Bald Eagles

This from the Akron Beacon Journal today - there are a record high number of bald eagles wintering in Ohio this year, up 100 from just a year ago, including 11 known eagles in Geauga County.



"''Ohio's bald eagle population continues to expand throughout the state,'' said biologist Mark Shieldcastle of the Division of Wildlife.
''Last fall's mild temperatures made eagle viewing excellent this year,'' he said. ''Open water has held Ohio birds, and good weather allowed counters to get out and locate them.''
That total included 426 mature and 223 immature birds.
Immature bald eagles have dark heads, not the white heads of mature bald eagles. The dark-headed birds are generally less than 5 years old.
This year's count included 24 birds in the Akron-Canton area: five in Summit County, four in Stark, four in Medina, two in Wayne and nine in Portage.
Other counties in Northeast Ohio included Cuyahoga with seven eagles, Ashtabula with 12, Geauga with 11, Trumbull with 45 and Mahoning with 13." more from the article here....



In general, bald eagles have made quite a comeback since DDT was banned in 1972 - although for many years they were on the endangered species list, they were removed from that list in June last year by the US Department of the Interior, and now there are bald eagles found in every state.



We have quite a few in Connecticut, mostly nesting along the Connecticut River - as eagles are hunting and fishing birds, they like to be around water. I saw what I believe to be a juvenile bald eagle in our backyard a couple of winters ago - it had evidently picked up some carrion from a roadkill and was hauling what looked like a large rack of spareribs around the yard. This was a huge bird, incredibly fierce looking - wouldn't want to be face to face with him!



Although this article doesn't say so, other reading suggests that a good place to go looking for bald eagles in Geauga County is Headwaters Park in Huntsburgh. For those who would rather see their birds online and let others do the spotting, the Blackbrook Audubon Society, serving Lake and Geauga Counties has a rather nice website where members can post pictures of their sitings - including a couple of eagles!

Ohio's First Ethanol Plant

Since I know a number of you out there are interested in energy conservation and sustainable energy, here's a recent article from the Toledo Blade announcing the opening of Ohio's first bioethanol plant.


"Ohio opens ethanol era with $105 million refinery in Putnam County
LEIPSIC, Ohio - With a snip from an oversized pair of scissors, Ohio's first large foray into ethanol production officially opened here yesterday in northern Putnam County.

"This is a great day for Ohio," said Gov. Ted Strickland, shortly before joining Poet LLC Chief Executive Jeff Broin in cutting a ribbon to signify completion of the $105 million Poet Biorefining - Leipsic facility.

The plant, with 40 to 45 employees and annual production capacity of 65 million gallons of ethanol, is to begin refining next week. "

more here ........


There's a lot of controversy about ethanol and other so-called biofuels - do they really save energy, do they contribute less to global warming and greenhouse gasses, what are the ethics of taking agricultural land out of food production and putting it into fuel. Today, corn is the big 'feedstock' for ethanol, at least in the US. (In Brazil - the number one ethanol producing country in the world - its sugarcane, but that doesn't grow too well in NE Ohio!) Just look at how the price of corn has risen in the past two years since the federal government mandated - and subsidized - the replacement of petroleum based fuel with 'sustainable' fuels like ethanol - went from around $2 a bushel to almost $4.50 a bushel in two years.


I'm of mixed mind about ethanol and other biofuels. There's lots of interesting new technology in the wings. So-called 'cellulosic' ethanol - the ability to make ethanol from other non-food sources, such as switchgrass, corn stover (what's left over after you get the kernels), and other 'agricultural waste' biomass- is hot right now. People are looking at longer-chain alcohols like butanol, which have higher heat content per unit than ethanol - but the fermentation processes are not as well developed. Companies like Metabolix are working on creating the starting materials for biodegradable plastics from agricultural products - I actually invested a little in this one!


Its probably a good thing that Ohio is jumping on the bandwagon - there will be lots of new science and probably a bubble 'burst' or two along the way for biofuels, but in the longer term, you just have to believe this is going to grow.

Freecycle Network

I posted this over at the Kovac-Valentine blog, but its too good not to include here as well:

"People, listen up! While in a frenzied post-holiday clean-up I discovered something really terrific and I MUST share! My house is so filled with STUFF that either I thought I needed or someone else thought I needed or I thought someone else in our family needed - I sell it on eBay, pack it up and give it away, but there is some stuff that you just look at and say, 'who would ever want that'. Examples, you say? Try this: - boxes of cords and transformers and adapters to electronic equipment that has long since been discarded - old electronic stuff that no longer works - boxes of glass jars and old kitchen stuff, miscellaneous plates, cups, glasses -my string collection - lots of those plastic things that plants come in from the plant nursery (you throw those away?!! shame on you!) - etc, etc - you get the picture! SO - in my frenzied attempt to get control of all this random stuff that has control of much of the square footage in our house, I discovered a network of people who need stuff and give stuff away. Its called Freecycle - it uses Yahoo groups so you join a group in your area, and then you post what you want to give away and people in the group who want stuff or need stuff email you and ask if they can come over and pick it up! The objective is to encourage re-use of as much stuff as possible, and get stuff you no longer want/need to the people who need/want it. Its sort of an on-line version of the 'end of the road' pile - my brother's idea, you put a lot of crap at the end of the driveway and put up a big sign that says FREE, and by the end of the day most of it is GONE. Amazing! Using Freecycle is nicer, because you don't have to haul it out to the end of the driveway and you don't have to clean up whatever is left that got rained on. I've already had one big boxfull of stuff leave the house to grateful new owners, and I'm working on more. Strongly encourage you all to check this out, especially if you are a string-saver like me! (I just need to avoid the temptation to take someone elses stuff - hmmm, maybe the person in New Milford giving away the yarn collection they inherited from their grandma is worth a look!) Anyway, check it out if you need something or have something to give. In addition to posting things you want to give away, you can post for things you need, but its gotta be free - no trading, no selling. Namaste, peace out!"

Farewell to the Jake

Well, in the inifinite wisdom (and greed) of baseball owners, Jacobs Field has been re-named and will now - and for the next 16 years - be called 'Progressive Field'. The Cleveland-based insurance company bought the naming rights from Chardon resident and Indians owner Larry Dolan after they expired at the end of the 2006 season.

The not-so-old ballpark that serves as home for the Cleveland Indians has been re-named, thanks to a new naming-rights agreement between the team and Progressive Insurance Co. of Mayfield Village.

At a press conference yesterday, Progressive President and CEO Glenn M. Renwick and Indians President Paul Dolan said the agreement runs for 16 years with an average payment to the Indians of $3.6 million per year. More here...

Call me an old fogey, but I don't like this name changing game that goes on in the sports stadium world - baseball is a sport of tradition, where respect is earned over many seasons for sustained performance. The idea that anybody with enough cold hard cash can buy their name onto the park - and next year maybe somebody else will come along with more money and we'll call it something else, well, that just doesn't sit well with me.

I say, let's call it Cleveland Stadium, name it after the town whose loyal fans have supported the team through thick and thin since 1915. Or, I'd be ok with naming it League Park, after the original baseball stadium built in 1910, that hosted Cleveland baseball for the next 36 years. Or if you want to honor a player, how about Cy Young Park - remembering not just one great pitcher but all the great players who at one time in their career made their home in Cleveland.

In any case, I don't think I'll be switching my insurance to Progressive anytime soon.