Saturday, September 27, 2014

Science Saturday: Hawks & Mushrooms!

(I took this picture on a hike with my best friend while we were camping :~D ) 

A few marginally thought-provoking things of interest: 
  • Hawks are not hawks. (Just don't confuse them with crows like I did when I was kid.) Hawks are actually a name for a raptor that eats other birds. They are part of the genus Accipiter. What we think of as Hawks are from the genus Buteo.
  • True Hawks are the Goshawks, Cooper's Hawks, and Sharp-Shinned Hawks. The raptors we call "Hawks" are Broad-winged, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Rough-legged Hawks.
  • In UK, they call the "Hawks" buzzards. Considering we are already confused with the Hawks that aren't Hawks, and we call Vultures, buzzards, let's just stick with the name Hawks.
  • Mushrooms are reproduced by spores. (Just read about this in my Biology textbook). The underside of the Mushroom cap have tiny gills. Each gill has tiny pores where the microscopic spores are produced and blow away in the wind.
  • Mushrooms are decomposers. They break down the wood, leaves, dirt, etc. by which they reside.
  • The Indian Pipes we talked about a few weeks ago are often considered Mushrooms, but they are not. Indian Pipes are flowers.

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