The Obama and McCain campaigns responded to a set of questions on environmental policy sent to them by the Auduban Society. I thought it might be appropriate here to cite their responses to the question about bird management policy:
AUDUBON SOCIETY: Eagles are rebounding from the brink of extinction, but many other birds continue to [...]

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Here’s why I love walking by the riverside on campus:

Common wildlife on the St. Joe. Click to enlarge the preview, or click here for a hi-res version with no captions.

This is on the bank of the St. Joseph River at IPFW, looking west. On the near side is a little parkland with a few [...]

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In lamenting the loss of the riverside habitat on campus where the geese used to gather, I think I was wrong about the type of behavioral modification I’ve observed in Whitey and the Honkers. I identified it as operant conditioning, but I think it’s better explained as classical, or Pavlovian, conditioning. They’ve simply learned [...]

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All I really want this week is my favorite birding spot back. For the past couple years I’ve enjoyed going down to the riverside of the St. Joe on IPFW’s campus (that’s Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne) and observing the waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, and songbirds that live in the mixed habitat there. There’s a wooded [...]

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After the cracker fiasco, we need something a little more light-hearted. Here, watch these squirrels fighting:
Squirrel Fight

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(Presenting a weekly feature where we display an LOLcat picture and overanalyze the caption, in relation to the photo.)

We foray briefly away from the Felis Catus pictures into the not-so-wide world of LOLSnakes.
This picture is definitely a comment on the futility of the human experience, and how pointless it is to try to shelter yourself [...]

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Butter got me this awesome birdhouse bird feeder (Thanks, Butter!) for my housewarming after I moved into a new fancy place. And — lo and behold — there is a hook right there for it! I’ll keep you informed on if any birds actually visit it. Maybe we can hold bird identification contests. You in, [...]

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Whitey is missing!

Whitey is one of four feral domestic Greylag geese that have taken up residence on the IPFW campus. They’ve been there at least since summer 06, when I first started paying attention to campus wildlife. Like most escapees and their progeny, they’ve joined up with whatever wild goose flock they can find; [...]

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