Squirrely Stealth

I took this video two winters ago, when I had suet up for the birds. Yes, more Chickadees, sparrows, woodpeckers, nuthatches and titmice came to eat than squirrels, but no animal had the ability to eat an entire suet cake, like Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel and their clan.

Snow!

Finally we're getting some substancial snow! THe forcast says that we're going to get between four and six inches, but it also said the snow would begin around 2 o'clock, but it started two hours early. Besides, we've already got about five inches, not counting the places where the wind has formed much deeper drifts. Perhpas we will have a white Christmas after all!?

Escape

Blue Darner

Red Tailed Hawk

Lake at Rockafeller Park

Planetary Conjunction

Here's a picture of the sight a couple nights ago. I'm sorry the picture isn't that great. My camera was out of battery, and before I had a chance to charge it there were clouds fast on their way to block it out.

Winter Provisions

Durring winter, birds and squirrels don't have a whole lot of variety on their menu. But thankfully, there are some plants that provide fresh fruit durring the winter. The winter berry is a tangly green scrub bush, that grows quite tall durring the warmer months. It's berries ripen all year, and remain on the bush throughout the winter, for hungry animals. In winter, a winter berry bush is the perfect place to see alot of action. Titmice, Sparrows, Cardinals, Squirries, juncos, many other birds and the occasional rabbit all will stop by for a snack.

Euathalus sp. "Red"

While climbing to the summit of a mountain near a volcano in Choco, Argentina, I spotted this Euathalus Theraphosidae, a common tarantula in Argentina and Chile. In spanish, it is commonly called 'Little Red'.

Planetary Conjunction

Yesterday, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon, at their brightest of the year, all seemed to come very close to eachother, forming a frowny face. Of the five planets that are visible to the naked eye, Venus and Jupiter are the brightests. That is because both planets have highly reflective clouds surrounding them. Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, and Venus is the brightest. Although crecent Moon, sparkling Venus and mighty Jupiter seem all huddled up together, their proximity is only an eye trick. They are in fact quite far away from eachother, our perspective tricks us. For example, Jupiter and Venus, if you noticed, look like they have been drawing nearer to eachother within the past month, but they have actually remained (in three dimentions!) an unfathomable 300 million mile distance from eachother the whole time!

Tonight, (December 1) you will be able to see the same thing, but even brighter. Look outside your window at twilight, towards the southwest to see this planetary conjuction. It makes a frowny face, but it is truely a spectacular sight, that you can see just by looking out of a window! Go watch, because the next time this same conjuction will occor is the 22nd of April, 2009, in the morning, and it will not be visable. It is estimated that all but a small 23% of planetary conjuctions are hidden from our view, because they are too close to the blinding sun. The next visable conjunction will occur on the evening of March 14, 2012, and even then, the planets will be seperated by a good 3 degrees.

If you live in Western Europe, or Southwestern Africa, you are lucky, because, in addition to the conjuction, Venus will be eclipsed by the Moon.

Interestingly, a similar conjuction between the two planets occured in June of 2 B.C. These types of heavenly groupings have held special importance to ancient astronomers. Astronomers think that it is quite possible that the Star of Bethlehem was a particularly 'close' encounter between the two planets, in which the light of the two formed a sort of beam of light. Imagine yourself as a wiseman, in that time, watching the sky and witnessing such a spectacular sight! Only one thing could this mean, but the Birth of a King!

To learn more, and see an interesting animation of the conjunction follow these links:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081125-venus-jupiter-conjunction.html

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/breakingorbit/2008/09/stargazer-alert-venus-and-jupi.html

Sunrise on the Fitzroy

Seed pod of the Milkweed plant (Asclepias incarnata)

Mallard Duck

Beatiful Tree at Frostbite Regatta

Migration of Starlings in Philidalphia

Chinese Mantis

Brought from China in the mid 1800's as a source of pest control, the Chinese Mantis has thrived in the Eastern U.S. They are one of the most common Mantis's in this part of the U.S., and preform their pest ridding job excellently! A day's meal for one of these voracious animals can be up to 20 small insects (e.g. crickets, flies, moths, and the occasional worm). Although their table manners are atrocious, they have the amazing ability to do away with their prey as quickly as any child would with a candy bar. This means that even just one mantis can easily keep your garden pests at bay. Many people think that Mantids bite people, so they are mortally afraid of them, which can be understandable seeing that their barbed forelimbs respond in 1/100th of a second, and their mouth parts have several layers to them, but they are essentially helpless when it comes to being in the hands of a human. To them, you are nothing but a warm, pink tree branch, and I have NEVER seen a Praying Mantis eat a tree! So whenever you see a mantis, don't worry, it's keeping your garden naturally free off pests.

Things you Never Knew about Wasps

(Common Yellow Jacket)

• Birds, skunks, bears, badgers, bats, weasels, rats, mice, bee eaters (along with 133 three other birds), dragonflies, frogs, moths and beetles all include wasps in their diet. The larvae of several wasp species are also said to taste good when fried in butter.
• Occasionally, wasps will invade bee hives to steal their honey.
• Those odd scrapes in your garden fence (the wooden ones) are caused by workers chewing at the wood to make into the pulp that they use to build their paper nests.
• Swatting a wasp will not solve your problem. First, the wasp will inevitably sting you. Second, the venom in the sting produces a pheromone that serves an alarm to the other wasps in the colony. When the others sense the presence of this pheromone, they will attack whatever it is that your wasp just stung. Thus, by swatting, your problem just got worse!
• A colony can be anywhere between 5 and 10,000 wasps.
• A stingless wasp thought to have become extinct 20 million years ago was identified in 1995, living in pine forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains, California. These wasps are only 8 mm in length, and their bodies are undivided, which means they only have a head and a body, no thorax/abdomen division.

Butterflies

Here is a picture of a butterfly from the Butterfly House in St. Lewis, Mo. I took this picture last year, and posted it in my old blog, but I liked the picture so much, I thought I'd post it again!

I wish I could tell you what type of butterfly this is, not just for extra detail, but because I am dieing of curiosity, but so far I have not been able find that out. Below is another photo that I like from the Butterfly House in St. Lewis.

Niagra Falls!

Sunset from the Top of my Hill

Misty Morning on the Magnetiwan

Interesting Fungus Growing on Dead Tree

A Rather Large Moth Catterpillar

Two Canadian Flowers

Spider with Egg Sack

Ted the Toad

Mystery Bird(s?)

School has started, and free time is quite limited for me, so I have not really gotten any chance to look at my blog, or anyother blog for a while. I apologize. I know all of you are in school as well, so I don't expect much feedback from, but I would love it if some of you would drop me a comment so that I can feel like I'm not just writing my blog for myself!

As I said in my last post....weeks ago!......I saw some new birds in Canada. I will post pictures of them, and what I think they are, but I am not realy sure. Please, if you have any input, tell me ASAP!

Update

Just so you all don't think I've fallen off the planet, I'll give you a quick update on what's been going on. I don't have time at the moment to go into detail, but I will later, I promise!

Yesterday I got back from a week long canoeing trip on the Magnetiwan river in Ontario, Canada. (An Anual Family Trip) One of my goals, for this trip, was to see some new birds, and really get a good look at canada nature. Besides the canada geese, it turned out I got far more than I expected in lifers! I saw at least five new birds, two of them being warblers! I cannot tell you all about it now, but I just wanted to get all excited to check out my blog soon!

Oh, and I found out for sure that that nest that I talked about a couple posts ago was a morning dove nest (thanks to Monica who is always reminding me of the obvious!)

The Complete Naturalist

A naturalist is not complete without:

a. Camera


b. at least one field guide


c. A Butterfly Net!





I just became a complete naturalist by purchasing my first proffesional butterfly net. But this is no ordinary butterfly net. It is long, and wide, and the bag is big, soft, and light weight. In fact, the whole thing is light weight. But the best part is the fact that it can fold up so small, that it is no problem fitting it into any backpack! I carry it arround with me, (in my bag, of course) and stand it up on the wall across from my bed, where I can see it. As mom says, "It's like an appendage to your body!" Perhaps the novelty will wear off, but for now, I don't feel complete without it nearby.

To see a picture of the net, click here.

Results of a Beautiful Day

Yesterday was such a clear, cool day, staying in the low seventies all day! After working all morning and well after noon, I stepped outside with my camera because to take a break. I was starteled at how fall like the air seemed. It was the type of air that is so clear that you can see miles above, miles across, and hear so well from long distances. Instantly I noticed three hawks soaring high and low, catching the wind thermals. They rested on the top of a thermal, and then swooped down, as the thermal passed by, so low I though it would land in a tree. It was such a glorious day.

I found a new nest! I have yet to identify it. It is big, and made with lots of sticks, mud and feathers, with peices of pine leaves on the bottom of the nest all mixed up with grey feathers. It is about 4 inches in diameter. It is quite empty, and rather low, in the nook of a pine tree in our back yard. After I ID it, I will take it down (in the fall, of course) and add it to my collection. So far I have a Chickadee nest, a House Sparrow Nest, and a Robin Nest.

If you all have any ideas regarding the identifcation of this new nest, please drop a comment.

Listen, Watch, Get Involved

This summer I was recommended by a person over at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, to begin using a website, called NestWatch, in order to record data from nests I've been monitoring for two years, now. Not only is NestWatch a good opportunity to help scientists with their research, it is also simple and fun. This is how it works:
You go out to a nest, observe the contents, and record your findings online. The organized and easy to use chart will ask you questions about your findings and give a space for notes. Your job is to diligently check the nest(s) twice a week, and record your findings, and, when a nest attempt is finished, to record why you think it stopped, weather it was successful or not etc. It's that simple! Next time you find a nest, consider using NestWatch. Plus, if you have a nature journal, you can print out all the data at the end of each nest attempt! If you are not fond of going strait from the nest to the Internet, you can also print out the chart, write your observations there, on sight, before typing them online later on.

That was Get involved part of today's post. Cornell has a whole host of nature/science related topics to offer, each just as complete and amazing as the other. Their ornithology section is truly a work of genius. With a collaboration of many enthusiastic ornithologists and volunteers, Cornell Lab of Ornithology has built several amazing sights for learning about the birds you see and never see, their behaviors and their life cycles. Including a blog with up to date Cornell activity, you can't miss a check at Cornell's master site, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/

BirdCam-Check out the nesting process of a variety of birds
On the Master site (link given above) you can click links to eBird, All About Birds, and many other activities and learning tools to expand your knowledge and spark a stronger interest in birds. Have fun with ornithology!

General Update

I picked my first two tomatoes off my monsterous tomatoe plants last week.

Rasberry bushes have together produced about 9 berries, picked and ate two today.

Yay! A new nest to moniter! Today, as I was walking near the basement door, a Robin flew right in front of me in a panic. I Already new there was a nest there, but the Robin had only laid infertal eggs, and seemed to give up for a while. Now there are two eggs, and I am going to regularly moniter the nest. One odd thing, is that one egg is elongated with "hard wrinkles" on the shell. This will be interesting to see how this effects the bird inside.

Today I watched as two titmice faught amounst the trees. They were furiouse! Nearby, a hord of house sparrows chattered, a few cat birds listened intently, flying hear and there to get a better view, and some ceder waxwings whistled excitedly. Even a Robin paused to listen the comotion. Meanwhile, a lovely little titmouse maid sat on a branch a little ways off and whistled its usual"Peter", which sounded more like "Friederick" to me. It was an amusing sight, and the two fighters soon chased eachother into a neighboring yard, so it was short one too.

Some Pictures:

Eastern (Albino) Corn Snake

A couple days ago, as I was shopping at my favorite (privately owned) pet store, the woman at the store, who seems to know how interested in animals I am, asked me if I wanted to adopt a corn snake. An albino corn snake at that! I said I'd think about, with not much conviction, after she told me that they eat frozen (thawed) pinkies twice a week. The next day I had talked myself into it, and Cornelius the Eastern Albino Corn Snake became an official member of the Furth Home Zoo.
Cornelius is freindly, curious, and even tempered snake, and he will stay pretty small all his life. Although snakes pretty much keep growing as long as they live, the life expectancey of a corn snake is, give or take, five to seven years. Corn snakes in general are native to the eastern part of the U.S. I believe there are corn snakes all over the world, but the particular breed I have (not albinos, of course; albinos are rare comodities that apear often in the pet world, but almost never in nature) can be found just about anywhere where there are rodents. Collors vary at an astonishing rate, from corn snake to corn snake. In the wild, they have a standard collor patern, but breeders have breed the most beautiful colors you could imagine. They say, if you let a corn snake go in the East (not in a city, obviously!) it could live happily on rodents and insects. (But you're NEVER supposed to let a pet animal go!!)

I think I should now clear something with you all, before you all go off an buy a pretty corn snake. Corn snakes DO NOT eat corn! Why are they called CORN snakes? Because they eat the rodents that eat that corn that's stored in the barn that Jack built.
"There's so many places to go on a wire shelf! It's hard not to get tangled!"


Cornelius is friendly, curious and even tempered. He LOVES to be handled! His favorite thing to do is climb up your arm and find a cozy dark, and warm spot, which is usually under your arm, and that REALLY tickles!

The Answer

Upon going back to the track this morning, and having another look at the nest, which had been played with by something, I came to the conclusion that it was not a bird's nest at all! Ah! I am learning, don't worry! I don't think I'll ever think a bird says "Scree!" and that a bird builds a nest like that of a field mouse! The reason I could come to this conclusion, is, because, whatever had played with it the previous night had left a spot exposed. It didn't appear to do much damage, to the babies, I mean. Four pinkies, as baby mice are called, lay fidgeting and stretching and sleeping, and doing whatever baby mice do. They were about an inch in lenth and about as fat as a medium sized carrot. They had no fur and thier eyes were not even open yet. They were just pink little babies in a nest! The marsupial mamma was nowhere to be seen, and the nest was in worse shape this time than it had been before. I fear these little critters won't make it to be soft furry brown things you can sometimes see in tall grasses in sunny fields.

Abanondoned Nest

The Other day, while walking around in a small field where grass had just been mowed, I saw a ball of grass that looked sort of like a nest. I picked it up, and decided it was just a ball of grass, so I let it roll out of my hands onto the grass nearby. Just as I did so, I hear "Scree!" from inside the ball! I turned right around and picked it up again, and for the next five minutes, I tried to find an opening to the nest. Where one might have been, there was a sort of second chamber to keep rain out, I guess. Anyway, I was not able to see what was inside the nest without distroying it, so I simply left it. But before I walked away, I put the ball nest to my ear, and could hear the faint "Scree!" noise baby birds make. In between feeble cries from the young bird, I could hear the pipping of one in an egg. And tiny peeps from within it. I felt so sorry for the little birds, for I knew the chances of there mom comming to feed them in their displaced location was slim.

The nest, all made out of the same grasses that had been mowed not long ago, was not totally round. At the top, there was a small entrance way, but it was not dirrect, so I couldn't see anything. Behind the hole was a tuft of grasses that might have held it up somewhere, before the nest was misplaced. Part of the reason why I can't identify the nest, try as I might, is because I don't know weather it was on the ground or hanging! Does anybody have any ideas? I thought of Baltimore oriole, but in all the pictures, the entrance holes were bold. In this nest, I couldn't find one for a while, and even when I though I did, I still had my doubts. I have also ruled out field mouse, because field mice don't pip eggs...although...they can chew on nuts and seeds.....oh dear....I'm am stuck! Please, does anybody have any ideas?

Tadpole Aquarium

Last Thursday, or so, the woman at the petstore I frequent, Aardvark Pet Supplies, found tadpoles in her pool, which she hadn't opened in several years. She put them in a bucket, and brought them to her store to see if anyone wanted them. It just so happened that I went in there to get some crickets for my frogs and Anoles, and the second she saw me, she said, "Would you like some tadpoles." This year, much to my disapointment, I have not been able to find my own tadpoles. I am very greatful for these tadpoles, and very excited. I even bought a new aquarium just for the tadpoles. I'll post an update just a soon as I find out what types of frogs they will be. There is one froglet in the bunch, (a froglet is between a tadpole and a frog, has legs and arms, but still posses tail and prefers to feed and swim in water, but can crawl out of the water from time to time) which appears to be a tree frog. He (or she) is very hard to spot, and sometimes I think it's gotten out of the tank somehow. But then it moves, and I see I've been looking at it the whole time! Cammo, that's what frogs specialize in....well...most of the time anyway!
It's rather difficult to see the tadpoles, but I'd say there are between 15 and 20 in there, along with some diving beetles, a water boatman, and some algae.

Eastern Milk Snake

Once a week, my family and some friends go to a nature reserve, called Westmorland Sanctuary, to have a nature class. This week's nature class was on bird banding. Although we have attended this class countless times, we always have fun. This time, though, we helped catch the birds in the net. With four birds in separate bird bags, we hiked back up to the place where we were going to band them. On the way, the boys found a milk snake under a piece of tin roofing set there for that purpose (among others). Our teacher picked the snake up. As one might imagine, the snake began every defense mechanism it possessed. First, it pooed, and sprayed it everywhere by flicking it's body and tail. In a predator vs. prey situation, this would result in foul tasting poo in the animal's mouth and eyes, and hopefully it would release it's prey. Another mechanism, which our particular snake also displayed, was rattling it's tail, much like a rattle snake, just on a far smaller scale. Finally, when the snake was empty, and was tired of rattling, it realized that it had the chance of escape, since we weren't trying to hurt it. Anyone who wanted to hold it, could. Our teacher then told us a little about milk snakes. First, he reminded us that the milk snake, although closely resembling the venomous Northern Copperhead, was not in anyway harmful, except for a bite that felt like sand paper to human skin. And yes, the snake did try to bite everyone who held it. Though somewhat disconserting at first, both the snake and we warmed up to eachother and holding got much easier. The snake was less squirmy in people whose hands were warm than in those that were cooler. Next, we learned that the milk snake is named because, way back when, farmers thought that it milked their cows. This wives tale is completely untrue; the snake eats only mice, small rodents, eggs and will sometimes use constriction to kill larger prey.

The milk snake lives in woods, meadows, river bottoms, farms and cities, and may be found all over the eastern U.S. These snakes were hated by farmers when they were beleived to milk cows; however, now they are appreciated by farmers and most everybody else, because of their active rodent eating habits.

Here is a picture:

A Walk in the Woods

Some time ago, while at a freinds house, who had 200 acres of woods behind their house, I decided to go birding while everyone else swam. Somewhere in there, I could hear a Baltimore Oriole. (This was, by the way, the very first time I had said, "I can hear so and so bird in there, let me go find it." and be correct with my guess as to which bird it was.) With my camera and my net, I set off for the beginging of the woods, where the only swarm of tiny bighting insects on the whole property buzzed. I broke through them, with quite alot of swatting, and headed for a hedge of thorn brush. This took some time, for, trying to tackle such a passive enemy is not as easy as it may seem. If the huge thorns weren't tearing me up, they were jammed in the rubber of my sneaker, tripping me up and forcing me to grab at the thorny branches. But the oriole pushed me on. Now the song was so close, not so high, and a little ahead of me. I stood still right beyond the thorns, and squinted in the glare of sunlight that was cast on me from a break in the leafage up high. (Here it would have been really nice to have Monica with me, to spot the bird out with her nifty birding binocs!) Suddenly the oriole flew from the foliage above, down to a bush near me. I got a good glimse of it, and even a picture as it flew back up to the branches. Since it was so small, and far away, I could not get great pictures of it, so I will not display any of my photos, except for one when it's flying. But a good photo wasn't on my mind at that moment; it was the rightness of my guess, that made me happy!

For the hour or so that I wandered about in the wood, I could still hear the oriole. I watched it from time to time, when I could see it, but, for the most part, now, I was trying to figure out another puzzle. I heard a strange song I had never heard before. (Monica, if you are laughing when you hear the rest of this, I won't be surprised!) On the way to find the owner of the strange song, I found alot of annoying house wrens and sparrows, who drowned out the song I was trying to hear. The "strange" bird took me all over the place. I could see the branches move, and I could see that it was a greyish bird, but is was so hard to see exactly what it was. Then, suddenly, it came into full view and I almost cried out in humiliation! Now I was glad that no one was with me, because, boy would I have been embaraced! I was a catbird! You can only immagine my frustration.

Taking a quick photo of a tiger moth catterpillar (photo bellow), I hurried deeper into the forest, lest somebody in the yard see me, and come follow. I had an insecent dear fly buzzing around and around and around and a-r-o-u-n-d my head. No amount of running, swatting, or shaking of my head would send it flying off to find another sweatier human being. This fly was caught in orbit around my sweaty hair, which already had pine sap, leaves and twigs in it from the dense forest I was currently traversing. As I walked and swatted, I thought, and looked, and saw and mused. I walked deeper than ever into the forest, and kept promising I'd bend over and turn over the next log I saw, to collect some insects, but I never did, and I don't know why. Perhaps I was just too hot and sticky, and that fly was making me dizzy as it traveled along it's circular path. As I walked, I began to be aware of a strange noise. It sounded like someone doing that armpit suction noise, that boys especially like to do. For a while, I listened and walked cautiousely around the noise. I didn't hear any twigs breaking. I heard no sound of feet, wings, beak, or anything that had to do with bird, beast or human. The sound sounded chillingly human, yet, it kept creeping nearer and nearer seemingly without means of transportion. I will admit I was scared, because, first of all, the sound was so familiar, but I could not place my finger on it, and second of all, because the sound kept coming closer, but only the sound, not the feet or wings or whatever this creature possesed for moving. A snake? A Human? A bird? No! How could it be? I retreated past the thorn brush barier, which was easier to cross, now that I had broken most of the branches blocking my path. But then, curriosity got the better of my fear, and I recrossed, and with stealth crept back to where I had been standing. I crept closser. Fear struck again, when the sound came from behind me. I turned, and just as I did so, a small brown and white spotted fawn popped out of the brush, sneezing! I was so startled, I dropped my net and braced myself! But, immediately, I smiled and and lifted my camera to my eye. (Photo below.) I got one good shot of it, before it had sated it's curiosity and was bounding (and sneezing) happily away.

The last thing I did before it was time to go, was take a photo of a cranefly that was sitting so still on a leaf. The dear fly continued to torment me, now breaking it's orbital path and lunging for some flesh hear or there. I broke into a run at the edge of the woods, and the wind I created pulled the reluctant wings into a different orbit around some other unlucky creature.

When I showed everyone the picture of the dear my freinds, who live in the house, all said the same thing: "I never knew we had dear back there, and so close to the house at that!"

Tiger Moth Caterpillar

Nest Watch

This year's nest watch began with a mystery. When I found my first nest, it was because I had found a robin egg on the ground near it. When I looked up, under the deck, where the egg lay, I saw, not one nest, but four all in a row! It seems so strange to me, that robins would nest all together like that. I will be watching this nest very carefully througout the season. The Chart below explains the situation of the nests. We have so many robins in our yard, that I can't tell which are sitting on the nests here, or if it's more than one pair that have created these nests. Could it be the same robin for all four? Anyway, There are two eggs, one in each of the outer nests, as of June 28th. I will check the nests again on June 30th. Double click the diagram to get a larger, clearer view.