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We've had a strange guest at the bird feeders lately: I still haven't figured out how it's getting up to our second flood balcony, but I applaud the determination. The birds don't seem to like this seed blend anyway so I'm glad someone's enjoying it.
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Dec 18, 2015 19:39
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We hang this stuff into the trees. The birds love it and squirrels and mice have a really hard time reaching it. (picture's not mine)
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Dec 18, 2015 19:42
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Chinston Wurchill posted:We've had a strange guest at the bird feeders lately: Are you in an apartment or a house? If the first floor is yours I'd suggest black oil sunflower, thistle, and some suet cakes, but if you have downstairs neighbors they'll hate you for that.
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Dec 19, 2015 03:25
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The Red Queen posted:Are you in an apartment or a house? If the first floor is yours I'd suggest black oil sunflower, thistle, and some suet cakes, but if you have downstairs neighbors they'll hate you for that. I always have suet out but aside from an occasional peck here or there the birds either aren't into it or I'm not presenting it right. Maybe it's just random variability - at times last winter I had up to 30 sparrows on the balcony at once, but they haven't seemed as interested (desperate?) this year. There's a bird store literally a block from where I live so maybe I'll check it out in the new year. Thanks for the tips!
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Dec 19, 2015 04:18
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I've been catching glimpses of an accipiter darting around Arcata Marsh this month, but I didn't get a close look at it until today. It came gliding in low and fast over a pond and got the drop on a harrier that was eating a coot. The harrier fled, and this fellow got the meal. I'm pretty sure it's a Sharp-shinned Hawk, but Cooper's Hawks look very similar. accipiter-coot by Redwood Planet, on Flickr A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks have started hanging around. This one was perched right above the trail and didn't mind having me underneath.  rsh-face2 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Great Blue Heron:  gbh-face3 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Another bittern patrolling the reed beds:  bittern-patrol by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Dec 19, 2015 10:20
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Moon Potato posted:
 good burd. Makes me miss having my birds, had way too many as a kid.
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Dec 19, 2015 18:10
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Wading birds are still loving the wet weather. We have four American Bitterns coming to feed in just one corner of Arcata Marsh. bittern-stand by Redwood Planet, on Flickr I missed focus on this shot, but I like it because it shows how well bitterns blend into their surroundings when you're not using a long lens to isolate them from the background.  bittern-hidden by Redwood Planet, on Flickr A Great Blue Heron poking around for shrimp in the rocks by a tidal sluice:  jiblet-strike by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Another one that was stalking voles by the edge of the trail:  gbh-wind by Redwood Planet, on Flickr My trip to the Mad River Slough Wildlife Area got rained out pretty quickly, but I was able to find a few owls before I left. Short-eared Owls came out to hunt:  seo-mrs by Redwood Planet, on Flickr I caught a glimpse of a Long-eared Owl, but it hid in the grass before I could get a clear shot. A male Northern Harrier carrying off a vole:  male-harrier-vole by Redwood Planet, on Flickr
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Dec 26, 2015 06:11
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Moon Potato posted:I missed focus on this shot, but I like it because it shows how well bitterns blend into their surroundings when you're not using a long lens to isolate them from the background. Moon Potato: His mistakes are still better than anything I'll ever take.
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Dec 26, 2015 17:52
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this weird cat came back last night  dog chased him up there and he didnt move again for like 5 hours. i think he's too fat for the trap and he stole the bait 
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Jan 3, 2016 17:29
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The Goatfather posted:this weird cat came back last night Raccoons are smart fuckers. Many times, if you catch one in say, a Have-a-Heart, and release him, you'll never catch him with a Have-a-Heart again, because he knows what it is now, and how not to get caught.
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Jan 3, 2016 17:43
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I finally got a bit of decent light to work with for shooting raptors at the Mad River Slough Wildlife Area. Short-eared Owls:  owl-wide by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  owl-dip by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Northern Harriers:  grey-ghost by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  harrier-grass by Redwood Planet, on Flickr White-tailed Kites:  kite-diving-mad-river by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  kite-flyover3 by Redwood Planet, on Flickr They didn't come in close enough for a decent photo, but there was also a Peregrine Falcon, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Red-shouldered Hawk and an American Kestrel in the area. That spot is raptor heaven during the winter.
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Jan 8, 2016 23:48
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Your pictures are amazing as always
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Jan 9, 2016 00:56
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 Strangely warm winter in northern kentucky = exactly 1 more invertebrate critterquest than I'd have expected
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Jan 9, 2016 05:39
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Jan 9, 2016 08:21
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Are you in Florida? Those are invasive there right? They're so pretty, poor things, they don't know they're pests 
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Jan 9, 2016 09:44
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Found a pretty big spider in the stairs while in Portugal for the xmas holidays: Got it ID'ed as a Zoropsis spinimana. Thought it was some kind of wolf spider at first. axolotl farmer posted:Hey, did you pass the exam? Was JS teaching the class? Late answer, but hey, small world! Yes she was, she was great! I passed, the first one (nyckling) barely, the second one (memorizing vertebrate species and invertebrate classes/orders/families) with flying colors. Too bad we couldn't have the nyckling exam after the Tovetorp expedition, which gave us a lot of practice. Falukorv fucked around with this message at 12:44 on Jan 9, 2016 |
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Jan 9, 2016 12:35
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Falukorv posted:
Confession: Way too many of the spider IDs I give when people ask me are just "wolf spider" because people know at least those aren't dangerous and it's impossible to tell what it really is (beyond harmless) when they show me a blurry cell phone pic of what could just as easily be a fishing spider or grass spider. From what I can tell it's become a colloquial term for all harmless spiders anyway.
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Jan 9, 2016 15:33
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Falukorv posted:Found a pretty big spider in the stairs while in Portugal for the xmas holidays: D'awwww  Z.spinimana is one of the few European spiders you really need to be careful with though, it has an extremely painful bite that will knock out your arm for a few days and gets much more agressive than other spiders when scared. Not that you shouldn't keep it as a pet and cuddle it anyway 
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Jan 9, 2016 15:45
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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blowfish posted:D'awwww poo poo, did not know that! I used my hand to scoop him/her into the glass. Assumed it was a harmless wolf spider, based on the shape and swiftness.
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Jan 9, 2016 15:58
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  Visited my in-laws in England over the holidays and the December bird life was somewhat different from what I'm used to.
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Jan 10, 2016 17:31
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Those are not birds. They are pure malevolence given shape and covered in feathers.
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Jan 10, 2016 17:39
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Enfys posted:Those are not birds. They are pure malevolence given shape and covered in feathers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxd53ykmTvc
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Jan 10, 2016 17:42
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They're also goddamned invasives in the US, and my museum refuses to accept specimen donations because a) there's so many of them and b) they're gigantic.
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Jan 10, 2016 17:43
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Enfys posted:Those are not birds. They are pure malevolence given shape and covered in feathers. And protected by royal decree so if they start attacking you you're not allowed to fight back or else you'll get sent to the Tower of London. It's hosed up.
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Jan 10, 2016 18:38
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Tardigrade posted:They're also goddamned invasives in the US, and my museum refuses to accept specimen donations because a) there's so many of them and b) they're gigantic. Canadian geese are similarly horrible, a flock(or multiple flocks) of nearly 200 of the loving things took up residence over a school vacation and covered the football field with SO MUCH goose poo poo they literally had to cancel games and practice on it for a couple days while the janitors and maintenance cleaned it all off. It wound up killing the grass on a huge portion of it from so much...acidity? Or whatever poop puts into the soil? And the geese themselves would routinely attack students out of nowhere.
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Jan 10, 2016 19:06
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No pictures because the whole thing took place at chickadee speed, but one of the Carolina chickadees here responded to the first snow of the season by tackling another to the ground and pinning it by biting its wing. 
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Jan 10, 2016 23:30
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