Fly by night In the heart of Houston, a wildlife wonder unfolds every sunset on Buffalo Bayou.
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle (in Editorial section, 5/5/07) To a motorist on Waugh Drive approaching the Buffalo Bayou bridge around 8 p.m. this week, a startling phenomenon occurs just after the sun has dipped below the horizon. Presaged by a rising volume of high-pitched chirps, what appear to be curling plumes of smoke waft upward from below the bridge into a rotating funnel tilting east toward the downtown skyline. The living tornado is actually hundreds of thousands of Mexican freetail bats, setting out from their year-round colony on the bridge underbelly to forage for food overnight. Adding to the spectacle, an occasional hawk swoops through the cloud, bearing away its own dinner entree for the evening. Contrary to the flying, sonar-equipped mammals' scary reputation, these bats are neither aggressive nor blood sucking and perform a public service by snapping up insect pests. To witness this daily aerial display is to feel reassured by the ability of such seemingly delicate creatures not only to survive but thrive in the shadow of the city's skyscrapers. For many of us immersed in a high-pressure urban life-style of family and work, and surrounded by increasingly dense innercity development, it's easy to forget the tenacious presence of nature so close at hand. Thanks to the work of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the stream that made Houston's early development possible once again shelters many of the nonhuman residents that predate us. The biological richness includes fish, turtles and snakes, as well as rabbits and a variety of birds along its banks. So if city life gets a little bit too tense for you, take a deep breath, head down to the bayou and chill out with the bats. --------------------------------------------------------- 900-year-old murals of Buddha found in Nepalese cave Shepherd leads team of experts to art from 12th century By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA Associated Press (Houston Chronicle, 5/5/07) KATMANDU, NEPAL - Paintings of Buddha dating back at least to the 12th century have been discovered in a cave in Nepal's remote north-central region by a team of international researchers who were tipped by a local shepherd. A mural with 55 panels depicting Buddha's life was uncovered in March. The team used ice axes to break a path through the snow to reach the cave in Nepal's Mustang area, about 160 miles northwest of the capital, Katmandu. "What we found is fantastically rich in culture and heritage and goes to the 12th century or earlier," Broughton Coburn, a writer and conservationist from Jackson Hole, Wyo., said Friday. Coburn said the main mural measured about 25 feet wide, and each panel about 14 inches by 17 inches. The team of Nepalese, Italian and American archeologists, art experts and climbers was tipped by a shepherd who said he had seen a cave with old paintings several years ago when he took shelter from the rain. "I was overwhelmed with questions," Coburn said. In addition to the main mural, paintings believed to have been made slightly later were discovered on other walls of the cave. A nearby cave had manuscripts written in Tibetan, which were photographed by the team and will be translated by experts. Coburn said the team planned to do limited excavation, collection and cataloging of the manuscripts. The five Americans on the team included mountaineer Peter Athans, who has scaled Mount Everest seven times, and filmmaker Renan Ozturk. Other members included Italian art expert Luigi Fieni and two Nepalese archaeologists. "I can unequivocally say that climbing into the caves was greatly more exciting than any emotions I had on Everest," Athans said in an e-mail. "The opportunity to explore new ground with potentially significant discoveries imminent was far more enticing than the Everest summit." The team has refused to reveal the exact location of the caves, fearing visitors could disturb the centuries-old art.
