Squirrel With Hiccups

Video: Squirrel With Hiccups

Gray Squirrel With Hiccups! "Hic -cup... Hic -cup" This little Red Squirrel has a serious case of the Hiccups - no doubt from eating too fast!
Seriously, this little guy has "eating issues" and does not want to share its food.  Dinner for him is full of dramatics see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt10Eeryimg  and  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1S0DrCxuM

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Video: Squirrel With Hiccups

Gray Squirrel Alarm Call Decoded

Video: Gray Squirrel Alarm Call Decoded

Squirrel language translated - the most common is the alarm call of the Gray Squirrel with the tail waving - crossing their hearts with the front paws and the incessant barking Kuk...Kuk...Kuk....followed by long Quaaas. But there is a lot more to making those calls and speaking squirrel than meets the ear.  I was fortunate to get very detailed video of one of the Backyard squirrels extremely upset at a cat on the other side of the backyard fence and it is clear there is a lot going on physiologically to make these unusual mammal sounds. In particular, close up slow motion shows how the little ones close off their nostrils and draw air in to get those big Quaaa...s following the barking Kuk...Kuk...Kuk's. Watch closely and enjoy! More information on how to speak Gray Squirrel is at:

http://live.washingtonpost.com/dc-squirrel-week-2012-how-to-talk-squirrel-120410.html

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Video: Gray Squirrel Alarm Call Decoded

Cute Baby Tree Frogs - Poetry of William Blake

Baby Tree Froglet and human fingerprints.

Spend a little time each day noticing the little things around us and our impact upon them. A quote from William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" seems appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WgeW7gy4xo

Baby Tree Froglet and human fingerprints.

Winter Trees - A Poem

Sometimes we forget to look up - and contemplate the meaning of the patterns we see. I found this poem that fits this scene in the Great Smoky Mountains perfectly. It is only in winter you can appreciate the intricate details of a tree to the very tips of its branches.

Winter Trees 

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

Poem by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883–1963)

Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Video: Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Yellow Rumped Warbler hovering to eat the ripe berries of the Brazilian Pepper Tree. The Yellow Rumped Warblers aka "Butter Butts" have returned for winter. Not ones to come to feeders they scour the trees for small bugs and have adapted to take advantage of the ripening of the Brazilian Peppers in December to provide an arrival feast. The Pepper Trees are invasive and near impossible to get rid of and the birds do their part to scatter the seeds across the landscape.

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Video: Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Video: Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

This cute Blue Gray Gnatcatcher is a new species documented in the Backyard! Although I'm sure they've always been in the area they are very hard to spot. The energetic little bird is rapidly hopping through dense brush catching spiders and small bugs on the dew covered vegetation in the morning when bugs are easy picking. It is very difficult to get more than a few seconds of video of these little birds when they are feeding.

The blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird, 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length and weighing only 5–7 g (0.18–0.25 oz).Adult males are blue-grey on the upperparts with white underparts, have a slender dark bill, and a long black tail edged in white. Females are less blue. Both sexes have a white eye ring.

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Video: Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Red Bellied Woodpecker Drumming

Video: Red Bellied Woodpecker Drumming

Male Red Bellied Woodpecker Drumming on the house just before sunrise is Nature's alarm clock. This is the time of the year when they start to stake out territory and find potential nesting sites. The Woodpecker nest box is ready again this year.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYDQX7Whjm4&list=UUcNyzOCKvyMBaA4iQVgO9EQ

Florida Scrub Jay

Video: Florida Scrub Jay

The rare Florida Scrub Jay is the only bird species endemic to Florida and one of only 15 birds endemic to the United States. The Florida Scrub Jay was listed as a threatened under the endangered species act in 1987 and critical habitat loss continues. They live in oak scrub land with isolated pines and can not live in dense canopy so loss of habitat to development and growth of dense tree cover due to unnatural fire suppression shrinks suitable habitat.  I was fortunate to encounter this one guarding its territory on Cape Canaveral National Seashore.

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Video: Florida Scrub Jay

Spiny Backed Orb Weaver Spider Spinning A Web

Video: Spiny Backed Orb Weaver Spider Spinning A Web

Spiny Backed Orb Weaver Spider masterfully weaving a web set to Classical Music. Because of it's stunningly bizarre beauty it is natural that the Gasteracantha cancriformis is called by many names - the star spider, spiny-backed orb weaver, spiny orb weaver spider, crab-like orb weaver spider, crab-like spiny orb weaver spider, crab spider, jewel spider, spiny-bellied orbweaver, jewel box spider, smiley face spider or sometimes in the Philippines, the king. I think of it as the happy smiley-faced spider as it really seems to enjoy its work and is a joy to have around the Backyard! Watch as this beautiful spider fastidiously works its magic set to classical music:

Habanera by Bizet

Solo Cello Passion by Doug Maxwell 

Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies by Tchaikovsky

Closeup views of another Spiny Orb Weaver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQnOjocYgMk

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Video: Spiny Backed Orb Weaver Spider Spinning A Web

NASA Orion Delta IV Heavy Launch

Video: NASA Orion Delta IV Heavy Launch

NASA’s Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they've ever gone before. Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 12/5/2014. Heavy rain south of the launch site blocked the view of the launch from the "Backyard" and for many people and it was only visible for a minute before disappearing into the clouds. Nevertheless, a great successful launch and the sound of the launch reaching the backyard was quite loud! One of the bigger "birds" that can be seen or heard from the "Backyard" and its definitely heading "beyond".

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