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