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
Posts filed in: Winter
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
Birds to Look Out For
Top Photo: One of two pileated woodpeckers seen near the Lemur House on 22 December. I heard the call coming from the woods next to the Lemur House, in the woods between the lemurs and the Sailboat Pond in Catch the Wind. At first I thought it the call of a flicker, but it was deeper, more liquid and more powerful than a flicker’s call. It had to be a pileated woodpecker. I’d seen and heard pileated on our campusRead more
Merganser Display
Top Photo: Three male hooded mergansers try to impress female, though she seems little interested. Anywhere from a single individual to 6 hooded mergansers have been seen cruising the wetlands during the last month or so. Keep an eye out for small groups as they may be performing a pair-bond display as in the photos posted here. The males vie for the female’s attention, each aiming to become the one she chooses to mate with. They dance around in theRead more
Top Photo: Fox sparrow.Read more
Juniper Berries Anyone?
Top Photo: American robin foraging on eastern red cedar. Had you visited the Red Wolf Enclosure’s overlook in the past few days you may have heard the chortle of robins above. You may have had juniper berries rain down on your head. You may have seen a dozen or more birds flitting about, knocking the small blue fruit off the tree limbs in their zeal to consume them. American robins, bluebirds, hermit thrushes, sapsuckers and yellow-rumped warblers have all beenRead more
A Ruby-crowned Display
Top Photo: Ruby-crowned kinglet in full display mode. Male ruby-crowned kinglets have a patch of red feathers on the top of their heads, the crown. The ruby-red crown of this tiny, frenetic bird is usually concealed by olive-green/gray feathers, except when the bird is excited. Excitement means, while the bird is in the presence of a potential mate, predator or rival. In the case here, the bird was stimulated by its own reflection in the passenger side mirror of aRead more
Adeyha Awakens, Red-shoulder Dries Out, Little Ascends
Top Photo: Adeyha makes an appearance. In a recent post I mentioned that our new resident male has taken to sleeping the day away in his enclosure’s man-made den. I’ve been hearing reports from various staff that he’s been seen out and about in the enclosure near the end of the day, four, four-thirtyish. I decided to follow the scuttlebutt and check it out for myself. Sure enough the first photo I shot of Adeyha, and the first time I’dRead more
Into the Mist
Top Photo: Just outside Into the Mist during summer. Into the Mist is a favorite exhibit for many members, and one-time out of town visitors too. But like all good things, maintenance is sometimes required to keep things going the way they should. Our Outdoor Landscape Environments (OLE) team is working hard to be out with the old and in with the new. As you can see in these photos the grass has been removed, old piping is on theRead more