Ok, so maybe 100 million years ago, the Sahara Desert was a little more wet than it is now, and so we shouldn’t be too surprised to see that there were giant crocodiles that lived there when it was known as Gondwana. Nowadays we get excited when we see a crocodile that is over 20 […]
Blog Category: Animal Behavior
Tiny Bird With a Big Story
Hummingbirds have many challenges – they are tiny and yet need to be some of the toughest birds out there. They live in conditions where eeking out a living can be a challenge – especially when you have to feed at frequent intervals just to keep going. In the cloud forests of Peru, there is […]
When Once Just Isn’t Enough
Songbirds who migrate at night have long been thought to migrate north to breed then south again to molt and overwinter. That makes sense, right? But, the times they are a changing. Now researchers from the University of Washington have discovered that there are some birds who make a stop in Mexico on the way […]
Best Friends
One of the few things remaining that some people are convinced make humans different than other animals is the ability to have preferences or feelings. But, this is becoming more and more difficult to defend as there are numerous first-hand stories that refute this claim. This video from CBS News about an elephant in an […]
Sounds of Nature
Nature configures itself in interesting ways that have meaning and speak to us where we are. So it was for Jarbas Agnelli, a Brazilian musician, who saw music in the pattern of birds on wires. Letting the visual pattern the birds made on the wires be the notes, the outcome of this one photo frame […]
The Anxious Garden
There’s a lot of stress in my garden. This is not a good sign for a garden, but it’s the birds who are causing it. It took me awhile to figure out what was happening, but after listening to a day’s worth of anxious chirping by a female cardinal, I looked to see if there […]
Just Getting Going at 90
It is true that some species have a different life time frame than humans. Most are much shorter – some, like macaws and elephants – pretty much mirror ours at around 80 years. But many tortoise and turtles along with horseshoe crabs and a variety of other animals make us look like mortal pikers. George, […]
Raptors on the Roof
I was having breakfast on our roofdeck this morning with my husband and we were enjoying a gorgeous summer day. Directly across from us on the next building there was a lot of commotion. A mockingbird was doing aerobatics flying at another bird on the roof. We got our binoculars to see what it was […]
He Otter Make Some Music
I logged into my Facebook account tonight to discover that there was a post from my friend, Shirley McGreal who runs the International Primate Protection League in South Carolina. During the days when Shirley lived in Thailand (which is where she started helping primates over 30 years ago), she developed a love for Asian short-clawed […]
Life With Exotic Birds
If there ever was a moment to pause before making a decision about which path to take when it comes to the animals in your home, getting a bird is one of those moments. They are so beautiful and it seems so simple – just put them in a cage and feed each day, right? […]