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Today's positivity postcard. Another of my special random #NYC strangers being kindred spirits experiences. Was sitting on in my building complex oval reading when I spot her stalking birds.
"Are you Anne Lazarus?" I ask her.
"Yes I am!" she says.
The legend herself! :)
"Are you Anne Lazarus?" I ask her.
"Yes I am!" she says.
The legend herself! :)
Anne, active in the Linnean Society, is a bit of a legend in #NYC birding circles. Especially in the #StuyTown area about which she is like a walking bird encyclopedia and sighting database. I asked if I could tag along. She said of course!
linnaeannewyork.org
linnaeannewyork.org
For the next half hour, we walked around the oval, saw a couple of field sparrows, a couple of thrushes, many juncos. Such a cool lady! Luckily I always have binoculars with me. Then she saw this other lady staring upwards and said let's see what she is seeing!
Let me just tell you, the peregrine falcon is one of the baddest animals on the planet.
Peregrines hunt by dropping into a steep dive where they basically turn themselves into missiles traveling at up to 200 mph.
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Peregrines hunt by dropping into a steep dive where they basically turn themselves into missiles traveling at up to 200 mph.
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Fighter jet engine designs were informed by studying peregrine falcons.
By 1974, thanks to DDT, peregrines were effectively all but extinct in the United States in all but the west coast.
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By 1974, thanks to DDT, peregrines were effectively all but extinct in the United States in all but the west coast.
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There were four peregrines left in the entire state of New York.
To save the species, west coast falconers passed eggs to east coast falconers who tended to them and raised the chicks through first winters before releasing them.
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To save the species, west coast falconers passed eggs to east coast falconers who tended to them and raised the chicks through first winters before releasing them.
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Evolutionism = belief that orgs inherently improve themselves through progressive inherited change over time
Note the "improve" part. 1/?
Note the "improve" part. 1/?
Evolutionism has the belief that there is some sort of "improvement" over time to organisms, which later got incorp into social models.
Now, term that scientists use, evolution, means change in heritable characteristics of biological populations over generations.
