# Today in nature I saw **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854 "2020-07-20T18:22:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 100
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1983 "2023-01-16T21:37:01Z")
Well, I did say _provisional_ ID - and threw it open for suggestions. I take your point about the bill. Re red kites, back in July '21 I posted: > [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I think I’ve told this story on the boards before, but in the early days of the reintroduction [of red kites], thirty or more years ago, I was out with a group on a reserve in the Thames Valley (looking at military orchids); and someone literally sidled up to me and said out of the side of his mouth “_Psst - wanna see a red kite?_”. I made my excuses and left. Now they’re just an amazing, heartwarming success story. j ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1984 "2023-01-17T15:20:28Z")
I was heading down the trail with the dogs yesterday afternoon (they’re off leash when we’re in the woods) when suddenly they all shot off the trail into the 3’+ of snow. There I spotted a poor bunny without its head! Of course my dogs, who will eat anything including wild poop, saw this as a meal opportunity. No amount of calling or buzzing their e-collars would distract them. The snow in that area is way past my knees so I wasn’t going to be able to “run” in and grab them. So I had to do what I don’t like to do and what I rarely do and that was to actually use the shock setting on their e-collars (I usually only use the beep or vibrate settings). That got the attention of the boxer and the Dane, but the shepherd couldn’t have cared less. After a couple more zaps, he finally left the carcass. We continued on our walk, but knowing the rabbit was going to be an issue on the way home, I called my husband and told him to grab a shovel, remove the rabbit and bury it somewhere the dogs don’t frequent. UGH ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1985 "2023-01-17T15:26:02Z")
I looked out my living room window the other day and saw a deer grazing close to the house. My husband and a couple of dogs were just leaving the house by a door on the opposite side. When the deer heard them approaching, she fled…as did another deer nearby…as did about five others hidden in the treeline. It was Deer-a-palooza! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1986 "2023-01-17T15:43:18Z")
I was working in our basement last week, and Kizzy wanted to go out. It was just getting dark. I let her out through the garage man-door. She ran out and immediately began snarling at a lawn chair, under which was a raccoon. I told Kizzy to “leave it” and she did. I got her secured in the house and went to investigate, figuring the raccoon would have run off. Nope, it was still under the chair, growling and snarling and unable to ambulate normally. I have an old [“rabies pole”](https://www.ketch-all.com/) that I bought at a flea market. Used it to kill the raccoon. Submitted it to the Department of Agriculture and got a call yesterday that it was rabid, as expected. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1987 "2023-01-17T15:47:16Z")
Oh poor thing. I’m glad Kizzy is all right. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1988 "2023-01-17T22:57:35Z")
What @Dung_Beetle said. The uptick in rabies is disturbing. Glad you were able to take care of this one. ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1989 "2023-01-22T18:55:32Z")
Another entry in the occasional series “Merrick’s exotics”. I was walking in the woods by the River Lea, trying to get a photo of a pair of common teal (which I didn’t manage - the b\*\*ds consistently saw me coming and ducked behind cover), when this handsome fellow came flapping out of the undergrowth and perched in a tree almost above me. It stayed there for several minutes before flying off. [![](https://i.ibb.co/ZmXvv1z/03-Harris-s-Hawk.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/ZmXvv1z/03-Harris-s-Hawk.jpg) My first thought was “Red Kite!”, my second, once I’d had a chance to look carefully, was “… or maybe not - Black Kite??”. When I got home and could check my guides I got even more confused, since it looked absolutely nothing like any UK bird of prey (“melanistic buzzard” was the best I cold come up with). Then I started looking at non-UK species and it didn’t take long to work out that my friend was a Harris’s Hawk. It certainly didn’t fly here from Brazil or the southwestern US, but apparently they’re popular in falconry, so it must be an escapee. I hope it can handle life on this side of the Atlantic. As a bonus, because someone here said they’d never seen a European Robin, here’s a little fellow who was kind enough to pose by the side of the path. [![](https://i.ibb.co/Z68vJzD/07-Robin.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/Z68vJzD/07-Robin.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1990 "2023-01-22T22:47:06Z")
I do get frustrated by the birds and other creatures being let out of their natural habitats to others but humans are so stupid and selfish it’s not going to stop. That’s a lovely hawk. Also, that Robin looks like he has had the benefit of someone’s feeder. That’s one round bird! Today, the cats held quite a conversation with a young male cardinal in the shrub just the other side of my porch screen. I’m not sure if he’ll be back but I hope so. So do the cats. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1991 "2023-01-26T14:19:15Z")
I was down by the Rio Grande the other day hoping to find a marsh wren but I saw this guy–a ruby crowned kinglet–instead.[Ruby crowned kinglet | The borb | Ulrike Guggenheim | Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/153498892@N04/52647623124/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1992 "2023-01-26T14:28:53Z")
Cool bird! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1993 "2023-01-26T16:55:38Z")
“Awww…you know what you are? You’re a _kinglet_! Just a cutie little kinglet, you!” I bet that happened. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1994 "2023-01-26T23:22:06Z")
My daughter and SIL are in Vegas, where he’s doing continuing education. Today they hiked and got this picture: [![](https://i.imgur.com/f4xd6lG.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/f4xd6lG.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1995 "2023-01-28T03:25:23Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I was down by the Rio Grande the other day hoping to find a marsh wren but I saw this guy–a ruby crowned kinglet–instead.[Ruby crowned kinglet | The borb | Ulrike Guggenheim | Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/153498892@N04/52647623124/in/dateposted-public/) These guys have been showing up at my feeder lately. I have never seen them here before. Cute lil things. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1996 "2023-01-29T21:40:10Z")
Yesterday, not long before dusk, I was walking through Brockwell Park in (fairly central) London and I heard a woodpecker drumming (greater spotted, I presume). Not what you expect in the middle of London. So I did a little googling - [the London Bird Club wiki](https://londonbirders.fandom.com/wiki/LatestNews) has 72 reports of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers this January, including Tooting Bec Common (not too far away); and Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, which is just about as central London as you can get. Surprising - I absolutely did not think of this as a city bird. j ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1997 "2023-01-30T00:12:05Z")
Interesting! I will be in London for a couple weeks in April and I’m going to bookmark that wiki. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1998 "2023-02-01T21:47:30Z")
I don’t know whether this counts as nature, but last week me and my neighbour saw a racoon in our balcony, in the middle of Berlin, in the first floor: [![](https://i.imgur.com/rIEoSDG.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/rIEoSDG.jpg) [![](https://i.imgur.com/KbrK6zv.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/KbrK6zv.jpg) It is funny that I suspected we had some racoons (an evil invasive species that has no predators here and eats birds, cats, amphibians, robs nests and can carry rabies) in the swamp I am tending 20 miles south of the city. But I never heard of racoons here, in the city center. After a while he climbed down through the wine that covers ours house (it is just the branches in winter) with complete ease and was gone. The neighbour claims he was chasing mice. Maybe, though we have not seen mice since august. Then in the swamp I mentioned I saw droppings: [![](https://i.imgur.com/UciL8Vt.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/UciL8Vt.jpg) An internet research hints at [**roe deer** (_ **Capreolus capreolus** _](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_deer)) droppings. I have never seen the deer themselves in person yet, but looking forward to it some day. > [@kayaker](#): > > Today they hiked and got this picture: Wow! But what on earth is the round structure on the upper left corner? 😲 BTW: Could you submit that picture in the thread about pictures (animals is the theme this time!) if you did not take it yourself? 😉 I bet that would get some votes! > [@carnut](#): > > Also, that Robin looks like he has had the benefit of someone’s feeder. That’s one round bird! Not necessarily, maybe it was just cold. They let their feathers stand on end to insulate themselves and it works great, it seems. No matter how cold birds never seem to freeze to death. Here is another one, that was last november. It was bloody cold back then and he is round as well. And lovely, if only a bit far away: [![](https://i.imgur.com/CDqF5ev.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/CDqF5ev.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1999 "2023-02-01T22:41:35Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Not necessarily, maybe it was just cold. Interesting. Maybe the birds who winter around me are better insulated in the first place, because other than chickadees, I don’t see them doing this so much. And for fact, winters here are colder. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/2000 "2023-02-01T22:48:54Z")
According to my experience the smaller the bird, the more it shows the puffing up. Sparrows, robins, tits show this very clearly, pigeons less so, but still noticeable. Ravens? Not so much. Storks and herons? I hardly notice. They probably do, but it is not evident. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/2001 "2023-02-01T23:02:19Z")
Ah, that makes sense. Another of our winter birds, cardinals are twice the size of chickadees. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/2002 "2023-02-01T23:08:48Z")
On the first robin picture you can see that the feathers on top of his head are puffed up. Sure robins do not get fat there. It’s insulation. Now I’m off to google chickadee and cardinal. PS: Do you have bishops too? How can you have cardinals without bishops? That is not how ecclesiastic ranks work over here. OK, OK, I’m gone [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=99) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=101)