Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Totally Enjoying a Summer Shower


Video: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird enjoying the rain
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in the rain
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in the rain


This male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is having too much fun in the rain! The more I observe hummingbirds away from the feeder the more I appreciate their personalities and natural behavior. The nectar feeder is just a very small part of their daily activities and food.

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Monday, July 29, 2013

Relaxing Nature Meditation - Summer Mountain Thunderstorm

Video: Summer Mountain Thunderstorm


Relaxing Nature Meditation - Summer Mountain Thunderstorm

Relax to the sounds and sights of a passing July thunderstorm in the Great Smoky Mountains. Rain...Thunder...Wind and bird calls as the weather begins to clear and the mountains reappear from behind the clouds. As the rain tapers off to a drizzle the dominant sound will be a rain-swollen fresh mountain stream below. Not the call of the Eastern Towhee and Carolina Chickadee.

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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Owl smuggler caught by German police

Owl smuggling by train? This story out of Europe.

Owl smuggler caught -  Austrian Times Online News - English Newspaper

Western Screech Owlets Saved From Forest Fire in Sierra National Forest

Western Screech Owlets saved from fire
Western Screech Owlets saved from fire. (Photo: US Forest Service)

The U.S. Forest Service reports on two Western Screech Owlets rescued from a nest in a dead tree in the Sierra National Forest fire. It's a great story of quick action by dedicated people to get the owls to a rehab center. They are doing fine and will be released back to the wild in an un-burned area near their original home. 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Relaxing Nature Meditation - Morning By a Cool Mountain Stream

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Video: Enjoy a cool little mountain stream swollen by recent rain in a world of deep green.

Nature Meditation Cool Mountain Stream
Nature Meditation Cool Mountain Stream


Relaxing Nature Meditation - Enjoy a cool little mountain stream swollen by recent rain in a world of deep green.

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mourning Dove Versus Red Bellied Woodpecker


Video: Woodpecker Versus Dove!

Mourning Dove and Red Bellied Woodpecker
Mourning Dove Fights Off Red Bellied Woodpecker

Dove's may be peaceful but they hold their ground!

Mourning Dove versus Red Bellied Woodpecker
Mirror - Mirror : Mourning Dove versus Red Bellied Woodpecker

A Mourning Dove holds its ground against a female Red-Bellied Woodpecker by facing-off with it wherever she turns. The Dove puffs itself up to look bigger and scarier and stays puffed-up until the woodpecker leaves and then returns to normal. Doves can be tough - this is a rematch of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4pvHSNVWIk  and again the Dove wins. 
So the Dove wins best out of 3 - how about best of 7? You can be sure the woodpecker will get a rematch.
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Pair of Mourning Doves - Nature Meditation For Your Cat


Video: Pair of Mourning Doves Getting Ready to Start Their Busy Day!

Pair of Mourning Doves - Your Cat Just May Be Fascinated

A beautiful pair of Florida Mourning Doves in early spring warming up and preening before they start their busy day. I have had feedback that such videos are enjoyed by Cats, especially indoor cats may find this fascinating stuff.  - Meditation for you and your cat. Play on big screen in HD.

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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Screech Owl Scratches An Itchy Face With Razor Sharp Talons - Yikes!

Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl Has Amazing
Scratching Tools to Ease her Itching!


Scratch an Itch with care!

Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl Has Amazing Scratching Tools!
Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owl  About to use her razor sharp talons as an Amazing
Scratching Tool!


Your not likely to have seen anything like this before. This female Red Morph Screech Owl has an itchy Beak / Nose area - it's driving her nuts -  we all know how that feels - but she is equipped with some serious scratching tools - the razor sharp and long talons look dangerous, but they must feel really good to her to scratch that itch!

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Cute Hummingbird in Hemlock Tree


Video: Hummingbird Relaxing and Being Mellow


Cute Ruby Throat-ed Hummingbird North Carolina
Cute Ruby Throat-ed Hummingbird in western North Carolina



It's rare to see a Ruby Throated Hummingbird relaxing and looking cute. But Hummers can be cute - if they sit still long enough to see them! This female is relaxing and having a bit of fun in her favorite Hemlock Tree.

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Giant Standing Groundhog Eats an Apple


Video: One Large Groundhog polishes off an apple!


One Large Groundhog!

A Huge Groundhog aka Woodchuck near Great Smoky Mountain National Park taking advantage of a trimmed apple tree by eating one apple after another off the ground. Believe it or not this giant fellow can climb fruit trees and climb out on branches to grab apples and peaches. At the very large end of the spectrum of Groundhog sizes this fellow stands two feet tall and looks a lot like a miniature bear.

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher in Florida
Great Crested Flycatcher in Florida

A pair of Great Crested Flycatchers spent some time in our backyard during the late winter and spring. This is the first year they came to our yard. They were difficult to capture - mostly staying in thick brush. Love their odd calls and will have to make a ringtone of it in the future.

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Red Squirrel Not Eating a Brazil Nut


A squirrel not eating a nut is news!

Red Squirrel Brazil Nut
Red Squirrel Not Eating a Brazil Nut

And now for a little fun! The little Red Squirrel is back and this time he's doing nothing! But even when he does nothing he has a certain animal magnetism - a born "over-actor" this time not eating a large Brazil Nut. Just holding it and staring for several minutes. A squirrel eating a nut is to be expected, a squirrel not eating a nut is unusual :-).

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Hiccuping and eating


Eating with an attitude!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Raccoon Rumble Caught on Night-Vision Video

Video: Raccoon Rumble!


Raccoon Fight
Raccoon Fight !


Raccoon fight caught on night-vision! - short but violent turf battle near the typically tranquil birdbath. This is a game trail and it looks like some young raccoon's away from Mom cross paths with a lone male. Surprising hyena like sounds as they run away. Like a lot of fights in nature - not much damage was done - but lessons were learned. Love how the little one on the far left totally stays out of it :-)

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Lovely Winking and Blinking Screech Owlet


Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owlet
Female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owlet



Video: Amazing Owl Eyes You Won't Be Able to Resist!


The evocative eyes of this lovely female Red Morph Eastern Screech Owlet will captivate you - You will feel as if she is looking right at you - resistance is futile! 

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Hiccuping Red Squirrel

Video of Red Squirrel with serious case of hiccups!


Little Red Squirrel has a serious case of the hiccups - no doubt from eating too fast!
Seriously, this little guy has "eating issues" see: 



The "hiccups" are his way of saying "don't plan on joining me for dinner all this food is mine"!

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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Amazing Insect Camouflage - Moth Seeks Out Dark Wood Knots To Hide On!

Video of Clever Moth in Action


Moth Seeks out large dark wood knot to sit over 


Amazing Insect Camouflage - This Moth - probably one of the 100's of varieties of "fungus moths" has adapted to live around wood decks near artificial nighttime light sources in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. It clearly "chooses" the best spot over a dark knot where there is an overhang to blend in and avoid predators and the daytime sun. Their camouflage efforts would be more effective on a tree, but since these moths have adapted to life on or near wood decks they choose the best "spots". Amazing!

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Used for photos and videos on this Blog - 

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park To Remain Closed for 2013 Due To "Sequestration"



Heintooga Road and Balsam Mountain Areas among others remains closed For 2013





Magnificent Bull Elk in closed area of GSMNP (2012).


Young Wild Turkeys along Heintooga Road (2012)

The Heintooga Ridge Road, Balsam Mountain area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will remain closed for the 2013 season due to the 5% budget cut imposed on the National Park Service as a result of the ongoing sequestration. A recent news story covers the other areas of the park that are closed as well. There is plenty of blame to go all around, but its a shame that one of the areas of the GSMNP where visitors can go to view wildlife especially elk, wild turkey and bears in a natural setting and have a real nature experience is closed! This is my favorite area of the park because, sorry, I don't want to go to a park and see crowds of people. Over 3 million people visit the park each year, the most visited in the Nation, and probably about 90% of them never stray more than a few hundred yards from the main road through the park  - so if the Park Service were going to make cuts that impact the fewest people it follows that the remote, less-used  areas would be closed first. Whether such closures are really necessary at all is another story. Let's just hope that this budget situation gets straightened out for Fiscal Year 2014!


Magnificent Bull Elk in closed area of GSMNP.


Young Wild Turkeys along Heintooga Road



Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Cute Red Squirrel Says - Are You Talking to Me?

Video of Red Squirrel that doesn't like to be watched while eating!

Red Squirrel aka "Bigfoot"



This cute Red Squirrel is our resident curmudgeon - he'll eat our food but that doesn't mean we're friends! Squirrels in general and Reds in particularly are very emotional and have evocative expressions. The Reds also have huge feet for a creature this size. I call this one "Bigfoot"  I'm pretty sure this is the same Red Squirrel that threw a major tantrum last fall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19CBwTDsPyE

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Eastern Screech Owl Rotates Head And Body For 360 Degree Vision


Video of talented Mr. Owl



Male Eastern Screech Owl Under Attack by Mockingbirds is able to see 360 degrees.








Owls can rotate their head about their neck 270 degrees plus or minus a few degrees see for example my Blog from last February: 

How Owls Can Rotate Their Heads Without Injury

and the YouTube video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6p6RhPg9nY from earlier this year.While it's true owls cannot rotate their heads 36o degrees -  they can see 360 degrees and more around them without ever moving their talons or feet especially when under distress as in this demonstration. A combination of neck rotation plus leg and torso rotation results in the 360+ effective rotation of the head and resultant vision. Still a very amazing feat. Also, the last 90 degrees of head turn to the owl's right in this video is incredibly fast and violent as the owl is being mobbed by Mockingbirds. This head twist will give you a neck ache just watching it!


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