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Water Snake

Water snakes mating, Mendon, MA, and second image, Oliver Mill Park, Middleboro, MA

Our native snakes occupy a wide range of habitats, including: fields, forests, wetlands, ponds, lakes, streams, rocky hillsides, farmland, vacant lots and residential neighborhoods. Within those habitats, snakes may travel along the ground, swim, climb trees and bushes, and venture below ground. Although some snakes do burrow, most “snake holes” are produced by chipmunks, mice, shrews and other small mammals. Many snakes utilize these burrows for food, shelter and egg laying sites, but most species don’t dig holes.

 

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Fox with pup, North Dighton, MA

Fox gave birth to 8 pups in the area of our back yard. This is one of many videos. This pup was the most active of all. 

For the full video, look here, you won’t be disappointed.

The second video shows, even at this early stage of life, competition for food is paramount. A small farm about a mile from us, surrounded by a fence, has one less guinea fowl hen. Apparently the vixen did a little hunting for the pups.  Watch how the pup seems to have control of the situation but not for long, seems like a bit of trickery going on here.

 

 

Training Day

Below, video shows Mom, with a small bird, apparently a quail. Mom buries the critter near the den to teach the pups some hunt and gathering skills.

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Hummingbird Moth

Gentlemen, the only way to achieve the impossible, is to believe it’s possible.

One most delightful insect visitors to our garden is the hummingbird moth. Every year we look forward to them in our Hostas

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Nature Mapping & The Love of Nature

Do you have any young Scientists in your home. I do. Nature Mapping or Species Mapping has become a wonderful family project for us. Using field glasses, infra-red cameras, trail cams and even microscopes will inspire your young Scientists and the ceiling is limitless. Below, my granddaughter, the aspiring veterinarian. I have just as much fun as they do.

My older granddaughter, photographing red wing black birds at Oliver Mill in Middleboro, MA

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Carrion beetles

Carrion beetles are a family of beetles that feed on the bodies of dead and decaying animals. Carrion beetles are important because they get rid of dead matter by eating it and breaking it down into smaller pieces that can be placed back into the ecosystem.  A red tail hawk had dropped this squirrel from a tree after failing to secure it.  Let the feast begin. This wasn’t a very pleasant video for the girls. But after discussing the benefits of the carrion beetle, it became a bit more tolerable, almost.

 

 

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American Woodcock

The Red Tail hawk, catches our eye sitting on the backyard swing set. Looks like the hawk is on a mission. We soon find out. Scanning the ground below, a foresting American Woodcock. Actually two of them. Camouflaged against the dry leaves, the brown-mottled American Woodcock walks slowly along the ground, probing the soil with its long bill in search of earthworms.  They sometimes rock their bodies (as seen in this short video) backward and forward as they forage, shifting their weight heavily from foot to foot. The vibrations from this motion may prompt earthworms to move underground, making slight sounds that the woodcock may be able to hear or feel.  Hunting has not been shown to influence large-scale population trends, however, because they forage on the forest floor, woodcocks can accumulate pesticides in their bodies from aerial spraying against forest-insect pests. Their heavy diet of earthworms makes them vulnerable to poisoning by lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals.

 

Videos may be grainy, due to long telephoto lens used. Shaky video is better than no video.