Nature Photography

[snolly50]

Q: Why did the 'gator cross the road?

A: To get away from that aggravating snolly's constant photo intrusion!

 

[JohnJ]

8 minutes ago, snolly50 said:

Q: Why did the 'gator cross the road?

A: To get away from that aggravating snolly's constant photo intrusion!

 

Being close to them when walking always evokes a primitive, visceral reaction in me.  

[snolly50]

33 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

Being close to them when walking always evokes a primitive, visceral reaction in me.  

As it should, they seem so primal. The one above was a 5 footer, which is approaching the size that elicits serious caution from me. On this outing I heard only one brief bellow, so that component was not as provocative as a previous exposure at the same locale. At that time, a big fellow shook the air (and my innards) over and over with his rumbling call.

[snolly50]

It's time for the young Canada Geese! Here they are...

 

 

Making friends with the old decoys...

 

[snolly50]

On our walk today the snollywife spotted the rustled egg, then another. Thinking it an overlarge bird egg, she was surprised to find it flexible. Yep, turtle. We have two species dwelling in the lake, sliders and snappers. Since snapper eggs are round, the victims here were obviously undeveloped pond sliders.

 

 

The disrupted nest was soon spotted. It rested a few feet from the road's edge about 150 yards from the lake. Who was the rapacious culprit, the greedy malefactor, who scarfed these helpless turtles-to-be. Having in the past, witnessed a crow perform such infamy my judgement immediately leapt to the ilk of that fowl. Of course there are other suspects; a trash panda from the raccoon camp, or ole Mr. Possum. Those critters are just sneaky enough to have performed this opprobrium.

 

Here is the ravaged nest. The blackguard employed a duel entry strategy. 

 

 

In service to my theory of crow as miscreant, here is an enlargement in which I fancy I see the footprints of that rascally, ebon bird. Perhaps the perception is only the product of bias born of my prior experience.

 

 

 

   

[minnbuckeye]

For the last 3 spring seasons, our family has been blessed with the ability to enjoy nature in action. A large nest was constructed by a pair of red tail hawks and a few broods have been hatched. The nest is across the creek but very visible from our front porch. Note the 0 marking the nest location high in a white pine tree.

 

 

 

Here is last years occupants, a picture I think I had posted before.

 

.

 

This year, we noticed the red tails did not return. But a great horn owl laid its egg in the nest  instead. 

 

 

Since owls nest early and these youngsters have flown the coup already, we anticipated the hawks returning. To our delight a few days ago, the nest was occupied again. Not by the hawks, not by the owls, but by something surprising. Who can guess what bird is now raising it's young in front of us. I will post a picture when someone figures this out!!!!

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by minnbuckeye

[Top Trilo]

42 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Who can guess what bird is now raising it's young in front of us. I will post a picture when someone figures this out!!!

Bald Eagle?

[minnbuckeye]

Not any form of eagle but good guess

[snolly50]

3 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

Who can guess

Osprey?

[minnbuckeye]

Here is a hint.....This bird is mentioned in fairy tails.

[Lone Hunter]

A stork?

[Ludwigia]

A cuckoo?

[minnbuckeye]

Well, I hate to drag this out too far, so here is the picture of the new occupants, a pair of Canadian Geese!! I just hate to think about a gosling's first step and the 100 ft fall.

 

.

Edited May 8, 2022 by minnbuckeye

[snolly50]

Very surprising, far outside of my experience of seeing their nesting strategies at our locale. 

[minnbuckeye]

Just found this: 

Tree-nesting by Canada geese has been recorded since Audubon's time and later by early explorers in northwestern states.

[snolly50]

45 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

Tree-nesting

Fascinating. Do they always utilize a "borrowed" nest? From the ground nesting sites seen here, they seem to possess no innate nest construction skills. Here a flattened area of groundcover with a thin layer of down feathers is the extent of the construction. It is not clear if the down is purposely added or just a natural product of the goose's time on the nest. It would be very interesting, if one population (i.e. Northwestern) of geese displayed a complex behavior alien to another population. Of course it is also possible that Southeastern geese nest above ground, but I have not witnessed or heard of it. 

[minnbuckeye]

@snolly50, I found a vintage show (Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom) that dealt with this subject. They utilize nests from other birds. Yesterday, no goose was seen in the nest, concerning us that they flew the coop. This morning, BOTH were sitting in it!!

[snolly50]

It's very interesting. It underscores the fact that the natural world holds tons of secrets and surprises, even in areas that one feels very familiar with. 

[Coco]

Incredible ! I didn't think that a nest built and used by one species could be taken over by another, much less used by a third species, not to mention the cuckoos that only lay their eggs.

 

Coco

[DPS Ammonite]

Has anyone’s tomatoes ripened yet? Had some cherry tomatoes ripen in Phoenix, none of the medium sized varieties yet.
 

What are tomato vines without hornworms. These thing scared me as a kid until I realized that the horns/stingers were floppy and just for show.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_sexta

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by DPS Ammonite

[Fin Lover]

Some of us pay good money for horn worms to feed to the pet lizards!

[minnbuckeye]

3 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Has anyone’s tomatoes ripened yet

Actually, I was just outside planting tomatoes!! A bit of a climate difference.

Edited May 11, 2022 by minnbuckeye

[Fin Lover]

On 5/8/2022 at 7:44 AM, minnbuckeye said:

Well, I hate to drag this out too far, so here is the picture of the new occupants, a pair of Canadian Geese!! I just hate to think about a gosling's first step and the 100 ft fall.

 

.

Baby geese can't fly for quite some time, so I wonder what they do. Interesting! I guess we aren't going to have as many babies this year as usual.

[JohnJ]

7 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

What are tomato vines without hornworms. These thing scared me as a kid until I realized that the horns/stingers were floppy and just for show.

The 'creaking' sound they make can be surprising, too.

[Lone Hunter]

Tiny Texas tomatoes picked today. Had no idea hornworms made a noise, I've never heard one complain after I find it and drive it far far away.                   
Found this article; sorry picture is squished!

Canada Geese and Tree Nests

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Canada geese are one of the early nesters in North Dakota. In April, they will select nest sites on islands, the edges of wetlands, and occasionally in trees.

The pair in this photo has chosen an unoccupied bald eagle nest, about 40 feet up in the tree. How do the newly hatched goslings get down from the nest? Climb down? Do the adults carry them in their bill?

It takes very lucky timing to witness the spectacle, but some biologists have described the event when goslings leave the nest. In the mid-1950s on the Flathead Valley of Montana, biologists monitored 77 tree and cliff nests where Canada geese were nesting. Some of these sites were up to 200 feet off the ground.

After all goslings had hatched, the adult geese would fly off the nest to the ground or water and start calling persistently to the goslings. One by one, the goslings would jump off the nest, beat their tiny wings on the descent, and plummet to the ground. Goslings are hardy and while some may lay stunned for a brief moment after crash landing, only one gosling out of those 77 nests was found impaled on a branch.                                  They look something like this baby wood duck when taking the dive, they nest in trees.