Posts

American coot eating sidewalk worms.

Image
I photographed this in Leduc, Alberta, after a day of heavy rain. At the ripe old age of 66, I can say that I have seen some odd things in my time.  But I was unprepared for the truly strange sight of a coot walking along a flooded sidewalk, eating drowning worms as it went. It has been a wet summer in Alberta this year.  Rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hail the size of baseballs have plagued the province.  And as each of us knows, worms come out of the soil when it gets saturated in order to breathe.  That's because an earthworm gets its oxygen directly through the skin, and water tends not to hold much oxygen.   And so, as I was walking around the Leduc reservoir, I noted a plethora of earthworms.  They were on the sidewalk, they were on the lawn, in dirt, underfoot, and in puddles.  There was a group of boys, armed with a tin can and fishing gear, collecting the largest ones they could find. The excitement in their raised voices was proport...
Post a Comment
Read more

Freshwater environments support terrestrial ecosystems.

Image
Producers (left) gain energy from the sun and fix it as living matter.  Herbivores eat plant matter and convert it to a source of food rich in protein and devoid of cellulose. Carnivores, many of them insects, consume creatures at a lower trophic level and  produce sizable larvae which, when adults, leave the aquatic environment and to on to feed many of the birds that inhabit the area for miles around the water. How aquatic ecosystems supply food to terrestrial species such as birds. They say diversity is the spice of life.  It turns out it is also necessary for a healthy ecosystem.  The number of living things, both in diversity and count, in freshwater is stunning.  Fill a glass jar with water from a healthy pond, and you will see what I mean.  And that's just the stuff you can see.  On the microscopic level, it's even more impressive. There are few creatures above the waterline that can benefit from this microfauna directly.  However, as the e...
Post a Comment
Read more

3D image tracking - the size of the bird in your viewfinder matters

Image
Black Tern, Red Deer, Alberta - the difference is how far the subject was away from the camera 3D image tracking is very handy when trying to photograph flying birds, although there are a lot of issues with it working well all the time.  Some of them I have already discussed in a previous blog .  While tracking black terns in Red Deer, I noticed a relationship between proximity to the camera, ability to get a focus lock, and the usability of any resulting image.   The further away your subject is, the easier it is to lock focus and track it.  The exception is when there is a lot of background clutter.  The greater distance makes the bird appear to travel slower, the same way that a plane can travel at 400 km/hr but seem to only crawl across the sky.  As the bird gets closer, it can dart across the field of view in no time at all.  Your motion of following the subject has to be that much faster so as to keep the subject somewhat centered.  So,...
Post a Comment
Read more

American Avocet - being different is not always bad.

Image
American Avocet at Slacks Slough in Red Deer, Alberta. I remember seeing my first avocet.  It was in Bonnyville, Alberta, and I was down at the beach.  It was a late afternoon in early summer.  Before me was a bird I had not seen before.  It had long legs, a long bill, a long neck, and was beautifully coloured.  Everything about it seemed wrong.  But it could do something other shorebirds could not. It could wade out into the water, deeper than most other shorebirds, and probe the mud with its long, upcurved bill.  The bill would plunge into the water, just to the point where the bird could still breathe.  The nares (nostrils) are located high up on the bill so that the avocet can continuously hunt for food without raising its head.  The long neck keeps the bill some distance from the feet so that potential prey are not alerted to its presence.  Its feet, equipped with long toes, prevent the bird from sinking into the mud.  The long...
Post a Comment
Read more

Eared grebe or horned grebe - How do you tell?

Image
Which grebe is which?  Can you tell?  Bottom right image from this source. I have photographed both eared and horned grebes, but was under the mistaken assumption that they were all eared grebes.  Little did I know that I had confused two species as one, and that most of them were in fact horned grebes.  The red eye and dark plumage were each factors, and their non-breeding plumages look relatively similar.  Imagine my surprise when my Google Lens search for an image (top center) told me it was a horned grebe and not the eared variety, as I suspected. It turns out that the four images on the left are all of horned grebes, and the only photo I have of an eared grebe is the one top right.  How is it possible that I mixed these species up?  I somehow don't think I am alone in this. Below is a photo I took a few weeks ago in Red Deer, Alberta, of a horned grebe on a nest (top, center) and a horned grebe swimming in the water (top left).  The other thr...
Post a Comment
Read more

The bronze jumping spider, and friends. But as pets?

Image
Left:  four different jumping spider species.  Right:  Bronze jumping spider (Sassacus vitis) With over 6000 species of jumping spiders worldwide, and more than 300 in the US and Canada, chances are that you have seen more than just one or two species. The most common ones, here in BC anyway, are the Zebra jumping spider and Johnson's jumping spider (the first and second insets on the left).  The third one is a species I photographed in Alberta and the fourth one is a jumping spider I photographed in New Zealand.  The bronze jumper was photographed a few weeks ago when I was in Clearwater, BC. I wrote a blog on the zebra jumping spider about 4 years ago ( click here ).  There are some interesting facts there that I won't repeat.  Jumping spiders have become popular pets, are easy to keep, and can form surprising bonds with their owners/feeders.  I watched a good video on one fellow's spider, it is worth a watch.  Click here if you want to se...
Post a Comment
Read more

Building the perfect birdhouse.

Image
A birdhouse at Swan Lake Bird Sanctuary - Tree swallows. We put up birdhouses to help and attract birds, but sometimes our good intentions lead to disaster.  Hole size is important.  If it is too big, predatory species can get in and take the eggs or chicks.  A perch also makes predation easier; birds don't need one, as they are fully capable of accessing the nest without it. In the spring, when nesting begins, the air is cool and the sun rarely causes heat issues.  As the season progresses into summer, the risk of heat exhaustion to the vulnerable birds increases.  Putting the house in the shade or having some kind of insulation reduces the likelihood of their death.  Lots of ventilation also helps to encourage air circulation; just make sure the vents are not too large. Birdhouses don't need a perch, but their walls can't be smooth either.  Rough, unsanded wood is all that is needed for the birds' access.  You can build the house out of plywood ...
Post a Comment
Read more