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Infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci has addressed attacks made on his career and reputation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who last month released the book “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.” Speaking to Yahoo News, the director of the NIAID said, “it really is a shame that he is attacking me in my career,” when asked about RFK’s book not being “a flattering portrait of” his career. “I think if you look at my career there are not a lot of people that would be attacking my career,...

For all the little creatures out there, falling water can be a big hazard. When water drops are a large percentage of your body size, you need clever adaptations to survive even commonly occurring phenomena such as rain. So even greater volumes of falling water, like a waterfall, may as well be a wall to delicate fliers. But for some insects and small birds, this seemingly impenetrable barrier is surmountable. Several species of birds at least, make use of these natural barriers by tucking their nests safely behind the shimmering walls. Some are known to fly right through this plummeting...

A little bird could become a big hold up for important upgrades on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. A path on the upper deck will enable bike riders to get across in both directions and a third traffic lane on the lower deck will ease congestion for drivers heading eastbound. The backhoes are waiting — the safety barriers are lined to go up — but thanks to a little winged friend, work on a key part of the $70 million Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Bridge re-do has been put on hold. Randy Rentschler, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission said, “In this particular case...

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Sometimes it’s surprising to discover how little we know about common plants or animals. Consider the ruby-throated hummingbird. If you live in the eastern half of Canada or the United States and have spotted a hummingbird hovering around a feeder in the backyard in summer, this is the bird you saw. But while scientists have documented many of the feeding and mating behaviors of the birds and that the birds migrate south to Central America and Cuba, there are still plenty of mysteries, such as whether the birds go the long way through Mexico when they migrate or whether they...

New better live web camera! Extremely up close view of Phoebe and her new babies. A new camera has been installed very close up so we may have the rare privilege of observing the feeding, care and fledgling of hummingbird chicks. Take a break from all the depressing news of the day. Phoebe Allen, the adorable little hummingbird now has two new babies. HERE Absolutely cute overload. Phoebe is a Channel Island Allen hummingbird who lives in Orange County, California. She has been hatching 4 to 5 clutches per year and her nest has been on net webcam since...

The last three years, at this time of year, I have put out my hummingbird feeders and I presently have 12 feeders hanging around my house, each feeder has 5-6 birds around it. I have hummingbirds everywhere. Now, over these last three years each evening as I go out to refill the feeders I catch sight of a strange looking 'bird' that quickly disappears so fast that I began to question whether I actually saw anything. Well, three days ago I finally got a good look at one of these critters. It is a hummingbird looking thing but a little...

First collected in southwestern Wyoming in a fossil site known as the Green River Formation, Eocypselus rowei lived about 50 million years ago. It was a small creature about 12 cm long (from head to tail), and weighed less than an ounce... The fossil is unusual in having exceptionally well-preserved feathers, which allowed the researchers to reconstruct the size and shape of the bird’s wings in ways not possible with bones alone. Feathers account for more than half of the bird’s total wing length... The analysis suggests that the bird was an evolutionary precursor to the group that includes today’s...

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating to North America weeks earlier than in decades past, and research indicates that higher temperatures in their winter habitat may be the reason. Researchers say the early arrival could mean less food at nesting time for the tiny birds that feed on insect pests, help pollinate flowers and are popular with birdwatchers. … Jason Courtier of Taylor University said the historical data on hummingbirds is based on government surveys from about 3,000 naturalists around the country who recorded the first spring arrival time of bird species over the decades. About 6 million such records exist and...

"A couple stayed in their home during the Bastrop, TX fires and noticed huge amount of hummingbirds coming to feed. Captured Biologists say the birds were migrating and the fires and drought had killed their usual flowers"

Our hummingbirds have been plentiful and active and so the other day I decided to shoot a few. With the digital camera, of course. In order to get in close enough, I used a non-digital 75-150 mm zoom lens from my 35mm kit, which limited the camera to manual controls and gave very little depth-of-field, so these aren't the greatest images, but they are genuine hummer shots.

In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country. And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, “I...

It may be just four inches long - but the tiny hummingbird flies faster than a space shuttle and a fighter jet. Scientists have discovered that the animal performs the quickest aerial manoeuvre in the natural world compared to its size. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley found that the courtship dive of Anna's hummingbird is 58 mph making it the fastest animal on earth

The female was drinking from the Lantana blossoms a couple of days ago. I put up the feeder, the male showed up today. I've had as many as 4 mated pairs around, gets wild when the little ones leave the nests. You only get the bright ruby color with head on shots, I'll change the angle of the feeder. The other guys never leave! http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/ http://cabbagehammock.blogspot.com/

A New Week....Well, almost....Will the Wall Street jitters continue??Will, FINALLY, steps be taken to end the judicial log jam in the Senate??Will the Dems, under Dr. Dean, begin to control their wacko elements??Just a few questions to ponder....We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail!

EAST TENNESSEE……. September 5, 2003   It is a given, “ A man’s house is his Castle” . You own the property, have a deed and can pretty much decide what happens within the boundaries. Some may argue that the deed is only a permit from the government to whom you pay rent in the form of taxes. But the truth is, there are others who think they own your property and expend lots of time and energy defending it from the aggression.  I have a fairly typical house on a typical suburban lot. It is occupied by myself and my...