Go Look At A Tree

We have been watching this beleaguered hawk from our backyard for about a week.  It sits near the top of a redwood tree and is constantly set upon by gulls, crows, ravens and, once, a Steller's jay. (The jay of course was the only one who hopped over and poked it in the butt).  Everybody's protecting their nests this time of year.

Speaking of redwoods, we ran across a few mentions today of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a project devoted to cloning ancient trees in order to begin restoring our old growth forests. Today is their Global Planting Day when they will plant clones of very old (think 4,000 years) redwoods at numerous sites in North America, Europe and Australia. Found this via Treehugger, of course.

Also, a very good essay in the Atlantic (actually an excerpt from James Barilla's book, Backyard Jungle) in which he fills his urban backyard with fruit trees and vegetables, has it certified a wildlife habitat and then frets over the carpenter bees eating his house and the squirrels who won't allow him a single ripe peach.