Blog Archives

Pacific Horticulture Magazine=Summer 2015 issue

6/26/2015

I am thrilled to share the exciting news that the Summer issue of Pacific Horticulture magazine will feature my article,
Where Are the Butterflies? Creating a Safe Haven for Urban Lepidoptera. Be sure to pick up the summer issue at your favorite west coast bookstore!

You can take a sneak peek here: Eight Essential Elements for a Butterfly & Pollinator Friendly Landscapes, which I wrote to accompany the article (and will be available online sometime mid-August). UPDATE: My article

How exciting is that? Photos too!

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Soil Carbon Sequestration= Good Summer Read

6/17/2015

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"Cows Save the Planet" was my first read of summer, and I have to say, if you are unfamiliar with the term "soil carbon sequestration" (as I was), this book was truly fascinating.

In a nutshell, Schwartz interviews an eclectic group of farmers, ranchers, researchers, scientists, activists, and environmentalists, and presents a compelling case that proper soil management can end escalating worldwide desertification, improve soil fertility, preserve biodiversity, reduce obesity, and halt climate change. From Australian soil carbon sequestration diva Christine Jones, who explains the secrets of how we can save our planet by rebuilding our soil; to Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean ecologist, farmer, environmentalist, who promotes systems thinking; to Gene Govin, a North Dakota farmer who practices Savoy's Holistic Planned Grazing; to the four Slovakians and one Czech who have written about the New Water Paradigm...I am really excited to get my hands dirty!

and, for those of you who want to know more right now...I have two movies for you. Enjoy~

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Pollinators & Pesticides

6/17/2015

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Action Alert June 17, reposted from Beyond Pesticides:

Protecting honey bees and wild pollinators from pesticides
Since 2006, honey bees and other pollinators in the U.S. and throughout the world have experienced ongoing and rapid population declines. The continuation of this crisis threatens the stability of ecosystems, the economy, and our food supply, as one in three bites of food are dependent on pollinator services. In 2013, Beyond Pesticides joined with beekeepers and environmental allies in a lawsuit challenging EPA's approval of two neonicotinoid pesticides. These highly toxic, persistent and systemic chemicals have been widely implicated as leading factors in pollinator declines.

For a primer on the pollinator crisis, see the lawsuit's Press Release.
Also, read the 2013 Lawsuit, Appendix A: Clothianidin, and Appendix B: Thiamethoxam.

Click the links below for more in-depth information:
Resources and Educational Materials
BEE Protective in Your Community
Pollinator Alerts

For the latest pollinator-related articles, visit Beyond Pesticides' Daily News Blog

June 15-21 is National Pollinator Week, and in order to move action forward on the pollinator crisis, Beyond Pesticides and The Center for Food Safety launched the BEE Protective campaign, a national public education effort supporting local action aimed at protecting honey bees and other pollinators from pesticides and contaminated landscapes.

BEE Protective includes a variety of educational materials to help encourage municipalities, campuses, and individual homeowners to adopt policies and practices that protect bees and other pollinators from harmful pesticide applications and create pesticide-free refuges for these beneficial organisms. In addition to scientific and regulatory information, BEE Protective also includes a model community pollinator resolution and a pollinator protection pledge. Pollinators are a vital part of our environment and a barometer for healthy ecosystems. Let's all do our part to BEE Protective of these critical species. (Beyond Pesticides, 6/17/15)

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Robins Fledging=an Awkward & Dangerous Time

6/13/2015

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nesting & fledging ©T. Byrne

We have robins (Turdus migratorius) nesting in the eaves of our house, right above my studio window; I feel like a robin nanny, as I am so aware of all the different stages of their nesting cycle. This is the second round for our robins, with one more to go!

After the nestlings had fledged in the first round, I was concerned that something had gone wrong, as one pin-feathered bird was parked on our patio table for several hours one afternoon. Whenever we walked by it would freeze-which, apparently is its only strategy when at this stage, i.e. playing statue. Mom and dad robin were flying around and coming in with food, so we left it alone. Unfortunately, this baby bird did not make it (see May 6 post).

It turns out that for robins the fledgling stage is both awkward and dangerous, with an average mortality rate of 42%. This is because new fledglings have almost no skills: they can’t feed themselves, can’t fly well (or, in many cases, at all) and can’t do anything to defend themselves if something terrifying like a weasel, snake, crow, or a free-roaming cat decides to eat them. If the fledglings are part of that lucky 58% that learn to fly, they face their next high mortality challenge: learning to find their own food.

Just what are the odds for this awkward little guy?

Facts from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
*On average, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young (though most robins can produce three broods each year).

*Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next.

*Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.

*Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day.

*Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution.

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Summer Sky...what do you see?

6/10/2015

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School's out for summer!
time for a bit of backyard daydreaming...

Any guesses on which insect has made it as high as 19,000 feet (Mt Logan in Washington)? or who regularly travels at 14,000 ft? or how many bugs are stacked over your head on a summer day?

Enjoy~
and if you are in the mood to learn more:

Arthropods, Insects, Bugs…fun facts from Bugs Rule!

*Arthropods are the most diverse life form on the planet.

*There are over 970,000 known species-out of an estimated 4 to 5 million.

*Of the 1.9 million recognized species, over ½ are insects!!!
The other ½ of lifeforms/species include non-insect arthropods, other invertebrates, plants, fungi & lichen (and finally) vertebrates.

*It is estimated that arthropods outnumber humans by as much as 250 million to 1.

Did you know? only 1% (about 10,000 species) of known insects are considered pests.

What is an Arthropod?
Millipedes, centipedes, arachnids, & insects:
flies, fleas, moths, butterflies, beetles, wasps, bees, ants, thrips, lice, true bugs, termites, cockroaches, earwigs, walking sticks, leaf insects, booklice, crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies, mayflies, mites, ticks, springtails, silverfish, spiders

Arthropods also include Crustaceans:
crabs, lobster, crayfish, shrimp, krill, barnacles, pill bugs, and woodlice

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Pacific Horticulture Magazine=Summer 2015 issue

Soil Carbon Sequestration= Good Summer Read

Pollinators & Pesticides

Robins Fledging=an Awkward & Dangerous Time

Summer Sky...what do you see?

School's out for summer!
time for a bit of backyard daydreaming...

Arthropods, Insects, Bugs…fun facts from Bugs Rule!

Author

Categories

Archives

Pacific Horticulture Magazine=Summer 2015 issue

Soil Carbon Sequestration= Good Summer Read

Pollinators & Pesticides

Robins Fledging=an Awkward & Dangerous Time

Summer Sky...what do you see?

School's out for summer! time for a bit of backyard daydreaming...﻿﻿

Arthropods, Insects, Bugs…fun facts from Bugs Rule!

Author

Categories

Archives

School's out for summer!
time for a bit of backyard daydreaming...