Blue Print Of A Snowboard Box

garden pond and I nosed Snakes on Telemadrid

C sa few weeks ago I preached on Sunday May 23 issued a series program "Animal Instinct " in Telemadrid I participated in speaking of snakes in Madrid. The program was about poisonous animals in general and was entitled "Give me poison."

The entire program has a half-hour and ten minutes my participation. The rest of the program is exotic snakes, scorpions and spiders mainly, rather within the field of terrariofilia, which is not subject of this blog. Since Telemadrid not have a library of searchable online to be able to refer to it, which I think would be appropriate and legal, I just put my collaboration.

For what this program with continuous movement and changes of plane, let me stay so much time talking the same is much appreciated. The truth is that I had fun with the technical (camera and sound) and the hostess, Carolina Rueda, even though the weather was not and, as expected, we saw no snake.

On 30 April, which was the day of recording, it dawned snowing in the upper part of the Sierra de Guadarrama and we had to choose to take refuge in a valley of the south side where he knew he had seen snakes. It was impossible, a strong wind, intermittent rain and even hail is not the most suitable for the snakes go for a walk. And that the time is propitious to have seen fights between males, courtship and copulation. Out to see snakes is a utopia, but going to see snakes and record in just three hours is deluded.

recorded telling me many things that have not been issued. I understand that for the general public are not so important and has been selected as representative. Also, I would have eaten the whole program, which is not plan. So I make this entry, mainly to complete the things that appear there.

In the Iberian Peninsula there are three species of snakes:

- Vipera seoanei which is distributed by the Cantabrian Mountains, which was many years confused with the species from the rest of Europe, Vipera berus . Is the large, but perhaps the least poisonous.

- Vipera aspis , distribution Pyrenees, the most aggressive and small, and

- Vipera latasti , the snub-nosed viper, which we Madrid and so the star of the program, which is distributed throughout the rest of the Peninsula.

actually say that is distributed throughout the peninsula is an illusion, because their populations are very few, isolated and in many places in danger of extinction. Indeed, this map comes from the Atlas and Red Book of Amphibians and Reptiles of Spain the English Herpetological Association did for the Ministry of Environment Environment and published in 2002.

centers in Madrid, the map shown below comes from an atlas that I authored in 1988. I doubt that is representative of current populations. Nosed snakes will become the isolated mountain populations (criminal, Long Rope, Seven Peaks, Peguerinos), perhaps down to the border with the province of Ávila and the Sierra Norte, near Guadalajara, where populations are possibly stable.

One of the issues that are most interesting to me about the biology of snakes, and that does not appear in the program is its Ovoviviparity . This means say that the eggs hatch inside the female. Ovoviviparous species often have fewer offspring than those that lay eggs, hatching is more secure, but the mother devotes more effort to their care. The egg-laden females are duller and have to spend more time sunbathing. That, as commented in the video, has to stay on highways and roads clear more than recommended for your safety.
The Ovoviviparity has allowed some species geographic distribution deal cooler than the rest of the reptiles, both in latitude and altitude. In Spain we have the case of snakes, as well as the viviparous lizard, Zootoca (= Lacerta) vivipara, and the solution, Anguis fragilis. Also these species, but changing our snake by V. berus, in Europe are up further north, even to the Arctic Circle. And the same goes for the salamanders, but this will be the subject of another entry.

How is this possible? Well, almost certainly because as the mother who moves inside the eggs, putting them safe from frost and floods and to search actively for sunny places, makes it possible to incubate in a timely fashion. Maybe that adaptation to cold environment is a cause of its future extinction due to climate change, as does a weeks told us in a scientific study conducted worldwide lizards .

I will not repeat most things that are said in the video, but to differentiate snakes of snakes, I leave a drawing I made for another of my works, the book "Amphibians and Reptiles of
Madrid (1989 ). On the left is the viper snake, Natrix maura , distinguishing the large scales of the head, and right the snake, with vertical pupils and small cephalic scales.

jacket of the same book also hocicuda a photo I made in Cabezas de Hierro. I was in the way of long ropes and Javier Barbadillo, which ahead of me, passed over it without knowing and without her being scared. May be another distinctive character: in one part of the body near the head, the black line is zig-zag, but around the waist that line becomes a succession of circles or ovals, like a rosary. The zig-zag, moreover, is a trait shared by other harmless species. There are many snakes

melanin, so if we see a completely black snake is very possible that it is a snake.

Finally, a recommendation: When you see a snake in the field, do not get close to appreciate those details, let it calm and cautious notes from distance. All tend to flee, snakes are perhaps the slowest response, but once we overcome a minimum distance vulnerable to attack.

Colorectal Cancer, Chemo, Cognitive Impairment

white-tailed Starling

E n one of my first entries, more than a year ago, I showed sparrow white feathers on one wing and said he had controlled a starling with a white tail that was not able to shoot decently. I can show you today.

Not that these photos are good, but worth to document the presence of this curious animal. park almost every day outside the house where the nest entrance, between a beam and the external wall. The house was half built and birds are relatively quiet. From a safe distance, imposed by the plot itself, I can see the bustle of comings and goings of birds bringing food to their children. If you do not go for a walk, as there hope for my daughter out of school for about 20 to 25 minutes, I can pursue to control the frequency of entries. singular bird discovered in 2007 and then in 2008 I saw her nesting in the same place. In contrast, in 2009 the nest was occupied by a pair of normal-colored starlings and, indeed, as I witnessed was plundered by a magpie.

This year has returned to occupy the "chub" of white glue. But why say starling? I suppose it is a female because in 2008, which was the best year I could see it, I checked the number of courtship feeding which made the two partners and while the white-tailed entered the nest every four minutes on average , copy "male? normal coloring it would be every 15-20 minutes at least. However, bad luck, was the only one who got a decent photograph, this is the next photo.

Now go back raising the white-tailed starling, but I have not seen his partner. I do not know if you ignore your children, if has died or if I have not been watching the nest long enough.

Sometimes it's amazing how little it takes to restore after a prime, just two minutes. Guess is that when it encounters an abundant source of food nearby. Because it is so easy to spot, I have to see it recognized on the lawn of a garden just 200 meters, looking for worms, and also in a corner of another garden of the same estate where they put food for stray cats at the top of the wall . Large numbers of birds taking advantage of the situation, especially crows, blackbirds and, of course, the starlings.

The scientific name is black starlings Sturnus unicolor, but it does not live up to its name, but rather would be a "Sturnus bicolor."

Does Real Incest Happen

The secret of the orchids

U n quiet walk in the Sierra de Guadarrama, in the foothills of malice, Javier Barbadillo and Carmen has provided not only a pleasant conversation and exercise, but opportunity to enjoy and learn together in nature.

We are in our environment, as soon by looking at the lizard like beetles and simple flowers with interesting secrets.

I take advantage of the knowledge of Javier on the flora of the Sierra to help me identify this orchid, Orchis mascula , which now dominates the slopes of the mountains near the 2,000 meters, with its purple spikes, among heather and huckleberries. flower is a humble, not particularly striking, and we need to approach it to appreciate its simple beauty. Underground, hidden as if they give shame, have a pair of tubercles paired as a couple ... Testicles! Yes, the Greek name for the testicles, "orchis" is the origin of the name as sophisticated flowers.
Another feature of the orchids are the flowers, tremendously changed and evolved. Lost radial symmetry of simpler ones and change. One of the petals is highly modified and created a kind of runway for insects. This orchid is not imitating the design and scent bees to try to make them fertile males, but at the rear offers a spur in which they find nectar to entice, but not for sex, then at the call of the stomach .

When a bee or other insect lands on the enlarged part of the petal, called the lip, and into trying to reach the nectar, the orchid is not content to soak in pollen, which does is to put a kind of sticky flags in head, face or trunk. Are the pollinia, the kind of clubs you see in the picture below, which are loaded with pollen grains.

to show my daughter, and you, I made a stick in the flower and has come out with the two components together.
just get the bug flower, begin to degrade and drying columns which stuck to the insect and when re-entering another flower the pollinia falling on the stigmas to fertilize and try to ensure another generation of orchids.
Orchids produce thousands of tiny seeds, so small as spores, carried by the wind trying to colonize new land. But few make it to germinate, because not only need suitable land, but have to live in symbiosis with a fungus in their roots, mycorrhizae. Some orchids, do not they just, barely do photosynthesis and live off fungi. Others on the contrary, they are epiphytes, also need to be light on the roots, as they also fulfill the function of photosynthesis.

insects, orchids and mushrooms are a fine example of co-evolution and shows that we need to preserve nature as a whole and not as isolated elements. It is definitely an example of the importance of biodiversity.