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	<title>Three Star Owl - Functional and Sculptural Clay Artwork with a Natural History</title>
	<link>http://threestarowl.com</link>
	<description>Three Star Owl clay studio</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:54:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Rio Salado in early spring</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today I actually got outdoors to breathe air, soak up sunbeams, and take a look at what&#8217;s up, and what&#8217;s in the air.  It&#8217;d been awhile, and I thought I&#8217;d celebrate by passing along some of what&#8217;s happening along the Salt River, smack in the middle of the City of Phoenix, AZ.
&#60;&#60; green Goodding&#8217;s willows, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/rio-salado-in-early-spring</link>
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		<title>Squeezing out horned lizards from clay</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A new batch of clay horned lizards under way &#8212; early steps:
From top to bottom: 
1) Rough out body shape by pinching; head and tail included in starting clay lump.
2) Create appendages: horns, limbs.  Allow to &#8220;set up&#8221; or slightly stiffen, while: refining body shape of liz.
3) Further refine body shape; note detail in head, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/squeezing-out-horned-lizards-from-clay</link>
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		<title>President&#8217;s Day: Hoover himself shows up</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Hoover&#8221; the semi-tame  African Collared Dove who inhabits our neighborhood came around for a handout of sunflower hearts and peanuts on Valentine&#8217;s Day.  It&#8217;s a bit of a sad story, in that he used to have a female companion, but no longer.  So far this spring he&#8217;s spent much of the day in plaintive calling [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/presidents-day-hoover-himself-shows-up</link>
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		<title>New!  Spot the Bird!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A recent post, Spot the Pipit, inadvertently marked the inauguration of a series of themed posts in this webjournal: Spot the Bird. 
After posting Spot the Pipit, it occurred to me that in the Three Star Owl photo files were other pix which showed birds that were more or less hard to see, but which [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/new-spot-the-bird</link>
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		<title>Return to Ganskopf fetishes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[(This is the fourth installment in the series: read the others here, here and here.)
Several months went by before I heard from Professor Harrower again.  This hiatus surprised me, because the press had kept up with a stream of cheesey, sensationalist Ganskopf &#8220;mystery relic&#8221; articles, keeping public interest simmering.  But eventually a letter came in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/return-to-ganskopf-fetishes</link>
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		<title>Spot the Pipit! plus: gallery of international pipits (a bird with a view)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There&#8217;s a small bird in this photo of lakeside rocks.  Can you spot the pipit?
Sunday E and I watched an American pipit (Anthus rubescens; photo E.Shock) working its way along water&#8217;s edge at Burnt Corral on Apache Lake east of Phoenix, darting after flies. beetles, larvae and other yummies around the cobbles in the shallow [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/spot-the-pipit-plus-gallery-of-international-pipits-a-bird-with-a-view</link>
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		<title>Colorado indeed</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been an unusually wet gray week in the desert, and this has brought water to my mind in general, and some of its more colorful properties from wishful thinking.  So, here are some photos of brightly colored waters.  One is tinted by reflections on its surface, another by what&#8217;s under its surface, one by [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/colorado-indeed</link>
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		<title>Winter in the Anchas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[E and I went uphill today, to see what last week&#8217;s winter storms had brought to the higher terrain: a proper Sunday Drive.  We drove up into the Sierra Anchas, a rugged wilderness area east of Phoenix, east of Lake Roosevelt, a place we seem never to explore frequently enough.  In a surprisingly short distance, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/winter-in-the-anchas</link>
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		<title>Cold wet studio mess</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s frequently said about the desert that there&#8217;s two ways to get into trouble in it: not enough water, and too much water.  This train of big winter storms has definitely proved the latter.
Tomorrow I&#8217;ll be drying out the studio which, being the informal structure it is, has many leaks and moisture-retaining properties, and has [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/cold-wet-studio-mess</link>
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		<title>Two coatis hit the road&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;but only one came back.
Thanks to everybody who came by Three Star Owl at Wings Over Willcox &#8212; the show was a very good one for &#8220;the owl&#8221;.  Cranes were seen, friends were met and re-met, many clay pieces found good new homes.  And thanks also to the organizers of the Festival, who have a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/two-coatis-hit-the-road</link>
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		<title>Winging over to Willcox</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Three Star Owl is spending this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Willcox, AZ, for the annual Wings Over Willcox festival.  If you&#8217;re in the area, stop by the Willcox Community Center, and see what&#8217;s up.
(Detail of an oval vessel with a Sandhill Crane repoussé and carved in low relief, 10.5&#8243;, stoneware, A.Shock 2009)

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/winging-over-to-willcox</link>
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		<title>Bonus beetles</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here are some boffo blue beetles.
I don&#8217;t know anything about them. We found them last year just below a cloud forest in southern Veracruz, Mexico, on the side of a road that crossed a re-grown lava flow. There were hundreds of them, congregating for reasons possible to guess at, but known only to themselves, in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/bonus-beetles</link>
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		<title>Picture of purples past</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is the very week many Costa&#8217;s hummingbirds leave our yard.  I know this because I&#8217;m keeping track,  not out of obsessiveness, or possessiveness (well, maybe a little&#8230;), but because each winter I participate in the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology&#8217;s Project Feeder Watch.  Like Christmas bird counts, it&#8217;s a way for science to harness [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/picture-of-purples-past</link>
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		<title>Got Gila Monster?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) are large stumpy lizards with bright handsome markings that are both cryptic and aposematic simultaneously, and whose hands look like neoprene wetsuit gloves with claws.  They are remarkable for being one of only two venomous lizard species in the world.  They live in the Sonoran and southern Great Basin Deserts and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/got-gila-monster</link>
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		<title>We hear that 2010&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;will be a great ear.
Happy New Year!

 
(Photo of snoozing Fennec at Phoenix Zoo by E.Shock)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/we-hear-that-2010</link>
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		<title>Happy Blue Moon New Year!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is E.
In October of this year, E and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary (and that&#8217;s not even quite the whole of it).  At the time I didn&#8217;t post about it, since that sort of thing doesn&#8217;t fall within this blog&#8217;s usual subject matter.  But the turn of the new year &#8212; lit by [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/uncategorized/happy-blue-moon-new-year</link>
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		<title>Cranky Owlet and family&#8230;.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;at home for Holidays&#8230;

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		<link>http://threestarowl.com/cranky-owlet/cranky-owlet-and-family</link>
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		<title>Raise up your arms&#8230;.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;like saguaros in the snow!

This photo of saguaros dusted with the white stuff near Lake Roosevelt has been trotted out from my photo archives: our current desert skies are clear and cold, at least for now, and all the snow is up above the Rim, apparently in good quantities this year.  The hummers are swarming [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/raise-your-arms</link>
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		<title>Heading into Winter&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;for the second time.
As fall is about to turn to winter here in Arizona, I realized that it&#8217;s our second winter for 2009, having spent the same turn of season in the southern hemisphere earlier this year in New Zealand.
The high wind and sleet don&#8217;t show in this photo of me crossing a suspension bridge [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/heading-into-winter</link>
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		<title>Four calling owls, three quail hens, two Inca doves&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;and a Phainopepla in a Palo Verde tree.
As around the turn of every new year, Christmas Bird Counts are happening across America.  Under the auspices of the Audubon Society winter bird distribution and population information is compiled, collected by volunteers, most of whom are not ornithologists but people with a non-professional &#8212;  although sometimes [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/four-calling-owls-three-quail-hens-two-inca-doves</link>
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		<title>Many thanks to everyone&#8230;.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;who stopped by to visit Three Star Owl at the Audubon Arizona Gifts from Nature fundraiser and show in Scottsdale this Friday and Saturday.  The rain stayed away, and it was nice to see everyone out and about!  Special thanks to everyone at Audubon Arizona, for once again wrangling a great show!
(photo: smoke-fired coati effigy [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/many-thanks-to-everyone</link>
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		<title>A peek at the new guys&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;awaiting pricing and packing for Gifts for Nature, this Friday and Saturday, 11-12 Dec 2009, at the Cattle Track Compound in Scottsdale, AZ (more details here). There seem to be a lot of snouts and tails waving in the air&#8230; Hope you can come and see what they&#8217;re attached to!


]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/a-peek-at-the-new-guys</link>
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		<title>A close brush with a hunter</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Weeks out of &#8220;swim-season&#8221;, our pool is a bit dishevelled right now: a recent windstorm, a bit of a chemical imbalance, a bit of neglect, made it time to brush the pool.  It&#8217;s a task that in itself isn&#8217;t huge fun in cold weather &#8212; cold wet aluminum chills the paws fast! &#8212; but does [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/a-close-brush-with-a-hunter</link>
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		<title>Contemplate the young desert spiny lizard&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;as it basks in the late autumn sun at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. 
(Photo A.Shock)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/contemplate-the-young-desert-spiny-lizard</link>
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		<title>This is not albino dog poop&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;it&#8217;s a coil of tube-slush that blurped out of the hose this morning &#8212; yes, ICE!  So, the frost-cloth and styrofoam cups are stratigically positioned, ready to be placed over newly-planted herbs, and on tender cactus-tips late this afternoon: tonight is supposed to be the first frost of winter.  The hummers are hitting the nectar [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/this-is-not-albino-dog-poop</link>
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		<title>Announcing the next Three Star Owl event:</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Audubon Arizona&#8217;s Gifts from Nature fundraiser.
Save the date!  Coming up quickly on the 11th and 12th of December, at the Cattletrack Compound in Scottsdale:

The Friday evening event is a festive preview and advance sale, with music, hors d&#8217;oevres, wine and hot cider.  It&#8217;s $25 per person (call for reservations, 602-468-6470 ext. 103). The Saturday public [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/announcing-the-next-three-star-owl-event</link>
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		<title>Fair warning on this Black Friday&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;for those of us who decide to enter the Fray, this is the kind of thing you&#8217;ll be up against:
Yes, the Holidays must be upon us, it&#8217;s the traditional Santa Hat-Wearing Wiener Dog on a Bun with Lettuce and Mustard Effigy Vessel (featuring removable lid), now appearing at your local discount department store.  Oh, Why [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/fair-warning-on-this-black-friday</link>
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		<title>Happy Thanksgiving!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
(Photo by E.Shock)
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		<link>http://threestarowl.com/birds/happy-thanksgiving</link>
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		<title>More coati moments</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Spotting coatis in Sabino canyon was fortunate in many ways.  Not only is it always amazing to see a coati, but it was artistically inspiring, too.  Before the Tucson visit I had already begun a small coati effigy bowl, so on returning home I was all fired up to finish it and start another bigger [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/more-coati-moments</link>
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		<title>A first year Cooper&#8217;s hawk&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;is bent on both mayhem and mischief.
She was lurking at the north entrance to Papago Park early Saturday morning, in the low spot where the White-crowned sparrows, House finches, and Mourning doves are usually found in great numbers on chilly winter mornings.  She even swooped over our heads on her way up to the top [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/a-first-year-coopers-hawk</link>
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		<title>Still Lousy: Costa contra Costa</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The post-breeding influx of Costa&#8217;s hummingbirds in our Phoenix-area yard continues.  This tough little desert hummer is present at the feeders year round, but the population goes up noticeably between about June and December.  Most of the birds we see are males, some in fully developed adult plumage, some with scraggly purple moustaches just growing in.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/still-lousy-costa-contra-costa</link>
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		<title>A Coati moment, or two</title>
		<description><![CDATA[An excellent working weekend in Tucson had an unexpected furry, long-tailed highlight: on a hike up Sabino Canyon with Kate McKinnon and the other participants of her metal clay workshop, we ran into a pair of Coatis! I&#8217;d forgotten my camera, but fortunately others had theirs, and the younger coati obliged us by being visible [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/a-coati-moment-or-two</link>
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		<title>Hey, it&#8217;s a Wrentit!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Can&#8217;t resist posting this swell picture by E of a Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata), a veritable Dinky Dude not of the Desert, but of West Coast scrub and inland chaparral.
(left, Wrentit, photo E. Shock)
It may have subdued plumage, but how can anyone not like a skulking, big-headed, tiny bird with white eyes, who is the only [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/hey-its-a-wrentit</link>
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		<title>Mesquite meal fest</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve been trying to Green Up around here.  In addition to starting up a composting system for garden waste and kitchen scraps, as well as having plans for an herb and chile garden to use the compost on, we recently went to a mesquite-pod milling event.
Left: dried mesquite pods
Mesquite pods and seeds are really hard.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/mesquite-meal-fest</link>
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		<title>Is this the offending foam?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On last weekend&#8217;s trip to the Oregon coast, E and I noticed the beaches were festooned with unsupported sea-foam, churned up by the waves.  This might have been the slimy foam that&#8217;s currently causing major problems for sea birds along the Oregon coast.  The foam, a result of an off-shore algal bloom, coats the bird&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/is-this-the-offending-foam</link>
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		<title>Redcaps and Redthroats: &#8217;shrooms and loons&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;on the northwest Oregon coast.
It&#8217;s not very much like the Sonoran Desert here. Everything&#8217;s either wet or damp, and when it rains it&#8217;s not a pounding monsoonal deluge that ends quickly, but a steady long-term soaking, which might last hours, days, or the rest of the year.  Things that live here are water-loving organisms, like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/redcaps-and-redthroats-shrooms-and-loons</link>
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		<title>Frankly, Cranky Owlet&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;finds songbirds a nuisance.

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/frankly-cranky-owlet</link>
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		<title>Autumn newbies making the most of the gentle season</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently a neighbor came across the street to tell me in a concerned way that she had &#8220;had to&#8221; kill not just one but two non-venomous coachwhips in her yard out of fear for the safety of her pet, a feisty little terrier whom no self-respecting coachwhip would allow near enough for trouble.  So it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/autumn-newbies-making-the-most-of-the-gentle-season</link>
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		<title>October 10 turned out to be unofficial Rock Art Day&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;and we spent the day near Sedona in the Red Rocks and Wet Beaver Creek visiting Palatki and V-V (a ranch brand pronounced Vee-Bar-Vee), both quite spectacular rock art venues.
These are fairly easily accessible sites maintained by the Forest Service for public viewing, and well worth the trip (around 2 1/2 hours from Phoenix, much [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/october-10-turned-out-to-be-unofficial-rock-art-day</link>
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		<title>Uncommon yard bird: Blackhawk fly-over</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The other morning around 6 am I was awakened by a neighbor: the Army National Guard&#8217;s Papago Military Station thumped deafeningly with the rotors of helicopters.  I went out to look: the National Guard is usually a quiet neighbor, with only occasional popping of target practice audible from our street.  The airstrip no longer hosts [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/yard-list/uncommon-yard-bird-blackhawk-fly-over</link>
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		<title>Late Night Arthropod: Vaejovis aglow</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Scorpions are not a thing at our house.  We don&#8217;t see them frequently, and as previously posted, they&#8217;re more likely to be encountered outside as victims of the swimming pool than inside the house.  But last night E liberated one from the front bathroom, and temporarily incarcerated it in a pint glass.
In the morning, I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/late-night-arthropod-vaejovis-aglow</link>
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		<title>What is this animal?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Rat, pig, dog, hedgehog, chupacabra, what?
The answer is all of the above.  Long a mainstay of Three Star Owl sculptural subjects, this pointy-ended, feisty-looking, toothy mammal has been called all of them.  And that would be correct &#8212; called a &#8220;rαtdog&#8221; for convenience &#8212; it stands for Every Mammal, including us human ones.  Rαtdogs represent [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/what-is-this-animal</link>
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		<title>Flaming flamingo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Late afternoon light makes this Flamingo at the Phoenix Zoo fiery pink. (Photo E.Shock)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/birds/flaming-flamingo</link>
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		<title>Seriously Cereus</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The weather has cooled a bit, and even the succulents in the yard are perking up a little.  Here&#8217;s a shot of a luncheon-plate sized flower of a nocturnal, non-native Cereus aethiops columnar cactus, taken at dawn before it faded in the rays of the sun.
(Photo of Cereus aethiops blossom by A.Shock)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/seriously-cereus</link>
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		<title>Why it&#8217;s called a Ring-necked duck</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Although the days are still hot here in the Phoenix area, there are signs that summer is sliding into fall: migrating Red-tailed hawks soaring over the park this morning, and over Papago Buttes a couple of accipiters (probably Cooper&#8217;s hawks) swirling through a cloud of White-throated swifts, hoping for a quick fistful of breakfast on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/why-its-called-a-ring-necked-duck</link>
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		<title>The rare Scottsdale Aquatic scorpion?  afraid not&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This was weird, and sad for sure.
In previous posts, I&#8217;ve mentioned the unfortunate similarity of our swimming pool to the LaBrea Tarpits.  Especially in the summer months when there are lots of inexperienced young animals out and about, we often have to carry out water rescues.  Since my studio is at home and looks onto [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/close-in/the-rare-scottsdale-aquatic-scorpion-afraid-not</link>
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		<title>Living with Pests, plus bonus barrel blossoms</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After our latest monsoon event, the yard was freshly rinsed and all dampy.  Everything was making the most of the moist: the succulents were sucking up water, the trees were drinking and dripping, and the whole world was washed in that most deserty perfume of creosote.
Also, the Cactus Longhorn Beetle came out.  Here is its [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/living-with-pests-plus-bonus-barrel-blossoms</link>
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		<title>The pulchritude of vulturitude, or&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;things are more colorful in the tropics.

Let&#8217;s unofficially extend International Vulture Awareness &#8220;Day&#8221; to &#8220;Weekend&#8221;, just so we can examine the glorious elegance that is the facial skin of the Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture, a cousin of the widely distributed Turkey vulture that most of us Norte Americaños are familiar with.
You could argue that the King [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/the-pulchritude-of-vulturitude-or</link>
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		<title>Who needs vultures?  Everybody needs vultures!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[International Vulture Awareness day is Sept. 5
Vultures and condors are really useful in your niche or ecosystem.  What to do with that pesky roadkill, thawed winterkill, shot-winged quarry, victims of natural disaster, contagion, or warfare, or any other squishy, odiferous and past-its-prime meaty object?  Just leave it to vultures &#8212; it&#8217;s easy, quick, FREE, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/who-needs-vultures-everybody-needs-vultures</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Cranky Owlet on Facebook</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Now you can follow Three Star Owl, me, and Cranky Owlet on Facebook.  Just click on the Facebook icon to the right, and friend &#8220;Cranky Owlet&#8221;.  Or, if you&#8217;re not already on Facebook, join to friend Cranky Owlet.

Cranky Owlet says, &#8220;Friend me!&#8221;

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/cranky-owlet-on-facebook</link>
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		<title>Watch your step!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As kids growing up in coastal southern California, we loved to warn each other authoritatively &#8220;Shuffle your feet!&#8221;, having been scared by older cousins and uncles about the dangers of stingrays in the warm shallow waters of some of the bays we swam in.  Older cousins and uncles may like to terrify little girls for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/watch-your-step</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Pleistocene megafauna revisited, and a couple of varieties of festoonage</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In an earlier post, I recalled an uncomfortable encounter with a bison on Catalina Island.  For the past few days, we were in Yellowstone (no internet anywhere in the Park!), and our interactions with large mammals were definitely calmer and thankfully more removed.  Here is one, placidly grazing by a park roadside.  He&#8217;s been head-butting [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/pleistocene-megafauna-revisited-and-a-couple-of-varieties-of-festoonage</link>
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		<title>Studio assistant</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hector Halfsquid leaves his mark.

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/studio-assistant</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Quite a Toadly Frog</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It looks a lot like a toad, with a stumpy physique and warty skin, but it&#8217;s a Canyon Tree Frog (Hyla arenicolor).  How to tell it&#8217;s a frog? One way: no parotoid glands &#8212; instead you can see the round flat areas of its tympani (hearing structures) behind and slightly below the eye. Also, this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/quite-a-toadly-frog</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Is birding green?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Telegraph website of the UK has posted a short column hastily summarizing a research paper concluding that Birding Is Not Green, especially competitive birding and twitching.  The Telegraph article is not very in-depth, refers mostly to Britain (although the issues are largely common to the US as well, and the primary author is at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/environmentactivism/is-birding-green</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Tweaking Tiny Tins: making mini watercolor kits from mint boxes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Everybody in the world has posted their version of the Miniature Watercolor Box, usually ingeniously created from any flat metal tin, often Altoids, sometimes Velamints, or others (see here, here, and here, just for a few examples of many).  These projects are all well-described and illustrated. I hereby add my version, but will only add [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/tweaking-tiny-tins-making-mini-watercolor-kits-from-mint-boxes</link>
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	<item>
		<title>The Presidential Motorcade&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;just passed within a block of our house!
Turns out the street at the edge of our neighborhood &#8212; two houses away from ours &#8212; is a convenient north-south thoroughfare for Leaders of the Free World on their way between Sky Harbor Airport and resort row up on the shoulders of Camelback Mountain.  George W. Bush [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/environmentactivism/the-presidential-motorcade</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Cnemie-philia</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yes, that&#8217;s &#8220;Cnemie-philia&#8221; &#8212; the love of lizards in the genus Cnemidophorus, now more properly called by their current genus name, Aspidoscelis, or Whiptails.  Our locals are Sonoran tiger whiptails (Aspidoscelis tigris punctilinealis), and they&#8217;re the most commonly seen lizard in our Phoenix area yard.  They like it hot and are out and about during [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/cnemie-philia</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Screen-gecko-eat-moth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Working nocturnally in the studio gives observation opportunities not available during the sunny daylight hours.  Geckos (the non-native Euro-variety) march up and down the raccoon-ravaged screens stalking moths larger than their heads.  Here&#8217;s a picture of the ventral surface of one with a successful catch, all swallowed but for the wings, the reflection of my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/screen-gecko-eat-moth</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Help finding Maureen!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you are Maureen M. who emailed me recently about Horned Lizard bowls, I&#8217;ve been trying to reply but your email address won&#8217;t work.  If you&#8217;re Maureen, or know Maureen, please send me an alternate email address or a phone number so I can get in touch with you.
(Photo A.Shock)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/help-finding-maureen</link>
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		<title>Goodbye to a friend</title>
		<description><![CDATA[tigers walk behind me, they are to remind me, that i am lost, but i&#8217;m not afraid
&#8211;David Byrne

My friend Gloria died at home in St. Louis earlier this year.  She was a good artist, teacher, and person.
(Naive-style watercolor painted for Wolf, A.Shock 2009)

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/goodbye-to-a-friend</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Many thanks&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;to everyone who helped make Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival the most successful one yet for Three Star Owl.  Hope to see you there next year.
By the way, if you had your eye on an item before the show, don&#8217;t assume it&#8217;s not available &#8212; please email me.
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/many-thanks</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Howdy from Sierra Vista, Arizona</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gaze upon Sierra Vista, in south eastern Arizona, where the beautiful Huachuca Mountains beetle over the fast food restaurants and motels of the busy town.  Not visible in this shot, but also beetling, is the everpresent and mysterious white surveillance blimp.  One day, I will find out about the white blimp.  Maybe today.

The natural beauty [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/howdy-from-sierra-vista-arizona</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Green relief for the hot desert eye</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s some eye refreshment for those of us in the hot desert to contemplate: a view of a moist, mossy and cool rainforest from Aotearoa (New Zealand).  Here there be Kiwi birds, and Kakariki, and Mohua.

It always amazes me how effective a bit of shade is for cooling, visually and physically, even in the most [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/green-relief-for-the-hot-desert-eye</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Website issues &#8212; Communications breakdown&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;a little bit.
¡Hola everyone!
It&#8217;s been brought to my attention that some people are having problems emailing me through the Contacts page.  The problem is being worked on right now (and most people aren&#8217;t having any problems) so start on the Contacts page if you&#8217;re trying to get in touch.  If that&#8217;s not working for you, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/website-issues-communications-breakdown</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Sneak preview of Southwest Wings assortment</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The last pieces for Three Star Owl&#8217;s Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival date slid into the kiln thursday, so no more pinching, coiling, stamping, slipping, scoring, or glazing nares, coverts, hooves, beaks, talons, or TOES again, until after the event.  Meanwhile, here&#8217;s a peek at a few things lurking informally around the studio now, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/sneak-preview-of-southwest-wings-assortment</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Cranky Owlet has elevated&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;crankiness to an artform.

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/three-star-owl/cranky-owlet-has-elevated</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Hallux, Retrix and Feak&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
&#8230;are not a Victorian law firm.
They are delightfully specific bird-related terms: it seems that falconers and ornithologists, like the French, have a different word for everything.
You can talk about a raptor&#8217;s &#8220;thumb&#8221;, meaning the strong digit that in most birds is at the back of the foot, and people will know what you mean.  But [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/etymology/hallux-retrix-and-feak</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Lord of the Fly(catchers)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Late each spring, later than most other neotropical migrants, the Brown-crested flycatchers (Myiarchus tyrannulus) return to our neighborhood (and other places in southern Arizona) from their wintering grounds in Mexico.
They are relatively large tyrant flycatchers, about the size of the more familiar Cardinal, but unlike Cardinals they&#8217;re not usually seen on or even terribly close [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/lord-of-the-flycatchers</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Haboobery, indeed</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The sky on Saturday night was remarkable.
Somewhere south of the Phoenix area a big storm collapsed, and the gusty winds flowing down off the top of its towering cumulus clouds blasted a well-defined edge of dust that rolled outward for miles.  It&#8217;s called a Haboob &#8212; fans of the the movie &#8220;the Mummy&#8221; will know [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/yard-list/haboobery-indeed</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Lousy with Costa&#8217;s</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When the Gophersnake made its appearance, I was about to post on Costa&#8217;s hummingbirds, because &#8220;informal censusing&#8221; (= what we see in the yard) indicates that this is the season when the Costa&#8217;s hummer population is highest in our Phoenix area yard: we are lousy with Costa&#8217;s right now.
I would guess it has something to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/lousy-with-costas</link>
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	<item>
		<title>A favorite slinky neighbor&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;was patrolling our yard yesterday, an overcast Thursday morning.
I was working in the studio and noticed yard birds scolding harshly.  But my brain was busy with clay, and it only spared enough attention to ID the calls &#8212; cactus wren, verdin, curve-billed thrasher &#8212; and forgot to be curious about what was setting them off.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/a-favorite-slinky-neighbor</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Have a Javelina, or two</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Days are getting short until Three Star Owl&#8217;s third appearance at Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival, and I&#8217;m in a groove, making pieces for the event.  As posted, I&#8217;ve been making mugs, and also owls.  Lots of owls.  Even more owls than usual.
So recently I turned to the hairy side of Sonoran fauna, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/have-a-javelina-or-two</link>
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		<title>Further adventures with the Hairhen</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Early Monday morning I nearly stepped on a raccoon kit.  We both came around a wall at the same time, from opposite directions.  Fortunately, no contact was made: the kits are well-grown now.  Also, the Hairhen is very watchful, so we were all very careful to not create an incident.  She and all four kits [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/further-adventures-with-the-hairhen</link>
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	<item>
		<title>O the Wonder that is Short-alls!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
&#8220;Paean to the Short-all&#8221;  (India ink and watercolor sketch,  6&#215;9&#8243;, A.Shock)
One crabby technical addition: note the bleeding that occurred in the sepia ink lines adjacent to washes in the drawing.  This happened after adding the watercolor washes, after an hour of ink-drying time.  So, if you&#8217;re using Higgins &#8220;waterproof&#8221; sepia drawing ink, note that it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/o-the-wonder-that-is-short-alls</link>
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	<item>
		<title>A new batch of &#8220;Songbird&#8221; mugs is underway</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m now in heavy production mode for the upcoming Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival in southeastern Arizona (see Events for details).  Some of the objects I&#8217;m making in small batches are smooth-surfaced mugs for glazing bird portraits on.  Flat-bottomed, hand-built (as opposed to wheel-thrown), and intended for daily use, these mugs have proven popular [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/events/a-new-batch-of-songbird-mugs-is-underway</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Desert Dove-o-rama: White-winged doves</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Arriving in the spring, they lurk like vultures for weeks on the crowns of blooming saguaros, waiting for the flowers to swell into fat green fruits.  When they do, the White winged doves (Zenaida asiatica) rip them open with their strong fruit-ripping beaks, exposing the sweet red fruit and feasting greedily.  Sometimes several doves will [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/desert-dove-o-rama-white-winged-doves</link>
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	<item>
		<title>In the Cat&#8217;s Own Dream (equal time category)&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;she&#8217;s Queen B in the Fiery Jungle.

(B in the Grass, watercolor 7&#215;10&#8243; A. Shock 2009)

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/in-the-cats-own-dream-equal-time-category</link>
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		<title>Festival of Desert Doves: the Other Collared Dove</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) has an agenda well-befitting a Columbid: &#8220;Must Colonize New World.&#8221; 
Actually, it started before that, and a lot farther east: a native of central Asia, the Collared Dove had populated Europe as far west as Great Britain by the 1950s.  By the early &#8217;80s, a population had taken hold [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/festival-of-desert-doves-the-other-collared-dove</link>
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	<item>
		<title>In The Cat&#8217;s Own Dream&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;he is Hector Roi:

&#8220;Hector Roi&#8221; watercolor and colored pencil, 7&#215;10&#8243; by A. Shock 2009
Raccoon recount
Also, on an unrelated but more naturalistic topic, a reassessment of the local raccoon population has been necessary.  The night after the Hair Hen post, mama raccoon showed up with FOUR kits.  It was clear that this could not be yet [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/in-the-cats-own-dream</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Meet the Hair Hen&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is the Hair Hen.  Actually, there are two; we call them both the Hair Hen because we used to not be able to tell them apart.  Now we can: one has two kits, the other has three.
This is a picture of the three-kit Hair Hen.  She lives under the Mexican Fan Palm in the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/meet-the-hair-hen</link>
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	<item>
		<title>My Hoodia Stinketh</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For a few days I&#8217;ve been whiffing a whiff, which has caused me to search for the dead mouse in my studio.
Then, I noticed the Hoodia is blooming.  It sits on the shelves right outside the work tables.  That window is always open, being the draw-source for the swamp cooler air.  So the stinkitude of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/my-hoodia-stinketh</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Festival of Desert Doves: African Collared Dove</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The desert suburbs of Phoenix are Columbid-rich, that is, there are many species of doves and pigeons.  Yesterday I was putting out seed in a neighbor&#8217;s gravel drive just before sunset.  The area is quite open, and at that time of day it fills with fat, free-loading doves and pigeons who are used to being [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/festival-of-desert-doves-african-collared-dove</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Constellation Alien Invader Roadkill&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;in which Galactic Possum battles the Celestial Army of Campervans and nearly always loses.  Nearby constellation Ferafelis vorax waits to feast on the carnage.  Visible only in the Southern Hemisphere.

(A.Shock 2009, 6&#8243;x9&#8243; Watercolor, gouache and charcoal)
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/constellation-alien-invader-roadkill</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Springtime do-over in Sedona (with Bonus Wild Hen nidification)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We missed some of Spring in the desert this year, so last weekend we went in search of it under the Mogollon Rim: Sunday found us hiking along the West Fork of Oak Creek in Sedona.  It&#8217;s one of the more popular trails in that popular area, and at times it&#8217;s mobbed by clusters of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/springtime-do-over-in-sedona-with-bonus-wild-hen-nidification</link>
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	<item>
		<title>The (retail) plundering of the continents&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;results in Kiwi-&#8221;flavoured&#8221; tea-towels.
Some people search out exotic specialties and luxuries when they travel, studying the ethnographic crafts and traditional handworks unique to the region.  I admire this, but don&#8217;t seem to be able to accomplish it for my own trips.  I want small, light, unbreakable, useful, evocative, and cheap I mean AFFORDABLE.  So, I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/the-retail-plundering-of-the-continents</link>
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	<item>
		<title>One of the best things we DIDN&#8217;T see in New Zealand&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;was a Ruru, or Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae).

It&#8217;s NZ&#8217;s only remaining native owl (the Laughing owl was last recorded in 1914), and is fairly common in many habitats, even parks and gardens, but is especially numerous in tracts of native bush.  We heard them several places, mostly in the Kauri Forest while on a night walk [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/one-of-the-best-things-we-didnt-see-in-new-zealand</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Gamboling Gambel&#8217;s Quailets</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In our area, the first Gambel&#8217;s quail chicks of the year usually start showing up in early May,  clustered around their parents under the mesquite trees in the yard, pecking expertly at the ground like the precocial youngsters they are.  This year, since we weren&#8217;t around then, we missed the &#8220;nebula phase&#8221; of their [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/gamboling-gambels-quailets</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>From the Sketchbook: Owlwall</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/from-the-sketchbook-owlwall</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Blupeng and the Campervan Life (Four): Breakfast of Seabirds</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A typical Campervan breakfast: instant oatmeal, manuka honey, instant cocoa, dried fruit, Sanitarium brand soya milk, and Vita-brits!  No paper plates here: note the nice &#8220;china&#8221; that&#8217;s supplied with the campervan &#8212; posh!
Still, some are never satisfied:
&#8220;What, no Arrow Squid?&#8221;

]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/blupeng-and-the-campervan-life-four-breakfast-of-seabirds</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Postcards from the Bottom Edge</title>
		<description><![CDATA[With a couple of exceptions, I haven&#8217;t really posted much about something that&#8217;s very plentiful in Aotearoa/NZ: amazing landscapes.  Although there&#8217;s lots and lots of pasture land, crammed with sheep and cattle and non-native trees and grasses, the islands have a plentiful supply of charming vistas, rugged and awesome terrain, and outright wilderness.  All of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/postcards-from-the-bottom-edge-of-the-world</link>
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		<title>Further Ganskopf owl fetishes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[(The third in a series: read the first and second parts)
It had been a while since I&#8217;d had a note from professor Harrower with Ganskopf numbers to illustrate, and there had been some changes at the Foundation since my last visit. Stanley was still at the front door in his epauletted shirt and ill-fitting trousers [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/art/further-ganskopf-owl-fetishes</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Harakeke rules!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Living in Southern California as a kid, I was familiar with the massive, blade-leafed clumping plant widely used in landscaping called Flax, or New Zealand Flax.  So I shouldn&#8217;t have been surprised to see it growing everywhere in New Zealand, right?  Still, my first dim thought was, &#8220;Oh, they landscape with it here, too, just [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/harakeke-rules</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>So what about the Hen?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You may be wondering about the much-posted Hen, a female Anna&#8217;s hummingbird, and her two nestlings, who were busy growing up in an Aleppo Pine in our back yard.
As far as we know, the Hen fledged her young successfully while we were in New Zealand. We&#8217;ll never know for sure, but the evidence supports a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/so-what-about-the-hen</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Blupeng and the Campervan Life (three)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The human obsession with rapidly heating things like water makes no sense to Blupeng, although there is something oddly pleasing to him about the shape of the Sunbeam Express.
]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/blupeng-and-the-campervan-life-three</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Doomed: on seeing Ngauruhoe/Mt. Orodruin</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Right.  Since Peter Jackson filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy in NZ, you can&#8217;t escape LOTR effects on tourism there.  Week-long coach tours and pricey four-wheeling trips to locations, picture books, tea towels, keychains, Gollum figurines staring out of the windows of the souvenir shops, and lots of posters of Legolas &#8212; it&#8217;s everywhere.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/doomed-on-seeing-ngauruhoemt-orodruin</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bull kelp and mutton birds</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Bull kelp in NZ coastal waters is really robust stuff, and seems to be quite common along the rocky shores of the islands.  The photo on the right is of some moderate sized kelp-wrack.
After posting earlier about how Māori use kelp bags for storing Titi, I found I had a picture of poha-titi (Māori [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/bull-kelp-and-mutton-birds</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Miscellaneous Kiwiana</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Kiwi crossing sign is frequently reproduced on teeshirts, keychains, pins and buttons (called badges, in NZ, if you ever need to ask), and other tourist stuff.  It&#8217;s certainly charming, but we found this other Kiwi crossing sign in only one place, painted on the asphalt adjacent to the yellow warning sign.  With a few [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/miscellaneous-kiwiana</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Tubenoses, Albatross Elbows and Muttonbirds</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One thing the Southern Hemisphere does well is sea birds.  Albatrosses, gannets, penguins, prions, storm petrels, diving petrels, gadfly petrels, giant petrels, shearwaters, skuas, mollymawks, and more occur in baffling numbers of species (and nomenclature).  Normally, many of these birds are found well out to sea, over the deepwater pelagic zones.  But in tectonically active [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/natural-history/tubenoses-albatross-elbows-and-muttonbird</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Blupeng and the Campervan Life (two)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Occasionally Blupeng experiences the Whiny Electric Heater the people are obsessed with.  Its function eludes him, as cold temperatures are not a problem for a soft toy sea bird.  (Overheating on land is more likely to be a problem for a well-insulated penguin body, and flipperwings more thinly feather-lined and held akimbo aid in radiating [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://threestarowl.com/field-trips/blupeng-and-the-campervan-life-two</link>
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