Weather systems often bring in unusual birds. Strong cold fronts sometimes carry with them birds from the far north. Unusually cold weather creates strong needs within birds to feed, simple survival is the name of the game. During extreme cold periods you often see birds at your feeders that are absent during mild weather especially when the leaf litter is covered with snow. On Thursday, a day when upon awaking from a three dog night, the air temperature was aRead more
Posts filed in: Winter
Lawn Thrush
Everyone is familiar with the robin. It’s the bird that, when describing another bird, people often use as a reference, “it was about the size of a robin.” We see them on our lawns, in city parks, in our fruit trees, and even nesting in our backyards. We see them in every season of the year from the blistering heat of the summer to the frigid (especially this year) winter. The American Robin got its name from the early EuropeanRead 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
Chasing Turtles
I’ve been watching turtles here at the Museum since my arrival some 6 years ago. We have about five species in our Wetlands: Yellow-bellied Slider, Red-eared Slider, Eastern Painted, Eastern Musk, and Common Snapping Turtles. You might be thinking, “Hey, what’s he talking about, you either have five species or you don’t,” and you’d be right. The reason I say about five species is because the red-eared is not native. I haven’t seen any adults that I can definitely call red-eared,Read more
Red-shouldered
The immature Red-shoulered Hawk in the photo was sitting just outside the offices of the Butterfly House. Just below the hawk is a small pond (about 6 feet in diameter). I often see red-shouldereds out in the Wetlands queitly perched above the water’s edge waiting for frogs or other swamp creatures to pounce upon. This is the first that I’ve seen at this pond. I’m told, however, by the folks inside the offices that this bird has visited this spot before.Read more
Sleepy Fox
Yesterday (1/4), with the temps in the low thirties (and wind chills in the twenties), one of our resident wild gray foxes found a cozy, sunny spot to lie down and rest. Only feet from the main path through Explore the Wild, the fox apparently felt that its cryptic coloration would conceal its location. I was lucky enough to spot the little canid. It’s always a thrill to see one of these little guys, don’t you agree? I suppose, though,Read more
Sleeping Wolves
While the wolves sleep, the birds reap. Animal keepers enter the Red Wolf Enclosure daily to both clean up and to drop off fresh meat in the form of meatballs. The meat is placed in various locations around the enclosure. Much of it’s picked up and wolfed down before the keepers leave the enclosure, but there’s often small tidbits left behind. I’ve often seen cardinals drop in to sample the raw meat. And Carolina Wrens sometimes fly in to pickRead more
Afternoon Reflections on the Wetlands, and a Sleepy Wolf
After I took the following four photographs I realized that they are all of the same subject but at different levels of zoom. They were not shot in the same sequence as they appear here but minutes apart with other photos in between. There was obviously something that drew my eye to that spot. And, a sleepy wolf. What do you think this wolf is dreaming about, the breeding season to come? a rawhide chew? a run through the woods?Read more