Category Archives: Musings & News

Rare Insect Record At The Walmart

Insects, Musings & News
Polystoechotes punctata or giant lacewing, Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2012 (collected and photographed by Michael Skvarla / Penn State. Creative Commons)

One night in 2012 while he was an entomology grad student at University of Arkansas, Michael Skvarla went to Walmart to buy milk. On his way into the store he saw a large unusual insect clinging to the building so he carefully picked it off the exterior and carried it with him to add to his insect collection.

One of the Walmart Supercenters in Fayetteville, AR (photo from 2018 via Google Maps)

Back then he misidentified the bug as an “antlion” and forgot about it while he finished his PhD and joined the faculty at Penn State.

Michael J. Skvarla (photo embedded from Penn State Extension Faculty)

Then in 2020 the COVID shutdown forced Penn State classes online so Skvarla pulled specimens from his own insect collection to teach Entomology 432 lab on Zoom. As he showed this bug to the class and described its characteristics Skvarla paused because it didn’t match its label. The class analyzed the bug and made a rare discovery.

“We all realized together that the insect was not what it was labeled and was in fact a super-rare giant lacewing. I still remember the feeling. It was so gratifying to know that the excitement doesn’t dim, the wonder isn’t lost. Here we were making a true discovery in the middle of an online lab course,” said Codey Mathis, a doctoral candidate in entomology at Penn State.

— Penn State Research News: Rare insect found at Arkansas Walmart sets historic record, prompts mystery

This bug is quite rare. According to Penn State Research News, giant lacewings (Polystoechotes punctata) have been missing from eastern North America for over 50 years and were never before found in Arkansas. Its discovery suggests there may be relic populations of this Jurassic-Era insect yet to be discovered.

Where did the giant lacewing come from? Are there more out there? Those answers await more field research.

Meanwhile Skvarla and colleagues performed DNA tests to verify its identity and published in Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington.

Read more about the discovery at Penn State Research News: Rare insect found at Arkansas Walmart sets historic record, prompts mystery.

Moral of the Story: Don’t worry if you cautiously misidentify something. Just hang onto that photo or specimen and reevaluate it later. Perhaps you’ll discover a rarity.

(photo credits in the captions; click on the captions to see the originals)

Report “Tame” Ruffed Grouse for This Study

Bird Behavior, Musings & News
“Tame” ruffed grouse at Moraine State Park, 13 Nov 2020 (photo by Dave Brooke)

13 March 2023

In November 2020 the ruffed grouse pictured above caused a sensation among birders by coming very close to us at Moraine State Park. He even chased my car!

The “tame” ruffed grouse looks at me, Moraine State Park, 13 Nov 2020 (photo by Kate St. John taken on my cellphone)

“Tame” ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are not common in Pennsylvania but where they occur they are quite noticeable. They aren’t afraid of humans and they sometimes act aggressively. Why do they do this?

This spring the PA Game Commission, in cooperation with Penn State, is conducting a ruffed grouse genetics study to find out. They are asking the public’s help to locate “tame” grouse for the study.

The Game Commission is encouraging Pennsylvanians to report the location of any “tame” grouse they see this spring by sending an email to grousecomments@pa.gov. That email should include the person’s name and phone number, date of the sighting, location of the encounter and a description of the grouse’s behavior. Ideally, those sending in a report should also include GPS coordinates for the encounter site.

— PGC Press Release: Public asked to report “tame” Grouse Sightings

According to the press release, “The study aims to determine whether the Commonwealth’s grouse population shows signs of splitting up into distinct subpopulations and if “tame” behavior is linked to genetics.”

If you know of a tame grouse in PA please report it.

Meanwhile here’s a video that shows the “tame” grouse behavior.

(photos by Dave Brooke and Kate St. John, video from PA Game Commission on YouTube)

Does the Coriolis Force affect the drains?

Ecuador, Musings & News, Travel
Wind direction of tropical cyclones in northern and southern hemispheres due to Coriolis effect (image from Wikimedia Commons)

8 February 2023

In physics the Coriolis force (also called the Coriolis effect) is …

an effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force ) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems.

— Definition from Oxford Language via Google Search

We see this in North American hurricanes, nor’easters and low pressure systems, all of which spin counter clockwise. Because of this, the first winds to hit the Atlantic coast come from the northeast, hence the name nor’easter. Satellite images look like the storm pictured at left below.

Conversely, tropical cyclones in Australia spin clockwise like the one at right. (Cyclone is another name for hurricane.)

Spin direction of Northern versus Southern Hemisphere cyclones (image from Wikimedia Commons)

I’d heard that the Coriolis force spins water down the drain just like the cyclones so my journey in Ecuador provided an opportunity to find out how water drains at the equator. Does it spin or does it go straight down?

With many opportunities to make on-the-spot observations my results were inconclusive. Sometimes the water spun as it drained. Sometimes it went straight down.

It turns out that the Coriolis force is infinitesimal on draining water. The shape of the basin causes the water to spin! At home in Pittsburgh I have a sink that drains straight down and one that spins clockwise like cyclones in Australia.

Here’s the real story about the Coriolis effect.

video embedded from @SciShow on YouTube

Does Coriolis Force affect the drains? No.

(images from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals, video embedded from @SciShow on YouTube)

Reimagined Maps as Art

Musings & News, Water and Shore
U.S. watershed map by Robert Szucs at Grasshopper Geography (image from grasshoppergeography.com press kit)

24 January 2023

About ten years into his career as a digital cartographer Robert Szucs decided to experiment with data visualization and learned how to create strikingly beautiful, digitally accurate maps. He calls them “Maps Reimagined” and explains,

While my maps are always scientifically accurate, I think of them first and foremost as works of art.

— Robert Szucs, Grasshopper Geography Press Kit

His watershed maps became an Internet sensation a few years ago through digital sales on Etsy and news outlets including the Washington Post and Smithsonian Magazine.

The U.S. watershed map above is so detailed that you can pinpoint Pittsburgh in the Mississippi watershed at the conjunction of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.

Grasshopper Geography U.S. watershed map, cropped to highlight Pittsburgh at the conjuction of three rivers

Szucs has also produced collections of elevation, forest and human population maps.

There came a point when I said I can’t look at another green-brown-white elevation map again. I needed some fun. I needed colours. And for not the first or last time, I needed to create the maps I wanted to see.

— Robert Szucs, Grasshopper Geography Press Kit

This one dramatically illustrates that even the plateaus in the U.S. West are much higher than anything in the East.

U.S. elevation map by Robert Szucs at Grasshopper Geography (image from grasshoppergeography.com press kit)

See more maps and learn more about them at GrasshopperGeography.com.

(All images from grasshoppergeography.com press kit)

Why Does Roman Concrete Last Forever?

Musings & News
Concrete in the Roman ruins of Tróia, Portugal (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

11 January 2023

Cement cracks. Rocks erode. Why does ancient Roman concrete last for thousands of years while ours falls apart in only 50?

The 2,000 year old concrete at the Roman ruins of Tróia, above, is in good shape while a 1960’s concrete wall below is so degraded that its rebar supports were already rusting by 2012.

Degradation of concrete from the 1960s (photo from Wikimedia Commons, Germany, 2012)

The difference is how we mix our cement that binds the concrete together. This is a story of recipes and chemistry. (Concrete = cement + sand, gravel, rocks.)

  • Modern day Portland cement is made by baking limestone and clay minerals at 600oF, then grinding the result and adding gypsum.
  • The Romans made cement from slaked lime (quicklime+water), volcanic ash and water.

Scientists discovered in 2017 that volcanic ash + seawater were the secret ingredients that made Roman concrete strong. Those two components were conveniently available in ancient Italy but not economically feasible today. Recently a team of scientists, headed by Admir Masic of MIT, discovered an inexpensive Roman ingredient that helps concrete heal itself.

Cement, when exposed to water, can heal very small cracks in concrete by minutely dissolving and recrystallizing. However the cracks must be very tiny in Portland cement-based concrete in order for this to happen — smaller than 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters across (0.0078 to 0.0118 inches).

During the study, the team made Roman-inspired concrete using slaked lime and found that it can heal cracks up to 0.6 millimeters across (0.0236 inches), twice the tolerance of Portland cement.

If our cement used this Roman innovation it would save a lot of damage control.

Find out more in Science Magazine at: Scientists may have found magic ingredient behind ancient Rome’s self-healing concrete

p.s. Slaked lime = quicklime + water. Quicklime is made by baking lime or seashells in a kiln to split the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) into plain calcium oxide (CaO) + CO2. Quicklime is unstable and will spontaneously react with CO2 unless it is slaked with water to set as lime plaster or mortar. — parapharased from Wikipedia

Calcium oxide powder a.k.a. quicklime (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Last Bird, First Bird, Best Bird

Musings & News
Mourning doves in January (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

2 January 2023

Think about the birds you saw last weekend. What species was your Last Bird of 2022?  What was your First Bird of 2023? Did you have a Best Bird?

Perhaps your Last and First birds were at your feeders. Mourning doves are often last of the day because they wait until near darkness to race to their roost.

First Bird may have been a northern cardinal that’s not afraid to come out in the half light of dawn.

Northern cardinal eating sunflower seeds (photo by Chuck Tague)

My own sightings were larger species.

Last Bird of 2022: American crows seen while counting 20,000 of them flying to the roost.

American crows flying to the roost, Oct 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

First Bird of 2023: A red-tailed hawk flying above Fifth Avenue while I drove out to go birding in Lawrence County. I saw six more red-tails on my journey north.

Red-tailed hawk in flight, 2013 (photo by Cris Hamilton)

Best Bird was a surprise. As our birding group paused on Plain Grove Road in Lawrence County a flock of 55 tundra swans flew over in a perfect V. (Steve Gosser photographed these in 2012.)

Tundra swans in flight, 2012 (photo by Steve Gosser)

Last Bird? First Bird? Best Bird? Tell me what you saw.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons, Chuck Tague, Cris Hamilton, Kate St. John and Steve Gosser)

Wild Turkeys Introduced

Doves & Chickens, Musings & News
Two tom turkeys introduce themselves to the ladies (photo by Cris Hamilton)

30 December 2022

Wild turkeys introduce themselves to each other on a personal basis but when it comes to where they live humans get involved.

Last summer eBird revised their species maps to show “introduced” versus “native” ranges of all the birds. For North American species that have been introduced elsewhere in the U.S. the results were bi-colored orange and purple maps. See maps for introduced house finches and bobwhites at Common Birds, Exotic Ranges.

Apparently wild turkeys were introduced, too. So how do the native turkeys stay neatly on their own side of the Washington-Idaho border? Don’t they introduce themselves to the other guys?

(photo by Cris Hamilton)

How Do You Pronounce …?

Musings & News
Poinsettia (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

22 December 2022

How do you pronounce the name of this plant? Do you say the second “i”?

What? There are two “i”s ?

screenshot of Google search for poinsetta

Being from Pittsburgh, home of the vowel poor dialect called “Pittsburghese,” it’s no surprise that I’m missing a vowel here.

I learned about the second “i” 10 years ago but I haven’t changed my ways. Nor has Pittsburgh. So tell me, How do you say…?

How Do You Say?

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, screenshot from Google; click on the captions to see the originals)

Seeing or Hearing Birds Makes Us Happier

Bird Behavior, Crows & Ravens, Musings & News
Canada warbler, 2011 (photo by Cris Hamilton)

14 December 2022

Just one week away from the winter solstice birds are not abundant in Pittsburgh and are certainly not singing, but it’s still good for us to seek them out. A new study says that the sight or sound of birds makes us happier.

Published in October in Scientific Reports, the study enlisted 1,200+ participants in the UK, EU and US. Using a phone app called Urban Mind, participants were asked three times a day whether they could see or hear birds plus questions about their mental well-being. The data showed that being near birds improved the mental health of people both with and without depression. The good mood lasts 8 hours.

It certainly works for me. I was recently upset by sad news of a friend and could not stop thinking about it. Hours later, still mourning, I went out for a walk. While my brain was busy with sadness a noisy crow flew over and drew my attention, “Hey!” I stopped to look at the crow and my brain shifted gears. Already I felt happier. Thank you, crows.

American crows (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Despite gray December days, take the time to get outdoors or watch your bird feeders for a splash of happiness.

Northern cardinal in winter, Jan 2019 (photo by Steve Gosser)

In the meantime get happy with the sound of a northern cardinal in May.

Read more about the study at Being Around Birds Boosts Our Mental Well-Being Even 8 Hours After Hearing Them.

(photos by Cris Hamilton, Wikimedia Commons and Steve Gosser)

In Which Kites Become Planes and Birds

Birds of Prey, Musings & News
Box kite at International Kite Festival, India, 2013 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

25 November 2022

Kites sometimes fly with the birds. A distant raptor soars at center-bottom of the photo above. Kite + Bird.

In 1914 this kite was becoming a plane. Kite = Plane.

Colonel Granville Ryrie and a box kite, Australia, 1914 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Some kites are birds. More than two dozen species of raptors are named “kite” including the Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) of North America and the red kite (Milvus milvus) in Europe. Kite = Bird.

Red kite in flight (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Putting them all together, Chris Darbey (@chrisddarbey) photographed a red kite with a jet contrail. Kite=Bird + Plane.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons, tweet embedded from @ChrisDDarby)