Our resident great blue heron left an interesting object on the railing of the deck at the Main Wetlands Overlook. It was a pellet. As you may know, pellets are undigested pieces of what a bird eats like bones, fur, exoskeletons, feathers and other indigestibles. The bird regurgitates these objects in the form of a pellet ranging from perhaps a quarter inch to many times that, depending on the size of the bird doing the regurgitating and the material containedRead more
Posts filed in: Fish
Pairing Up
Top Photo: Two males strut their stuff in the wetlands.. Hooded mergansers are with us from November to April. Soon after they arrive for the winter they begin the pair bond process, finding a mate. The mergansers won’t actually be mating at this time, but instead are forming pair bonds with future mates (I have, though, witnessed copulatory behavior here in our Wetlands). Once the bond is formed the pair may reinforce the bond during the remainder of the winter. This makesRead more
Bill Shape and Feather Shape
This post was prompted by a comment/question in a previous post about a green heron preening in our Wetlands. The question concerns the existence of a relationship between bill shape and feather shape, “I only thought about beak shape in terms of feeding, but I wonder if there’s a beak shape/feather shape relationship too?” The short answer is, no. But read on. Any question that stimulates the thought process is a good question. This question started me thinking long and hard.Read more
Spring Rolls Along
Spring continues to move along and the flora and fauna here at the Museum rolls along with it. Thousands, no, millions of neotropical migrant birds are moving through our area, flowers are inviting insects to pollinate themselves, tadpoles are becoming frogs, fish eggs have hatched, and an old friend showed up in the Wetlands. Warblers, thrushes, cuckoos, swallows, and many other birds are migrating north at this time. Most migrate at night (less likely to be seen by hungry hawkRead more
Around the Wetlands
Top Photo: Banded tussock moth caterpillar dangling from a silken thread as it lowers itself to the ground. On any random day in the Wetlands, if you keep your eyes opened wide, you’re likely to see many things. Here’s just a few of the sights that I witnessed during the second half of October. I was standing near the Main Black Bear Overlook when I noticed a caterpillar on one of the leaves of a winged elm tree.Read more
A Fishing Expedition
At the lower terminus of the Boardwalk in Explore the Wild I noticed a small snake (perhaps 18 inches at best) coiled in the smartweed that grows there. The snake’s head stuck out of the water, ready to pounce, its tongue flashing out to smell the air. There were also many minnows splashing about the shallow water. Some of the fish were in large groups feeding, a feeding frenzy. Others were in small groups swimming in and out of theRead more
A Field Guide to Whatever it is You’re Looking at
There seems to be a guide to just about anything and everything. Whatever it is you happen to be looking at someone has put together a guide to help you figure out what it is, and often, how it relates to the world. There are field guides to birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians, plants and trees. Bird guides are further broken down into eastern birds, western birds, and even groups of birds: sparrows, shorebirds, raptors, warblers, owls. There areRead more
The Pellet
Back from the weekend and on my first walk around the Outdoor Exhibit Loop I noticed three gray masses of debris on one of the copper-topped posts of the boardwalk in Explore the Wild. It was obviously a pellet. What’s a pellet? Basically it’s a regurgitated mass of animal parts, bones, fur, or feathers which can not be digested by whatever it was that ate the animal, typically a hawk, owl, or perhaps a heron. These birds swallow small preyRead more
What’s for dinner?
The small island that is directly off the boardwalk where that western red cedar structure makes a left hand turn on its way to the bear overlook is a hub of activity during at least part of each day. Fish are obviously congregated among the roots and tangle of branches under the water there. There are often mergansers fishing in this spot and it is easily viewed from the boardwalk as you descend. It’s also far enough away from the boardwalkRead more