That last posting about Peepers was my 120th blog entry since moving to Maine on January 8, 2007. It's almost 4 months (it will be 4 months on Tuesday). That means I averaged 30 postings a month . . . one post a day (though regular readers know it was more in spurts than a nice daily posting).
How cool is that? I really didn't think I would keep it up. But now I have a backlog of photos to post and I haven't been keeping up my photo website. Maybe I'll get caught up this summer (HA!).
I'll be back in Texas for 3 months and then back here in Maine for 3 more years. I don't know if I'll post anything while I'm in Texas, but I plan to keep it up when I get back to experience more Life with the Mainiacs!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
May 5, 2007: Peepers!
Here in Maine, there’s a special sound that you only hear for a 2-3 week period. It starts in the south and fairly quickly, moves north across the state. It is the harbinger of spring, the indicator of the end of Mud Season and the beginning of Spring Season. It’s the sound of peepers. They are some kind of tree/brush frog and only make this sound in the spring. Here’s a website with lots of biological info on the species AND a project that local students can do to help the Maine Bureau of Land and Water Quality keep up with them:
http://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/doceducation/jeepers/peeper.htm
When I flew back from Texas on April 21, MRM and RBF heard them in a marshy area just outside the airport when they came to pick me up. They even drove back around after they got me so that I could hear it for myself. Not too long after that (May 1, to be exact), I heard them in the creek beside the Education Center. Last night, when I was walking home, I recorded their song on my Palm voice recorder. It’s not the greatest quality recording, but it’s MY recording. :-) On the Maine.gov website above, you can hear a better quality recording, but I’m posting mine here for documentation’s sake.
http://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/doceducation/jeepers/peeper.htm
When I flew back from Texas on April 21, MRM and RBF heard them in a marshy area just outside the airport when they came to pick me up. They even drove back around after they got me so that I could hear it for myself. Not too long after that (May 1, to be exact), I heard them in the creek beside the Education Center. Last night, when I was walking home, I recorded their song on my Palm voice recorder. It’s not the greatest quality recording, but it’s MY recording. :-) On the Maine.gov website above, you can hear a better quality recording, but I’m posting mine here for documentation’s sake.
May 3, 2007: Great News for UNT!
This doesn't have anything to do with Life in Maine, but I'm so excited, I have to share it somewhere. [Or maybe it's related to life in Maine because if an albino squirrel can make headlines in Texas, what's so odd about a donkey making headlines in Maine? Maybe our cultures are more alike than we think.]
At University of North Texas, we had an unofficial mascot of an Albino Squirrel. Last summer, "Baby" met an untimely, but natural death when it was attacked by a hawk. It would be the natural fate of an albino squirrel to be easily spotted by a predator. But Baby was actually the second albino squirrel to be spotted on campus. And now a third is found! This is a baby squirrel and it is assumed that it's "Baby's baby." Below is the article, but also the link to the source article because if you go to the source, there are links to an article about Baby's death (which made BIG local news on all the TV stations and radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area . . . even the memorial service was aired on TV) and there's a link to the Albino Preservation Society, a campus organization. I personally own an Albino Christmas Tree ornament and a series of "Albinotines" -- special heart shaped greeting cards with photos of Baby sent in lieu of Valentine's Cards. It's all great fun.
May 03, 2007
New baby albino squirrel discovered living on UNT campus
Posted by: Julie Elliott Payne
The UNT campus community was in mourning after the campus’ albino squirrel, "baby," was killed by a red-tailed hawk. But as the spring semester winds down, it turns out “baby” left a legacy - a third albino squirrel has been discovered on campus.
The newest squirrel - a baby - is living near Maple Hall and was first seen the week of April 27. It is part of a group of several baby squirrels living in a tree near that residence hall.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Some students consider the albino squirrel an unofficial mascot and good-luck charm. Just last month, a memorial was dedicated at the Willis Library Cyber Café in honor of “baby.” K.T. Shiue of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts took the photos of “baby” used in the memorial and was able to capture several photos of the new squirrel.
The first albino squirrel on campus, nicknamed "Thelonius," was spotted around 2000. It is unclear what happened to that squirrel. “Baby” was first spotted in April 2004.
In 2002, a group of students founded the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society to raise awareness about the animal.
story and photo retrieved May 5, 2007 from: http://inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=1777
The story also made the local TV news' website with even more photos:
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13258627/detail.html
And here's a personal connection: some of the photos (the one on this blog entry that came from the UNT website and two of the one's on the Channel 5 website) were taken by K.T. Shiue who was in my doctoral program with me.
At University of North Texas, we had an unofficial mascot of an Albino Squirrel. Last summer, "Baby" met an untimely, but natural death when it was attacked by a hawk. It would be the natural fate of an albino squirrel to be easily spotted by a predator. But Baby was actually the second albino squirrel to be spotted on campus. And now a third is found! This is a baby squirrel and it is assumed that it's "Baby's baby." Below is the article, but also the link to the source article because if you go to the source, there are links to an article about Baby's death (which made BIG local news on all the TV stations and radio stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area . . . even the memorial service was aired on TV) and there's a link to the Albino Preservation Society, a campus organization. I personally own an Albino Christmas Tree ornament and a series of "Albinotines" -- special heart shaped greeting cards with photos of Baby sent in lieu of Valentine's Cards. It's all great fun.
May 03, 2007
New baby albino squirrel discovered living on UNT campus
Posted by: Julie Elliott Payne
The UNT campus community was in mourning after the campus’ albino squirrel, "baby," was killed by a red-tailed hawk. But as the spring semester winds down, it turns out “baby” left a legacy - a third albino squirrel has been discovered on campus.
The newest squirrel - a baby - is living near Maple Hall and was first seen the week of April 27. It is part of a group of several baby squirrels living in a tree near that residence hall.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Some students consider the albino squirrel an unofficial mascot and good-luck charm. Just last month, a memorial was dedicated at the Willis Library Cyber Café in honor of “baby.” K.T. Shiue of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts took the photos of “baby” used in the memorial and was able to capture several photos of the new squirrel.
The first albino squirrel on campus, nicknamed "Thelonius," was spotted around 2000. It is unclear what happened to that squirrel. “Baby” was first spotted in April 2004.
In 2002, a group of students founded the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society to raise awareness about the animal.
story and photo retrieved May 5, 2007 from: http://inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=1777
The story also made the local TV news' website with even more photos:
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13258627/detail.html
And here's a personal connection: some of the photos (the one on this blog entry that came from the UNT website and two of the one's on the Channel 5 website) were taken by K.T. Shiue who was in my doctoral program with me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)