Tracks in Ice

  As I stood on the Main Wetlands Overlook, I noticed a track of smooth ice coming from the willows on the north side of the Wetlands and heading directly towards the platform on which I stood. The track was frozen over, but frozen over more recently than the surrounding ice. Obviously, some creature had swum through the ice when it was slushy, creating a trail and the trail had subsequently frozen over. I looked over the rail at theRead more

The Eagle and the Hawk

The following URL was passed along to me by Jennifer here at the Museum. It’s a live Eagle Cam from Duke Farms in New Jersey. The live feed is of an eagle’s nest in a sycamore tree. More interesting is a previously recorded video that is linked to on the right side of the web page (click on “2013-03-24 Red-tailed hawk Fight“ in the right hand column when you get to the main page). That particular video shows a brief battleRead more

Killer Kitties?

That’s not my title. It’s the title, or at least part of the title, of an NPR interview on All Things Considered. I happened to be listening to NPR on the radio on the drive home the other day. An animal ecologist, Pete Marra, from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute was being interviewed about a study he and colleagues of his had recently conducted. The study was focused on determining how many animals are killed in the states each year by us,Read more