• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Animals roaming free

Status
Not open for further replies.
Went down to the pond in search of red wing blackbirds.

Found some.







Trying this method one one as an experiment.

20140413161727.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20140413160320.jpg
    20140413160320.jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 18
I don't go to zoos any more.

So what other kind of animal is there than those that roam as freely as they feel we will tolerate.

I don't need a lot of land because (we have a lakeside acre)I live in a place where almost no one else lives apparently because we get a bit of rain. We don't have alligators or crocs or tigers or lions but we do have bear, cougar, lynx, badger, beaver, raccoon, water mammals like sea lion, seals, walruses, several migrations of whales every year, etc, etc, etc, all the rodents one can imagine one would find in a lakey foresty place with ten garden boxes, reptiles who survive our traffic in the winter when they come out on the road during the day then find they can't move from just before sunset until ten am the next day since temperatures don't get very warm here, birds prey from terns to eagles other raptors vultures, every variety of migrating waterfowl one can imagine, hummingbirds, honkers, sea gulls, pelicans, blue birds, crows and other squacky birds, and the morning choruses of spring,and fall song birds, along with just a few amphibians, fish of most every sort from bottom feeders to game fish as one would expect near an upwelling or in an oceanside lake.

Yes we have some insects, the most impressive are dragonflies, but, the problem types are pretty limited to wood related pests and our temperatures and winds keep the mosquitos away.

the species of humans here are generally sane. We survived a mayoral recall last week here in Speedersfundus, environmentalists talk to golf course developers, ocean preserve types and even those who would put up ocean wind and tide farms. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians all like the idea of assisted death, leisure pot, and property constraints on resale and harvesting. Not perfect. Just within sight of it.
 
The Gray Jays or Whiskey Jacks are year round visitors, except when they are nesting as both parents take turns on the eggs and keeping watch. They must make do with the food that they have stashed in the trees nearby the nest during this interval. Once the young have hatched, it seems to be mostly the male who flies countless trips bringing food. When the female shows up, she is quite bedraggled looking from plucking her down to line the nest. As soon as the young are able to fly, the parents take them foraging to all 'the best spots'.

Pictured here is a youngster, just starting to grow light colored feathers on the head. The baby birds have dark heads and disproportionately long tails when they first appear.

IMG_1324.jpg


Not a great shot compared to the lovely ones by CrazyFingers, but I think you can get some idea of what these birds look like. :)
 
The turkeys are really out. I hear them all the time in my woods. Here is another male strutting his stuff.



I stopped by a lake this evening.

Buffleheads out away from land as usual. They never really come close to shore for a good shot.


And an Osprey made a brief visit and flew off.


On my way home on the highway I saw another osprey with what appeared to be a very big fish and the bird seemed to be struggling to stay above the trees.
 
The Gray Jays or Whiskey Jacks are year round visitors, except when they are nesting as both parents take turns on the eggs and keeping watch. They must make do with the food that they have stashed in the trees nearby the nest during this interval. Once the young have hatched, it seems to be mostly the male who flies countless trips bringing food. When the female shows up, she is quite bedraggled looking from plucking her down to line the nest. As soon as the young are able to fly, the parents take them foraging to all 'the best spots'.

Pictured here is a youngster, just starting to grow light colored feathers on the head. The baby birds have dark heads and disproportionately long tails when they first appear.

IMG_1324.jpg


Not a great shot compared to the lovely ones by CrazyFingers, but I think you can get some idea of what these birds look like. :)

Hey, how did you get that photo to not stretch out across the whole screen? I'd love to know!
 
Hey, how did you get that photo to not stretch out across the whole screen? I'd love to know!

I loaded it from my web album, Picasa. There was nothing that I did except copy and paste the photo location. I probably had edited it for size by cropping in Adobe Photoshop before saving is the only thing that I can think of. It was a while back when I saved it to my album.

Don't know if that is of any help to you...:)
 
Mostly birds and squirrels, although there is a pair of coyotes that harass the neighborhood dogs at night. The dogs often sound so terrified, which makes me kinda sad.

Once in a great while we'll see deer, but that's mostly in the subdivisions to the east.
 
Not a bad weekend so far.

Yesterday down at the frog pond. No frogs but painted turtles and a water snake.







Today I took the boys to Fall River, MA to visit Battleship Cove.

Surprisingly, any only my second sighting ever, a mink was scurrying in and out of the rock slabs by the water front.







This is where it was on those slabs by the parking lot. I was no more than 10 feet away as it made its way from left to right.



Later on...

An Osprey


Cormorants



 
Wildlife Sightings

In honor of Earth Day, and in keeping with a tradition some folks may remember from a previous site, I am starting a thread devoted to recent wildlife sightings. You can post a picture or just write about what you saw. If you use an image that is not your own, please indicate that it's not yours or just link to it.

I found this Compton's Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum) about 3 weeks ago. We had high temps in the 40s (~5C) for a few days in a row but we were just about to be hit with another 2 inches of snow with high temps in the low teens (-10C) when I found it lying on the ground outside.



 
Last edited:
A few photos from yesterday and today.

At the closest pond yesterday, a domestic, what they call "yuck duck" mallard saying, "do you have some scraps?"



Today in my yard a Northern Cardinal


Down at the closest pond again, a caspian tern!


A female red wing blackbird.


Mute swan in the road so I stopped to take a photo.


Now off the the old soccer field and pond.

Tree swallows arguing


Now off to the state park.

Another tree swallow very close up.


Chipping sparrow


A first for me a male wood duck with a female wood duck




The only other wood duck photo I have is a female that...fell down our chimney and I had to grab it out of our fireplace. We didn't have a fire going.
 
Let's see if this works

Stay away from the nest!!!

14001852944_83e42aa3a7_o_d.jpg


13998214722_30803f75a1_b.jpg


14021423423_13026112cb_o_d.jpg



NOTE: I took these photos in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO
 
Last edited:
First bear encounter tonight.Good size black.Maybe a three year old.I did have kabobs on the bbq.Too dark for pics.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom