Dazzling Sights on the MLS Outdoor Loop

Top Photo: Rat snake crosses path in front of me. A walk around our outdoor loop through the Dinosaur Trail, Explore the Wild, and Catch the Wind can be relaxing and rewarding. You never know what you’re going to run into. Anything from snakes to folded-wing skippers is possible, and frankly, expected. Here’s some of the things I bumped into this past week. The photos above and below are of a common local resident, rat snake. The individual above isRead more

Mimics and Other Amazing Springtime Sights

Top Photo: Brown thrasher belts out his best imitation of other local birds and sounds. Like mockingbirds, thrashers (above) mimic other birds and sounds that occur in their immediate area. While mockingbirds often repeat the same phrase over and over again, thrashers tend to repeat each mimicked phrase or sound twice, then move on to the next one. Physical mimicry is fairly common in invertebrates. Whether to avoid being eaten by predators or as a predator seeking to hunt otherRead more

Spring Heats Up for Plants, Animals, and Staff

Top Photo: Tent caterpillar hustling across path. The caterpillar pictured above has made it’s way down out of its secure, communal silken tent in a nearby cherry tree. It’s in search of an even more secure location to pupate, under siding, tree bark, crevice or other hidden location. By late spring to summer it will become an adult moth and deposit eggs on a twig of another cherry tree, or perhaps the very same tree it crawled out of. TinyRead more

A Change in the Air

Top Photo: Yona (right) approaches Little Bear at pool in Black Bear Enclosure. Its wasn’t long ago that Yona Bear was a loner among loners, always off by herself. She was aggressive towards the other bears in the enclosure. It seemed, she had a chip on her shoulder. Black bears by nature are solitary creatures, but Yona, our second youngest bear of the four in the enclosure, was even more of an isolationist. She was habitually off on her own,Read more

You Have to Go Outside to See It

Top Photo: Canada geese float about in wetlands. You can’t help but see the Canada geese drifting about on our three acre pond in Explore the Wild. They’re big, loud, and recently, there’ve been ten of them present, five pairs. With the installation of the floating walkway in our wetlands you may have the opportunity to get quite close to the geese. Of course, they sometimes walk along the main path grazing on the grass as they go, so youRead more

Spring Is Here!

Top Photo: Redbud, about to burst wide open. March 1 is the first day of Spring. Many wait till the equinox to proclaim the season, but for me it’s the first day of March. Most meteorologist agree. Besides the photo of the redbud above, here’s a group of photos which may help confirm the arrival of the season. A single soft-white flower and a single rounded, lobed, leaf means bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Red juice from the stem can be usedRead more

Early Spring Things to See

Top Photo: Balancing act by yellow-bellied slider. The unusually warm February has brought out early baskers, bloomers and animal hormones. If you haven’t seen turtles basking in the wetlands you haven’t been looking very hard. Every available perch is occupied, with no room to spare. Normally heavy sleepers, I even saw a snapping turtle the other day. Red buckeye, one of the earliest shrubs to open up, is doing so now. There are a dozen of them planted along theRead more

Spring Already?

Top Photo: Male hooded merganser swims past a bale of turtles out basking on a warm February afternoon. Basking turtles, excavating nuthatches, blooming honeysuckle, sunning anoles, and mating hawks, all a part of the spring to come. Sliders come out on every available sunny winter day to bask, but they were out in force on a sunny 70 degree day this week. Brown-headed nuthatches commence cavity construction in soft-wood trees each February. They excavate many more holes than they useRead more