mounted weasel specimen that the museum possesses.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Winston is encouraged to contact the UC Santa Cruz Police Department immediately at 831-459-2231, or the Environmental Studies Department located in the Interdisciplinary Sciences Building, room 410.

Tips may also be made ANONYMOUSLY to the UC Santa Cruz Police Department by calling 831–459–3TIP (459–3847) or online at http://police.ucsc.edu.

Thank you.

Nader Oweis, Chief of Police

University of California, Santa Cruz

This Bulletin is in Compliance with 20 U.S.C. Section 1092 (f), the “Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act” (“Clery Act”), and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).


___________________

UPDATE: 10/12/2013

October 10, 2013

To:  UC Santa Cruz Community
From:  UC Santa Cruz Police Department 
Re:  Community Crime Bulletin  UPDATE  (488 PC - Theft; Case # 13-759)

The UC Santa Cruz Police Department wishes to thank the community for their assistance in the safe recovery of Winston theweasel.  It was anonymously returned this morning to the Police Department, and will be given back to the Environmental Studies Department.  No charges will be filed in this case.

Anyone with information regarding suspicious activity or crime in progress is encouraged to contact the UC Santa Cruz Police Department immediately at 831-459-2231, ext. 1, or by dialing 911 for in-progress emergencies or activities.

Tips may also be made ANONYMOUSLY to the UC Santa Cruz Police Department by calling 831–459–3TIP (459–3847) or online at http://police.ucsc.edu.

Thank you again,

Nader Oweis, Chief of Police

University of California, Santa Cruz

This Bulletin is in Compliance with 20 U.S.C. Section 1092 (f), the “Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act” (“Clery Act”), and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

http://www.scivee.tv/assets/videothumb/9284

Congrats to Randy Schekman,Thomas Südhof, and James Rothman for their prize in physiology or medicine for their work on vesicle transport.

Nice win, for my buddy, the budding yeast too.

A Schekman midterm destroyed me when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley. I feel just a little bit better about that now today.