unlimited odds and ends

[Woolly Bugger]

Scientists want you to mail dead butterflies for research if you live in these states

Have you seen any dead butterflies lately?

If so, the U.S. Geological Survey wants you to mail them their way, along with deceased moths and skippers. The agency is collecting specimens from six states — Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — to test if contaminants are leading to declining insect populations.

The U.S. Geological Survey wants you to send in dead butterflies for research  - https://www.npr.org/2023/08/04/1191988090/usgs-dead-butterflies-moths

[Woolly Bugger]

Paint has spilled into Rock Creek and the New River after a crash in Alleghany County.

Firefighters tell WXII 12 News the crash happened near where Highway 93 connects to Highway 21 North, just past the city limits of Sparta.

https://wxii12.com/article/north-carolina-paint-new-river-alleghany-county-tractor-trailer-crash/44757336

[Woolly Bugger]

Look at a moth — and find a wonder that's been waiting all along

Think of a monarch butterfly flying near flowers in your backyard on a summer day. Now think of a moth circling a lamp. Which caught your attention? If you said the butterfly, you're probably not alone. But you're missing out.

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As a lepidopterist, I am here to tell you that moths are woefully underappreciated, despite their importance to the environment. Their sheer numbers only begin to speak to their relevance: One in 10 described species of organisms on Earth is a moth, and a recent study from the University of Sussex in Britain showed that moths are more efficient pollinators than bees. They serve as main dietary sources for bats (when moths aren't jamming their sonar) and birds (96 percent of songbirds rely on them for food). Moths also contribute directly to our lives; they produce silk that we use for our clothing, for example. Did you know that the worm in a bottle of tequila is also a moth caterpillar?



https://wapo.st/3QAUZ21

[Dee-Vo]

Look at a moth — and find a wonder that's been waiting all along

Think of a monarch butterfly flying near flowers in your backyard on a summer day. Now think of a moth circling a lamp. Which caught your attention? If you said the butterfly, you're probably not alone. But you're missing out.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


As a lepidopterist, I am here to tell you that moths are woefully underappreciated, despite their importance to the environment. Their sheer numbers only begin to speak to their relevance: One in 10 described species of organisms on Earth is a moth, and a recent study from the University of Sussex in Britain showed that moths are more efficient pollinators than bees. They serve as main dietary sources for bats (when moths aren't jamming their sonar) and birds (96 percent of songbirds rely on them for food). Moths also contribute directly to our lives; they produce silk that we use for our clothing, for example. Did you know that the worm in a bottle of tequila is also a moth caterpillar?



https://wapo.st/3QAUZ21

Neat. I've always wanted to do the thing where you take a white sheet and a light out at night and collect insects to identify. Maybe I'll do that soon.

[trout-r-us]

Next door neighbor was out with a big backpack blower/sprayer a couple days ago. I assume maybe spraying insecticide, as he seemed to be hitting every bush, shrub, plant, and the lawn itself over in his yard.
Over the next 36 hrs, I found two dead dragonflies in the pool, one on the grass, and one on the front porch in our yard.🙁 Hate seeing that, since I do enjoy watching those dragons feed.
Maybe just a coincidence. 🤔
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[Woolly Bugger]

Need more birds and bats and less insecticides / herbicides

And possums to control the tick population

[Woolly Bugger]

"We'd lose one after the next": Texas bats face a pandemic of their own

Weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept into Texas, a biologist found a dead bat covered in a white fungus — the state's first official case of white-nose syndrome. Now, scientists are on a mission to understand how many bats have been lost.

There should have been 16,000 bats flying that night in mid-July. Instead, only about 500 remained at the cave in Central Texas next to the Colorado River. The rest succumbed to white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has ravaged bat populations across the country.

Gorman Cave, in Colorado Bend State Park, is one of the caves that Nate Fuller monitors. Fuller, the state bat biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said by the spring of 2020 — as COVID-19 became a global pandemic — bats in caves and across Central Texas were facing a pandemic of their own.

White-nose syndrome was first detected in Texas on Feb. 18, 2020, when Charles Pekins, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Army base Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, found a dead bat covered with a white fungus. A few weeks later, a swab he sent to the National Wildlife Health Center confirmed that the disease had infiltrated the Lone Star State.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/14/texas-bats-white-nose-disease-wind-climate/

[Woolly Bugger]

[Onslow]

It feels like we're at the cusp of another 2008.  Will the next recession be worse? 

It is not jobs, stupid. It is credit default!....

The Trump/Covid/Biden spending orgy hangover is upon us.

[Woolly Bugger]

It feels like we're at the cusp of another 2008.  Will the next recession be worse? 

It is not jobs, stupid. It is credit default!....

The Trump/Covid/Biden spending orgy hangover is upon us.

The Surge in Credit Card Delinquencies Might Be a Harbinger of a Coming Recession

Late payments on credit card balances are rising, and that could be a warning sign of difficult times to come in the US economy, according to Wells Fargo. Strategists at the bank pointed to credit card delinquencies surging among commercial banks. And for banks outside of the top 100 in asset size, late payments on credit card balances hit an all-time high. Rising late payments put more pressure on small- and medium-sized banks, strategists said, during a time when markets have been increasingly concerned about bank stability and rising debt levels in the US. In August, Moody's downgraded several US banks, with S&P making similar moves on Monday. Meanwhile, credit card debt also notched $1 trillion for the first time in early August.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billhardekopf/2023/09/08/this-week-in-credit-card-news-card-delinquencies-keep-rising-buy-now-pay-later-continues-to-grow/

[trout-r-us]

Though I've seen similar systems on a large river, this is first I've seen on a little crick.

Pretty neat idea, but crazy name, i.e. "Trash Trout"


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[Woolly Bugger]

There is a Trash Trout in Silas Creek in Reynolda Village

[Onslow]

Another toad strangler today.  7 inches of rain since September 9.

[Woolly Bugger]

Devastating floods in Lybia dwarf the fire-stricken lives in Maui.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66799518


This month's donation is to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders)

[Woolly Bugger]