Deer Overbrowsing
I may not be an expert on vegetation, especially ornamental, but something seems…not right…here. You have probably seen similar sights in the last couple of months now that the ice and snow have fully cleared as White-tailed Deer did a number on anything they could eat in the Northeast. Everything just above their head is bright and green, and parts below are bare and brown. Our overpopulation of deer wipes the forest floors clean to the point where they must pick at what we could call scraps like these in our neighborhoods. Some people may object to wolves in their backyards,...
Read MoreRed Fox Kits at Den
Check out the video evidence of this Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) family growing up and all the more red! Taken at the second and more hidden entrance to their den, you can even see them teething on some of the branches covering it up! So cute it hurts.
Read MoreRed Fox Kits Growing
We are now entering May with far warmer weather and much more cooperative conditions for young mammals to grow and explore, learning about their environment and all within it. After Elyse tossed up some photos of her own Red Fox kits, I knew I had to answer back with another volley of photos from “my” family. In case you missed them previously here they are at a very young age. I also took some shots of a couple of the little pups having some play time, wrestling around and practicing their “ferocious” predator skills on one another. This fox family, far more...
Read MoreLesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura)
This is a Lesser Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx leptura), very commonly found in the bathrooms and facilities at Cocobolo Nature Reserve! This individual started to call a bit after having been netted, and a few more bats quickly came to investigate. Sean was surprised how close some of them got to him on his way out of the bathroom with his new friend, but it sounds like it was a friendly mammal meeting nonetheless. Photographed by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global biodiversity project in Panama while on assignment for the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural...
Read MoreFox Friday
While we have done Frog Fridays from time to time, I thought we could change it up a bit and do a Fox Friday post. While Scott’s got some cute Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) kits growing up outside his place, I’ve got some little foxes growing up just down the street from where I live right near Chautauqua Lake. As the sunny days have been increasing and the temperatures have been on the rise, the activity of wildlife and this year’s growth of many plants have begun. During sunny, warm days these little kits have been coming out of their den to sit and sun themselves. They also...
Read More