A Star Is Born

Stars are the most common object in the night sky. They come in different colors and brightness. Grab a pair of binoculars and the number you can see goes from too many to count to more than you thought possible. It seems as though they've always been there, but where did they come from?

Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery (NASA)

Gas and dust in space pulled together by gravity attract more material. More mass has more gravity, so it continues to attract more material, while also collapsing into itself. As it collapses and becomes more dense, it begins to hear up. At some point, what is now considered a core begins to fuse hydrogen atoms into helium. The pressure of the energy radiating from the new star is enough to keep it from collapsing into itself further.
Not all of the gas and dust gets sucked into the star. It will swirl around the star and conceal into planets and asteroids, like what happened here in our solar system. In other systems, multiple stars may form rather than just one like we got stuck with.

Life cycle of a star (NASA)

If a star is massive enough, it will blow itself apart in a supernova. Gas and dust from the exploding star will fly out into space and the process will begin again. This week's information comes from NASA.

Species of the Month

Spring has officially arrived, and with it, the birds and the bees. March's Species of the Month is a bee, the American bumblebee. This and other bees are just beginning to make appearances in my neck of the woods. Cute and fuzzy, they fly despite the laws of aerodynamics stating otherwise. Lucky for them, they don't use aerodynamics to fly.
  

Scientific name: Bombus Pensylvanicus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Insecta (insects)

Order: Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, sawflies)

Range: Eastern North America from Quebec south to Florida, west to the Rockies

Habitat: open fields

Lifespan: Up to a year

Diet: pollen (favors sunflower, clover, vetch)

Predators: Birds, spiders, other bees, small mammals

Conservation Status: Threatened

Other Information: Bumblebees live in a family colony. A queen emerges from hibernation first and begins searching for a suitable nesting site to lay her eggs. She feeds the larva, which grow into workers that feed the next batch of larva to hatch. In summer, males and queens hatch, then leave the nest to mate. The queens go into hibernation for the winter while the males and workers die. American bumblebees are a later emerging species. They are able to regulate their body temperatures like mammals do. American bumblebees, like other bumbles and bees in general, are declining in number. Several factors are thought to contribute, including habitat loss and pesticides.
This week's information comes from Iowa State University's Bug Guide and the US Forest Service. The pictures are from the State of Montana's Montana Field Guide.

Animal 911

In spite of humanity’s destruction of the environment over the last few centuries, most people believe in helping out in ways that don’t require a drastic lifestyle change. One way that people can feel good about the world is wildlife rescue. Every year thousands of good Samaritans encounter orphaned, sick, or injured animals that they deliver to or are picked up by professional wildlife rehabilitators. The goal of wildlife rehab is to provide medical care to the animal and release it back to the wild.

Orphaned raccoons

Many times, an injury is so severe the animal would be unable to return to the wild. In those instances, the animal usually moves to a wild animal park or some other educational organization where it works as an animal ambassador. Animal ambassadors are a way to connect the public to critters they wouldn’t normally get to encounter, especially up close. They work to raise awareness about the wild world around us and offer a glimpse of how these critters live. Many times they can shed some light on the daily challenges they face, in addition to having to deal with people.

Eastern screech owl working as an animal ambassador

I recently visited a wildlife rehab center. Animals are separated by species, although there may be several, such as raccoons, sharing living quarters. The raccoons are quarantined on arrival to check for rabies. All enclosures are covered to keep birds from escaping, or getting in and eating the patients. On the day of my visit, there were raccoons, a beaver, owls, hawks, vultures, squirrels, crows, baby opossums, and songbirds in treatment. In the past, they have rehabbed deer. There is no animal too great or too small for these people to help.

Great horned owl

Orphaned opossums

Blue jay on the mend

Gone With The Wind

It rustles. It rocks us to sleep. It kicks up the surf. It whispers, howls, and screams like the banshees. This week we're talking about the wind. Where does it come from?
On a basic level, the wind is just air moving. But why? Osmosis- air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. You can test this yourself by blowing up a balloon, then letting go of the open end. Inside the balloon is more compact. The pressure of the incoming air presses against the balloon, making it expand. Once you let it open the high pressure air rushed out to where there is less pressure.

Low pressure following warm air (NOAA)

So what causes the pressure differences? Temperatures.
Warmer air rises and the molecules spread out. That motion causes an area of low pressure that other air moves in to fill, and we feel that as wind. Storms can cause greater differences in pressure, which leads to higher wind speeds. Hurricanes have extremely low pressure, which explains why they have such strong wind. here.

Wind moving in to fill a void left by warm air rising (NOAA)

Tornados are a whole other ball of wax, which we talked about
Now you know the science behind the wind. Next time it rattles your house or flies your life you'll have a greater understanding of what's going on.
This week's information comes from NOAA.

Species of the Month

We're still in Old Man Winter's icy grip for at least another month, so it's the perfect time to feature another critter that thrives in cold, snowy weather. This month we'll take a look at the elusive Canada lynx.

Canada lynx slinking among the vine maples

Scientific name: Lynx canadensis

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Carnivora (carnivores)

Range: Circumpolar- Canada, northern US 

Habitat: Forest and tundra

Lifespan: Up to 14.5 years

Diet: Snowshoe hares, rodents, birds, fish, carrion

Predators: None known though bears and wolves may prey on kittens

Conservation Status: Listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act and endangered by the state of Michigan

The giant feet are visible in this shot (USFWS)

Other Information: The lynx is known for its intricate relationship with the snowshoe hare. The lynx population fluctuates in response to that of the snowshoe hare, with the lynx lagging by about a year in a nine year cycle of boom and crash. The lynx may as well be known as a snowshoe bobcat, as they are similar in appearance. The lynx has large feet that work as snowshoes, allowing it to hunt in the deepest snow. Another difference between the cats is the longer tufts of ear hair on the lynx. Litters are commonly two or three kittens, born April to June. They stay with the mother until the following mating season, almost a year later. Lynxes are solitary creatures, and are mainly nocturnal hunters. While smaller animals are their main prey, they will take a sick or injured deer if the opportunity presents itself.

This shot offers a better view of the ear hair (USFS)

This week's information comes from the University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web.