Saturday, August 30, 2014

Young Foxes Playing - Pure Joy!



Three young Gray Foxes show how to really play. The energy - the pure joy of life - you'll wish you were a fox. I discovered a fox family whose life is centered around a high Smoky Mountain meadow next to dense forest with an old sour peach tree as a centerpiece. Mom and Dad are out hunting while the young ones born in spring get plenty of exercise and find the small, hard sour peaches endlessly fascinating as they pick them from the trees and play with them like balls on the ground. This is late August, soon they will have to strike out on their own. You can see them practice their hunting skills by stalking and sneaking up and jumping on each other. This is just three minutes but they go on for hours each night - such energy and joy!

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young Gray Foxes playing

Remembering My Stray Sheltie Friend



A stray Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie lived high in the Great Smoky Mountains and brightened my day with her infrequent visits for over  five years. This past October I saw her disappear into the dense mountain forest for the last time. It was a hard winter and she was getting older and bad in the hips and had trouble chewing and I feared she wouldn't make it through. No sign of her this summer and the only film and video I have is in this short tribute. In truth, she probably had an "owner" of sorts, but she lived outside and traveled a large territory of probably several miles over several days before returning to home base - in the process making a few friends along the way at the scattered high mountain cabins that are empty much of the time. The Sheltie would hang out with me for a few hours and enjoy a good meal and some conversation and then simply disappear into the woods without a sound - moving on. It was no doubt a hard life - Winter must have been especially rough times - but it was her life and the Sheltie was proud, dignified and asked no favors. I'll always remember the visits of the little Sheltie I simply called "Buddy".

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Shetland SheepDog aka Sheltie

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Skunk Versus Fox - I Think You Know Who Walks!



I love to capture these little interactions between species - it gives insight into the animal community that passes through the backyard. A large Striped Skunk's aggressive defense posture with tail held high deters a Gray Fox from even thinking about messing with it in the Great Smoky Mountains. With memorable black and white markings and tail held high and hissing the skunk would rather conserve it's chemical spray for real combat. This is the skunks territory to come and go freely and no animal, save the Great Horned Owl who is immune to its toxic odor, will mess with it at night!

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Striped Skunk and Gray Fox


Monday, August 18, 2014

Whitetail Deer Camouflage



Natural camouflage makes it hard to spot White-Tailed Deer once they move into heavy brush. They are very cautious about coming out into the open to feed. Always on the alert with their ears and eyes and always watching - they will see and hear you and you may not know they are there. Sometimes the flicking of their white tail catches one's attention. 

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Whitetail Deer Camouflage

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Tree Climbing Fox


Gray Fox climbing a tree in the Backyard several times - and fast climbing too - with the ability to hold onto a vertical tree trunk in this case to eat suet for birds. Foxes are now addicted to suet. Video clearly shows the foxes technique. Very athletic and agile - the gray fox's ability to climb trees is shared only with the Asian Raccoon Dog among all canids. Its strong, hooked claws allow it to scramble up trees to escape many predators such as the domestic dog or the coyote, or to reach tree-bound or arboreal food sources. 

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Gray Fox climbing tree


Saturday, August 16, 2014

Raccoon Knocks Over Trail Camera



A Raccoon becomes fascinated by Bushnell Trail Camera on a game trail and knocks it over. Large bears have passed here without bothering to knock over the camera - don't think the Raccoon had any bad intentions - just curiosity and clumsiness! No damage done.

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Raccoon Knocks Over Trail Camera


Relaxing Nature Meditation - Baby Song Sparrows in Nest


Relax and enjoy watching two Song Sparrow chicks in the nest. If a few minutes of watching these birds is precious, imagine watching them for 12 minutes - they are fascinating. They have grown fast and are close to fledging. One in particular is obsessed with pulling out its baby downy feathers in preparation for leaving the nest.

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Baby Song Sparrows in Nest

Baby Song Sparrows in Nest

Baby Song Sparrows in Nest

Friday, August 15, 2014

Whitetail Deer Galloping in Backyard



White-Tail Deer

A pair of White-Tailed Deer visit my parents backyard in southern Ohio. Two of four yearlings to visit that day - they show off their speed galloping to the safety of cover in dense brush.

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White-Tail Deer

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Wild Turkey Flock Behaviour



Interesting social behaviors of a large flock of Wild Turkeys high in the misty Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina in mid-July. True wild turkeys can be difficult to film acting naturally as they are quite skittish, especially in flocks. This flock was working the deep forest edge along a large clearing and I don't think they were aware of me or they would have ducked into the forest edge. The flock consists of several family groups with at least four adults and many poults, or young turkeys, some a little older than the others, all hatched earlier in  spring. What is a little unusual about this flock is that there appears to be at least two adult males mixed in with one clearly showing his dominance in the classic fashion. Typically the adult males don't travel with the hens and flocks of young.

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Wild Turkey Flock Behaviour


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Song Sparrow Babies in Nest



Cute Song Sparrow babies being fed by both parents and interacting with each other in a nest in the Great Smoky Mountains. These are two irresistible characters. Apparently the third egg didn't hatch. It was a challenge getting a clear line of site into the nest hidden in a Norway Spruce tree, but I found a narrow window into their amazing little world!

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Song Sparrow Babies in Nest

Florida Lighting Thunder and Cicada Crescendo !



Violent afternoon Lightning Storm with deafening Thunder in Florida and Cicada's and Blue Jays rise in unison to a deafening crescendo. Is it a coincidence? The Crescendo occurs around the 1:00 mark. Turn up the volume to hear an amazing overload of the sounds of Nature! A bit of trivia - unlike northern Cicadas, in Florida they are active every year.

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thunderstorm lightning and Cicadas in Florida

What Happens in the Backyard at Night ?



Ever wonder what happens in the backyard while people sleep. Here is a fun sample of mammals passing through a backyard in the Great Smoky Mountains captured with a Bushnell night vision trail camera. I think you'll be surprised!
Music - "Swamp Stomp" by Silent Partner from the YouTube Audio Library.

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backyard mammal animals bear

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Brown Thrasher in Florida

Brown Thrasher
Brown Thrasher checking me out while I check it out.  

I taught this great bird to take peanuts from my hand - or did it teach me to give him peanuts? See:

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Happy Gray Squirrel Eating Peanut

Gray Squirrel Eating Peanut
Happy Gray Squirrel Eating Peanut
Happiness is a fresh roasted unsalted peanut!

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Eastern Screech Owlet

Eastern Screech Owlet in Florida

Eastern Screech Owlet in a contemplative mood a day before leaving the nest box for the big world out there. Owls can make strong eye contact - like they are looking into your soul!

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Painted Buntings in Florida


Painted Buntings in Heavy Brush

Mature male Painted Buntings wintering in Central Florida. While not a perfect photo composition this is a rare shot of these birds in their normal wild habitat hiding in heavy brush from which they make quick dashes into the open for food.

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Eastern Chipmunk - Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

Eastern Chipmunk - Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

Eastern Chipmunk - Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

This little guy likes to hang around the rocks - the edges around large rocks is a prime area for food such as insects and worms. A most attractive example of the Eastern Chipmunk.


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Saturday, August 2, 2014

Spoiled Chipping Sparrow Baby



Mother Chipping Sparrow continues to feed her newly fledged young on day three out of the nest. But one youngster remains totally dependent and is being seriously spoiled. I put a mark on the little one's butt/feet and it literally does not move one inch in over five minutes standing on a pile of seeds while mom frantically runs back and forth to feed it. It's siblings have moved on. 
Video of Day one out of the nest feeding - not much progress

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Chipping Sparrow mother and baby fledgling

Carolina Wren Call



Carolina Wren Call in the Great Smoky Mountains that is not that common compared to their typical song. This may be a defensive call as it always made similar sounds before arriving at the feeding area tipping me off to its pending arrival. Even so, this single Wren visitor that loved summer suet moved fast and took awhile to finally film at length as it foraged energetically among the trees and brush. A great little bird that while heard is rarely seen around here.

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Carolina Wren Call

Video:  Carolina Wren Call

Delta IV Rocket Launch July 28 2014 AFSPC-4 Mission


Delta IV Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida July 28 2014 AFSPC-4 Mission. The thunderstorm anvil cloud debris that delayed the launch partially obscured the view after one minute. The delayed loud roar of the launch can be heard after the two minute mark. The AFSPC-4 mission will deliver two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites to near-geosynchronous orbit and will also carry an Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space (ANGELS) satellite. 

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