Mourning dove, Zenaida macroura, sitting in a tree.
Photo by Pam Shack.
Today is Pam's 70th Birdday, so go to her site and wish her a happy one, with many returns!
Some of you, dear readers, might remember a link I posted last week, Dove Love, that directed you to a reader's photoessay about a pair of mourning doves, Zenaida macroura, that are nesting in her yard. Her name is Pam and she recently posted an update and sent the link to me so I could share it with you, which I am finally doing now.
In that same email message, Pam also told me that she posted several more photoessays that you might enjoy. Here is her photoessay of a Curve-Billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre, that's sitting on a nest in a jumping cholla behind her house. She says they're poor photos because it's difficult to see the bird inside all the mess of the nest, but I think you will enjoy them anyway.
Also, Pam tells me that if you have a broadband connection and a little time, you might have fun looking at a series of six photos entitled, Mockingbird Encounter, which documents the interaction between two Northern mockingbirds, Mimus polyglottos.
Be sure to leave some birdday wishes on Pam's blog!
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Thanks for introducing me to this lovely website. Pam is a gifted photo-essayist. I'm adding her site to my list of favorites.
Hi Dr. Grrlscientist,
I just stopped by Pam's shack and gave her my best wishes. Now would you try your hand at answering this question for me. One of my old questions about life was "How long have humans been on this earth?" Or how long ago did we separate from the apes? (The short answer is we are not humans yet as we kill more of our kind than just about any other animal.) So I have narrowed my question down to this: When did the two primate chromosomes fuse to make the human/almosthuman #2 chromosome? Just within a few million years will be close enough for me. I was wondering if it would be 25 MYA or more like 6 MYA? You wanta try?
Thanks, Fred
Wow! Thank you so much for this wonderful birthday surprise! I was overwhelmed. It's a busy, busy weekend, but I'll try to respond to everyone's individual greeting very soon. The blogging community (or at least THIS blogging community) has overwhelmingly changed the way I see the world and the way I respond to it. What a wonderful way to start a new decade!
(Even though we have 10 fingers and toes and seem to attach importance to base 10, it strikes me as interesting that we pay so much attention to decade events - especially those we have no control over, such as birthdays. Despite the fact that I don't usually do much about birthdays, for some reason this one seemed important - not because of the age, but because of the changes that are occurring in the way I perceive the world. I truly felt the desire to celebrate.)