Random egg

We spotted an egg at the side of the house yesterday, right next to the short retaining wall that prevents our yard from falling into our neighbor's yard. No idea what it belongs to, but it's not going to hatch, either because it's been pushed out a of a nest by a cowbird or the heavy thunderstorm we had Sunday morning (which may have had hail), or because its parent is a ground-nesting bird who doesn't realize that in a few short days there will be a lot of noise right next to it as the yard people come around to mow.

I'm inclined to the cowbird or thunderstorm theories, as it's rather more exposed than a ground-nester ought to pick, plus it's brilliant white, and not mottled, as, again, I'd expect ground-nesting birds to lay.

It's small, but I can't give the exact size as it's in a space that's a bit awkward to get to without walking through the neighbor's yard if you're not wearing the proper shoes (it requires walking on the retaining wall and scooting by a bush, and myrialux was barefoot and I had sandals with rocker soles on, so neither of us wanted to walk on the wall).

Snapshot Serengeti

You guys should ALL be poking around Snapshot Serengeti. I've posted about it before, but the short version is that it's crowd-sourced SCIENCE! Camera traps (IR-motion-activated cameras) have been placed at a number (over 200) of spots around the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Every time they get a new season's worth of pics collected and prepped, they upload them and citizen scientists LIKE YOURSELF can go through them and count and ID animals to produce a survey of species and their behavior.

You may encounter such classics as:

BABOON LICKS LENS. (This, from the same sequence is how I know it's a baboon.)
Zebra confab.
Random tourist or researcher photographing camera
Cheetah muzzle scent-marking camera.
Gorgeous photo of wildebeest.
Baby elephant.
My favorite zebra picture.
And much, much more! Although mostly wildebeest!

You will also sort through a lot of pictures of wildebeest genitalia as they like to stand under the trees the cameras are mounted on and the camera is mounted at exactly the right height, but it's worth it.

It's a Zooniverse project. If African wildlife SCIENCE! doesn't do it for you, you can find something there that will. (SPACE WARPS! Undersea adventure! Weather! Music scores (really!))

EDIT: and if you've ever wondered what it's like to be on the business end of a lion scent-marking something, well, now you know... (Click "Play" to see the shots in sequence!)

(no subject)

Judy Blume did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit today.