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~ ~ ~ DISTURBING IMAGE WARNING ~ ~ ~ Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are not always gray. Genes can mix to produce “melanistic” individuals that are jet-back, or—as seen here dining on seed regurgitated by a bluejay—tinged golden-brown: Rarer combinations seen hereabouts include gray with black tail, gray with white tail, […] hazelnut
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Under-valued and now rare […] A couple of Junes ago “It was one of those fabulously clear, cold, mid-January days in 1964 when a Massachusetts painted turtle—Chrysemys picta—first intruded into my life. … the class was on a midwinter field trip to Beaver Pond in Lincoln. I was dutifully sweeping the snow off the ice with a big […]
גם זה יעבור No thing lives forever. A joy and tragedy of human existence is that most of us will outlive most other life-forms we encounter, from bacteria to birches to bison. So even under the most placid of circumstances, we witness death—often, and too often of things we treasure. In […] Another peaceful day on the gelid pond. But what is this new island? Not a muskrat lodge, despite the resemblance from afar, but the earthly remains of a white-tailed deer felled by coyote, illness, or just a bad fall on the ice. Exposed ribs and pink-tinted snow are the signs of hungry scavengers […] The silver Swan, who, living, had no Note, when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat. Leaning her breast upon the reedy shore, thus sang her first and last, and sang no more: “Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes! More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise.” -Orlando […] Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was, O my Best Beloved, when the Tame animals were wild. … and they walked in the Wet Wild Woods by their wild lones. But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat. He walked by himself, and all […] Farrar Pond hosts resident Canada geese (Branta canadensis) from spring’s first persistent open water to final closure a few weeks from now, and much larger populations of transients as the seasons shift. Harold here offers us some fine shots of geese on the wing. While geese cannot soar great distances at perfect rest, as can […] Birds baths, when available, are a year-round boon to all sorts of winged and surface-bound visitors and permanent residents. Where the vigor with which an oriole exploits this elevated puddle might encourage the pathetic fallacy of imputing decadent delight, such a “deep scrub” is critical to the maintenance of feather condition and the control of […] From its regal post atop the tallest pine around (competitors having succumbed to divine intervention), this broad-winged (?) hawk expressed itself without restraint: Why? Mating, chatting with the kids, marking territory. An additional theory is that the cry starts prey from hiding. It is astonishingly loud; this blurry video […] in manus tuas |
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