There are many opportunities to capture interesting photogrpaphic images while on a walk around Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind. Timing and luck play their parts, and of course the amount of time one spends on the outdoor loop here at the Museum helps expose one to more opportunities, but one thing is for sure, you have to be there in person to photographic whatever it is that’s happening. Here’s some of the images I captured last week. TheRead more
Posts tagged: #Raccoon
The Rana Dilemma
Back in 2009, I noticed a large concentration of bullfrog tadpoles in the northwest corner of the Wetlands. The tadpoles were congregated around a pipe which drains the higher ground above, particularly the Red Wolf Enclosure. I didn’t know why the tadpoles were gathered in this location but speculated that it was due to either the concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the water, higher temperature, algal growth (their main source of food), or a combination of those things. Something hadRead more
Watching TVs
Several weeks ago as I walked down the boardwalk into Explore the Wild I noticed a Turkey Vulture (TV) soaring low over the trees at the NE corner of the Wetlands. I thought, “There must be something dead over there.” A few days later I saw a TV clumsily fly down through the trees in that same area. “There’s GOT to be something dead over there.” I thought. And then, a few days after that, I heard two crows callingRead more
Fall
There’s little doubt that fall is here. Warblers and other migrant birds are trickling through, the raccoons, groundhogs, and fox are feeding more heavily, and, as mentioned in a previous post, snakes are moving about more. Here’s just a few more signs of the season before us. And, not necessarily a sign of fall but perhaps a sign of exhaustion towards the summer season… Have we seen this snapper behavior before? That’s all for now.Read more
Anybody Home?
Over the past winter I often heard loud noises coming from the attic area over the vending machines in Explore the Wild. It sounded like someone was moving furniture around! I suspected squirrels, or maybe raccoons. On Saturday, June 4, I think I found out who was making that noise, at least the offspring of those noisemakers. I heard the soft chirping of a raccoon coming from somewhere above as I stopped in the shade to sip water in theRead more
Another Snow Day in the Wild
I’ve been working on a couple of new entries to the blog and had hoped to have them posted by now. The recent snow which came to town on January 30 closed the Museum for a few days and I haven’t had the time to complete my work. I did, however, manage to get a few photos of some interesting happenings out on the Outdoor Exhibits trails… Finding tracks in the snow is fun, but it’s fleeting. The snow thatRead more
Tiny Toads, Morphing Frogs, and a Nest Robber
On the first day of June I heard Narrow-mouthed Toads calling from the Wetlands. They’re about 1-1.5 inches in length. They spend a good deal of their time in the woods in burrows or under rocks or logs so they’re tough to find visually. I heard their lamb-like “baaaa” calls coming from the Wetlands when the thunder storms of late May and early June brought them out to breed. I’ve yet to see one. There have been 12 species ofRead more