Narrated documentary on the secret nocturnal life of a feral cat. Relying on ancient instinct and its wits a wild feral cat survives off the land among the wild creatures of the night. The story of the first feral cat is at:
Red Shouldered Hawk calls at sunrise from atop the security light. It's mating season in Florida and if you listen closely you will hear another Hawk responding to the calls. You'll hear a number of other interesting birds calling at sunrise as well. It is rare that they sit still long while I'm filming them. A full time resident of the woods behind the backyard they are frequent backyard visitors and while they often catch snakes they also snatch the occasional squirrel and Mourning Dove from the feeders. The sound of the Red Shouldered Hawk will send the squirrels running for cover. Occasionally Blue Jays perform a pretty good imitation of the Hawk and seem to enjoy scaring the squirrels. The balance of Nature!
Eastern Screech Owl regurgitates a pellet up close. Owls remove undigested material by forming pellets and regurgitating them generally while sitting on their daytime roosts. In this case the pellet is not well formed and since we can see right into the through of Mr. Owl it looks like mostly hard insect parts of Palmetto Bugs and the like. Pellets are generally more well formed when they contain undigested hair and grass mixed in. They do this several times a day. By the expression on the owls face it is not altogether a pleasant process. Another facet of amazing owls!
Honey Bee's love the blossom clusters of the invasive Brazilian Pepper Tree in Florida. I'm not a bee expert, but these appear to be invasive Africanized Bees or the so-called "killer bees" or some kind of hybrid. It's not easy to tell. I suspect these are indeed wild bees and not from anybodies hive. Besides being invasive in Florida, the Brazilian Pepper tree is mildly toxic like poison ivy so I'm not sure what the effect of mixing it in with the honey would be, if it made up most of the honey it might give sensitive people an allergic reaction. Another case of one invasive species providing an advantage to another invasive species.
Eastern Screech Owl Nest Box and Perch Placement.
The eastern Screech Owls continue their courtship around the nest box on January 22nd, this is about a month earlier than the last few years when eggs were lain around March 1st, but it has been a very mild winter and food is plentiful.
The male Screech Owl has claimed the box and now spends his nights guarding the box and hunting for food – in part to convince the female that he is a good provider. Once eggs are lain she will have to incubate them all day and most of the night and once they hatch she will be in the box 24 hours a day except for short forays out after dusk and before dawn and must depend on the male to bring food while she protects the owlets. Last year the nesting failed and three eggs were abandoned after the male stopped bringing food for some reason.
Due to habitat loss there is a serious shortage of natural tree cavities and a lot of competition and danger associated with the available natural cavities. I can not put owl nest boxes on any trees as the squirrels and snakes will take them over. With regard to owl nest box placement, I have found that the Eastern Screech Owls are not too picky as long as they feel the box is safe from other creatures and they don't have to travel too far in the open to reach it. I put the nest box under the gable end of an aluminum sided outbuilding and the entrance is about 9 feet off the ground – this should make the box safe from anything but another bird such as a Kestrel. Snakes and squirrels need not apply! You have to make sure there are no close branches that the squirrels and such can reach the building from. The owls can drop down to the camera's left to a nearby six foot wood fence behind the building and head out into the brush or go first to the Perch.
Placing a perch in front of the nest box makes a big difference in attracting the Screech Owls to nest boxes in the backyard. This perch is about 12 feet in front of the nest box and six feet off the ground. It is used as a staging area by the owls and a hunting perch. It makes the nest box much more secure and attractive to them. It is also important not to use pesticides in the backyard as that is their hunting ground and lizards, small snakes, frogs and large bugs are a big part of their diet. Links to more information is in the info section of this video.
Unusually large Linear Hole Punch Clouds, Skypunch Clouds or Fallstreak Holes occurred over central Florida on January 22nd, 2015. Many of these rare cloud phenomena where observed, but this one was the most spectacular - it could not be fit in one picture - only video could capture its size. Winter is the time of year when these type of clouds are most often observed in Florida.
Brown Anole Lizard molting (moulting) its skin by sitting and drying in the hot Florida winter sun and rubbing itself on wood to loosen the skin and then eating it which provides calcium and other nutrients. The whole process took about an hour - these are just the highlights. Oddly the lizard loses its grip and falls to the ground trying to eat the last bits of skin. Makes you want to reach for the skin lotion.
Female Belted Kingfisher on a nice perch waiting patiently for a meal or perhaps just chilling out. I spent some time with this lovely little bird and maybe it was already full and just relaxing and watching me as it didn't seem too ambitious.
Glossy Ibis feeding voraciously in coastal marshland in Florida with a solitary White Ibis and a Heron mixed in. While they look black from a distance these large wading birds with the unique long, down-curved bill actually have a beautiful iridescence about them which gives them their "glossy" of shades of green, purple and brown - much like the Grackle. Glossy Ibis in North America live primarily along the Atlantic Coast, they can also can be found in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Six Great Blue Herons. The largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, dagger-like bill. Head, chest, and wing plumes give a shaggy appearance. While relatively common in Florida they are always a majestic sight in flight and their ability to stoically stand on perches always fascinates. These six herons were filmed at Cape Canaveral National Seashore, Florida.
Celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day - January 21st !
Thursday January 21st, 2016 is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Squirrels have a number of admirable qualities, not the least of which is obvious intelligence (have you ever tried to outsmart one, it's a humbling experience), dedication to family and raising their young, strength and agility, perseverance, a natural instinct to show off and entertain, plant trees, and a certain irresistible cuteness, especially young Red Squirrels. Squirrels are a great species to introduce children to wildlife and to learn to interact with and appreciate the natural world right in your own yard. Start observing the squirrels in your environment and you'll be amazed at the things they do. Just a sample of the many squirrel pictures and videos taken in the yard are found below. My personal favorites are the Red Squirrels - check out the Red Squirrel Playlist !
Celebrate by buying a bag ofunsaltedroasted peanuts in the shell - take a break from the daily grind and go out in the backyard or the park and feed the squirrels. In colder climates this is the time of winter when they could use a little help as well as the birds.
A little motivation message from the animal kingdom. This little Red Squirrel is inspiring - the picture of determination. The task seems insurmountable, but it assesses the situation, takes a deep breath and gets on with it. Nothing like a "tough nut to crack" to challenge you! Its hard work will pay dividends down the road. The full version of this is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9OQgOUOdk
Anhinga drying its wings. This is typical dense marshland habitat for the Anhinga which is almost buzzard like in its appearance below the neck. Sometimes called a "Water Turkey". Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. The anhinga (/ænˈhɪŋɡə/; Anhinga anhinga), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word anhinga comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird. It is a cormorant-like bird with an average body length of 85 cm (33 in), a wingspan of 117 cm (46 in), and a mass of up to 1.35 kg (3.0 lb). It is a dark-plumaged piscivore with a very long neck, and often swims with only the neck above water. When swimming in this style the name snakebird is apparent, since only the colored neck appears above water the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis. The anhinga is placed in the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to Indian (Anhinga melanogaster), African (A. rufa), and Australian (A. novaehollandiae) darters. Like other darters, the anhinga hunts by spearing fishes and other small prey using its sharp, slender beak.
Canon Powershot SX60 HS superzoom test on Blue Winged Teals handheld at full 1365mm optical limit. With improved 1080 60fps and auto focus able to pick the two ducks out clearly among heavy brush. There is only so much a wind filter can do but it does have an external MIC port available to solve that. I hope to have a full test of the new SX60 HS soon.
Pairs and small groups of this tiny dabbling duck inhabit shallow ponds and wetlands across much of North America. Blue-winged Teal are long distance migrants, with some birds heading all the way to South America for the winter. Therefore, they take off early on spring and fall migration, leaving their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada well before other species in the fall. Filmed at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Florida.
The mature male Painted Buntings that are known as the most colorful songbirds in North America did not show up until this Christmas Eve this year. A special present for Christmas! Less of them show up each year, they may just be going somewhere else, but thankful for those that do come.
Little Pied Billed Grebe's are cute, Adults look like juvenile versions of larger waterfowl. But they are skittish and fast, expert swimmers and long distance divers. The trick is trying to predict where they will come up once they dive. They prefer live protein to the veggy diet of many of their Duck companions. This Grebe just barely avoids being pulled under by a large fish or turtle I doubt it was an alligator or it would be gone. Filmed at Cape Canaveral National Seashore were among thousands of water birds the few little Grebes stand out!
Florida's "Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival" starts January 21st in Titusville, Florida. Its one of the largest such shows in the U.S. With some luck attendees will spot the most colorful songbird in all of North America, the Painted Bunting, which winters in the Space Coast of Florida. Generally holding in dense thickets of oaks and even Brazilian Pepper scrub they are very hard to spot in the wild away from backyard feeders. One of my favorites is the Brown Thrasher, another bird that generally holds to dense scrub thickets. It is also woodpecker season and while its always exciting to see the Downy Woodpeckers and the giant Pileated Woodpeckers - your goal should be to spot the exceedingly rare Red Cockaded Woodpecker. Of course raptors in wide open spaces and shorebirds and water birds by the score are a given! The Florida Scrub Jay one of only 15 bird species endemic to the U.S. is also a potential highlight. The videos below highlight some of the amazing birds that inhabit the Space Coast in January. Come on down!
Mediterranean Gecko in Florida. There are no native nocturnal lizards in Florida - only the invasive Gecko's. This is the first time I've seen these little ones in the backyard although they are well-established in Florida. As invasive species go they are very timid and have no competition at night from other lizards, although I suspect the Cuban Tree Frogs might find these tasty.
Mediterranean Geckos are small, rough-scaled geckos, with large lidless eyes, broad sticky toe pads and a long tail. They reach a maximum length of 12 cm.
These geckos change color – at night they are light gray to white, during the day they become grayish with light pink and dark brown spots. There have raised white spots on the back and sides.
As their name suggests, Mediterranean geckos are native to Europe, but they are highly successful colonizers and well established in Florida. There are no native nocturnal lizards in Florida, and geckos seem to have filled the niche. Geckos are ‘sit-and-wait’ predators, usually seen on walls and ceilings inside houses, or where ever there is an outdoor light. They feed on moths, cockroaches and other insects and are rarely found far from houses and people.
Mediterranean geckos move and hunt at night. They are extremely vocal – if they are in or around the house you will hear them. Males have a squeaky high-pitched territorial call that sounds like a bird chirping.
The Brown Thrasher is one of my favorite backyard birds (A video of the Thrasher in Action) .The brown thrasher is bright reddish-brown above with thin, dark streaks on its buffy underparts. It has a whitish-colored chest with distinguished teardrop-shaped markings on its chest. Its long, rufous tail is rounded with paler corners, and eyes are a brilliant yellow. Its bill is brownish, long, and curves downward. Both male and females are similar in appearance.The juvenile appearance of the brown thrasher from the adult is not remarkably different, except for plumage texture, indiscreet upper part markings, and the irises having an olive color.
Rare head-on video of Red Bellied Woodpecker taking flight. It flies right at the camera from the nest box revealing its athletic undulating flight pattern with big rapid wing beats as it drops and then rises to the top of its pattern like a bullet as it passes my left ear.
