Scruffy Channel-billed Cuckoo — Birds in Sydney

Are you often woken up in the early hours of the summer morning by a hoarse hooting noise? It sounds like giants boasting about a joke they’ve played on the world. The call puts the Kookaburras to shame, in terms of melody (lack thereof) and loudness (excess thereof). That noise is made by the Channel-billed […] …

Baby It’s Cold Outside! — Through Open Lens

F/8.0,1/250, ISO 400. Northern Cardinal Male Why did Scrooge keep a pet lamb? Because it would say, “Baaaaahh humbug!” Interesting Fact: Look for Northern Cardinals in dense shrubby areas such as forest edges, overgrown fields, hedgerows, backyards, marshy thickets, mesquite, regrowing forest, and ornamental landscaping. Cardinals nest in dense foliage and look for conspicuous, fairly …

Little Bear — nature has no boss

We watched as this little Black bear foraged through the forest nimbley picking Oregon Grape Berries. We did not know Bears ate these little berries but given most of the Choke Cheery bushes had been picked clean this little bear needed to find a few last meals before they retired for the winter and Oregon […] …

Swimming through air — nature has no boss

An interesting new study by V. B. Baliga1, I. Szabo2, D. L. Altshuler entitled Range of motion in the avian wing is strongly associated with flight behavior and body mass suggested that rather than the shape of a birds wing per se it is the range of motion in the elbow and wrist joints that […] …

Giggity, Giggity, Quack! — Through Open Lens

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 500. Ruddy Duck What did the calculator say to the cashier? You can count on me. Interesting Fact: Most males pair up with one female each for the duration of the breeding season, but some take multiple mates. Their eggs are proportionally the largest of all waterfowl. The ducklings hatch well-developed and […] …