Tired Turkey

This is just something cute to share.  Our local mother wild turkey brought her new brood by the backyard today.  The terrain is hilly with lot's of obstacles, like steps and vegetation.  This little one got tired of navigating the grass, and took a 30 second power nap in the sun on the way past. 

We can hear the brood making it's way around, constantly peeping at varies distances behind mom.  They are learning the ropes.  Click here to see some of last years crew, and here for 2011 (where I also learned to respect mamma turkey!).  

Cicada

I heard on the radio recently that the east coast is about to be blessed with an abundance of Cicada "by the shovelful".  One brood there is about to reach the point in it's 17-year life cycle where it gets to take wing, and apparently get eaten by everything.  Although I regretfully won't get to see that cornucopia, I was please to get to see our own variety coming to the surface last week.  Although not a shovelful, a very fascinating little critter even solo.

Cicada Nymph Skin

"Fresh" Cicada

Wings More Developed

While we didn't get to see it break out of it's nymph phase case, we saw it right after, as the wings took shape.  It was cruising up the moss to higher on the tree where it broke out.  NPR currently has a great timelapse photo series of one breaking out.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the exact species this is?

Additional Information
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/04/02/176012068/sing-fly-mate-die-here-come-the-cicadas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

Pseudopupil

I learned something yesterday.

Yesterday something that looked, out of the corner of my eye, like a large clumsy moth/grasshopper careened by us and landed unceremoniously and loudly on a jasmine plant.   I went over to investigate and found a large mantis looking back at me.

I say looking back, because as I moved around it taking pictures, it appeared as though it's eyes were following me.  At least it looked like there was a pupil always aimed me, but I couldn't otherwise figure out how it's eyeball would move, and didn't they have compound eyes?

That is when I learned about the pseudopupil!

"In the compound eye of invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans, the pseudopupil appears as a dark spot which moves across the eye as the animal is rotated. This occurs because the ommatidia which one observes "head-on" (along their optical axes) absorb the incident light, while those to one side reflect it. The pseudopupil therefore reveals which ommatidia are aligned with the axis along which the observer is viewing."

I imagine this effect is just more obvious in the mantis, because of the size and color of their eyes.  And their willingness to hold still.  It did also turn it's head to follow my actions, giving the impression of more presence of mind than most insect encounters.

Another interesting factoid from Wikipedia "All S. Californicas have sensors near their legs that allow the praying mantis to lose its head and still function. This is good if the head is devoured during mating."  So much for presence of mind...

This one maybe the native Stagmomantis californica, California Mantis, but possibly the introduced Mantis religiosa - there seems to be a dark spot on the bicep, but I can't tell for sure.  I think it is a he, based on the length of the wings in comparison to the torso (thank you RandomTruth for the guidance on this and species!).  I hope he hangs around and catches some of the horse flies.

References:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudopupil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagmomantis_californica
http://daviswiki.org/mantids

Mama's boy

The little deer in the last post is growing up,  I think he even has the start of antler buds showing up. 

Although he's still a nursing baby.

Spring Babies

It seems like there are little babies starting to come out and about all over these days.

There was the little deer that came by the kitchen about 2 weeks ago.

Then the turkey brought her flock of poults by for some foraging.  

Then the lone duckling catching the first morning sun with it's mother.

Then the young turtle basking on a log (about the size of two silver dollars).

The froglets, many still with their tadpole tail

For size reference, these are a child's hands

Then just today, the Chickadee fledgling getting fed by it's attentive parents in the front yard.

Baby Garden Spiders

Last year must have been a banner year for garden spiders.  This past month, we've seen many little clusters of newly hatched babies.  The babies are tiny, pin head size.  The top photo below is next to a standard size household rain gutter, for size comparison.

The babies tend to stay in a tight ball, all on thin webs clustered together.  If the web is disturbed, by wind or physically touching part of it, the spiders scatter in a tiny little cascade, dispersing any target.  If the disturbance does not continue, they all pull back into the cluster in a few minutes.

I think these are cross-orb weavers (Araneus diadematus), a stow away from Europe.


Spidey-facts


Watch one of the adults building a web - http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_garden_spider#p00grb0l

Red Shouldered Impressions

In the My Side of the Mountain post, I mentioned we have a nesting pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks nearby.

Usually I just hear them, and see them riding the thermals above the valley.  But recently, they have been hanging around much closer to the houses.  In February my son looked out the kitchen window and casually asked "What's that bird?".  I was in the other room and asked "What does it look like?"  His response was "A Turkey", but I was thinking he probably would have just said "Turkey!" to begin with if that is what it was.  I came in and looked, half expecting a Turkey, and was shocked to see a Red-Shouldered Hawk flapping it's wings to keep it's balance on the ground on the steep hillside.  It looked like it had landed trying to catch something on the ground.  We only got a chance to snap this one picture with my phone before it flew off.   Just think of it as my version of a homage to Monet.

Impressionism Red Shouldered Hawk

Luckily, this bird or it's mate returned this morning.  It perched on the branches of a recently deceased tree, and worked on prying off small branches for about 10 minutes.  I imagine it is working on a nest nearby.

Red-Shouldered Hawk Pulling on branch

I was thrilled to get a chance to watch the bird work on this project, and get a few more photos.  My son got to see it also.

And in hindsight, it kind of does look like a Turkey.

Special for JDS, here is an actual Turkey photo taken a couple of weeks ago, as follow up to the comments from an earlier post.

  Happy spring all.

Pileated Pair

The Pileated Woodpeckers are just so striking to see (pun intended), and you know there are big old trees nearby somewhere whenever you see them.  There is a pair that lives on the hill above our house.  We can hear them calling during the spring and summer, and occasionally they come down to feed on the bugs happily eating our sickly oak tree (SODS strikes again).   Although I have heard the pair calling back and forth, I've never seen them together, until yesterday.  A second one flew into the frame while I was filming the first excavating.  You can hear them briefly greet each other, before they move to the opposite side of the tree, and one flies away.  A pair defends its territory year-round, so I imagine these are the same ones I often hear, and a pair member will not abandon a territory even if its mate is lost.

The Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America, nearly as large as a crow with a large, dull black body and red crest. If you see one, you will immediately know it is something different than other local woodpeckers.  Its loud ringing calls and huge, rectangular excavations in snags indicate it’s presence in forests across the continent.  Only large-diameter trees have enough girth to contain nest and roost cavities of the large Pileated Woodpecker, so there is concern for populations of this woodpecker where old-growth forests are being converted to younger stands. Availability of suitable habitat is apparently the factor limiting most populations. In young forests, it will use any large trees remaining from before the forest was cut. Because these trees are larger than the rest of the forest, they present a lightning hazard to the nesting birds. 

The Pileated Woodpecker gleans insects (primarily carpenter ants and wood-boring beetle larvae) from branches, trunks, and logs, although it will also eat  fruits, and nuts. Because of its size and strong chisel-shaped bill, this woodpecker is particularly adept at excavating, and it uses this ability to construct nest and roost cavities and to find food. The pilieated woodpecker makes deep rectangular excavations in trees and logs in pursuit of insects.  These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half. It will also pry off long slivers of wood to expose ants. 

Most woodpeckers also drum on objects as a form of communication and territory defense. When doing so, they try to make as loud a noise as possible, and that’s why woodpeckers sometimes drum on metal objects. One Northern Flicker in Wyoming could be heard drumming on an abandoned tractor from a half-mile away!

In its excavating, this species plays a crucial role in many forest ecosystems in North America; a diverse array of other birds—as well as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates—use its cavities for shelter and nesting.  The feeding excavations of a Pileated Woodpecker are so extensive that they often attract other birds. Other woodpeckers, such as the Hairy Woodpecker, as well as House Wrens, may come and feed there.

Woodpecker species have some really amazing evolutionary adaptations for their way of life.  Their skull structure, beak, tongue, tail, and even toes have special adaptations for drilling into wood.  Although each species of woodpecker is unique, and all vary in their particular adaptations, there are some general trends among the group that are impressive.

-      Skull/Brain:  If any of us tried to bang our head against a tree even once, much less at the force and frequency of the woodpecker, we’d have quite a headache (not to mention significant brain damage).  However, the woodpecker’s skull is specially designed to withstand repeated blows and to protect the bird’s brain from concussion. Woodpeckers are capable of repeated pecking on a tree at remarkably high decelerations (stopping time, also a measure of force) on the order of 10 000 m s−2 or 1000 g.  There are three keys to woodpeckers' ability to withstand high decelerations: their small size, which reduces the stress on the brain for a given acceleration; the short duration of the impact, which increases the tolerable acceleration; and the orientation of the brain within the skull, which increases the area of contact between the brain and the skull.  Also, unlike other birds, the bones between the beak and the skull are joined by a flexible cartilage, which cushions the shock of each blow. 

-      Toes and Tail: To generate that much force, the woodpecker has to actually be firmly attached to the surface it is drilling into.  If it wasn’t, it would just knock itself off the tree after the first blow.  Woodpeckers have a special toe arrangement that helps give them the solid base they need.  This is arrangement is called “zygodactyl feet”, and consists of four toes, the first and the fourth facing frontward and the second and third facing back, attached to sharp claws and short-strong legs.  This arrangement is good for grasping, as well as walking vertically up a tree trunk.  The tails of all woodpeckers are stiffened, and when the bird perches on vertical surfaces, the tail and feet work together to support it.  Its sharp claws dig into the wood, and its stiff, square tail feathers braced against the tree act as a support prop.

-      Beak: Woodpeckers are noted for their stout, chisel-like beaks which they use to drill holes in trees to obtain food, make a nest/roost cavity, or territorial drumming.  Species of woodpecker and flicker that use their bills in soil or for probing as opposed to regular hammering tend to have longer and more decurved bills.

-      Tongue: After drilling a small hole with its beak, many woodpeckers, then use their narrow, probing tongue to dislodge and extract insects from their burrows in the wood or bark. The long sticky tongues, which possess bristles, aid these birds in grabbing and extracting insects deep within a hole of a tree. Some woodpeckers can even extend its tongue four to five inches beyond the tip of the beak to access hidden goodies such as insects deep in the bark. 

-      Eyes and Nose: The millisecond before contact with wood a thickened third eyelid (“nictitans membrane”) closes, protecting the eye from flying debris. The nostrils are also often protected by only having a slit-like opening, with special feathers to cover them.

I admittedly have a soft spot for these gigantic woodpeckers.  And luckily, that soft spot is in the cambium of our old oak.  

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online:http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/

Gibson L. (2006) "Woodpecker pecking: how woodpeckers avoid brain injury" Journal of Zoology 270: 462–465 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00166.x

Short, Lester L. (1979). "Burdens of the Picid Hole-Excavating Habit". Wilson Bulletin 91 (1): 16–28. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v091n01/p0016-p0028.pdf.
http://www.friendsofcortemaderacreek.org/cn/WoodpeckersoftheWatershed.pdf 

How To Choose A Thanksgiving Turkey - Urban Wildlife Chronicles

Step 1: Find Turkey Aisle
Step 2: Proceed Slowly down aisle examining prospective turkeys
Step 3: See if any one turkey in particular presents self
Step 4: Enjoy your Thanksgiving Turkey

*Note - no turkeys were physically harmed in the making of this movie. Emotionally, I'm not so sure.


On a side note, you may notice that some of the turkeys in the flock are a little smaller than the rest.  I believe these are the young of the year, which we met at a day or two old in The Fledglings Part Deux.  

The fledglings Part Deux

Yesterday I heard some very frantic peeping coming from behind the house, followed by some very urgent gobbling, followed by peeping, then gobbling, repeat (you get the idea).  I ventured out to see what the ruckus was, and it appears that the newest addition to the flock of wild turkeys has hatched, and at least half of the batch had managed to fall over our 5' retaining wall and get stuck between the wall and the house.  Granted there is a wide opening where almost anything except a day old turkey poult could easily figure out an escape.  They couldn't have been more than a day or two old.  Their Mamma was pacing back and forth just upslope of the wall calling to them, which was very effective at keeping them from wandering along the wall to the exit.  As they continued their serenade for the better part of an hour, all of the neighborhood cats were being called in from all directions.

I know that the turkeys are non-native (although there is some debate about that) and not good for the local ecosystem (although there is debate about that also) - but babies are babies.  I walked out back and tried herding them towards one exit, but that just caused them to scatter.  So I reached down to pick them up one at a time to deposit them back over the wall, not fully thinking through that Momma Turkey would not understand I wasn't picking them up for bit-sized snacks.  Because I was standing behind the 5' retaining wall, that means Momma Turkey was just about at head level.  I picked up the first baby, and snapped this shot,

seconds before the 20 lbs of crazy mad Momma Turkey made a claws out wings spread rush for my head.  Let me tell you, if I had been about to chow down on her baby, that sure would have been effective.  As it was, it got me to not-so-gently-as-I-would-have-liked-to toss the baby in her direction.  She was obviously not expecting this, as she didn't notice, and continued her very impressive display despite the happy baby peeping by her tail feathers.  At which point I realized that I was now trapped between the house and the retaining wall, barefoot, and that push come to shove, a mad Momma Turkey is much tougher than me!  Luckily for me, it was mostly show, and she had no desire to actually touch me if she didn't have to.  I was able to deposit the remaining babes back over the wall, and she got a tiny bit less aggressive each time - although I think she may have just been catching her breath.

Teenage Drivers - a.k.a The fledglings

The first crop of songbird fledglings has taken to the air.  My first clue was the bird at the feeder with the residual fluff of downy feathers around it's crown, making it look a bit Einstein-ish.  This is inevitably followed by the occasional thump on our windows.  We live on the edge of the wildland interface, and I think that our small windows are the first glass many of the young birds experience.  We have feeders mounted on the windows, and markings on the windows, in attempts to make them more visible.  And even the cat plastered eagerly on the inside of the window is apparently no deterrent.  Although most fly off afterwards with little more than their bell rung, sometimes their fate is more tragic.

For one "lucky" young flier this week, we happened to have left the front door open.  Much to everyone's surprise, a young House Finch flew into the living room, just hours after it's compatriot met it's end at the front window.  The young bird was determined to escape by flying up, despite the presence of a ceiling, and ceiling fan.  We turned off the lights and attempted to usher the bird out towards the sunlight, with no success.   I was getting concerned that the young bird would hurt itself permanently, as it kept flying into the ceiling and it was loosing many of it's newly acquired feathers.  Therefore, I thought it would be less traumatic to catch it and release it outside.  Then there was reality.

The next scene is of me chasing the poor bird around the living room with a butterfly net, with the baby bouncing gleefully in the carrier (because I didn't want to set him somewhere the bird would fly into), and a toddler screeching with delight at the absurdity of the sight.

Despite the obvious imperfection of the capture plan, I did actually manage to net the bird, and much to it's relief, let it out the door after prolonging the experience for just a few photos.

Screech Returns

The little owl made it!  After keeping the screech owl in veterinary care for roughly a week, Wildcare called my neighbors to come pick it up for release.  This photo was taken through a hole in the transportation box.

I've got my eye on you

That brave little owl looks very tough for what a weird experience it must be having.  It was obviously missing a few tufts from the top, but otherwise appeared healthy.  My neighbor said she could see the owl's piercing gaze watching her on the whole drive home.

I was really struck by was a diminutive creature it was.  Intellectually I knew that screech owls are small, but up close, it really looked like a miniature version of a "real" owl.  They are perfectly suited for this area, and because they are dependent on cavities for nesting, they can be enticed by nest boxes.  There is a local organization called The Hungry Owl Project, a program of Wildcare, which encourages erecting owl nest boxes (where appropriate) as a means of natural and sustainable pest control.     They offer owl boxes for sale, and although there are other well-designed boxes available, if you are considering putting a pre-made one up, getting one from the Hungry Owl Project a great way to help support a beneficial local non-profit.

Back to Screech.  That evening after dark, they hiked up the hill with the owl in the box, and released it into the night.  As soon as the box opened, the little owl just shot out and up into the trees, not missing a beat.  Hopefully our local owl has learned his predator, and is able to avoid any future encounters.

Saga of Screech and the Raven

My neighbor called a few days ago to let me know that they had seen a Common Raven take down a Western Screech Owl in their backyard.  They had seen a scuffle in the redwoods, and then saw the Raven on the ground pecking at something and heard peeping.  They debated for a bit on whether to intervene, or if it was just nature taking course, but ultimately decided to do save the peeper.  Much to their surprise, after shooing off the Raven, they came up to a small owl with his head feathers plucked off.

Location of the incident, redwood and madrone

They picked up the little bird with the intent to take him to Wildcare, and the owl just laid there completely still with it's talons clenched and eyes open, not even visibly breathing.  They thought it was dead, but Wildcare said to bring it in anyway.  Sometimes the owls go catatonic (play 'possum) in response to trauma.  Much to my neighbor's surprise, the little owl sprang to life at Wildcare.  Wildcare initially hoped to release the owl the next day, in case it was nesting, but the injuries were to much and it had to stay longer.

Ravens are well established nest predators, and are also know to take adult birds.  This was an issue for the heron and egret colony at Audubon Canyon Ranch, where one year a Raven pair decimated the young of the colony (in full view of tourists none-the-less!).  There was a detailed study of Raven ecology and predation habits that resulted from that (see references below).  I was curious if there was any documentation about how often ravens went after screech owls, but I didn't find anything addressing that specifically.  

As I mentioned in the My Side of the Mountain post, this is the first year that I've seen raven's here.  Given the frequency that I have seen and heard them this spring, I believe they have a nest just over the ridge.  These ravens are not shy around human residences.  I've seen one of this pair walking along my fence, eyeing my cat as he rolled in the sun on the deck.  It quickly departed when I opened the door, and my neighbors said that it quickly departed when they waved to shoo it, even from a long distance away.

Although Ravens have been relatively rare to the developed areas of eastern Marin in post gold rush days, their population here is increasing as they develop a taste for the food humans inadvertently provide (i.e. garbage).  This can be devastating for rare species that are vulnerable to predation by Ravens.   The human supplied food can support the Ravens populations at a higher level than the prey species would otherwise.  This means that Ravens can completely decimate a prey species, without being regulated by it's decline.  This is known as "subsidized predators".  Bay Nature did a very nice article on the Ravens in this area, including covering this phenomenon.  So it's quite possible that by intervening in this predation, they just helped correct the affects of an anthropogenically enhanced predator.

Keep tuned for updates on Screech's recovery.

References and additional articles:
www.egret.org/sci_cont.../Kelly_and_Roth_2001_raven_update.pdf
www.egret.org/sci_cont_pdfs/ACR.../Kelly_2002_raven_mgt.pdf
http://baynature.org/articles/jul-sep-2002/the-raven-returns

Nuttal Neighbor

In the first My Side of the Mountain post, I mentioned that there is a Nuttal's woodpecker who drums on an old oak out back.  Here is a brief video of the habitat, and you can hear the drumming at the start and end of the video.

Although the dominant tree species shown here is California Bay Laurel, there are a few overshadowed oaks in the middle of all that.  Nuttal's is a small woodpecker, with a black-and-white, barred back, confined primarily to the oak woodlands of California.   Interestingly, although Nuttall's Woodpeckers are nearly confined to oak woodlands, they do not eat acorns, instead going for insects and arthropods, and some fruit.


Although I couldn't get a clear photo through the foliage, I was able to glimpse the distinctive features of the Nuttall's, at least enough for identification.  Nuttall’s color pattern is distinct from other woodpecker species in this area, easily distinguishable at a glance due to the barring on the back and the single red patch.  The other two species here from the same genus, Picoides, are the hairy woodpecker and the downy woodpecker.  Although they both also have the single red patch on the rear crown, they also have a broad white patch on their back instead of the barring of the Nuttall's. 

This watershed supports 7 species of woodpeckers, from 5 different genus’s of the family Picidae. Additional woodpecker species seen locally include: acorn woodpecker, Lewis’s woodpecker, red-shafted northern flicker, Red-breasted sapsucker, and a personal favorite - the pileated woodpecker.  There is a pair of pileated woodpeckers which frequent the local area, and I'll have a post on them in the future.   

References:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Cornell Lab of Ornithology - The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online:http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/

Odd Odocoileus

This sorry fellow showed up yesterday.  He has a deformed antler, still in velvet, that makes him appear a bit like a flop-eared dog.

I originally assumed that he may have broken the antler mid-growth.  Maybe trying to spar a little to soon?  Or possibly a car accident?  But after chatting with a biologist/deer hunter (thanks Vic) and a quick peruse of Google, it turns out that there are many possible alternative causes for deformed antlers, ranging from damaged testicles to "trophic memory" of old injuries, and many are not immediately intuitive.

One of the most interesting I found is that injury to a rear leg may cause reoccurring abnormal development of the antler on the opposite side!  Last year there was a young deer with an injury on a rear leg, but I didn't think to get any photographs or record the date or side of the injury.  It would be fascinating if it is the same deer.  However, the drawings of those deformed antler deer don't show it looking quite as broken as this one does.  

An article from the Mule Deer Foundation points out some really interesting side notes"Besides direct trauma to the growing antler, injuries to a large skeletal structure such as a broken leg bone often causes a misshapen rack the next antler cycle. If the front leg is injured, either side of the rack may be affected. However, if the rear leg is injured the opposite side of the rack is usually misshapen." I originally thought that I may be able to figure out if it was trauma to the antler directly if it grew normal next year, but then I read "If one pedicle is injured severely, that side or both sides will be malformed during the next antler cycle. In addition, the nerves may “remember” the injury and reproduce nontypical antlers for several years. This “trophic memory” only occurs when the injury is substantial and occurs in the early stages of antler growth when there is a high density of nerve connections in the growing antler tissue. "

There are many interesting anecdotes about what may cause malformed antlers, but nothing conclusive about this particular situation.  However, it appears to most closely resemble the following description "If an antler tine breaks completely while still in the velvet phase it may stay attached to the rack via the velvet skin and re-fuse with it leaving a pendulous (hanging) tine that usually has a large rounded tip."

This deer is a regular here.  He travels with a companion who has distinctive ear injuries, so I can at least confirm the companion is the same individual.  Here is an image of both of them, taken one month earlier.  I hadn't noticed at the time, but in this image, the Odd Odocoileus (on the left) appears to have a smaller antler starting on the side that is very deformed now.  But it may just be the angle of the photo.

Does anyone have any additional thoughts on this?

______________________
References and Additional Information:

• Stable URL: http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/8/4/311.pdf
• Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1376120 - 1959. W. Leslie Robinette and Dale A. Jones. Antler Anomalies of Mule Deer. Journal of Mammalogy Vol. 40, No. 1 (Feb., 1959), pp. 96-108 
• http://www.muledeer.org/news/magazine_articles/2009/JulAug09_NotYourTypicalAntlers.html

Habitat Helper for Hummingbirds

We recently got a visit from a hummingbird to a nesting material station that I set up about 2 months back.  I no longer wanted to support the local rodent populations with the spilled remains of bird feeders, but I enjoy encouraging the local birds to come down for closer observation.  I was watching one of the local songbirds yank coco fiber from the liners on hanging baskets, and it dawned on me I may be able to encourage the birds to come down, at least during the spring/summer, by providing some nesting material.  I'd also often see birds up by the horses, taking off with some of the long mane hairs left on the fence line, so it could work.

I took down one of the suet baskets, and filled it up with natural cotton balls, which seemed like they would make good lining material, and hung it up outside with high hopes.  Then watched it, and watched it, and watched it - but it didn't get touched for the better part of two months.  Granted, it's been uncharacteristically pouring rain and cold most of that time.  The cotton balls held up well through the weather, and it looked like I'd just put them up fresh most of that time.

The weather just got nice this week, and low and behold, today I saw a hummingbird spending a lot of time buzzing around the cotton cage, and it finally dawned on me it may actually be using it.  I started watching with no small amount of anticipation, and I saw the little guy taking small tufts of cotton out through the wire!  After watching him dart up through the trees with a beak full of fluff, I realized that the cotton through the whole cage now had a frizzy look, from having bits of it tugged out.

I do not yet have images of birds removing the cotton, I will try and get a camera trap set up on it soon, but I wanted to share this post in case any one else wanted to try this out this season.

Coyotes Close - My Side of the Mountain

We have a resident pack of coyotes here.  I occasionally hear them yipping up the hill and night, and despite knowing the stats about what a low risk they are, the sound still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It is definitely a very wild sound, and much more welcome than car alarms.  The local coyotes are a regular trigger for the camera traps, but I have never seen one here in person until yesterday morning.  Just out our kitchen window, trotting smoothly across the hill up behind our neighbors house, was a healthy looking red coyote.  The neighbor had mentioned seeing one out there a week or so ago.  This morning, it went trotting by just at the opportune time my camera was taken apart for downloading pictures.  I think I'll name the coyote Murphy...

Luckily I have some images from the set up the hill, it is very nearby, and likely the same individual, or at least from the same pack.  Most of the images from that spot are black and white IR night shots, but I have one from during daylight where you can see the nice coat color.  The coyote looked a little shaggier when the photo was taken a few months ago, it looked almost brushed out now.

This individual was inspecting the camera after a curious human passer by had unsuccessfully tried to remove it from a tree, and left it at ground level.  Bushnell isn't great on the close focus, but very nice on the anti-theft options!

I do have to wonder if the coyote's new bold appearance has anything to do with the new neighbor recently letting their four coyote-naive cats outdoors.  Although cats don't make up a large part of the coyote's diet, they are not one to pass up on that opportunity.   The timing was uncanny.

Hopefully someday I'll be lucky enough to discover where these residents are denning, and attempt to get some shots like these amazing images captured by RandomTruth (Warming: incredibly cute).  Until then, I'll be happy with some nice pics of the adults.  The two sightings were both during daylight hours, so I'm hopeful for some additional color shots.

References and articles:
http://www.projectcoyote.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28coyotes.html?_r=2&ref=science&pagewanted=1
http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=29
http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-079-01-0001.pdf