Top Photo: Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) flower buds. Just a brief reminder that Japanese apricot is about to burst into bloom, thorny olive is fruiting, and American holly still has plenty of fruit left over to satisfy the resident robins, wintering hermit thrushes, and visiting waxwings. Two of these plants are non-natives while the last, American holly, is born and bred. They all produce drupes, fruits that have one central seed surrounded by a fleshy, usually edible, part and skinRead more
Posts filed in: AZA
Wolf Cam
Top Photo: Panoramic of the Red Wolf Enclosure. In the spirit of enhanced viewer experiences, the Animal Care and Exhibits teams work together to bring the best experience possible to members and guests at the museum. It takes team work to get the job done. A new infrared light needed to be installed in the wolf den. Invisible to wolf occupants, it brightens the view for us when used with infrared cameras. The den had to be cleared of wolvesRead more
Murray and the Wall
Top Photo: Visitors gather to view Murray Bear (center) go through his paces. Murray, our newest and youngest black bear is still settling in to his new home. All of our bears had to go through the same process of acclimating to new surroundings, and they’ve all come out of it well adjusted. Determined unreleasable in the wild due to their interactions with humans all our bears had no option but to be kept in captivity. We, the museum staff,Read more
Wormsnake Ahead
Top Photo: Eastern wormsnake (Carphophis amoenus) making its way slowly across path. While walking past the Lemur Exhibit in Explore the Wild, someone ahead exclaimed, “Is that a snake?” I rushed over to where a small group of people had gathered to see if it was indeed a snake. It was, without a doubt, a snake. There on the path was an adult wormsnake wriggling slowly towards the far side of the path, its brown and pink scales glistening inRead more
Looking for Adeyha
Top Photo: Taking a peek at Adeyha on the in-den camera at Red Wolf Enclosure. If you’ve visited the red wolf exhibit lately you might have had a difficult time finding both of our wolves. Oak, our female is usually not too hard to locate. She may be walking along the fence at the top of the enclosure, or trotting by at ground level, or lately, reclining behind a pair of mahonia shrubs near the kennel area of the enclosure.Read more
Early Fall Things To Discover
Top Photo: Yellowjacket picking over annual cicada. The yellowjacket in the images above and below is scavenging protein from a dead cicada on the path. Yellowjacket larvae back in the hive are fed protein in the form of whole insects or chunks of meat harvested from caterpillars and other larger animals, even from a picnicker’s ham sandwich. The yellowjackets take the meat back to the hive and feed it directly to larvae in cells within the hive after it’s beenRead more
Nest Box Update 3.21.23
Top Photo: Eastern Bluebird eggs (from previous season). We now have four active nests. Two nests belong to chickadees and two to bluebirds. Neither chickadee nest has eggs, There are four eggs in one bluebird nest and a single egg in another. —————— The nest box at the Cow Pasture has four eastern bluebird eggs inside its cup. At the end of the day, last Tuesday, it had two eggs. There were no birds to be seen during this week’sRead more
More Spring
Top Photo: Northern Mockingbird establishes its territory. Note leaf buds sprouting from tree branches. As temperatures settle back from highs in the mid to upper 70s to seasonal norms of 50s and 60s, more signs of spring are being seen around campus. Here’s some examples. The day following the capture of the photo above, fresh young leaves emerged from the buds of the fig tree our mockingbird was claiming as his own. Blue violet is common along paths in ExploreRead more
How Close Can You Get?
Top Photo: Ranger Patrick (lower right) photographing one of the local red-shouldered hawks (beyond and to right of pine tree – large tree trunk on left). Our resident red-shouldered hawks are quite used to human activity. When they’re hunting they seem to pay little or no attention to folks passing by. In the heat of the breeding season the birds seem even less concerned. They often allow close approach by photographers like Ranger Patrick in the photos here, as heRead more