Slip sliding away

The Extreme Ice Survey has some amazing videos, showing time-lapse footage of the retreat of glaciers in Alaska, Iceland and Greenland.
Via Geology News.

Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em

Victoria Times-Colonist columnist Jack Knox has a fun story today about peoples' frustrations with resident Canada Geese: you know, the ones that cruise around in ever larger flocks, gobble up crops and poop on lawns. Most of the ones in this region are Giant Canada Geese, a subspecies native to Central Canada and the midwest and introduced in many other areas for reasons that are now obscure. Terry Wahl, an eminent birder and birdbook author based in Bellingham says they were introduced for hunting, but "They didn't shoot enough of them."
Of course, it didn't help that people converted many acres of waterfront and lakefront into lawns and golf courses--prime habitat for the big birds.
As far as solutions go: I like the idea of shooting them. The main problem with that is that it would be likely that more innocuous but similar types of birds, such as cackling geese, would also be killed. So an open season probably isn't a great idea. Making it a licensed business, like commercial fishing, might give government some control over which birds are targeted and who is pulling the trigger. Trouble is, the commercial fishing model hasn't worked particularly well for fish.
And there are some who love the birds, and will defend them.

Birds of Oak Bay

Photographed on a waterfront walk in Victoria, B.C.'s Oak Bay municipality:

A lesser yellowlegs...

...a pair of black oystercatchers...

...and a belted kingfisher.

Elephant seal on Willows Beach, Victoria B.C.

Every year elephant seals haul themselves out of the water to moult. They lie there for days as their skin peels off. This female is dozing at Willows Beach, in Victoria, B.C. while waiting for her spring coat to come in. Robin Baird, of Simon Fraser University, has this article about this behavior. More and more elephant seals are showing on beaches on Vancouver Island, because their numbers are on the rise. The seals came close to extinction at the end of the 19th century, after they were hunted for their blubber. California State Parks has a good account of the species.
Here is the Victoria Times-Colonist's report on the seal.
As you can see from the newspaper photo, the seal is pretty oblivious to people coming close, though Fisheries and Oceans Canada has since barricaded it behind yellow fire scene tape. Although it looks remarkably like a log from a distance, it's easy to find on the beach. Just look for the crowd of people.

20 years since the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Twenty years since the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, the marine life there hasn't recovered. The Seattle Times, has a report on what's happened since. Wired Science has an interesting post on the fate of the AT1 pod, a distinctive pod of seal-eating orcas that roamed Prince William Sound, and are now at less than a third of their pre-Exxon Valdez numbers.
If you dig into some beaches in Prince William Sound, a pool of oil will form in the hole.

NOAA Fisheries Image.

At the time of the disaster, no-one knew how far-reaching the biological effects would be or how long the oil would stay in the environment. Now, we are finding out, which gives scientists new perspectives on the most pervasive source of oil pollution: stormwater.
In a post in Wired Science, Brandon Keim writes:
"According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, six Exxon Valdez spills' worth of oil seep into the U.S. environment every single year, dripping from vehicles and washed into sewers where it's carried directly into streams and finally to the sea." Research into the Exxon Valdez could end up providing insight into what we have done, drop, by drop, to every waterway near human habitation, Keim writes.
"Unlike Prince William Sound, researchers haven't spent decades looking for damage caused by chronic oil exposures in America's waters. It's not inconceivable that a state of permanent toxicity has come to seem natural."

Pictures of Redoubt Volcano

The Alaska Volcano Observatory, has a fine gallery of pictures of the ongoing eruption of Redoubt Volcano.

Alaska Volcano Observatory webcam photo

USDA revises plant hardiness zones

Things have warmed up since 1990, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture came up with its plant hardiness zone map--the reference gardeners use when figuring out what kinds of plants will thrive in their yards. The Daily Climate has a story about the departments revisions to the map. A new version -- with all those colored ribbons moved a little farther north, should appear later this year. The Arbor Day Foundation published its own revised map in 2006, along with this nifty animation showing how the zones have changed.

The USDA's 1990 map of the region's plant hardiness zones.