The Blackfoot Confederacy and their buffalo...

It's always amazed me how statist environmental bureaucracies are more than willing to all but halt the forward movement of civilization to protect an obscure sub-species of an amphibian or fish found in a puddle in some backwater strip mall development, but when it comes time to step up and make a positive difference across potentially hundreds of thousands of square miles of the Great Plains, offer nothing but red tape and legal barriers to those seeking to reestablish wild bison herds.

Here's a short video illuminating the relationship that the Blackfeet have with the buffalo, along with a little history of how the Wildlife Conservation Society (the Bronx Zoo folks) reintroduced the practically extinct pure bison lineage back into the wild.



I covered most of this territory in my first two books, The Third Revolution and Middle America. They remain fine, still-relevant liberty tales, and prominently feature the very spiritual relationships between the Blackfeet and the bison. Check them out to see what can be done when those Washington-based statist environmental bureaucracies finally get pushed out of the way.

You'll Never Look at Water Lilies the Same Way...

My latest offering, Aqua Vitae, is now available as a Kindle eBook for purchase (only $2.99!) or for borrowing from the Kindle Owner's Lending Library (for Amazon Prime Members). Synopsis as follows:

Wildlife biologist Jackie Bannon may have found just the job to jump-start her stalled career. A potential client with seemingly bottomless pockets and plans for an unorthodox business venture has invited her to his private Caribbean island to discuss her coming on board.

At first glance, the place seems a textbook tropical paradise: glistening white sand beaches, lush highland forests, every inch teeming with exotic flowers and wildlife. But a closer look reveals widespread abnormal behavior among the native animal species; behavior that Jackie recognizes as deeply problematic.

Despite her misgivings, she wasn't about to turn down a high-paying job on a luxurious private island, especially one that could remake her career, and she relished the independence she would be allowed. But with that independence would come responsibility, and she could already see that there was much more to this island than meets the eye...

Like most of my books, this one is sort of a genre mashup, but leans heavily towards the scientific thriller side of things. It features exotic locales, lots of pretty flowers and friendly little critters and a protagonist who, like so many of us, is struggling with a too-good-to-be-true career decision that soon proves to be anything but. And I've included a nice dollop of righteous vengeance because, well, that really is the fun part, isn't it?

As always, word-of-mouth recommendations and encouraging Amazon reviews are always appreciated. And please, help yourself to the first few chapters right over here: Aqua Vitae Excerpts. 

Aqua Vitae...

I've been working on my sixth novel, Aqua Vitae, for quite some time now. The distractions have been numerous and ongoing, but I'm finally getting around to finishing it up. As a sort of gun-to-my-head motivational ploy, I've posted the opening chapters online. The excerpts aren't completely polished, and some character names may well end up being changed in the final editing, but it reads smoothly enough for you to get the idea.  Here's the teaser:

Wildlife biologist Jackie Banna may have found just the job to jump-start her stalled career. A potential client with seemingly bottomless pockets and plans for an unorthodox business venture has invited her to his private Caribbean island to discuss her coming on board.  

At first glance, the place seems a textbook tropical paradise: glistening white sand beaches, lush highland forests, every inch teeming with exotic flowers and wildlife. But a closer look reveals widespread abnormal behavior among the native animal species; behavior that Jackie recognized as deeply problematic. 

Despite her misgivings, she wasn't inclined to turn down a high-paying job on a luxurious private island, especially one that could remake her career, and she relished the independence and professional discretion she would be allowed. But with that independence would come responsibility, and she could already see that there was much more to this island than met the eye...

Please go ahead and check out the first three chapters here: Aqua Vitae. 

American Bison at the Bronx Zoo...

Well, I like bison, and I like the Bronx Zoo, so this post was a no-brainer. I spent a lot of time at the zoo, observing these very critters, when I was writing my first novel, The Third Revolution.



From The Third Revolution:

"Running Wolf took enormous pride in the herd. His people, the Blackfeet, had roamed the North American plains for over 5,000 years, as best anyone could tell, and had been calling this particular part of the country home for over 300 years. They’d lived in harmony with the bison and its Great Plains grassland ecosystem for all but about the last 100 of those years. They had been left no say in the matter; the buffalo were effectively exterminated around the turn of the 20^th century, predominately for their tongues, hides and horns, but also to “encourage” the native peoples to give up their traditional way of life and adapt an imposed version of a civilized lifestyle. The strategy was unquestionably successful in extinguishing the native people’s way of life—the world as they knew it was forever laid to waste. So successful was the Great Slaughter, that in the fall of 1907, the Bronx Zoo sent 15 of its New York City bison to the federally-owned Wichita Game Preserve at Cache, Oklahoma, followed in 1913 by an additional 14 animals sent to the Wind Cave National Game Preserve in the Black Hills of South Dakota, as part of an effort to re-establish a public breeding herd in the wild."

Read more here: The Third Revolution Excerpts. And read more on the Bronx Zoo's (the Wildlife Conservation Society) role in the restoration of our bison herds here: The American Bison Society, and here: The American Bison Society Timeline. 

Let's go to the zoo!

Here's a nicely done, six minute tour of the Bronx Zoo:



Because I like the zoo...

Bronx Zoo avian exhibits....

Here's a quick look inside a few of the Bronx Zoo's indoor avian exhibits. As readers of Little Birdies! know,  Dan Grant's alcove and main aviary were modeled after the zoo's exhibits. If memory serves, the first three videos are taken inside of the Aquatic Birds Building, and the Hornbills below are taken in the larger World of Birds:

Parrots and Humidity...

Every time I visit the Bronx Zoo's World of Birds, (which served as the model for Dan Grant's aviary in Little Birdies!) I'm immediately struck by the very high humidity as soon as you enter the main exhibit room. It's like getting hit in the face with a bucket of water. They keep it very warm - I'd guess upwards of 80 degrees, and the humidity has to be at least 70%, maybe even 80%. Not terribly comfortable for the human visitors - it's sort of like a clammy summer day - but obviously just right for its full time, tropical inhabitants.

Humidity in rain forests typically runs from 70-to-90%, never less than 50%. Given the high temperatures in those regions, thats a lot of water in the air. Compare that to a typical indoor winter environment here in New York's scenic Hudson River Valley, which might run 70 degrees and 18% humidity, and it should be no surprise that your parrot is generally itchy, sneezy and uncomfortable.

If money were no object, I'd keep my bird room at 76-to-78 degrees at 70% RH (relative humidity). But money is an issue, and I do have to live here along with the birds, so I keep it at 72/73 degrees (daytime, 71 nighttime) and 60% RH. It's not an ideal environment for a tropical bird, but at least it's not a torturous or unhealthy one.

I use a Honeywell HWM-450 humidifier. It's been running 24/7 (less a few hours each week for cleaning) during the winter months for the past three seasons, and has held up pretty well. I'm sure there are other models out there that will perform just as well.

UPDATE (Feb. 5, 2014): My otherwise dependable humidifier finally crapped-out after seven hardworking seasons. I just replaced it with the updated model, a Honeywell HWM-330.

I think humidity is the single most overlooked factor when considering our companion parrot's health and wellbeing. We're always talking about how sensitive their respiratory systems are, how sensitive their skin is, and how frequently we should spritz them with water or let them regularly bathe, but seldom discuss the obvious - that most psittacine species have evolved to live and thrive in a high temperature, high-moisture (high relative humidity) environment, and we seldom provide that for them.

For a perspective from someone living in a year-round warm, but dry environment (Texas), check out this posting: The Importance of Humidity for Companion Parrots.

Happy Birthday to the Bronx Zoo!

The Bronx Zoo opened its gates 110 years ago this past Sunday. From Gathering of Animals (Bridges, 1974):

"It had been a wilderness fifteen months before; it was a wilderness still beyond the twenty-two islands of accomplishment linked by graveled roads and walks, but there were 843 animals of 157 species behind its five and a quarter miles of fence, and it could proclaim itself the New York Zoological Park at last. And it did, proudly, on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 8, 1899."

"It was an overcast day, with a cold northwest wind, and the speechmaking from the bunting-draped platform in front of the Bird House was mercifully short. ... at about 3:30, President Morton said: "Ladies and Gentlemen: I now take great pleasure in declaring the New York Zoological Park, and all its collections, open to the public."

"The visitors straggled out of the park before the early sunset, and no doubt the director, the staff, and the keepers were not far behind. Assistant Curator Ditmars and his keepers had worked until after midnight to get the Reptile House ready, and Hornaday's desk was piled high with unanswered correspondence for which he would be apologizing for weeks  to come. Madison Grant said good-bye and announced that he was leaving the next morning on a moose-hunting expedition in the Maine woods."

There's a nice, short Flash video and article here: Bronx Zoo Celebrates Milestone Birthday.

More bison return home...

After 140 years, bison are returning to the Kansas prairie:

"From a biologic perspective, the bison add a critical variable to restoring the land to a more natural state. The brawny beasts work as sort of natural prairie tenderizers, trampling taller grasses to allow shorter varieties to bloom, bruising the ground in summer dust baths that turn to insect breeding grounds when the rains turn those depressions to puddles, and scattering their own special fertilizer. ...

There was, of course, a time when the ground shook under the bison thundering across the continent. Estimates of their numbers in North America run from 30 million to 70 million in the late 1500s. By the start of the 20th century, perhaps fewer than 1,000 survived, hunted by whites for tongues and humps, hides and sport — and to break the Plains Indians of their way of life."

I covered most of this territory in The Third Revolution and Middle America, along with more human aspects of freedom and self-determination. The article even gives a passing nod to the Bronx Zoo, whose involvement in the restoration of the buffalo I covered in a bit more detail below, in last Friday's post.
Read the entire article here: After 140 years, bison are back on Kansas’ Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.

And the three become one...

     Here's a great clip explaining the thinking behind the consolidation of three dinosaur species into one.  UCMP Curator Mark Goodwin and Museum of the Rockies Curator Jack Horner argue that there were fewer dinosaur species than previously thought. 
     I know I'm making you sit through science class here (and on a Saturday morning no less...) but this is cutting edge stuff, a real re-thinking about how paleontologists will look at fossils from now on. This isn't settled science yet, but I suspect that this perspective is out there to stay. 


     If you'd rather read than watch, the same material is covered in a Science Daily article here: New Analyses Of Dinosaur Growth May Wipe Out One-third Of Species.

Bison, baseball and the Bronx Zoo...

This should be interesting. I'll keep you posted...



As an aside, it was in the fall of 1907 that fifteen bison were sent from the Bronx Zoo (then the New York Zoological Society) to the federally-owned Wichita Game Preserve at Cache, Oklahoma, followed by an additional fourteen bison sent to the Wind Cave National Game Preserve in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1913. These donations, organized by the American Bison Society (itself born in the Bronx Zoo, but a separate organization) are generally credited with bringing the bison back from the brink of extinction.

From Gathering of Animals (William Bridges, 1974):

"Their arrival was a sensational event to the Indians, cowpunchers, and ranch owners of the region. Fifty years later Frank Rush's widow (Rush was the first superintendent of the Wichita Game Preserve) told the Wildlife Management Biologist then in charge of the range how the Indians flocked to see the buffalo return to their old home, with the squaws dressed in their brightest dresses, many carrying babies, and the old Indians gathering days in advance on their ponies or the open wagons called Indian hacks. Old men peered into the crates as they arrived and told excited young boys about their own hunting of the buffalo in their youth.

The Wichita herd prospered, and before the end of the year two calves were born, one of which was named Hornaday (after the Zoo's then director), the other Oklahoma."

Cool...

Bronx Zoo photo montage...

Here's a nice little eight minute walk through the Bronx Zoo. Avian buffs will have to wait until 6:30 for a stop in the Aquatic Bird House and a stroll through the large outdoor aviary. But the zoo is a great place to spend the day, and certainly a good use of eight minutes today, especially if there's something else you should be doing but aren't ready for yet. Enjoy...

Pure bison bloodlines...

I knew that bison had been cross-bred with cattle for decades, but I had no idea that the bloodlines were so mixed. I suppose it comes from starting from such a small number of specimens at the turn of the last century and the unavoidable, rampant inbreeding that followed:

The Wind Cave park herd’s roots come from 14 bison donated in 1913 by the New York Zoological Society in the Bronx. Six more buffalo were imported from Yellowstone National Park in 1916. The herd is one of several conservation herds established by the American Bison Society.

Now, scientists are newly interested in the Wind Cave herd because of a recent discovery involving their pedigree – the Wind Cave bison are one of only two public herds in the nation that lack evidence of cattle genes, according to this story in today’s Rapid City Journal. (The other is in Yellowstone National Park.)

“It’s the closest thing to what used to wander the prairies for thousands of years,” says Tom Farrell, chief of interpretation for Wind Cave National Park. “This is the closest in going back in time and seeing what the Great American Desert was like.”

Read the entire article here: Biologists in South Dakota strive to preserve bison bloodlines

Check out this article as well: Biologists fight to save rare bison bloodlines

Storks at the Bronx Zoo...

Look in their eyes. Look at their heads. Look at their necks, legs and feet. Take away their feathers, give them a long tail and teeth, and they're dinosaurs. I think that's so cool...

Ostriches at the Bronx Zoo...

Here's a great, informative new video about the two ostriches the zoo has on exhibit. LOOK at those feet! Tell me those aren't dino-feet. They also have relatively primitive, non-waterproof feathers. Very cool...

Check out Nature's Air Show at the Bronx Zoo...

Here's a nice little clip of a raptor show they just held down at the Bronx Zoo:

Turkey vultures and the Bronx Zoo...

Actually, the turkey vulture is one species that I don't have to go down to the zoo to see, as they're relatively plentiful up here in scenic Putnam County, NY. So common, in fact that the mutant parrots in Little Birdies! were frequently mistaken for turkey vultures as they terrorized their way across the Hudson Valley. Here's a closer look at the Bronx Zoo's turkey vulture ambassador, Barf:

Bronx Zoo avian air show...

Here's a short promotional flick about the upcoming "air show" (looks like owls, hawks, vultures and other raptors) at the Bronx Zoo (Sept. 12th -27th). Magnificent birds, but keep them away from my parrot!

The Rocking Stone at the Bronx Zoo...

On the very long list of things to film while on a visit to the Bronx Zoo, a large rock is likely near the bottom of the list for most people. But here's a man who knows his rocks:



The Rocking Stone was, according to reports of the time, well known in the Bronx before the zoological park opened in 1899, and was even listed in guidebooks to New York City. It is a forty-ton, ice-age glacial boulder composed of pink granite, and 70 lbs of pressure, applied to just the right spot, will cause it to rock about an inch. I've tried many times, but as of yet have been unable to find that "right spot."

The World of Darkness, briefly referred to in the video, was opened on June 12, 1969. I went to see the exhibit that summer - it was state-of-the-art, at the time. They lit the cages with red fluorescent light by day, and turned on regular white lights at night. This caused naturally nocturnal animals to be active during the day (they couldn't perceive the red light) and to sleep at night, when the exhibit was closed. It was closed this year because of budget cuts resulting from the economic downturn.

Update: Okay, now I know why I was never able to find that "right spot" on the Rocking Stone. Apparently the stone was moved from it's original position in 1959 and positioned so it could no longer be rocked. More on that here:
The Rocking Stone and New York City Zoos  

More birds of the Bronx Zoo...

Here's another cute little video of some of the avian residents of the Bronx Zoo.



The Bronx Zoo's World of Birds opened on June 16, 1972. It was six years in the planning, and cost about $3.5 million to complete. Dan Grant's original aviary in Little Birdies! was modeled after one of the large rooms in the World of Birds. Interestingly, the Aquatic Bird House was the first building opened on November 8,1899, the zoo's opening day.