Mokka mit Schlag

Last Sunday, 2007-06-17, Peter Dorosh led a small contingent from the Brooklyn Bird Club to explore Somerset County in New Jersey. The first stop was the Negri-Nepote-Leni Preserve, a grasslands area surrounded by farms. We got there about 7:45 A.M., and almost immediately Sandi Paci heard a Prairie Warbler, which we soon located:

There were numerous other birds in the area: Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Towhee, House Wren, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird, Chickadee (probably Black-capped), Eastern Kingbird, and so many Indigo Buntings that we eventually stopped looking at each individual. There were quite a few Chipping Sparrows in the tree line, and numerous sparrows in the tall grass, which we kept hoping would turn into Grasshopper Sparrows, but persisted in remaining Field Sparrows. :-)
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At the heart of modern economics, even apparently contrarian economics such as Freakonomics, is the idea the consumer is rational; that the consumer can be relied on to act in their own best interests. If that’s not true, much of economic theory comes tumbling down. In fact, economists are so incredibly convinced of this dictate that when they observe apparently irrational behavior, they expend volumes attempting to justify and rationalize it, and prove that consumers are indeed acting in their own best interests. Indeed, that’s what Freakonomics is largely about.

The fact is people often aren’t rational. While we sometimes are, we often act directly counter to our own interests for no good reason. We have sensory and reasoning apparatuses evolved to help us find food in the jungle and avoid being eaten by tigers. Our reasoning abilities, as impressive as they are, can be actively counterproductive when applied to the complex, food-plentiful, tiger-free environment we live in today. Bruce Schneier explains this very well in his recent article on Rare Risk and Overreactions. Here’s one relevant portion:
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Little Wood Satyr, Megisto cymela
Ward Pound Ridge, 2007-06-24

Calopteryx maculata
Blackwood Mills, Somerset County, New Jersey, 2007-06-17

Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth Lycomorpha pholus
Orange-patched Smoky Moth Pyromorpha dimidiata
Sourland Mountain Preserve, Somerset County, New Jersey, 2007-06-17
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Common Whitetail, Plathemis lydia
Sourland Mountain Preserve, 2007-06-17