SV Bot Garden Series 2: Lovable Pandangera Bird

Lovable Pandangera (Lawlawigan Ilk) Bird
"She came singing in crispy telegraphic notes,
and dancing in foxtrot, her tail spread like a fan wagging."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Photos by Mark Gene Rotor(Sony Cyber-shot optical zoom 4x)

Lesson: Who are considered naturalists. Are you one of them? Discover this wonderful field of study as a past time, a hobby, or just simple therapy. Take the outdoor with a camera, pencil and pad, and a positive view of life. Why don't you take your family or friends along?

 

Friendly fantail or pandangera, Rhipidura albolimbata. Side and rear views of the nesting bird on the lower branches of a mango tree at home in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. (Holy Week, 2011)





Intricate weave of nest made of fine plant materials and cemented with silk from spider web. Nest is securely perched at the fork of a branch where predators find it hard to reach. The nest proper is cuplike, tidy and smooth, while the lower part is roughly made and freely hanging to provide camouflage and counter balance.




She came singing in crispy telegraphic notes,
and dancing in foxtrot, her tail like a fan,
fanning, closing like shutter, and opening
again, and spreading like peacock's tail,
this Maria Kapra children call for fun.

In our native tongue she is lawlawigan,
all for her manners neither wild nor tame;
wagtail to some, but unnamed and unknown
to the citybred, and those on the move,
who miss her song, her ways antic yet mild.

She rides on animals and preys on pests,
earning a name, the shepherd's companion,
and dares close to people to share their food
with a mate - what a happy pair they make!
and in their nest culminates their union.

She has a bit of Gabriela, though coy as nymph,
Storm the Bastille she fights with her mate -
feline or man, until their young are weaned.
Triumph fills the air with lesson to learn
To buoy the world from its sinking faith. 


Dare to kill the lovely pandangera -
like killing a mockingbird* is shame;
to silence the happy and gay, the symbol
of peace, friendship with farmers and children -
is a toll for Nature's beauty and fame. ~

*To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel made into a movie.

  
Fantail bird in coinage in India and New Zealand,   

Some Features of the Fantails or Pandangera

• Fantails are small insectivorous birds of southern Asia and Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae.

• The colors of most species are greys, blacks, whites and browns, although a few species have yellow or even striking blue feathers. In most species there is no sexual dimorphism in plumage.

• They are highly active birds, continuously on the move; even when perched they continue to rock back and forth, spin 180° on the spot, wag their tail from side to side or fan and unfan it. In flight they are highly agile and undertake highly aerobatic and intricate looping flights.

• Most of the species are small, about 15 to 18 cm long, aerial feeders,hunting insects on the wing, but they also concentrate equally on terrestrial prey.

• In some species the tail is longer than the body and the wings. When at rest the tail is folded, rounded at the tip, but when spread it assumes a characteristic fan shape that gives the bird its name.
  

• Most fantails are sedentary and undertake no migration. They have a wide range of habitats, prefering rainforests, thickets and lately agricultural and urban environments.

• Fantails are territorial and aggressively defend their territories from conspecifics (other members of the same species), as well as other predators. I am a witness to a pair of fantails attacking a cat trespassing under their nest on a balete tree at UST Manila. The incident happened at dusk as the cat was about to climb the tree.

• Male and female share in nest building, incubation and chick feeding, and in defending their young and territory. I have read that fantails also employ a defense strategy with the female distracting a potential predator by feigning injured and luring the predator away from the nest, while the male attacks the predator repeatedly until it moves away.

Lesson on defunct Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air)  738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Acknowledgment: Wikipedia

Earth Day April 22, 2019 Global Warming is accelerating!

2019 Summer hits extreme Heat Index. 
Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activity since the mid-20^th century.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Former Professor, UST, DLSU-D Lesson in Advanced Ecology UST and DLSU(D) Graduate Schools. How can an ordinary citizen help in cushioning global warming?
                        Sign of the Times: Smog, acid rain and ozone depletion rolled altogether. 
                                                        Photo by AVR Fairview, QC 2010

Acknowledgment: Time Magazine

Here are scientific evidences released by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
It is a fact that the Earth's climate has been changing throughout history. In the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization.

The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, with most of the warming occurring in the past 35 years with the five warmest years on record taking place since 2010. The warmest year on record was 2016. The IPCC report continues with these alarming developments:

• The oceans are getting warmer. 
• Ice sheets are shrinking, especially Greenland and Antarctic. The Arctic sea ice is declining. 
• Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa (Mount Kilimanjaro),.
• The snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is melting at an earlier rate. .
• Sea level is rising. Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.
• Extreme events such as extreme temperature, intense rainfall, and other force majeure 
• The acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution

This global scenario calls for an urgent collective action. It is a plea addressed to governments, organizations, individuals all over the world>  It is a plea beyond message of an Internationally famous broadcaster, natural historian and author, David Attenborough. To wit:

"When we look at the rising ocean temperatures, rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and so on, we know that they are climbing far more steeply than can be accounted for by the natural oscillation of the weather … What people (must) do is to change their behavior and their attitudes … for our upcoming generation we have to do something, and we have to demand for government support

"Right now we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change. If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon".

- David Attenborough, 2018.

Proteomics, a new science to detect human disease

Biomarkers that can predict with greater accuracy who is susceptible to a particular disease, and help doctors diagnose and treat it earlier.  
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Mapping the human genome helps scientists determine risk factors for disease.  Searching proteins tells us about the state of  a disease in patients now. Since the sequencing of the genome was completed in 2003 scientists have been able to figure out which mutations will make us vulnerable to certain diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, including autism and depression. Computing power has tremendously increased with almost 20,000 genes so far, have provided a DNA map that helps drug companies to target specific mutations. 

But it is not the genes themselves that make us, it is the proteins which they produce which they dispatch into our body to execute genetic will. If the genes are the blueprints, the proteins are the working parts controlling every cell in our body. And just as the genes collectively make up the genome and have given rise to the science of genomics, so too do all our body's proteins make up our proteome, which has its corresponding discipline: proteomics. 

The field of proteomics that is currently attracting a lot of investments is biomarkers, which can predict with greater accuracy who is susceptible to a particular disease, and help doctors diagnose and treat it earlier and treat it.  The market for biomarker technologies is expected to more than double by 2015 - from $13.5 billion in 2010 to $33 billion in 2015.  (Time, May 20, 2014).~

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Time 

* Lesson on defunct Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Iceberg! Sizing Up Problems (A Workshop Exercise):

 Iceberg!  Sizing Up Problems (A Workshop Exercise):
Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog  

Problems, wise people say, are like icebergs. You see only their tips.

We often underestimate them until we realize how deep they are. By that time it may be too late to find the solutions, and the consequence is grave. Remember the tragedy of the unsinkable Titanic?

Here is an exercise to test how good you are in sizing up problems. Draw a profile (cross-section) of the ocean and put in proper places an iceberg and a ship. The iceberg is ten (10) times the size of your ship. You are the captain of this ship and you are steering its course. You are headed to the location of the iceberg. Show the comparative sizes of the iceberg and ship above and below the water.

While you are working on this exercise, play the sound track of the movie Titanic. Theme from Paganini, by Rachmaninoff is another appropriate musical background.

There are five major criteria in this exercise:

• Accuracy in the proportion of the iceberg and the ship.
• Proportion of volume of iceberg submerge in water.
• Water line of the ship in relation to the water level. (All ships are marked with water line to indicate their load and condition.)
• Position and distance of the ship from the iceberg.

This exercise takes ten minutes. Exchange papers for correction. Class discussion follows.

It can also be a group work of four or five members. The teacher asks the group leader to present the result. Analysis follows.

This exercise tests the participant's knowledge in physics such as the law of buoyancy, and in geodetic science such as the features of the ship, other aspects of practical knowledge, and keenness of observation. This exercise applies as basis in self-analysis - a person's knowledge about himself, his thoughts, attitude and behavior. 

NOTE: If you are going to take the test, stop at this point, then continue after.

I gave a similar, but simpler exercise, to my students after they had watched Al Gore's , An Inconvenient Truth. This documentary demonstrated the melting of glaciers and the polar caps as a result of global warming. Ice shelves of the Arctic and Antarctic are breaking into massive icebergs which later melt down in the sea.

"Suppose an iceberg is a cube of ice you put in your drinking water," I said, emphasizing the procedure of the exercise, "how does the cube of ice look in the glass of water?" I watched them draw the profile on one-fourth bond paper.

Result: Not so many got the answer correct.

Why don't you try this exercise and request your teacher in science to check your work? If not read about iceberg. Or visit the Internet on the subject. ~

Iceberg near Newfoundland, Internet

Lesson on defunct Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid 

738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Beware! Don't fall victim to impostors and rogues .

Beware! Don't fall victim to impostors and rogues .
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

I am reprinting this article after I was "robbed" by an optometrist ten times (or more) the price of a pair of lens replacement.
Optical pollution. Sunglasses you don't really need. It's a wasteful fashion, a fad, a signature boasting. Don't be fooled.  You will be roused from your good rest and leisure by the thought that you have been robbed by a man in white in a place so innocently clean and bright.  As a victim you blame yourself vis-a-vis the opportunist and others involved.  Self-pity.develops a sense of guilty that seeps into anger.

Lesson:  Beware! Don't fall victim to opportunists, impostors, rogues, and the like.  Promise yourself never again!

These are ten tips to protect yourself, your loved ones, other people and your community.
1. Have presence of mind always.
2. Don't be too confident and trusting.
3. Avoid unlikely places and hour of the day.
4. It is good to be with somebody or group you know.
5. Distance yourself from suspicious characters.
6. Dress simply and leave your valuable at home.
7. Screen and limit access of personal information about you.
8. Be prepared for contingencies. Be security-conscious always.
9. Keep emergency phone numbers and addresses ready at fingertips.10. Attend seminars and workshops on safety and security.
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Earlier I wrote this article on request by our radio audience on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air). Since this is a lesson which our participants are encouraged to share personal experiences, it might as well be helpful to our blog followers and viewers to give their comments, preferably on something that will further make the topic informative and functional.

Lesson on defunct Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 Evening Class, Monday to Friday

Read more about eyeglass fraud on the Internet

How to Avoid Being Gouged When Buying Eyeglasses.
How badly are we being ripped off on eyewear?

EARTH DAY (April 22, 2019) A church mural of marine life - devotion to God through Nature.

A church mural of marine life  

Devotion to God through Nature 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Composite wall mural of St. Benedict Parish Church, Don Antonio Heights, Commonwealth Ave., QC. 
Congratulations to the mural artist, the parish and community

Prayer before a church mural of marine life

Let us pray for the sea that in spite of its vastness, we realize that over exploitation will deplete its finite resources and disturb its delicate balance; 

Let us pray for the blue whale, the biggest creature ever to live on earth (bigger than the dinosaurs), and protect it together with its kin from extinction;      

Let us pray for the playful smiling dolphin, friendliest of sea creatures, shipwreck
hero, and should not exploit them for the purpose of entertainment;  

Let us pray and protect the plankton, the pasture of the sea, and all members of the food web, for no marine life can exist without them - so with us living on land; 

Let us pray for the integrity of currents and tides that keep favorable climates and dynamic balance of land and sea, and protect them from human abuse;    

Let us pray for the preservation of the coral reefs, the counterpart of the forests, abode and nursery of marine life, and prevent their destruction;   

Let us pray for the conservation of the ocean's rich diversity, from the minutiae to the giants of the deep, through proper governance and better understanding;

Let us pray for the youth to take keen interest in marine science, so that they will acquire a sense of commitment in the protection of the sea and its environs;  

Let us pray for the unity and harmony of the living world - sea, land and sky - and be instruments of such interrelationship on a sustainable basis and future; 

Let us pray for the whale and the dolphins et al, that through them, we will better understand of role as guardians of creation. ~

Ecological Paradigm of Good Moral Life  
Reverence for Life is the key to salvation

Dr Abe V Rotor 

At the end of the colonial era, master and subject joined hands to exploit the earth’s resources, armed with the tools of technology and management that ushered the era of industrialization.  

Our best economists are the worst housekeepers of Nature. While they aim for the Good Life, they have unwittingly reduced the very foundation of that good life – the productivity and beauty of Mother Earth.
Reverence for Life, painting in acrylic by the author.  

Ecological paradigm endorses an eco-centric approach where all forms of life and non-life are important to human life. Spirituality points out to a unitive force: the sacredness of everything. God’s divinity flows in everything. There is integration in the universe. And we are part of that integration, exceedingly small as we are, notwithstanding.

The kind of person we truly are is reflected by our relationship with Mother Earth, how we comply under her treaties. Clearly, biocide is the greatest sin man commits in this period. Long live, Ceres, the goddess of bounty in Greek mythology!  Albert Schweitzer and King Solomon must be smiling up there. So with St. Francis of Assissi, patron saint of ecology. “Reverence for life,” is the key to this paradigm.

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The prolificacy of the human species sans war and pestilence, plus growing affluence of its societies led to a population explosion, doubling in less than 50 years. We are now 7.7 billion. 

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