A nice example of a Hole Punch Cloud or Skypunch or Fallstreak. Winter is the time of year when these type of clouds are most often observed in Florida. More info at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallstreak_hole
A preening Turkey Vulture and Black Vulture in the backyard are taking their appearance, hygiene, and feather maintenance very seriously. It is also unusual for two individual vultures of different species to spend the night roosting so closely together. I am always impressed with the quiet dignity of large vultures at roost. You might change your mind about vultures after watching these two attractive neat freaks. One has to look their best before heading out for a day of eating roadkill - which is a valuable service.
Upbeat Chipmunks continuously singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" might get on some people's nerves. Here is a little holiday fun as the young Screech Owls are brought to the nest box entrance by the sounds of Chipmunk Carolers singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" .
Male and female Red Shouldered Hawks have just completed a "sky dance" over the backyard (which I missed filming) and are resting high in a long-leaf pine tree. This would be a great place for a nest, but as you can hear the Blue Jays and squirrels are constantly sounding alarm trying their best to make them feel unwelcome in the neighborhood. Mating seems to be ahead of schedule this winter as a pair of Ospreys have also been "sky dancing" recently.
The Painted Bunting population in the backyard has reached about 8 now and only 1 is a mature male in the classic Painted Bunting colors of blue, red, green, gray and yellow. The others are "greenies" - either females or immature males - the only all green or emerald and jade-colored songbird in the US.
The largest visitor to the Backyard (an Eagle has never been filmed at rest) - is an impressive migrating Turkey Vulture that spent the night in the long-leaf pines behind the backyard and spent some time warming up in the morning sun before soaring to find the nearest roadkill. Seeing the full wingspan of nearly 6 feet was a delight - play this at full HD on a large screen.
Relaxing Nature Meditation - Rhododendron Blooms Beside A Cool Mountain Stream in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina with the occasional visit of bees small and large.
This quite large and attractive Florida Leaf-Footed Bug ( a true bug) has at least two camouflage factors going for it. This particular large sub-species, which I think is Leptoglossus zonatus, I have not seen before, has the large leaf decorations on its feet and is likely a large male, but it also has markings on its body to make it look just like a resting moth with false eyes on the back of its head. If that doesn't work it can emit a foul odor as it is related to the stink bug. It needs the disguise and defense mechanisms because this bug is slow - - really slow and deliberate and it could care less that I am just inches away filming it. Watch as it searches a Brazilian Pepper Tree for green fruit, it wants unripe green berries not red ones. While this class of bugs can be serious pests, especially the small ones that attack green fruit of gardens and citrus groves these big ones rarely reach the density to do serious damage. I have not had a problem with them on my mango trees. It is somewhat ironic that it is in this case it is attacking the invasive Brazilian Pepper and at the end you can see it using its long proboscis to pierce and suck the juices of the fruit.
I was fortunate to notice this little patch of Golden Fairy Club Mushrooms (Clavulinopsis laeticolor) a type of Coral Fungi along the Mountain to Seas Trail. As you might guess it is not edible. In many miles of hiking only this tiny little patch was noticed - I had never seen it in the wild before. It was unusually wet in the Great Smoky Mountains this past summer and many varieties of fungi were noted. More to come.
