A fascinating series on Netflix.
Category: Animals
Dinosaurs
To the ants, we are the blundering dinosaurs.
Of Ants and Men
Consider the ant’s understanding of the realities on earth, which is negligible. How much does the ant understand about nuclear technology, for instance?
I think the ant’s understanding of the realities on earth is analogous to mankind’s understanding of realities in the universe.
Immoral Stupidity
I can’t see shooting a magnificent animal like a lion. Or any other animal for sport. What right do you have to snuff out a life? Even an ant scurrying across the sidewalk. What if some other creature arbitrarily decided to snuff out your life. How is that any different?
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Thirsty
Manhattan, A Photographer’s Journey by Henry Barnard
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Hudson River Observer
Manhattan, A Photographer’s Journey by Henry Barnard
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Bird Songs
You see them with their binoculars, walking into the woods and trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite birds, if only a momentary glimpse — birdwatchers. For sure, there are some really breathtaking birds to see, and we are not even talking parakeets here. Two of my favorites are the Yellow Warbler and the Northern Cardinal, which I mistakenly call the Red Cardinal and is forever associated with a professional baseball team, the “Cincinnati Reds.” To see a bird dressed head to toe in all yellow or all red is certainly beautiful but even a little bit startling. Like nature itself is just showing off — brazenly.
Bird watching, no doubt, is one of those wonderful hobbies that has the power to give you a little vacation from yourself, as you immerse yourself in the forest and in the “hunt.” It’s hard to think about bills, the taxes you owe the government, the cost of putting your children through college, dealing with a difficult boss, etc., etc., when you are scanning the branches for those little fellas. So it takes your mind off whatever vexations are currently corroding the psyche, which is all to the good.
I haven’t myself indulged in the fine art of bird watching, and I confess I don’t even own a pair of binoculars, but I have fallen into a bird-related activity of my own, which I came upon by pure accident. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it came upon me. You see, I used to live in Westchester County, New York, close to a huge park that was made up of these elaborate trails that went deep into the forest. You could walk for miles in fairly dense forest with wonderful, sparkling streams running through the woods. One day, I found a comfortable boulder by a brook to sit on and take a break and rest from all the walking, and perchance I closed my eyes in a relaxed, meditative frame of mind.
What I heard was this wonderful and quite elaborate bird song, and then silence. And to my delight, there it was again. I listened to it, repeatedly, with my eyes closed for a good 20 minutes or so, and was astonished at how wonderfully musical it was and how very original. And I realized later, this was not a strenuous and somewhat frustrating hunt to catch a brief glimpse of a bird before it flew away — like the, at times, maddening fate of birdwatchers. All you had to do is close your eyes when you are deep in the woods, and the bird songs are there for the taking — they come to you, as it were. So I propose a new hobby with its own vocabulary: “birdlistening” and “birdlistener.” That’s me, I’m a birdlistener, thank you very much.
Then, wouldn’t you know it, I find a Web site that has photographs of all the birds, but even better, for each bird, there’s a recording of its bird song: All About Birds: Your Online Guide to Birds and Bird Watching created by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (see the link below). You don’t even have to venture into the woods to listen to bird songs — they are at your fingertips at the computer — the wonders of our technology! If you really get into this Web site, you may even get to the point of identifying birds by their songs. And to top it all off, I came across yet another YouTube site that has 2 hours of continuous bird songs (see the link below Bird Songs Relaxing). So enjoy. Let your worries melt away — they will keep until tomorrow.
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Carriage Horse
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Little White Butterfly
Psst, between you and me,
I pretend the little white butterfly,
It’s really you!
Flutters about me in a protective way,
With the lightest of touch.
I know what it’s trying to say:
I love you still – forever — very much.
I know you cannot hear me true,
But I do too – you — oh so much.
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Do You Know Squirrels? Do They Know You?
Have you ever taken the time to observe squirrels? Perhaps this is one of the benes retirees are heir to. I frequently go to a park with a good book, and while away an hour or so. I take a pocket full of cashews along with me. The cashews are not for me, though.
There are several types of squirrel: the grey squirrel, the fox squirrel, the red squirrel, the ground squirrel, and the flying squirrel are the most common in the United States, but there are actually some 40 squirrel subspecies. I’m most familiar with the grey squirrel, although I think the pixie red squirrel is cuter.
If you have actually observed squirrels, then you know where the expression “squirrel away” comes from. These little beasts are quite prudent when it comes to warding off starvation. When they have had enough to eat — as in eating a handful of my cashews — they will take the extra nut, dig a shallow hole with their front paws, and hurriedly cover it up so that no other squirrel takes note of their buried treasure. In other words, keeping a little aside for a rainy day, so to speak.
When you toss a piece of a cashew nut — not the whole cashew — on the ground, a squirrel will locate it hidden in the grass, not by seeing it, but by smelling it. Like dogs, they have an extraordinary sense of smell. And when there are no more bits and pieces of cashew on the ground to eat, they will give the ground a good once over — sniffing — to make sure they haven’t missed anything. They are first-rate sniffers.
Once they have the bit of cashew in their mouth (they can manage to hold multiple pieces in their mouth at once), they sit back on their back leg in an upright posture with their two front paws together holding the nut as they bite into it and chew away. This posture looks like nothing so much as someone at a church kneeling and praying with their hands folded together — except that the squirrels aren’t praying but eating non stop — and fast. The squirrel takes extremely quick bites until that piece of cashew is no more, and you sense it is always on the alert.
Why the hurry, do I hear you ask? Well, it turns out that the squirrel is prey to quite a number of other animals including: hawks, owls, eagles, magpies, ravens, shrikes, skunks, weasels, martens, minks, badgers, wolverines, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats, lynxes, cougars, black-footed ferrets, black and grizzly bears, domesticated cats and dogs, snakes of many sorts, possums, and humans. If you had this many predators, wouldn’t you be a nervous eater, too? I would. And squirrels aren’t just nervous eaters, but nervous in general with the motto, if in doubt, I’m am vamos! — up the nearest tree in a flash. They don’t hang around to see if you are one of the friendlies — they’re gone before you know it.
Back to my park and my squirrels. I say my squirrels because I’ve been going to this park for a while now and some of the squirrels actually recognize me as the cashew guy — their cashew guy. When I show up, I’ll be sitting their minding my own business reading when I suddenly become aware of a presence, a squirrel braving tentative steps in my direction because he knows who I am and that I carry with me a treat — the squirrel actually recognizes me. I say their cashew guy because that first squirrel to show up will try to run off other squirrels who try to horn in on the party — squirrels are very territorial that way, unless you are talking about a mate. Mates are OK, they will share with their mates, but everyone else they will try to run off by trying to bite them. So not the sharing kind, squirrels.
Apart from being incredibly acrobatic — going up absolutely vertical climbs or racing sure-footed across long telephone lines or fences, squirrels can also be downright hilarious. Their game of choice is chasing one another, and they can do it for quite a while when they really get into it. I suppose you have to do something with all that cashew energy when you prey on retirees like me.
Different Types of Squirrel in the US
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Henry's Views 