Emeralds with Wings

Emeralds are precious stones used in jewelry. But there are other precious emeralds in this world. The emeralds in this post are the moths, dragonflies and damselflies, beetles and flies that glow green as do those emeralds in jewelry. Other than being insects, many of these emeralds have little in common other than their color.

Those are some of the gems of the natural world, there are a lot more. And some other gems of the natural world aren’t green, they may be ruby red, sapphire blue or yellow as the finest gold.

Eagles in the Wind

Twas a beautiful early fall day, cool, clear as could be, with a stiff breeze from the northwest. I’d been visiting a large beaver pond and was on my way home. Shortly before noon I was passing a powerline right-of-way with an expansive view to the north – “hmm, this would be a dandy spot to see migrating hawks.” So I stopped.

Looking north toward a lower ridge, it wasn’t long until a bird appeared above the trees on that ridge –

And then another bird that had been “lost” in the trees rose above the ridge –

The two birds drew closer and it became obvious that they were both immature bald eagles –

While the eagles rose in the air a raven, that was closer than the eagles, rode the wind along the ridge –

As the eagles converged, talons were extended –

Then they separated –

And drew together again with those sharp talons extended –

That behavior was repeated several more times until they began riding the wind along the ridge and went out of sight –

If it had been spring and the eagles were older, this  could easily be called courtship behavior. But it’s fall, many bald eagles are headed south for the winter, and they were young birds not ready to mate. Instead these birds were doing what so many youngsters do – playing or play fighting to establish dominance.

Whatever they were doing and wherever they were going I wish them well as they navigate this human-dominated world.

Kermit II

One evening our daughter sent a picture of a little critter she found on her recycling bin. It was a gray tree frog clinging to the large plastic container. Although gray tree frogs are fairly common, they’re not often seen since they spend most of the warmer months high in the tops of trees.

"If you'd put it in a glass jar with a damp paper towel, we’ll be there tomorrow so I can photograph it" was my response. The next morning we drove the 25 miles to our daughter’s place. And there it was, the little frog and the damp paper towel in a jar with a piece of fine mesh covering the top.

The closest tree to where the frog was found was a fairly large oak, so it was there that the little frog was set free.

Gray tree frogs can gradually change their color to various shades of gray, green and brown, becoming extremely well camouflaged and blending in with the background –

Because their skin is bumpy, gray tree frogs are often mistaken for toads. But they’re not toads, they’re true frogs.

When they’re not actively hunting for food or it's not the breeding season, gray tree frogs often remain on a horizontal branch, under loose bark, or in a hole in a tree.

Winter is spent under the leaf litter in wooded areas. Unlike many amphibians, but like wood frogs, gray tree frogs can easily survive being frozen. When spring arrives they breed in standing water and then spend the remainder of the warm months high in trees or shrubs, feeding on insects.

Unlike the rest of their well camouflaged bodies, these little frogs have bright orange or yellow inner legs –

These are thought to startle predators, enabling the frog to escape; or, when the frog crouches down and the bright color disappears, confuse predators allowing the frog to escape detection.

As I photographed the little one it climbed higher into the tree until it could no longer be located.

NOTE: This is Kermit II since the first Kermit post was written in 2016.

 

Late Summer in the Hollow

As summer ended it was time to check the card in the camera trap in the hollow. The latter half of July was extremely dry as was the entire month of August. Nonetheless, there was a good variety of wildlife appearing in the videos –

The second buck has what are called cutaneous fibromas on its face that appear as dark lumps. These fibromas are cause by a virus and don’t actually injure the deer, nor does the virus affect other mammals, including humans.

It’s quite possible that the screech owl caught one of the flying squirrels and made a meal of it. Although barred owls frequently prey on flying squirrels, it’s not unheard of for screech owls to do the same.

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There will be no more videos from the running log. I’d moved the camera further from the log where it captured several short videos of deer, and then …

… and then the landowner sold timber from part of the property and the loggers opened up the old road spanned by the running log to use as a skid trail –

Good-bye running log, you were a good place for a camera trap.