The Mueller Report is going to be analyzed, dissected and criticized for years, maybe decades. WC predicts multi-volume treatises will eventually be written. It’s also somewhat talismanic: every side of the Trumpian debates — and there are more than two sides — can find something to seize upon in support of their positions. Although sometimes…
While there are nine or ten recognized species of oropendolas,1 WC has only managed photos of five of them. The fifth and last WC has documented is the Crested Oropendola. WC wouldn’t usually use a feeder shot like this, but it’s the only image WC has that actually shows the “crest” that gives the species…
Bernd Heinrich is a highly regarded biologist. The Birds of North America note on Common Ravens cites to him an amazing eighteen times. He’s now an emeritus professor at the University of Vermont and, at 80 years old, still runs ultra marathons. He’s also the author of some twenty popularizations, of wildly uneven quality. Here’s…
Commentary / Law / Science
There is a measles epidemic in New York City. So far, it has sickened some 329 people, with no end in sight. This isn’t to be confused with the ongoing epidemic of measles in eastern Washington State. New York City has declared a public health emergency. The City has issued an emergency health order. ll…
WC scouted Camas Prairie/Centennial Marsh, about 80 miles east-southeast of Boise yesterday. WC is scheduled to lead a small birding trip there later this spring. Plus, Mrs. WC needed to know if our Short-eared Owl survey route was open yet (it’s not; still snowed in). It was not a happy experience. The wind was howling,…
WC has written before about the deadly impact of house cats on America’s bird populations. For any person who cares about birds, that’s reason enough to keep your pet cat indoors 24/7. Of course, there’s also predation by Great Horned Owls — a kind of avian revenge, maybe — in significant numbers; cats killed by…
WC knows geology isn’t the most popular topic around Wickersham’s Conscience, but today, at least, it can take your mind off of taxes. WC has written earlier about the massive Lake Idaho that filled much of the western Snake River Plain, in southwestern Idaho. Lake Idaho was an extremely long-lasting freshwater lake, possibly as long…
The boreal forests of Alaska boast six species of owls. That excludes species found in Southeastern Alaska and on the North Slope. WC’s photos of the species vary widely in quality, but here’s a sampler. Hazed by smoke from forest fires, this handsome and cooperative Northern Hawk Owl perched on a scraggly dead black spruce.…
Another Oropendola species, this one a South American species near the southern margin of its range in central Peru. The Russet-backed is about the same size as its Crested cousin. The taxonomy of Oropendolas in general and Russet-backed in particular is undecided. There are presently six subspecies, but two of those subspecies – the Yellow-billed…
Early in WC’s legal career, the superior court would appoint private attorneys to defend criminals when the Public Defender Agency had a conflict of interest. WC was appointed to represent Mike Carman in an armed robbery case back in 1977. Court-appointed counsel wasn’t given a choice. WC undertook the defense of Carman. Carman was being…
WC has written of the sad death of his friend Kenelm Philip, physicist, fellow fan of good books, programmer and, above all, astonishing lepidopterist. WC has also written of Ken’s little “surprise” for WC: Ken named WC as his executor, to WC’s consternation. There have been subsequent events that merit a blot post. First, Ken’s…
WC’s adopted state, Idaho, is politically a very conservative place. More conservative than Alaska, in most respects. At least until recently. But Idaho’s conservatism isn’t ostrich-head-in-the-sand conservatism. Unlike, say, Alaska. WC is speaking here of the approach to climate change. Governor Dunleavy in February abolished Alaska’s climate change commission. He didn’t explain why he issued…
