Octopus walking up on land: really cool video

This video shows an octopus as it walks onto land and proceeds to walk a significant distance (for an octopus) apparently to a crab it either saw (how could it see it from under the water a distance away?) or smelled (I looked it up and they can smell, but again how would it do that from under the water?). This neat event was caught on video by a family that was visiting Fitzgeral Marine Reserve where it took place--though accounts indicate that it is not rare for an octopus that live near shore to walk on land it is just uncommonly observed and they were at the right place at the right time and with their video camera rolling. There is an interesting discussion with an expert here on the Scientific American blog. SeEtta

Female Williamson's Sapsucker-is she a vagabond?

The only female Williamson's Sapsucker I have found so far this season was at Harrison School on November 4. However, though I had stopped by that school location a number of times since I had not seen her again. As I not only told the office staff about her when I went in to the school to let them know why someone was walking near the entrance with binoculars and big-honking camera, but I had shown her to a student and her mom. I suspect that staff and students have looked for her and she moved to a quieter location. So this female Williamson's may the bird that was at McKinley. It is difficult to know as these sapsuckers move not only from tree to tree but also to different locations especially early in their wintering season here (maybe trying out different trees/locales to see which one's will be their primary location). As she seemed skittish, I took this pic from about 60 feet away and through the branches of this Scots pine (these are their very favorite sap trees in winter here). SeEtta

Juv.Yellow-belliedSapsucker: update

I thought it was time to go check on the juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that I found just over a week ago in Centennial Park in Canon City, CO. It had been so very shy I had not wanted to disturb it so haven't been back down to this small urban park since then. I found it today in one of the non-native pine trees that are very popular with wintering sapsuckers here in Colorado.

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As it has only been 8 days since I last photographed it there are no evident differences in it's plumage though these will become apparent over the next month or two as it gets more adult feathering. Close examination of the bottom pic shows the few red feathers it has grown on it's forehead so far. (Click on the photos to enlarge them) This bird continues to be exceptionally and though I succeeded in not flushing it by staying about 75 feet away, another person walked just a little closer to the tree in which it was feeding and I saw it fly off into the distance. SeEtta

Video: 'Talking with a Pale-billed Woodpecker'

This is a great video by Cornell Lab of Ornithology about a study in Costa Rica of these cool and brilliantly colored woodpeckers that have a pale bill for which they are named (given the other outstanding physical attributes, why call it by it's least colorful part?). Great videography, nice screens and sounds of Costa Rican rain forest, great bird and interesting study. SeEtta

Busy bushtits

These two Bushtits have dark eyes which are features of males. The one in the top pic is pulling off seeds from rabbit brush, which is a versatile native plant that provides flowers in early fall for butterflies then as they leave the flowers are gone and the seeds appear just in time for several bird species including White-crowned Sparrows. SeEtta

Bustits on rabbitbrush

Bushtits are one of my favorite birds and these are foraging on one of my favorite native shrubs-rabittbrush. Though so nondescript in appearance they are such cute little birds that I see all but the most diehard lister light up when they hear their chittering calls. However they are almost always very busy foraging, often upside down, that they can be challenging to photograph without the blur of movement. This flock has been around the east end of the Canon City Riverwalk off and on for several days. These two Bushtits are females as they have yellow eyes. There is brown plumage around ear coverts forming a mask that is found on the subspecies P. m. plumbeus However, Birds of North America online says, "it is now clear that the amount of black in the face is a polymorphism, the frequency of which varies geographically." SeEtta

Juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker here for the winter

Yesterday I found this juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Centennial Park in Canon City,CO. I have been seeing fresh sap wells in the pine trees in this traditional sapsucker wintering park for over a week but had not seen it in there. I spotted it about 50 feet up a large deciduous tree before flew into the pine on which it is drilling in this pic. Unlike adult birds, this sapsucker has very little red in it's crown.

Red-naped Sapsuckers have already molted into the head pattern of adult birds by the end of September so there is no issue with separating these from Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. This bird has a white throat while a Red-naped female would have only half white and the bottom half red but I would not call this a female Yellow-bellied as I watched as birds with white throats molt into the fully red throat of a male bird. It's dark feathers are more black than brown as it is far along in the transition to adult plumage which will be basically completed in the next several months. SeEtta

Diving Belted Kingfisher

I was very pleased to get the above photo of a Belted Kingfisher as it dove towards a pond to get a fish. Fortunately the light was good so I was able to take this as a very high speed pic, a setting I was already using since the kingfisher was a good 75 feet away. I hid in my car behind some foliage, some of which got in the view but is out of focus, in order to avoid flushing the bird. SeEtta

Surprise: Worm-eating Warbler still in Canon City

I was surprised to refind the Worm-eating Warbler, that I found a week ago today, along the eastern section of the Canon City Riverwalk this morning. It behaved most shyly, flying off out of sight when it saw me 40 feet away looking at it. I found it again 3 more times and it flew out of sight as soon as I got within 40 or so feet away. I was also surprised to see a Canyon Towhee in the same area as this is a pretty uncommon species in this riparian area. The photo above shows the rather olive colored upperparts and buffy sides found on all ages of this species. A close look shows just a bit of the dark head stripes. SeEtta

"The hidden beauty of pollination"

This is an extraordinary video showing hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, bats and flowers so close up and so vivid it takes your breath away. It shows the critters as they pollinate various flowers and some fantastic time-lapse film photography of flowers as they open. It was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. This is a presentation by the TED nonprofit that “devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.” They do some fantastic work including linking nature and solutions to human problems. In this video the “Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film “Wings of Life,” inspired by the vanishing of one of nature’s primary pollinators, the honeybee”. At the beginning of the video, the filmmaker describes his work including his emotional link to the flowers and pollinators he has filmed for many years. Be patient as soon you will see the most stunning video begins–you will want to share this with everyone you know who enjoys hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators. SeEtta

High flying Northern Harrier

Among several interesting hawks I have seen in the Canon City area in the past week is this juvenile Northern Harrier.  With it's dark head, neck feathers and the pronounced facial disc, it is quite distinctive.

The broad bars on it's tail stand out in all pics though the narrow white terminal band can be see best in the bottom pic.  

I was happy to get these pics of this high flying harrier as it is difficult to get photos of their underparts since they usually fly close to the ground. Actually it is somewhat unusual to see this species in the Canon City area. SeEtta

Another Harlan's Hawk photo

Though the bird was more distant in this pic, about 200 feet away, the light was a little better so it provides a nice view of it's head, it's upperparts as well as some of it's underparts. I haven't seen it try to catch anything but I have observed it watching the agricultural fields below it so likely hunting for mice, snakes and such. SeEtta

Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk

This is a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk that has been visiting in the Canon City, CO area for several days. It was quite sensitive and did not tolerate viewing from inside my car and over a hundred feet away so difficult to get pics. It vocalized it's displeasure at my viewing and photographing it both while perched and flying as can be seen in these pics with it's bill open as it screams. As shown it has a lot of white on it's face but very little on it's upperparts. It's tail is also quite whitish on the underside. It has a lot of blackish markings on it's underside. SeEtta

"Insects can be scared to death by the mere presence of a predator"

This is some amazing research:  "
Insects may not have the biggest brains in the animal world, but that doesn’t mean they don’t feel fear.
In fact, in a study by Canadian biologists dragonflies were found to be so sensitive to their surroundings that the mere presence of a predator scared them to death – even when there was no chance of them being eaten.
‘What we found was unexpected - more of the dragonflies died when predators shared their habitat,’ says University of Toronto biologist Professor Locke Rowe, the study’s co-lead investigator.'"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2054667/Insects-scared-death-mere-presence-predator.html#ixzz1d9hyKIkj

Worm-eating Warbler: here are the calls I heard

Following is a link to the calls I heard given by the Worm-eating Warbler on the Canon City Riverwalk:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds-Worm-eating Warbler flight call (B)
This is a recording made by Paul Driver in New Jersey and interestingly it is labeled as a flight call.  I also found a similar recording on Paul Driver's 'Bird Songs and Calls' blog (scroll down page)  that represents the calls I have heard this bird make.  Mr. Driver refers to this as a 'high buzzy' call on his blog.

The photo is the original I took today that I that is uncropped.   SeEtta

Worm-eating Warbler: seen again with sunlight

I met a small group of intrepid birders from northern Colorado (mostly Denver area) who came to look for this rare vagrant warbler this morning. In mid-morning the Worm-eating Warbler vocalized for a short period of time and several of us got very brief, fleeting views of it as it flew along the bottom of a thicket of limbs and vines then vanished. Two of us stayed but were birding our way down the trail at 12:30 (MST) right by where it had moved to (a good 100 feet east of where we had seen it earlier and had been watching). And what a better spot on the north side of the trail where some sunlight was filtering through so we got several very good views and I got this much better pic. Please note that since the lighting was better the only thing I did to the pic was to crop it to enlarge it and did no other editing--so what you see is what the camera saw and what I recollect seeing. And what a surprise---instead of skulking close to the ground in the shady south side of the trail (which is a north facing hill that the sun rarely reaches) it foraged above the ground in fairly good light. It even flew up to a limb of a large cottonwood that was 25 or so feet above the ground where it probed in a crevice for the larvae and worms it eats. It then flew back across to the south side of the trail and back west, stopping for a minute on a tree about 15 feet above the ground where we got more views, to the thicket where I first spotted it! And during these views and movement it vocalized the 'z,z,,z' like calls I heard yesterday plus an abbreviated version. Two more birders from the Colorado Springs area had arrived a little before and we summoned them back where one got good views. We stayed a little longer in hopes the Worm-eating Warbler would make another appearance so the second birder who didn't get a good view might see it but it had not when we left. SeEtta

Worm-eating Warbler: upside down view

So this really is a pic of the Worm-eating Warbler though it is upside down and the view is of it's underparts. However, it is crisper than the other photo.

Of note are the very 'fleshy pink' feet as Birds of North America BNA online so aptly describes them. BNA says, "Entire underparts are varying shades of cream to rich cream and buff yellow".  To me on this bird the lower belly becomes whitish and continues whitish to the vent then buffy yellow which I guess is close to BNA description.   They call the tail feathers "dark drab"  which seems a good description for this bird.   Those are the only features I can make out from this pic.  SeEtta

Worm-eating Warbler, a very rare vagrant in Canon City,CO

This morning I found this Worm-eating Warbler on the east end of the Canon City -CO Riverwalk. I first heard it giving some very raspy call notes that sounded to me like 'z,z,z'. I didn't know the call but knew this was not a bird with which I was familiar so I followed it as it flew across the trail and into a thicket at the base of a tree next to the trail. I didn't get a good view of it as it flew but noted it flew very close to the ground. There were several chickadees in the same area but once I picked this bird out from the tangle I knew it was a Worm-eating Warbler as I got good view, albeit only seconds long as it's features are distinctive. It then flew back across the trail, again very close to the ground, and I could see it's head stripes and very buffy (actually more yellowish than I remembered from the first Worm-eating Warbler I saw) coloration well. I lost it for a few minutes then refound it briefly then lost it again, then refound it again above 50 feet from where I first saw it.

This bird skulked in the thickets of shrubs, vines and other tangled vegetation making it very difficult to get a good photo, which I didn't. Both of these are the same pic, only the one at the top has only been cropped to enlarge it while I tweaked the one on the bottom to make it more visible and closer to what I recall seeing. I think the bill is visible enough in this pic to see that it is quite large.  Head is buffy with clear blackish eye-stripe that extends from the front of the eye (may need to click on pic to enlarge it to see detail) towards the nape.  On close view the edge of the blackish crown stripe is seen.  Other body parts look buffy yellow, consistent with this species.  One more pic to follow. SeEtta

Full HD High Speed Movie - Eagle owl 2 - Photron SA2

This is the second part of the video of the Eagle Owl that shows it making the landing with it's claws fully extended to grasp it's food reward. At the very end it opens it's beak wide as it is about to grab it. Awesome!

Full HD High Speed Movie - Eagleowl - Photron SA2

This is an astonishing video in slow motion of a european owl called an EagleOwl (likely Eurasian EagleOwl, see interesting markings on wings and very wide wings) coming in to get a food reward from trainer ( it is a captive bird, see bands on legs, and object sticking out from bottom of screen that appears to be the reward). It is filmed by the man whose youtube page (vurtrunner) has a number of videos this special super high speed camera. The video is fascinating, watching just how the bird moves it's wings and controls it's landing. SeEtta

Willamson's Sapsucker-very close up view of female's head

I am quite proud of this photo which provides a very nice and crisp close-up. I think this handheld shot is almost as good as one taken using a tripod, something I don't often use since many birds are not going to wait around while I get set-up to photograph them. This is also manually focused, which again is how most of my photos are taken. The bird's bill has bits of wood from the pine tree it has been drilling. SeEtta

Female Williamson's Sapsucker in Canon City

This is the female Williamson's Sapsucker I found last week working a pine tree in front of a local elementary school (please note that anytime one is going to do birding near a school they need to check into the office so the staff do not become alarmed and possibly call the police). I like the view of the feet and nails in the top pic, which also shows a little of the yellow colored belly found on these sapsuckers.

I cropped the bottom pic to show off the plumage detail. The feathers lie at various angles to provide the interesting pattern on these birds. One more pic above. SeEtta

1st Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the season in Canon City

Every winter the Canon City, CO area hosts Yellow-bellied, Williamson's and sometimes Red-naped Sapsuckers that apparently find our mild climate hospitable and conducive for feeding on phloem, insects and sap in the many pine trees in the area. The 2010/2011 winter was a banner year as I found up to 23 sapsuckers just in the Canon City area plus several more in nearby Florence, CO. This female Yellow-bellied had evaded me since last week when I began finding a few fresh sap wells at the private residence where I photographed her today. I caught a brief glimpse of her several days ago at another residence a few hundred feet east of where I found her today but she slipped off before I could tell anymore than that what I saw was a sapsucker by shape.

We got 5-6 inches of snow last night so late this morning she was still feeding away in a pine tree that had a lot of old sapsucker scars.

The top pic shows  the white throat indicative of females ( there was no red on the lower part of the throat as would be found in a female Red-naped).  Though partially obscurred in these pics, there is an unbroken black frame around the throat that is not invaded by throat feathers as occurs in Red-naped.  If you click on the pics you can see a little of the buffy tinge commonly found on Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.   SeEtta