Wild About Utah

August 9, 2021March 4, 2026

Special Annual Event: Perseids Meteor Shower

In this 30-second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, as seen from Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Courtesy NASA, Bill Ingalls, Photographer — In this 30-second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, as seen from Spruce Knob, West Virginia.
Courtesy NASA, Bill Ingalls, Photographer

The Perseids meteor shower is one of the most popular events of the year for sky watchers. A meteor shower is simply an increase in meteor activity which is produced when the Earth passes through a trail of debris that is also in orbit about the Sun.

Perseids debris comes from the Comet Swift-Tuttle, the largest object known to make repeated passes near the Earth. Its nucleus is about 6 miles across. Most of its meteoroids are the size of sand grains; a few are as big as peas or marbles. When they enter Earth’s atmosphere, they are called meteors. Almost none hit the ground, but if one does, it’s called a meteorite.

The Perseid shower is detectable from July 25-Aug 20, but meteor activity rises sharply around Aug. 12. For example, on the 25th you can expect to see a meteor every hour. Maybe 5 an hour by the 1st of August, up to 15 an hour by August 10th. But then on August 12, the number will spike to 50 -80 /hour and in some years up to 200! Then the number will quickly subside until Aug 20, when you’ll be back to 1 an hour.

Perseid meteoroids are fast. They enter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 133,000 mph– or 60 km per second. They also make a sound! Fast-moving meteoroids ionize the air in their path leaving behind a trail that can briefly reflect radio wave from TV stations, RADAR facilities or AM/FM transmitters. A “radio meteor” is the short-lived echo of a radio signal that bounces off such a trail. Scientists at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL have established a radio meteor monitoring system. Here’s what a typical echo sounds like against some background static:

https://www.spaceweather.com/meteors/audio/geminidecho.wav (Editors note: Content AWOL as of 8/2021
Original article quoting sound found at https://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/nasameteorradar.html)
See NASA Radio Meteors: https://science.nasa.gov/search?search_api_views_text=radio+meteors (accessed August, 2021)

Hmmm… Kind of reminds me of a whale song.

This year, August 12th features a gibbous moon which means lunar glare will wipe out the path of the smaller meteroids . You’ll want to find a spot in the moonshade which will minimize glare. Or you can watch during predawn moonless hours on August 12th which will be the peak of this year’s show. No worries for those of us who can’t stay awake past midnight though. There will still be so-called shooting stars even while the moon is out—just less than when the moon has set. Furthermore, Jupiter is almost opposite to the sun with the planet coming physically closest to the Earth in its orbit . That means good viewing as Jupiter will appear very large. Look for it together with the moon in the constellation Sagittarius in the southeast sky. Depending upon your viewing equipment, you may be able to see some of Jupiter’s moons as well as the Great Red Spot, which is a gigantic hurricane-like storm twice the size of Earth on Jupiter’s surface.

For a sociable viewing experience, sky watchers in Northern Utah are invited to the Stokes Nature Center/American West Heritage Center Star Party August 12th from 9-1. We’ll have powerful telescopes, experienced interpreters, and all sorts of fun activities for adults and families. For more information see www.logannature.org or www.awhc.org

Credits:

Theme: Courtesy & Copyright Don Anderson Leaping Lulu

Photo: Courtesy NASA, Bill Ingalls, Photographer, https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/behold-the-perseid-meteor-shower
Text: Holly Strand, Stokes Nature Center

Additional Reading

Harbaugh, Jennifer, How many Perseids will I see in 2021?, NASA, August 9, 2021 https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/tag/perseids-meteor-shower/

McClure, Bruce, Perseid Meteor Shower 2021 Reaches Its Peak, EarthSky, August 10, 2021, https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower/

Pop! Ping! Perseids! Science@NASA (accessed July 31, 2008)
https://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast13aug99_1.htm

Philipps, Tony. 2008. The 2008 Perseid Meteor Shower Science@NASA (accessed July 31, 2008)

Radio Meteor Listening.
https://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/forwardscatter.html (accessed July 31, 2008)

Ridpath, Ian. Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy. 1997.
NY: Oxford University Press

Harbaugh, Jennifer, How many Perseids will I see in 2021?, NASA, August 9, 2021 https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/tag/perseids-meteor-shower/

McClure, Bruce, Perseid Meteor Shower 2021 Reaches Its Peak, EarthSky, August 10, 2021, https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower/

August 2, 2021March 12, 2022

Take the Plunge

Probably yesterday by the time you hear this, I will have proposed to my now fiance. I wanted to do it earlier, but life held me off from doing it in Utah. Utah wouldn’t let me say what Poland, her home country, was there for. The land needed to be a part of the process.

My fiance grew up a short jaunt south from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea dominates her stories of childhood. The frigid salt was always in the air, carrying the song of the farthest edge of the world, being inhaled and lived by and because.

When she was 15 she left home to go to a more challenging school and moved to a port city right at the sea’s gate. She went from smells and dreams, to sights and lullabies. Her deepest homeland became centered on its edge.

Near this town, there are the greatest of sand dunes. They were an often visited location by her family growing up, a National Park to take pride in loving. To be closer to them meant to be closer to those memories of belonging. The wild dunes against the wild sea. Momentum affixed with momentum. Pure knowns of land, and beyond. This is the special place.

It’s there that I will have proposed because I love her, and she is only who she is because of this place, so therefore I love it, too. I have to.

I tell this story because here in Utah, we are only who we are because of its place and the elements which make it special, too, for so many. We are full of our own special places with special stories, both past and present. The challenge we are facing, though, is whether we love the very land of Utah enough for it to be included in our future. Do we love Utah enough to refill the Great Salt Lake so that it helps push our snows higher into the mountains with its warm uplifting air, and lets more water flow back for everyone come spring? Do we love Utah enough to plant native flowers instead of lawns, and pick serviceberries over hedges so that our springs still carry the songs of birds? Do we love Utah enough to know that there are no sacred or unsacred places, only the sacred and the desecrated? Do we love Utah enough to keep it a homeland, not just its heart, but its every edge, too?

I say we take the plunge. I say we make it official.

There is a place where we are who we are, and for many of us it is Utah. It may be a memory of Utah long ago. Or maybe you have to really think about if you’ve found it yet. Or maybe you are there right now. Regardless, we all have a place where we can feel free on the edge and heart of our homeland. There is a place which is where we love.

Where is yours today? Where will it be tomorrow?

I’m Patrick Kelly and I’m Wild About Utah

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & © Patrick Kelly
Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/
Text: Patrick Kelly, Director of Education, Stokes Nature Center, https://www.logannature.org
Included Links: Patrick Kelly & Lyle Bingham, Webmaster, WildAboutUtah.org

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Posts by Patrick Kelly

Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon, https://www.logannature.org/

July 26, 2021March 12, 2022

Out Fishing

The minute I heard there was a well stacked community fishing pond just five miles down the road from where I live, I dusted off my old fishing pole, slipped out of the house, and threw my line into the Wellsville Reservoir. I had the place to myself. There was snow on the ground but the water wasn’t frozen. Within the first hour I felt the tug on the line and reeled in a 12 inch trout. I was hooked! I returned just about every evening to catch my limit of 2. I called all my friends who liked to eat fish, and started to consider adding fresh fish delivery to my resume.

About this time I heard that although trucks from the state hatcheries stocked the community ponds, the hatchery in Kamas delivered fish to high mountain lakes in the Unitas via airplane. A few phone calls later, and I was lucky enough to get invited to watch the loading of the fish.

It was 5 in the morning when I followed the Kamas hatchery truck out onto to tarmac at the Heber airport. A specially designed Cessna 158 was waiting for us. There – just behind the pilot’s seat- was a water tank neatly divided into 7 compartments. 7 levers stuck out from the dashboard that would open and close a portal on the belly of the plane.

The crew got right to work. One pumped water into the plane’s water tank. Another netted about 8 lbs of fingerling trout onto a scale and dumped the lot into a funnel. Suddenly an especially feisty fingerling jumped out of the funnel and landed at my feet. I picked it up, cradling it in the palm of my hand, awed by the sleek beauty of this tiny trout that was exactly the size of my index finger. I wished it well as I tossed it back.

“Flush,” said the man in charge. And another man with a red bucket of water sent the fish through the funnel into the plane. Soon the pilot took off. When he got to his target lake, he would drop down and skim over the tops of the trees on the water’s edge. He would then open the portal in the belly of the plane and the tiny trout would flutter down like leaves into the water below.

If our feisty fingerling can avoid predators (mostly birds and bigger fish) it will grow to about 5 inches by September. When the water temperature drops to 30 degrees the fish become lethargic and stop growing. Next June, if the lake warms up to 50 degrees, the trout will grow 2/3 inch an month. At 60 degrees, the fish will grow an inch a month. But if the water temperature reaches 70, the amount of oxygen in the water will drop. Any higher and the fish will be severely stressed.

Growing up and backpacking with my family, I was always delighted to come across an alpine lake because it meant that I could take off my pack and stop hiking. But once I got hooked on fishing, I found myself agreeing with the poet Edgar Guest:

“A feller gets a chance to dream

Out fishing.

He learns the beauty of the stream

Out fishing….+

Now, as far as getting up to the high mountain lakes in the Unitas, one thing is for certain. The fish are already there.

This is Mary Heers and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright © Mary Heers
Photos: Courtesy
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Wild About Utah Postings

Edgar Guest, 1881–1959, Biography, Poets.org, https://poets.org/poet/edgar-guest

Edgar Albert Guest, Out Fishin’, InternetPoem.com, 2018, https://internetpoem.com/edgar-albert-guest/out-fishin-poem/

Betancourt, Sarah, Flying fish: video shows Utah wildlife agency restocking lake by plane, The Guardian, July 13, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/13/fish-plane-video-utah-lake

Facer, Austin, Who says fish can’t fly?: Aerial stocking places fish in lakes via airplane drop, ABC4 Utah, July 12, 2021, https://www.abc4.com/news/digital-exclusives/who-says-fish-cant-fly-aerial-stocking-places-fish-in-lakes-via-airplane-drop/

Knighton, Conor, In Utah it’s raining fish, CBS Sunday Morning, Oct 24, 2021, https://www.cbsnews.com/video/in-utah-its-raining-fish/

July 19, 2021September 17, 2023

Holy smokes!

Ferguson Fire, Sierra National forest, California, 2018 Courtesy USDA Forest Service: Kari Greer, Photographer — Ferguson Fire, Sierra National forest, California, 2018
Courtesy USDA Forest Service: Kari Greer, Photographer

Holy smokes! Once again, our summer has become a smoke filled world we’re warned against breathing. I often wonder how our feathered friends are weathering the pall.

About a year ago, a mass die-off of song birds was witnessed over parts of the southwest tentatively attributed to the historic wildfires across California, Oregon and Washington, which
may have forced birds to rush their migration. But scientists do not know for sure – in part because nobody knows precisely how wildfire smoke affects birds. With increasing changes to
climate and rising temperatures, we do not have enough time to collect the data – things are changing faster than we can keep up with.

Enter eBird, a popular app for logging bird sightings. This platform, and the citizen birdwatchers who populate them, have become a critical tool for scientists trying to unravel the mysteries at the intersection of birds, wildfires and climate change. Researchers are increasingly relying on data collected by citizen scientists and birdwatchers to better understand the effects of climate change, including intensifying wildfire. The eBird app was created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology alongside the National Audubon society, to crowdsource data on the locations and numbers of bird populations globally.

A leading theory behind the south-west die-off is that widespread smoke pollution may have forced birds to start migration sooner than expected. Most of the birds seen dying were migratory. Migration had just started and they were trying to flee the smoke-filled areas and may have starved to death without an opportunity to add extra nutrients for their epic flights. Beyond the effects of smoke on migration patterns, the rise of megafires is also drawing unprecedented attention to the effects smoke may have on a bird’s delicate breathing. Birds and their lungs are certainly affected by smoke. Most of us have heard the phrase “canary in a coalmine”, which comes from the fact that birds are particularly sensitive to toxins in the air. The sensitivity could have something to do with birds’ unique respiratory system. While humans and other mammals use their diaphragm to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, birds possess a far more
efficient system, essentially inhaling and exhaling at the same time. This allows them to get enough oxygen to fuel near-constant activity and to breathe at much higher altitudes than
mammals.

To do this, birds have tube-like structures called parabronchi, similar to human alveoli in the lungs, which are covered with sacs and capillaries for gas exchange. And as in humans, smoke damage can burst those bubbles, creating less surface area for gas exchange making it more difficult to breathe.

We can all help by joining eBird and reducing our heat trapping emissions. Go to our Bridgerland Audubon website for more information.

Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society and I’m wild about Utah, but not its smoke!

Credits:

Nest Picture: Courtesy US FWS, Steve Maslowski, Photographer
Audio: Courtesy and Copyright Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle W Bingham, Webmaster, and Jack Greene, Author, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Jack Greene’s Postings on Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

eBird, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, https://ebird.org/home

Hellstern, Ron, Wildfires, Wild About Utah, Oct 8, 2018, https://wildaboututah.org/wildfires/

Boling, Josh, Fire, Wild About Utah, Aug 13, 2018, https://wildaboututah.org/fire/

Strand, Holly, Investigating the Causes of Wildfires, Wild About Utah, Aug 15, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/investigating-the-causes-of-wildfires/

Mack, Eric, California Wildfire Smoke Could Explain Thousands Of Dead Birds In The Southwest, Forbes, https://wildaboututah.org/investigating-the-causes-of-wildfires/