Bugs, birds, new ‘real’ chicken & tourist-scofflaws

Summer night, alight

Earlier this month, I realized I didn’t see a single firefly during June (and still not yet, nearly August). Will I ever see them again?  Are those softly glowing beetles also known as lightning bugs vanishing or not? 

The quick, if not definitive answer, is no!  A recent media story and an online program were both reassuring about these bioluminescent creatures who flash to communicate among themselves and to find mates.

OK, bugs: show yourselves!

Another beetle, btw, is given credit for pollinating big-leaf magnolias, an ancient deciduous North American tree that evolved some 95 million years ago, long before bees even existed!  Its flowers are the largest in the US.

Spoiler jays & birdbaths

Bully in birdbath

Which leads up the range of creature sizes to birds, where there’s good news and bad news.  The bad news, which won’t surprise the most casual bird watcher: local blue jays – as in my back yard where 2 suet cages were still maintained -- spoiled snack possibilities for all the other area birds. 

After a few days of hearing and seeing the jays’ bullying, I took both cages down.  Bagged in plastic, they’re secreted in my freezer to try again (when blue jays are on vacation?).

On to the good news.  It’s all about birdbaths and it’s greatly helpful.  Just plunking a birdbath outside somewhere and assuming birds will come is not enough.  The article linked below recommends a concrete birdbath, possibly tiered, with rocks in it, and with fresh water at least every day – and of course the story includes excellent reasons for these moves.

That’s not all.  Since finding clean, fresh water keeps getting harder for birds (and other wildlife), multiple birdbaths of varying heights could become vital resources for them.  As would “hydration stations” for pollinators like bees and wasps, and even for squirrels and chipmunks. 

Possibly best of all: the story’s delightful videos of birds (delightedly) bathing!      https://tinyurl.com/56ed5m48

Chickens, rejoice!

Now moving up the “size line” to chickens, how would you like a chicken sandwich?  A “cell-cultivated chicken” sandwich, that is – also known as “cultured meat” or “lab-grown meat.”

Which all means that this meat doesn’t come from slaughtered animals!  And as the AP story says, such lab-grown meat “aims at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.”  The potential for good, in so many ways, is simply colossal!

Worth stressing: this “new” chicken is meat, not substitutes like plant-based “meats.”  Even better: companies all over the world are focusing on meat from carefully selected animal cells, including pork, lamb, fish and beef. 

The “lab-grown meat” movement will have to start small.  Right now, “cultured meat” is very expensive to make and because of limited production, will be served only in exclusive restaurants at first.  Consumers will probably wait years before seeing it more widely available.  

But, at a time when the HSUS recently reported that “More animals than ever before—92.2 billion—are used and killed each year for food,” something wonderful is starting to happen for animals: the hideous, inhumane and soon unnecessary factory farms and animal slaughter will finally end. 

Troublesome tourists

Bison

“People who approach wild animals aren’t brave; they are deluded.”  Yesterday’s Washington Post story excoriated tourists involved with more and more inappropriate and unsafe contacts with wild animals.  With such actions, they risk their own lives and those of the animals involved.  

Tourists offer spurious reasons for flouting rules and endangering animals they should only observe and appreciate . . . from a safe distance.  When people take chances and ignore rules, too often the animals pay for humans' idiocy. 

In its second part of “How to be a humane traveler for animals,” the HSUS addresses the same issues.  Effectively, we hope!     https://tinyurl.com/7fjd2ma3

Family resemblance

And on a happier note, here’s a family reunion complete with a beautiful group picture.   https://tinyurl.com/3u9d5jv4

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