Archive for the ‘N.I.M.B.Y.’ Category
Turtles Stage Log-Rolling Competition
Monday, June 28th, 2010It started as a peaceful summer afternoon in the lagoon behind our house: two Yellow-bellied Slider turtles relaxed on a floating log, enjoying the sunshine amid the languid waters. But when a third turtle decided to join them, MAYHEM broke out – and the ensuing “Log-rolling Olympics” had the turtles scrambling to stay afloat!
Catch all the action here:
Mr. Bluebird on my … Rear-view Mirror?
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010Every once in a while, the interactions between humans and nature produce some, er … unexpected results. Something as innocent as my neighbor leaving his truck parked in his driveway – nothing wrong with that, right? – can cause a seemingly harmless and innocent creature to fly into a rage.
When one thinks of an Eastern Bluebird, images of a beautiful, gentle bird come to mind. After all, they are bedecked in bright royal blue and orange colors, and often are set upon by their randy immigrant neighbors, the House Sparrows and the Starlings (both introduced from Europe), who compete with the Bluebirds for nesting holes in the neighborhood.
But perhaps some Bluebirds have had all they can stand and aren’t going to take it anymore! At least this one seemed to be ready to defend his territory against all comers – even another “phantom” Bluebird!
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Great Blue Heron – N.I.M.B.Y.
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010Here’s another addition to my N.I.M.B.Y. – “Nature In My Back Yard” – collection of pictures and videos. I was biking around our neighborhood near Bluffton and saw this handsome Great Blue Heron (is it a male or a female? not sure how to tell with these herons …) heading to a nearby lagoon in search of dinner. It was no more than 25 feet away from the road, and I happened to have my pocket camera along with me – something I’ve learned to do more often now!
I rode on past, then parked my bike next to a tree and slowly walked back to where I could see him and snapped this shot – a very handsome bird framed by the trees with the lagoon behind him (or her):
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Of Birds and Men
Monday, May 24th, 2010(or “Mr. Cardinal’s Sticky Situation”)
It all began when my wife came up to my office late one morning and told me, “There are some strange thumping noises in the garage – you’d better go check it out.”
Being the brave man of the house, I immediately went downstairs, grabbed a convenient weapon (an old broom) and went out the side door into the garage. My wife had just been working outside with the garage door up, so we expected that some creature had unknowingly been trapped inside when she put the door down. I pressed the button to put up the overhead garage door and moved forward, weapon in hand, ready to defend our turf from any hostile visitors.
What I found was entirely unexpected. (more…)
Lady Hummingbird in our back yard
Thursday, May 20th, 2010Since I don’t have a lot of flowering plants or shrubs around in the back yard (other than a Bottle-brush Bush), I don’t see a lot of hummingbirds there. But I just saw a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on a bare branch in the sun this afternoon.
At first I thought it was one of the dragonflies that come up from the lagoon and occasionally rest awhile there. But then I saw it more clearly as it paused and actually sat still on the branch. Of course by the time I went to grab my video camera and came back, she had flown off in search of nectar. Next time!