DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 23, 2016

More Hummingbirds

Diverse and fascinating examples of the miracle of evolution.  Talk about unique methods to fill the niches in ecosystems.

Hummingbirds do just have a way of obsessing you. They're so fascinating, they're so diverse, and there's still so much we don't know about them. The Sword-billed Hummingbird in the Andes—nobody's ever seen their nest. Even some of our more familiar species are still yielding secrets.

My favorite species is more or less the one that's in my binoculars at the moment. My favorite almost has to be the Black-chinned Hummingbird. It's a pretty ordinary hummingbird in most respects. But I spent so much time banding them, getting to know their personal history, they're almost like family.

They're among the brainiest of the birds. They have amazing memories. They can remember not only which plants have nectar but how often it's replenished and which flowers they've just visited. Absolutely they remember your backyard. And they may even remember you. If the feeder is empty, they come looking for you.

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Understanding Ecosystems – Not So Much

The Chinese government’s wrong-headed attempt to exterminate the pika are leading to the devastation of crucial grasslands and causing potential disastrous ramifications to a watershed that supports 20% of the world’s population.

Justifying the government’s extermination campaign, some Chinese scientists have blamed the pika for grassland degradation and erosion.

But a growing body of Western conservationists say they have it all wrong.

Far from causing grassland degradation, pikas tend to colonize areas where the grassland is already damaged by overgrazing or has dried out as a result of climate change. Not surprisingly, they prefer areas where the grass is short, so they can spot predators from farther away.

Rather than causing soil erosion, pika burrows dramatically improve drainage on the plateau, according to a 2014 study by Smith and Maxwell Wilson in the journal Ambio, published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Without them, water runoff creates more erosion and heightens the potential of dangerous floods downstream.

Fire, Fire, Fire

Normally the high fire season in Southern California is usually in September and October.  So this weekend’s fires are just a preview of what years of climate change driven drought and the expansion of residential housing are going to be like later.

Flames lit up the evening sky as a wildfire marched across hillsides north of Los Angeles, blackening thousands of acres, fire officials said.

The fire also created a huge cloud of smoke that wafted across the metropolis. As of 9:45 p.m. PT, the fire had burned 3,327 acres, the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported.

A fast-moving brush fire in northern Los Angeles County grew to 11,000 acres Saturday, darkening skies with smoke that spread across the city and suburbs, reducing the sun to an orange disk at times.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that at times air would reach unhealthy levels, as the region was gripped by high heat and very low humidity.