The Patagonia picnic table effect (also known as the Patagonia rest area effect or Patagonia rest stop effect) is a phenomenon associated with birding in which an influx of birdwatchers following the discovery of a rare bird at a location results in the discovery of further rare birds at that location, and so on, with the end result being that the locality becomes well known for rare birds, even though in itself it may be little or no better than other similar localities. [1] This is due to an increase in attendance leading to increased potential for rare birds to be viewed there. [2]
The name arises from the Arizona State Route 82 rest stop and picnic table south of Patagonia, where the phenomenon was first noted. [3] As of August 2022, 229 species have been recorded there. [4]
Research from Oregon State University suggests that the phenomenon may be a myth; no significant difference was found between a period surrounding rare-bird events at a site and a baseline in the findings of rare birds. It suggests that much of the draw is due to increased use of online sources such as eBird. [5]
In ecology, edge effects are changes in population or community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats. Areas with small habitat fragments exhibit especially pronounced edge effects that may extend throughout the range. As the edge effects increase, the boundary habitat allows for greater biodiversity.
A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway service area (UK), services (UK), travel plaza, rest stop, oasis (US), service area, rest and service area (RSA), resto, service plaza, lay-by, and service centre (Canada). Facilities may include park-like areas, fuel stations, public toilets, water fountains, restaurants, and dump and fill stations for caravans / motorhomes.
Balnarring is a town in the south-eastern extremity of the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 63 km (39 mi) south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Balnarring recorded a population of 2,371 at the 2021 census.
Charlton is a town in western Victoria, Australia. It is a small agricultural community straddling the Avoca River, located at the junction of the Calder Highway (A79) and Borung Highway (C239) and positioned in the last of the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. Halfway between Melbourne and Mildura, Charlton is a popular tourist stop.
Twitchers' vocabulary is the set of jargon words used by twitchers. Some terms may be specific to regional birding communities, and not all are used due to dialectic and cultural differences.
A picnic table is a table with benches, designed for working with and for outdoor dining. The term is often specifically associated with rectangular tables having an A-frame structure. Such tables may be referred to as "picnic tables" even when used exclusively indoors.
Identifying unidentified flying objects (UFOs) is a difficult task due to the normally poor quality of the evidence provided by those who report sighting the unknown object. Observations and subsequent reporting are often made by those untrained in astronomy, atmospheric phenomena, aeronautics, physics, and perception. Nevertheless, most officially investigated UFO sightings, such as from the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, have been identified as being due to honest misidentifications of natural phenomena, aircraft, or other prosaic explanations. In early U.S. Air Force attempts to explain UFO sightings, unexplained sightings routinely numbered over one in five reports. However, in early 1953, right after the CIA's Robertson Panel, percentages of unexplained sightings dropped precipitously, usually being only a few percent in any given year. When Project Blue Book closed down in 1970, only 6% of all cases were classified as being truly unidentified.
Little Buffalo State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 923 acres (3.7 km2) in Centre and Juniata Townships, Perry County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is a historical destination as well as a recreational destination. Visitors to the park can cross a covered bridge and observe a restored and operating grist mill. The park is also home to Holman Lake a popular fishing lake in Perry County and several hundred acres are open to hunting. Little Buffalo State Park is a mile southwest of Newport just off Pennsylvania Route 34.
Kingston Beach is a residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Kingborough in the Hobart LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-east of the town of Kingston. The 2021 census recorded a population of 2305 for the state suburb of Kingston Beach.
Yunta is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's east about 275 kilometres (171 mi) north-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is a service centre supporting both the local area and travellers passing through on the Barrier Highway. It lies south west of Broken Hill and north east of Peterborough.
Tin Can Bay is a coastal town and locality in the Wide Bay–Burnett region in Queensland, Australia. The locality is split between the Fraser Coast Region and the Gympie Region, but the town itself is within Gympie Region. In the 2021 census, the locality of Tin Can Bay had a population of 2,293 people.
Colt Creek State Park is a Florida State Park in Central Florida, 16 miles (26 km) north of Lakeland off of State Road 471. This 5,067 acre park nestled within the Green Swamp Wilderness Area and named after one of the tributaries that flows through the property was opened to the public on January 20, 2007. Composed mainly of pine flatwoods, cypress domes and open pasture land, this piece of pristine wilderness is home to many animal species including the American bald eagle, Southern fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, white-tailed deer, wild turkey and bobcat.
Kelenken is a genus of phorusrhacid, an extinct group of large, predatory birds, which lived in what is now Argentina in the middle Miocene about 15 million years ago. The only known specimen was discovered by high school student Guillermo Aguirre-Zabala in Comallo, in the region of Patagonia, and was made the holotype of the new genus and species Kelenken guillermoi in 2007. The genus name references a spirit in Tehuelche mythology, and the specific name honors the discoverer. The holotype consists of one of the most complete skulls known of a large phorusrhacid, as well as a tarsometatarsus lower leg bone and a phalanx toe bone. The discovery of Kelenken clarified the anatomy of large phorusrhacids, as these were previously much less well known. The closest living relatives of the phorusrhacids are the seriemas. Kelenken was found to belong in the subfamily Phorusrhacinae, along with for example Devincenzia.
The Huachuca Mountains are part of the Sierra Vista Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, approximately 70 miles (110 km) south-southeast of Tucson and southwest of the city of Sierra Vista. Included in this area is the highest peak in the Huachucas, Miller Peak, and the region of the Huachucas known as Canelo Hills in eastern Santa Cruz County. The mountains range in elevation from 3,934 feet (1,199 m) at the base to 9,466 feet (2,885 m) at the top of Miller Peak. The second highest peak in this range is Carr Peak, elevation 9,200 feet (2,804 m). The Huachuca Mountain area is managed principally by the United States Forest Service (41%) and the U.S. Army (20%), with much of the rest being private land (32%). Sierra Vista is the main population center.
The environmental impact of electricity generation from wind power is minor when compared to that of fossil fuel power. Wind turbines have some of the lowest global warming potential per unit of electricity generated: far less greenhouse gas is emitted than for the average unit of electricity, so wind power helps limit climate change. Wind power consumes no fuel, and emits no air pollution, unlike fossil fuel power sources. The energy consumed to manufacture and transport the materials used to build a wind power plant is equal to the new energy produced by the plant within a few months.
Cueva Fell or Fell'sCave is a natural cave and archaeological site in southern Patagonia. Cueva Fell is in proximity to the Pali Aike Crater, another significant archaeological site. Cueva Fell combined with the nearby Pali Aike site have been submitted to UNESCO as a possible World Heritage Site.
The Cañadón Asfalto Formation is a geological formation from the Lower Jurassic, with doubtful layers of Late Jurassic age previously referred to it. The Cañadón Asfalto Formation is located in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, a rift basin in the Chubut Province of northwestern Patagonia, southern Argentina. The basin started forming in the earliest Jurassic.
Jip Jip Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state’s south-east in the gazetted locality of Marcollat about 223 kilometres (139 mi) south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north-east of the municipal seat of Kingston SE.
The frequency illusion is a cognitive bias in which a person notices a specific concept, word, or product more frequently after recently becoming aware of it.
Patagopelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, P. cristata, known from a partial skeleton. While originally described as a nodosaurine, later discoveries provided support for parankylosaurian affinities for the taxon. Patagopelta is a very small ankylosaur, comparable in size to the dwarf nodosaurid Struthiosaurus, about 2 m (6.6 ft) long.