Bram Esposito

Category: life

  • Left bank beach

  • Train ride

  • Tree haul

    An Urban Arrow cargobike with a 3 meter fig tree in it

    I was lucky that I could get a fig tree from someone in town. Just moved it with the cargo bike.

  • Sun is baking Antwerp, Belgium

    but some like it more than others.

  • Found out what AI couldn’t : knopper gall wasp galls

    Went back to the park today and found more of these strange seed pods (I now know they aren’t seed pods). I examined all the trees around, but nothing came up that I could link to these things. Only Oaks, Beeches, Tilia, Cypresses, Cherry Laurel, …

    Knopper Galls from an Oak, on a desk

    They’re galls from a wasp named Andricus quercuscalicis which is known to create Knopper Galls.

    I posted about my attempts to identify these with AI before, but Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and even ObsIdentify failed. After cutting one open, looking closely, sitting back to think, I researched galls on quercus and these came up. Happy to know.

  • Starry night

  • Spotted a woodpecker

    We spotted a woodpecker family in the park. Mom and dad woodpecker were feeding the woodpecker chicks

  • I tried to use AI to identify some tree seeds I found

    I found these seeds on two different locations in parks here in Antwerp. They have an interesting, solid wooden consistency so I took some home.

    I don’t know what plant they are from so today I wondered if an AI chatbot could help me identify the tree.

    I tried three different AI chatbots:

    1. ChatGPT wants me to go back to where I found them and take pictures of the tree, needles or leaves. No better suggestion than a “cypress-type conifer” on what tree it could be from.
    2. Claude was very confident. “These are acorns — specifically the caps (cupules) and fragments of acorns from an oak tree (Quercus species).” Very funny.
    3. Gemini did put in the most effort and came pretty close, suggesting it could be from a Dove tree which also has ribbed seed pods, like the ones I have here, but still very dissimilar.

    So I still don’t know what tree these pods are from. Looks like I’ll have to take pictures of the tree and it’s leaves, the next time I’m at the park 😉.

  • RIP Piep

    We found a dead Coal Tit chick and named it Piep.

    We found a dead Coal Tit chick in our garden last weekend. Barely 4cm tall. Art insisted on burying it and giving it a grave. Then he collected flowers and herbs and made a cross from some twigs. Meanwhile he repeated “Oh, he had such a beautiful life!”.

    Rest in Peace, Piep.

  • Happy Birthday, David!

    David Attenborough with a Lyrebird
    David Attenborough with a Lyrebird

    David Attenborough turns 100 today.

    Attenborough’s work has always been important to me. I’ve always looked forward to new episodes from his series. From the early expeditions to Borneo, to Madagascar with the Elephant bird egg, the dinosaur series, …

    It’s not only his work, but also his attitude towards his career that inspires me.

    Going on expeditions as a hunter for wildlife for zoo’s in the early twentieth century, that was the common way to appreciate nature. We’ve come a long way, that practice is no longer accepted. He reinvented himself into a television and documentary maker specifically.

    By the start of the 21st century he did not shy away from talking about climate change and the impact of humans on nature and the planet’s ecosystems. Even when that were uncomfortable messages to bring sometimes.

    Thank you, David, for sharing and for inspiring!