Raisin' Robins

I just came across two new web sites of interest to Naturalists of all stripes.

Robin Nest
If you have had the experience of raising children, you realize how busy they keep you until they leave to go on their own.  A wonderful video shows the whole cycle in a little more than three minutes as lived by robin parents.

The scene is a hanging basket in an urban yard, complete with the sounds of life in the neighborhood.  I was captivated by the intensity of their parenting.  Especially poignant is the last few seconds where we relive the "empty nest syndrome."

Blowin' in the Wind

Bob Dylan wrote the line "The answer is blowin' in the wind," which implies that we don't know where the wind is blowing.  Now with Google, we can even see the wind, more or less.  A site using National Weather Service data creates a live map of the wind across the United States.

The wind map has no state boundaries and only a few cities, although more appear as you zoom in.  Moving lines indicate the direction and relative velocity.  Hover the pointer over an area and it gives the coordinates and actual wind velocity.  I haven't figured out a use for it, but its pretty cool.