Sunday’s Faux Duck o’ the Week

January 31, 2021 • 8:00 am

John Avise is winding down his series of faux ducks: waterfowl that people think are ducks but aren’t.  Your job is to look at the photos and then guess the species. After trying, go below the fold for the ID, some Faux Duck Facts, and a range map.

Swimming partially submerged:

Adult male:

Adult female:

Juvenile:

Breeding pair tending their stick nest in mangroves:

Female showing flexible neck and turkey-like tail:

Showing the snake-like neck:

Sunbathing:

Yawning and showing the gular pouch:

Swimming with only neck above water:

Head portrait of male:

Another head portrait:

Close-up view of head:

Characteristic flight silhouette:

Click “continue reading” to learn the species and some Fun Faux Duck Facts, as well as to see a range map: Continue reading “Sunday’s Faux Duck o’ the Week” →

Sunday: Hili dialogue

January 31, 2021 • 6:30 am

We had our first big snow last night, and it’s still coming down. I estimate about 7 inches so far, but it may get up to a foot. Here’s a shot on my way to work:

Welcome to Sunday, January 31, 2021. National Hot Chocolate Day (I’m drinking some now, with two shots of espresso and plenty of miniature marshmallows!). It’s also a day for a bad libation and a bad comestible: Brandy Alexander Day and (OMG) Eat Brussel Sprouts Day. On a better note, it’s Scotch Tape Day, celebrating the day in 1930 when 3M began marketing the miracle tape, and Inspire Your Heart with Art Day. Here’s the world’s best painting:

News of the Day:

In a NYT op-ed that attributed the frenzy of school renaming in San Francisco to a pandemic-caused pause in the pursuit of normal activities, Ross Douthat gives a link to a Google spreadsheet giving the committee’s reasons for renaming 44 schools.  He also says this:

After the vote, I spent some time reading the Google spreadsheet helpfully compiled by the renaming effort, which listed the justification for each erasure: for Washington, slave-owning; for Revere, helping to command a doomed Revolutionary War military operation on the Maine coast that nonetheless supposedly contributed to the “colonization” of the Penobscot tribe; for Stevenson, writing a “cringeworthy poem” that includes words like “Eskimo” and “Japanee.” (It may not surprise you that some of these justifications, often pulled from Wikipedia, included significant errors of historical fact.)

Trump’s second impeachment trial is set to begin February 8, presided over by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), now out of the hospital where he was sent for muscle spasms. Why isn’t Chief Justice John Roberts in charge again? Because reasons (as the kids say):

Chief Justice John Roberts oversaw the first Trump impeachment trial, as required by the Constitution. But the law is silent on who presides over the trial of a former president, and the chief justice declined to participate in this one, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who said that Mr. Leahy was next in line for the role as president pro tempore of the Senate.

“Sen. Leahy’s job is a little tougher in that he doesn’t come into it with the basic presumption of impartiality that normally attaches to a judge,” said Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor who is an authority on impeachment. “He’s going to have to strain to appear evenhanded in any circumstance where there is sort of a partisan valence to any decision that he makes.”

But it really doesn’t matter: Trump is not going to be convicted. The trial also looks to be pretty short: a week or less.

Speaking of the trial, CNN reports that all five of the attorneys Trump took on to defend him during the impeachment trial have quit. He is now without legal representation, and with the trial set for about a week from now.  The reason? Well, here’s a possible one:

A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he’s left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard.

An exciting story from HuffPost (not!), using their cringemaking clickbait. Click on screenshot. Isn’t “they got arrested, not antifa” clever? (Not!)

A food writer at the Washington Post published an endearing and mouthwatering essay on the advantages of being a regular at a food emporium or restaurant, especially during the pandemic.

Finally, today’s reported Covid-19 death toll in the U.S. is 439,421, an increase of about 2,700 deaths over yesterday’s figure. We are likely to exceed half a million deaths by March. The reported world death toll stands at 2,230,914, an increase of about 12,900 deaths over yesterday’s tota—about 9 deaths per minute.

Stuff that happened on January 31 includes:

  • 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.
  • 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.

After his appointment, Lee was busy creating units of slaves to fight the Union. Oy!

  • 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.

As Wikipedia notes, this wasn’t successful: “The Battle of Bolimów was the first attempt by the Germans at a large-scale use of poison gas; the eighteen thousand gas shells they fired proved unsuccessful when the xylyl bromide—a type of tear gas—was blown back at their own lines. The gas caused few, if any, casualties, however, since the cold weather caused it to freeze, rendering it ineffective.”

Here’s Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Lev Kamenev “[motivating] the troops to fight on the Soviet-Polish war. 1 May 1920.”

Here’s Slovik. “Although 21,000 American soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II, including 49 death sentences, Slovik’s death sentence was the only one that was carried out.” He was 24.

  • 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
  • 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
  • 1950 – President Truman orders the development of thermonuclear weapons.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.

Here’s Shepard on the Moon; as a Mercury astronaut, he was also the first American to travel into space (1961, only ten years before).

  • 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
  • 2020 – The United Kingdom‘s membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.

It’s the first anniversary of Brexit!

Notables born on this day include:

  • 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1828)
  • 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
  • 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)

Known as “Mr. Cub”, Banks played his entire career with the Chicago Cubs, form 1953 to 1971. He was one of the greatest players ever (and voted by fans as the “Best Cub of all Time”), but he never played in a World Series:

  • 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
  • 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor

Those who hied themselves underground on January 31 include:

  • 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
  • 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
  • 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882)
  • 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)

Here’s Meher Baba with his famous slogan. I have this photo on my wall beside my desk, having put it up in a vain attempt to be happy:

Giant Baba is on the left. Perhaps Meher Baba should have been called “Mini Baba”:

  • 2007 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (b. 1944)

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is already sick of winter:

Hili: There used to be green grass everywhere.
A: It will return.
Hili: Let it hurry.
In Polish:
Hili: Tu wszędzie była zielona trawa.
Ja: Będzie znowu.
Hili: Niech się pospieszy.

And here’s Szaron, washing his face upside-down:

From Ken, a post that requires a preliminary explanation:

As you make recall, when environmental activist Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine Person of the Year, a jealous Donald Trump first tweeted that she needed to “work on her Anger Management problem” [random majuscules in original] then later followed up with a sarcastic, “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

Ms. Thunberg has responded in kind:

A twist on a familiar meme, sent in by Mark:

A true science meme from Ginger K.:

Ricky Gervais loves his kitty, which is a good sign. His name is Pickle.  Here are three tweets showing the moggy, with the first being the official announcement of his name.

The second shows the “scrumble”, a tummy rub (sound up).

And the “skritch”:

Simon sends a wily and lazy cat:

Tweets from Matthew. First, a weird forest of sponges on stalks (second one is a video):

A d*g saves the day!

This takes real skill:

A three-species interaction (see more pictures of the event here):

My guess would be about the age of thirty.

On his new Substack site, John McWhorter previews his upcoming book on antiracism as a religion

January 30, 2021 • 2:15 pm

A while back, when John McWhorter and Glenn Loury were chatting on “The Glenn Show” podcast, McWhorter mentioned that he was writing a book on wokeness and anti-racism as a religion. In fact, he’d already written most of the book. I really look forward to reading it.  But if you want an advance peek, you can subscribe to McWhorter’s new Substack site, “It Bears Mentioning” ($50 per year; click on screenshot below), where he’s just put up what seems to be the book’s preface and the first chapter (or summaries thereof). I am going to show only the preface because it’s a pay site for most posts (i.e., the first one below); but you can read the short bit of the preface here to see if you want to either subscribe or buy the upcoming book.

The second article, on black fragility, is free, and you can get it by clicking here.

Oy! Between Bari Weiss, Andrew Sullivan, and John McWhorter—three good writers disillusioned by wokeness—it could run into serious money to subscribe to them all!

Here’s the preface of McWhorter’s book as reproduced in the post above. The title is good. But Chapter 1 (or a summary) is there too, and it’s much longer. If you want to see that, subscribe here.

THE ELECT:

NEORACISTS POSING AS ANTIRACISTS

AND THEIR THREAT TO A PROGRESSIVE AMERICA

PREFACE

I’m not one for long introductions – I like to get to the point. However, before we begin I would like to give the reader a sense of the trajectory of these installments, and what kind of statement they are intended as making.

This book is not a call for people of a certain ideology to open up to the value of an open market of ideas, to understand the value of robust discussion, and to see the folly of defenestrating people for disagreeing with them. My assumption is that the people in question are largely unreachable by arguments of that kind.

Rather, I aim to illuminate where these people are coming from, how their ideology and behavior is quite coherent in itself, and what the rest of us can do to live with grace and honesty, as people concerned with the state of the world, who nevertheless must grapple with obstacles laid in our path by people who see their religion as an ultimate wisdom.

My main aims will be:

  1. to argue that this new ideology is actually a religion in all but name;
  2. to argue that to understand it as a religion is to see coherence in what may seem like a welter of “crazy” or overblown behaviors;
  3. to explore why this religion is so attractive to so many people;
  4. to show that this religion is actively harmful to black people despite being intended as unprecedentedly “antiracist”;
  5. to show that a pragmatic, effective, liberal and even Democratic-friendly agenda for rescuing black America need not be founded on the tenets of this new religion;
  6. to suggest ways to lessen the grip of this new religion on our public culture.

I hope my observations will serve as one of many contributions to our debate over what constitutes “social justice.” Thank you for your subscription. I will release this manuscript in ten segments, and I welcome your feedback.

A body-surfing duck!

January 30, 2021 • 1:15 pm

It’s my titular day off, so I’m leaving work before the big snow hits (Chicago’s expected to get 5 to 9 inches of “heavy wet snow”—more in places). I’ve put my car in the University garage so I won’t have to shovel it out.

But for your delight and entertainment, I append a wonderful video of “Duck” Australia’s famed surfing mallard. It’s a domestic Pekin variety, and I trust the salt water won’t harm him. This was featured by the BBC.

Only two more months till duck season begins again at Botany Pond! Will Honey return for her fifth season of duckling production? Put your guesses below.

h/t: Pyers

Free speech fundamentalism?

January 30, 2021 • 11:00 am

As many on the Left try to dismantle freedom of speech, urging us to jettison the courts’ interpretation of the First Amendment so that we can ban “hate speech,” we’ll increasingly see articles like the one below, which calls those of us who adhere to the First Amendment “free speech fundamentalists.” Using the terms “fundamentalist” or “fundamentalism,” as Judith Shapiro does in this Inside High Ed op-ed, is a way of denigrating those who adhere strictly to the First Amendment. It’s the same tactic that religionists use when using the term “fundamentalist atheists” for those who don’t accept the notion of a god. But “fundamentalism” is just a red herring here. What is Shapiro’s argument against free speech?

She doesn’t have one, except the usual palaver that it can be offensive and dangerous. And again, without examples, that’s not an argument, or not much of one. We’ve always argued about whether “offense” or “harm” are sufficient reasons to exercise censorship, and I think most of us have concluded that they aren’t.  Banning hurt feelings or the dissemination of misinformation cannot possibly outweigh the benefits of free expression, and, at any rate, who would be the one to determine what speech should be banned? That answer is always this: the person calling for the banning—in this case Shapiro.

Shapiro, by the way, was the former President of Barnard College, so she was an academic heavyweight. She now serves on various academic and think-tank boards and committees.

Click the screenshot to read her short article.

There are three big problems with her article—problems endemic to the writings of those who urge caution about free speech. The first is that she gives no concrete examples of speech that she considers unworthy of being said. Not one example! While she does mention that the punishments of faculty for speaking their minds have been sometimes disproportionate, the main thrust of her article is an unspecific discussion of how free speech can conflict with “other values.”

The second problem, connected with the first, is that she doesn’t limn those areas where one needs to be careful when exercising free speech. The implication is that those are areas that could purvey either “fake news” (i.e., lies) or hurt people’s feelings. But her lack of specificity is annoying—and probably deliberate.

Finally, Shapiro doesn’t mention who is the person or group that should be responsible for deciding what speech is acceptable or unacceptable. The whole piece is maddeningly unspecific, and winds up with the reader thinking that “Shapiro doesn’t really like a hard-line adherence to the First Amendment, but I don’t know why.”

A few quotes to demonstrate the vaporous nature of the argument:

As important as freedom of speech may be, the failure to put it in the context of other values leads us to some serious problems for our society and, more specifically, for our educational institutions.

In terms of our national political life, we have seen the consequences of defending freedom of speech while attending insufficiently to other essential matters, notably the difference between truth and lies. We face a difficult task if we are to rise to the occasion of saving our form of government.

Does this mean that free speech cannot include lies? Well, the law already prohibits some lying like “false advertising” or “defamation,” and we free-speech fundamentalists agree with that. Or does she think that the lies are okay but we need to attend to those lies more? If that’s the case, there are plenty of people attending to them—like the entire liberal media. Free speech is free because you can call out other people’s lies. Holocaust denialism is a good example of that. Many people think that, like some European countries, we should ban such speech, but I feel it’s very important not to, for the arguments back and forth acquaint us with what the evidence really was for the Holocaust (and also “out” those bigots who engage in denialism).

But wait! There’s more!  Tell me what she’s talking about here, since she gives no examples:

As important as freedom of speech may be, the failure to put it in the context of other values leads us to some serious problems for our society and, more specifically, for our educational institutions.

In terms of our national political life, we have seen the consequences of defending freedom of speech while attending insufficiently to other essential matters, notably the difference between truth and lies. We face a difficult task if we are to rise to the occasion of saving our form of government.

Ten to one she’s talking about Trump. Why, then, doesn’t she say so?

And this:

In addition to emphasizing the importance of speech supported by facts, sourcing and an interest in truth, faculty members need to teach their students — and themselves — how to engage most effectively with those holding different views. They should help students resist the attractions of indulging in self-righteous disdainful abuse. Trying to find out why a person holds certain beliefs is a necessary ethnographic step in the process of dialogue.

Again, this is pious moralizing. None of us want to be abusive, and, as I’ve said, psychologizing can often be a distraction from valuable arguments. You don’t need to diagnose Trump’s mental problems to counteract his claims about “fake news” and ballot fraud.

Finally, when one reads “arguments” like the ones below, one wonders whether Dr. Shapiro really wants colleges to abandon the First Amendment. Public universities must of course adhere to its stipulations, but private ones, like Barnard, should as well. Is there a good reason for private colleges to move away from the First Amendment?

Our attitudes to free speech are part of a wider, uncritical cultural celebration of “freedom” abroad in our land. And thus we see many of our fellow citizens refusing to wear masks during a dangerous pandemic and some of our legislators insisting on their right to carry firearms when they report for their day jobs.

An unreflective approach to freedom of speech is often paired with promotion of a “marketplace of ideas.” Let us note, however, that a marketplace is where you can sell anything — anything — that someone else is willing to buy. That may be a less than helpful or inspirational way to think about a democracy, or, for that matter, a society more generally.

We have already followed the path from First Amendment/freedom of speech fundamentalism to Citizens United, a major contribution to turning our democracy into an oligarchy. Will we follow it to where it undermines what education itself is supposed to give to us?

Not wearing masks has nothing to do with “free speech”, though both can be the object of libertarian diatribes. But believe me, it’s not adherence to the First Amendment that makes people go without masks. The same people who urge caution about free speech are the same people who call for more wearing of masks! And, at any rate, bringing up masks is irrelevant to the First Amendment: one has to do with public health, the other with public discourse.

At the end, Shapiro implies that First-Amendment “fundamentalism” has led to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission—the 2009 case in which the Supreme Court made a bad decision, arguing that the First Amendment allowed corporations and other groups to make unrestricted campaign contributions. In effect, the 5 Justices construed corporations and associations as “individuals”. This is bad law: a 5-4 decision reflecting a conservative Supreme Court. That’s not the fault of the First Amendment, and has nothing to say about the free speech of individuals. Citizens United is not one stop on a discernible pathway to dismantling our democracy, as Shapiro implies. It was a bad one-off decision that isn’t paving the way for the Third Reich. In fact, I’d say that the path to Reichsville leads through arguments for banning speech.

Does the former president of Barnard not know how to write a coherent essay, or did she just take to the pages of Inside Higher Ed to express vague discomfort with the First Amendment, or is Shapiro covertly suggesting that we might censor some forms of speech now considered legal? I’m not willing to take the “necessary ethnographic step” of finding out what she really believes, and why. Expressing herself clearly is her responsibility, and it’s not my job to figure out what the sweating professor is trying to say*.

* See H. L. Mencken’s wonderful review of Thorstein Veblen’s prose.

Caturday felid trifecta: a rare Arctic cat; military hero cats; Henri the existentialist cat passes away (and lagniappe)

January 30, 2021 • 9:30 am

From Russia Beyond we have the story of Kesha, the only cat in the Svalbard Archipelago. Click on the screenshot:

There are several islands in the archipelago, lying way north of Norway, but only one is inhabited: Spitzbergen, with 3,000 intrepid souls. Here’s a map:

And there is also Kesha the Cat, in the Russian part of the island (excerpts from the article are indented):

About 3,000 people live on the Norwegian archipelago of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean. The temperature here in winter drops to -16°C, and rises in summer to +7°C. The overwhelming majority of the population is Norwegian; Russians are concentrated in one small village called Barentsburg, where they can conduct research and commercial activities, due to the special status of the archipelago. It is here, among the small panel houses, wooden church and monuments to Lenin and communism, that Kesha the cat resides.

Moggies (especially Communist ones) aren’t allowed on Spitzbergen, but Kesha was smuggled in, registered as a “polar fox”.  (Foxes are honorary cats, anyway.)  Kesha is now a Senior Cat: 13 years old.

Kesha spends almost all his time outside in the street, where he gets fed by locals and tourists. Foreign visitors to the archipelago call him the Ginger Arctic Fox. [JAC: click on the preceding link!]

According to Olga Kostrova, who organizes tours of the archipelago, Kesha has a permanent owner. “He is not ownerless, but freedom-loving. He loves to go for walks, but lives in a house with his owner. If people feed him, he’ll happily oblige,” said Kostrova.

“He’s never been seen fighting with polar foxes. But when you’re out walking the dogs from the husky center, it’s better to give him a wide berth! Kesha has been known to attack dogs,” she tells.

Today, it is rumored that Kesha is no longer the only cat on the archipelago; in July 2020, tourists photographed a cat very similar to Kesha, but with a slightly different shade of fur. Yulia says that she too has begun to notice other cats on the island, but Kesha is still the most popular.

The title of the article is slightly misleading, as other cats have been seen on the island. However, Kesha is the King!

“Kesha makes me happy [when he appears] at lunchtime. Now he’s shed a lot of fur, got hairballs and his eyes water. But he’s still one of the main attractions in Barentsburg. According to legend, if you stroke Kesha and make a wish, it’s bound to come true,” says Litvinova.

***************

Mental Floss has this piece on military hero cats. Click on the screenshot:

The Cats are Crimean Tom, Unsinkable Sam, Mourka of Stalingrad, Pooli (Princess Papule), Able Seacat Simon, and Private First Class Hammer. I’ve written about some of these cats before, and a couple have Wikipedia pages. I’ll show just one, but you should read all six, including about Simon, who in his short life (2 years) became the most decorated cat in military history.

Pooli

Striped tabby Princess Papule was born on July 4, 1944, at the Pearl Harbor Navy Base in Hawaii. Pooli, as she was known to the sailors, was brought aboard the attack transport USS Fremont by crewman James Lynch. The ship fought in the Pacific theater of World War II and participated in the invasions of Saipan, Palau, Leyte, and Iwo Jima.

Pooli chose to sleep in the mailroom during battles. Upon crossing the equator for the first time, the tabby participated in a ceremony transforming inexperienced sailors from “polliwogs” to sea-hardened “shellbacks.” She was issued her own uniform and awarded three service ribbons and four battle stars for her time in the navy. Pooli put the uniform back on for a Los Angeles Times story celebrating her 15th birthday.

Pooli clearly lived to a ripe old age. Here she is coming out of retirement to show her uniform and battle decorations:

A retired Pooli models her uniform, adorned with her service medals, in 1959. LA Times

***************

Sadly, Henri the Existentialist Cat, object of internet fascination, died last December at 17. Here’s a memoriam for Henri written by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica (click on screenshot):

An excerpt:

We are très désolé to report that YouTube cat-video sensation Henri, le Chat Noir has died at the ripe old age of 17. His collaborator Will Braden, aka the “thieving filmmaker,” announced Henry’s passing in a moving Facebook post. Apparently, Henri had a deteriorating spinal condition and had been rendered largely immobile as a result. Despite the pandemic, a local vet made a home visit to “help him pass peacefully, surrounded by those that loved him,” Braden wrote.

Henri (née Henry) was not actually Braden’s cat; the Facebook post identifies Braden’s mother as Henri’s real-life caretaker. Henri lived in an undisclosed location in Seattle’s North End, largely oblivious to his online celebrity. He was a rescue cat, adopted from a local animal shelter as a kitten, who shared his living space with a second white cat, known to his fans as ‘l’Imbecile Blanc,” who survives him. While a student at the Seattle Film Institute, Braden noted Henri’s “regal presence and distinguished personality,” and he featured the cat in a short film for class. The video hit YouTube on May 24, 2007, and Henri’s existential musings soon began winning enthusiastic fans.

. . . It was the 2012 sequel (embedded below), Henri 2: Paws de Deux, that went truly viral and turned Henri into an Internet celebrity, with many declaring it to be the best cat video on the Internet. Indeed, the short film won the Golden Kitty Award at the Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video Festival. Henri gave a suitably world-weary statement on his win via Braden: “That I have received this golden, smiling idol for a film documenting my metaphysical torment speaks volumes about the spiritual void of humanity. Shiny and meaningless, life marches on.”

Here’s “Henri 2: Paws de Deux”, featuring the White Moron in a cameo role.

You can see Braden’s tribute to Henri at the cat’s Facebook page. In contrast to Henri’s lugubrious character, he was a “good-natured and happy character,” and “never suffered a single existential crisis during his life..”

Do read the tribute. And RIP, Henri, who is now truly free.

__________________

Lagnaippe:  A giant yellow cat catches a koi in Shanghai:

 

h/t: Ginger K, Jim

Readers’ wildlife photos

January 30, 2021 • 8:00 am

Reader Dave, whose photography website is here, sent some diverse photos. Click to enlarge them; the captions (indented) are his:

Heliospheric
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.
English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) & Cabbage White Butterflies (Pieris rapae):
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus):
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.
Freija Fritillary Butterfly (Boloria freija):
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.
Sculptural Spectroscopy:
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.
Mauna Kea Observatories:
http://www.137DSF.com, ©DSF_ All Rights Reserved.