random samplings of a restless mind scanning life's canopy
Imagine traveling halfway around the world, across the biggest ocean on the planet, under your own muscle power, without GPS, inflight meals, or any of the accoutrements of modern life we may take for granted. And doing it twice a year, year after year. That is what this Bar-tailed Godwit and a number of other remarkable birds have evolved to do, in a feat most of us pay no thought to as we go about our own mundane lives.
I blogged about the Bar-tailed Godwit a few years ago, when their non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean was first observed using satellite telemetry. Last week, the New York Times published an update on their, and a few other species', astonishing migrations in a typically excellent essay by Carl Zimmer accompanying the above interactive feature - which you'll have to visit to see the maps just barely visible here (an artifact of how Posterous chose to pull the images via its bookmarklet - and while on that, I continue to be impressed with this blogging platform, to the point of considering switching over completely; what do you think?).
I'm a reconciliation ecologist studying the responses of wildlife to human influences through an evolutionary lens. I seek ways to apply evolutionary ecology towards reconciling biodiversity conservation with human development. Also a father of two girls; photographer; birdwatcher; bookworm; cinephile; and explorer of the internets.
I'm a reconciliation ecologist studying the responses of wildlife to human influences through an evolutionary lens. I seek ways to apply evolutionary ecology towards reconciling biodiversity conservation with human development. Also a father of two girls; photographer; birdwatcher; bookworm; cinephile; and explorer of the internets.
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