William Bogatyrenko
The article I read was about how golden-winged warblers, very small songbirds weighing about nine grams each, left the general area of the April string of tornadoes a day or two before the tornadoes occurred, while they were hundreds of miles away. The scientists knew this because they had put geolocators onto some of the birds, and data showed that they had “taken unprecedented evasive action…” (Webb). Also, you could see that there were many less birds than there normally were just by birdwatching in the area of the tornadoes. After the tornadoes had ended, all of the birds with geolocators on them had returned to their nests. However, it wasn’t just the golden-winged warblers who had sensed the tornadoes and left the area; many other birds and animals left too. Scientists think that birds and other animals sensed the tornadoes because of the “deep rumble that tornadoes produce, well below what humans can hear” (Webb). The rumbling is in what is called the “infrasound” range, which “travels thousands of kilometres, and may serve as something of an early warning system for animals that can pick it up” (Webb). As well as using infrasound for sensing tornadoes, researchers think that other birds, such as falcons, use infrasound to navigate. The fact that the birds left was surprising to the researchers because even though it is known that birds can change their migration route, it is unheard of that they well leave their nesting site and established breeding ground once they are done migrating. This is the first time that birds were ever documented taking evasive action from things that could pose a danger, such as tornadoes.
This article could very positively affect humanity. It could increase our knowledge on birds and their movement patterns. It could also help us learn more about the infrasound range. We could make infrasound detectors to help us predict when tornadoes and other natural disasters would come, and we could develop a warning system for people in danger of these natural disasters. This could save hundreds of lives and could prevent hundreds of people from getting severely injured and/or losing everything, including homes and jobs.
Webb’s article was pretty well written, although there are some improvements he could have made to it. Webb incorporated quotes from the researchers, and informed the reader very well of how this was an important study, which was that it was the first time that birds were ever documented taking evasive action from things that could pose a danger and that it is unheard of that they well leave their nesting site and established breeding ground once they are done migrating. One thing the author could improve upon is explain the effects of this new research on the world, or the new uses it could have if it were developed further. He could also have connected the research to humanity. For example, he could have included a prediction of future uses of this research, like a warning system for tornadoes based on predictions using infrasound.
It thought William did a fantastic job reviewing this article. He made sure to include a lot of quotes that helped to further support the point that the article made. For example, he explained in the first paragraph how the author noted the birds had “taken unprecedented evasive action…”. In the second paragraph, he gave a very good explanation about how this would affect the world, noting how it important it would be to know the migrating patterns of birds and that they could potentially warn us about natural disasters. Finally, I feel that William gave a great deal of expert knowledge on the subject by including multiple quotes.
ReplyDeleteI think that William could have made his second paragraph about how it would affect our lives a little longer because it was slightly short and lacked some details. Also, I think for the future, William could review his work over before posting it because there were some run on sentences such as the first sentence of the first paragraph.
I was very interested to hear how birds can sense natural disasters and that if this consistent pattern of birds leaving before a disaster strikes continues, we could potentially have a system to predict if people need to evacuate the area or not.
Citation of Article:
Webb, Jonathan. “Birds Fled ‘day Before’ US Tornadoes.” BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30531060
Link to William’s Review:
http://bhscorechem.blogspot.com/2014/12/william-bogatyrenko-webb-jonathan.html
Webb, Jonathan. "Birds Fled 'day Before' US Tornadoes." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30531060
The review I recently read was by William Bogatyrenko and I really enjoyed reading it. I really liked how he incorporated quotes into his review. This offers a great chance for the reader to get another opinion besides the one that William offers in the review, and this can have a very positive effect on the review itself. Also, I really liked how William included a paragraph about the effects this article could have on human society. I liked how he connected to the possibility that this article explores a topic that could end up saving people caught in natural disasters like this one from dying. I also enjoyed William’s opening sentence. At first it doesn’t start out so great, but it ends up quickly summarizing the article he read, and hooking the reader at the same time.
Although William had a great review, there were a few things that I caught that could have made his review better. First, William’s summary was very long and got confusing at times, because of poor transition words. This can turn away a reader, because people want to read smooth, good-flowing reviews, that are detailed but succinct, not a review that is lengthy, and does not flow well. Secondly, I was not a big fan of his critique paragraph. It only critiqued the article, there were no complements included in the paragraph. It is always good to have a sentence or two complementing the article, because there are more things good about it besides that it is “well written.”
Despite these two things, I really enjoyed reading this article, and I enjoyed learning about golden-winged warblers, and other birds, and how they can sense when a tornado or other natural disaster is about to happen. I also enjoyed learning about how these birds could help save human lives by sensing when a natural disaster is going to happen beforehand, and evacuate the area before anyone gets hurt.
Web, Jonathan. "Birds Fled 'day Before' US Tornadoes." BBC News. N.P., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014
ReplyDeleteI thought Will Bogatyrenko did a great job. First i liked how he used the correct format and broke his review up into 3 paragraphs because it made it flow better and really pulled the review altogether. Secondly, i like how he added quotes from the article because it adds a different dimension to hear what other people have to say. I really liked his connection paragraph to humanity and that he picked a topic that really can affect us greatly.
There were some things that will could have improved on though. First there were some grammatical errors, like run on sentences. This made the article rather confusing at times. Another problem i had with Will's review was that his critique article was too brief, and didn't say anything positive about the article. One thing that amazed me is that we can study birds flight patterns to dodge natural disasters and avoid more deaths.
For my current events comment, I reviewed Bogi’s write-up on Jonathan Webb’s article titled, “Birds Fled ‘Day Before’ US Tornadoes.” In his write-up, Bogi gave a very good summary of the article. In my opinion, the summary is the most important part of a write-up. Bogi’s write-up was clear, descriptive and well written. He shared interesting details that made me want to read the whole article. Another thing that Bogi did well was that he quoted information directly from the text of the article and cited it. I agree that it can be valuable to include quotes when the writer of the article has given a really helpful description. A third thing that Bogi did well in his write-up was that he gave a good critique of Webb’s article. He stated things that Webb did well, and things that he could have improved upon. I agree with Bogi that Webb should have explained in more detail the potential effects of the research discussed in the article. Bogi did a really good job of explaining how he believes this research can have a positive effect on humanity by warning people of approaching storms and giving them enough time to get to safety.
ReplyDeleteAlthough his write-up was well written, Bogi could have done a few things better. He said that Webb’s article described a “rumbling” in the “infrasound” range that likely was heard by the birds and animals and caused them to leave the area. This made me curious to understand how the “rumbling” could have been heard the day or two before the tornado when the birds supposedly fled. Can a tornado begin to form a day or two ahead of time and create “infrasound”? I would have liked to have learned more about whether the “rumbling” could be sound from the weather leading up to the tornado or whether it was “rumbling” from the actual tornado, but Bogi did not get into detail about this. Also, Bogi had a few grammatical mistakes.
After reading Bogi’s write-up on the article, “Birds Fled ‘Day Before’ US Tornadoes,” I learned that very small songbirds called golden-winged warblers left an area where tornadoes occurred about a day or two before the tornadoes actually happened. When the tornadoes were over, all of the birds returned to their nests. I learned that scientists were able to determine this because many of the birds had “geolocators” which allowed the scientists to track their movement. I definitely think that birds and other animals can sense when tornadoes and other dangerous weather is coming. I have noticed that things get very quiet and no birds are around when a big storm is approaching. However, this was definitely the first time I learned that birds and animals could receive a warning a full day or two ahead of time and that the warning could be a “rumbling” in the “infrasound” range.
Webb, Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteWebb, Jonathan. "Birds Fled 'day Before' US Tornadoes." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30531060
Drew Judkins
I read William Bogatyrenko’s review of Birds Fled day Before US Tornadoes. The first aspect of Bogi’s review that I thought he did a nice job with was incorporating quotes into the review. He used three quotes in his review and he used them at effective times and didn’t force them. The second thing he did well was to put his own opinion into the review. I like this because it gave me a different perspective than I had while reading the article myself. The final thing Bogi did well was his critique of the article. He incorporated everything I would have said.
The first area of improvement I would suggest after reading Bogi’s review is for him to check his spelling and grammar. He was off in a few places. In his review he said “It is unheard of that they well leave their nesting site”. The second area of improvement would be for Bogi to add more about how this could help humanity because I think this research could be a huge lifesaver in the future to those areas affected by tornadoes.
I chose to read this article and review because it caught my eye when it said “birds fled day before US tornadoes” and it made me think about how this could impact the world.