Wife cut her hair a little shorter yesterday. Today she said that using the clippers is slightly addictive. “You’re going to run out of hair!” I pointed out. She grinned malevolently and said “But I could cut your hair!” So now I’m slightly worried she will shave my head while I’m sleeping.
On woodpeckers, Downy/Hairy and Nuttall’s should be fairly distinguishable as long as you get a decent look at the back, since (as I realize you know) the Nuttall’s has the horizontally striped “ladder-backed” look, while Downy/Hairy has a broad white stripe down the back. They’re also distinguishable by voice.
I talked more about this (so much more) in the on-line meeting of our local bird club a few weeks ago:
Today at 4 p.m. Pacific we’re having our next meeting. It’s on swallows and swifts! I’m really looking forward to it. Esteemed mutuals are especially encouraged to consider participating via Zoom or watching the YouTube livestream. (@echojar watched the woodpeckers one, but I was too distracted to notice them in the livestream comments until afterwards, for which I’m kicking myself.)
So obviously, there’s a lot to unpack here. But stay with me as we take in this adorable little weirdo in all its glory. C. verticillata has wedge-shaped or lobed basal squamules, and fruticose, cup-like podetia that stick straight up. The unique characteristic of these podetia is that they form tiers of cups proliferating from the cup centers like tiny, bizarre fountains. It is grayish-green in color, and brownish or tan in areas touched by sunlight. Apothecia are small and brown, and grow out of the cup margins in small globules. C. verticillata is not particularly common, but occurs in cool, upland, subarctic, boreal, or montane regions around the world, preferring acidic soil and open areas. If I saw a design like this for like, anything in nature, I’d be like “that’s so unrealistic, no way.” But like, she went there, y’all.
“…Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice. ‘The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.’ He raised his staff. There was a roll of thunder. The sunlight was blotted out from the eastern windows; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night. The fire faded to sullen embers. Only Gandalf could be seen, standing white and tall before the blackened hearth.”
– Gandalf dismissing Wormtongue to speak to Théoden, who was still under Saruman’s spell. Two Towers, The King of the Golden Hall (via tolkienmatters)
