The Buffalo News : Life

Asurvey by the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society showed large numbers of golden eagles and bald eagles were moving north through Delaware County during March. Volunteers from the Franklin Mountain Hawk Watch counted migrating raptors from three sites south of Cannonsville Reservoir from March 5 to 14, and observed 66 bald eagles and 31 golden eagles migrating through a five-mile stretch in Hancock and Tompkins. (Updated: 07/05/09 7:22 AM )

With my friend Michael Noonan, whose formal title is Peter Canisius distinguished teaching professor at Canisius College, I spent a recent morning observing his program for regional middle and high school students at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. Leading the students would be eight of Noonan’s Canisius Ambassadors for Conservation college undergraduates: Nick Glabicky, Melissa Graham, Kyle Horton, Austin Milbrand, Adrienne Rothenberg, Brittany Rowan, Stephanie Schelble and Gary Steele. (Updated: 07/05/09 7:22 AM )

Study sees a watery bombardment (Updated: 07/05/09 7:22 AM )

Happy 70th Birthday, Joan McKinsey. We love you very much and appreciate all you do. You are the best Mom and Grandma. We hope we have many years to celebrate together. Love, Lori, Stephen, Johnny, Heidi, Cody, Megan and Melanie (Updated: 07/05/09 7:21 AM )

There’s no mistaking Stratton Rawson, senior producer at 94.5 WNEDFM. Whether walking his dog Cocoa Puff, eating lunch daily at his favored Cafe 59 or setting up for a game of badminton, Rawson’s signature is his voice. And after years on local airwaves, there’s one topic of conversation Rawson routinely avoids. (Updated: 07/05/09 9:59 AM )

This one’s for the guys: As you know, tailored jackets and sport coats come with a varying number of buttons. (Updated: 07/05/09 7:21 AM )

SUNDAY (Updated: 07/05/09 7:21 AM )

Stevie Wonder’s soulful crooning began, and my first attempt at the “Obama Shuffle” ensued. (Updated: 07/05/09 7:21 AM )

Fran Adams and her husband were enjoying a weeklong vacation down south. But as she soaked up the warm weather and all the sights of Myrtle Beach, her mind kept traveling back to Buffalo –specifically to the East Delavan Branch Library, where she takes dance lessons. (Updated: 07/05/09 8:27 AM )

Several museums have “What is it?” exhibits that display unusual items in the hope that someone will recognize a rarely used specialized tool or a pot for an ethnic dish unfamiliar to us today. Recently we saw a 12z-inch-diameter jasperware dish with an 8-inch-high cover sold at auction as a “pancake server.” It looks very much like a 19th-century English dish made to hold a round of stilton cheese. Or it could be a pottery cake dish and cover similar to the plastic cake carrying dishes made today. Research in books and online and conversations with experts have not provided a definitive answer. We are still not sure how the dish was used, but perhaps it was used in several ways. Large ceramic covered cheese dishes that hold a full wheel of cheese are not popular for household use today. But they were produced in the 1800s by many English firms, including Wedgwood, Spode and Minton, as well as Dudson Pottery, which made a large number of cheese dishes. The dishes were called cheese stands in 19th-century ads. The cheese was kept covered on the table to control its strong odor, stave off mold and keep insects away. A pancake server is similar in size and shape, but it has a small hole in the cover to let steam from the stack of hot pancakes escape. A cake might be kept under the cover of a similar dish, but cakes were usually kept on open pedestal- style cake stands. The covered jasperware dish we saw identified as a pancake server auctioned for $153. It’s the same size and shape as a cheese dish. (Updated: 07/04/09 6:50 AM )

The textbook play with pocket aces is to raise preflop in hopes of getting heads-up against a good hand that’s not good enough. But established and aggressive pros such as Mark Seif work from their own texts, developing a style that runs counter to conventional thinking. (Updated: 07/04/09 6:50 AM )

It’s summertime and the living is easy. People from around the country are on vacation, or planning to hit the vacation trail — and for many, the trail leads to our national parks. (Updated: 07/04/09 6:50 AM )

Outward deception and concealment are inimical to competitive chess. (Updated: 07/04/09 6:50 AM )

Dust off the sewing machine. Heather Ross wants to get America sewing again. (Updated: 07/03/09 6:55 AM )

Star treatment (Updated: 07/03/09 6:55 AM )