# 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:** 165
**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:** [August 9, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3284 "2024-08-09T01:49:39Z")
Today was sad, soaked LBBs (little brown birds) waiting under our porch eaves for the torrents of Tropical Storm Debby to abate. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53910296187_97097ea982_b.jpg "NIK\_0097") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/197666118@N08/53910296187/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**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:** [August 9, 2024, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3285 "2024-08-09T03:50:02Z")
We had some noisy cowbirds today in the U-shaped grounds of my apartment bldg. I am very curious as to what attracted them, but couldn’t see anything. We are not allowed to put out bird seed and the only other creatures I see here are pet dogs and cats. I’m mystified. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3286 "2024-08-09T04:31:26Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > LBBs (little brown birds) Juvenile house finches maybe? I see a streaky breast, they seem a little…fuzzy and it almost looks like the one on the bottom right has a hint of color to his head and shoulders, with two pale wing bars (though the color could be a trick of the light). That or, y’know, LBBs 🙂. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3287 "2024-08-09T14:34:31Z")
Been waiting all spring and summer, finally saw a little puffball! We have valley quail (California quail) that are permanent residents on our property. We see them often up around the house, out by the barn, and down close to the dog kennels. Last year they managed to get three hatches. Haven’t seen a one this year, up til now, and was getting worried that the wet and cold spring had stymied their breeding efforts altogether. On this morning’s walk, saw mama run into the tall grass by the woodshed. Went and looked, saw mama run across an open area, followed by a puffball baby quail! My wife will be so excited when I tell her! ---
**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:** [August 9, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3288 "2024-08-09T15:29:01Z")
I think the one on the lower right is a female goldfinch. The others are probably house finches - we have a ton of them. We have two nesting pockets mounted up under the porch eaves and finches use those to raise their broods every year, so that porch is home to them. There was also a line of 4 or 5 of them perched on the porch railing and a sparrow of some sort taking refuge on top of a piece of concrete yard art we have mounted next to the door. The light was terrible due to the storm, so pretty hard for me to identify them all. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3289 "2024-08-12T00:54:04Z")
Saw something awful tonight. I went to a rarely used part of the yard to throw some moldy food over the fence, and found a deer’s leg hanging up by the ankle. No other deer parts in evidence. Looks like they got stuck jumping over, and then…I don’t know. Nothing good. Jeez. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3290 "2024-08-12T01:35:44Z")
I’ve taken this from an old thread I posted in earlier. I tried to find this thread to put it in but I’m not bright and found the other instead. But I want to brag on my sister. _This is not for myself but my sister, who is an avid and dedicated bird watcher._ _This past week she traveled to central Kansas. One of her stops was at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge._ _There she sighted, and confirmed with a photograph online, a roseate spoonbill. This is very rare for Kansas and the last confirmed sighting was in 2017. To coin a phrase this is quite a feather in her cap._ ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3291 "2024-08-12T02:42:19Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There she sighted, and confirmed with a photograph online, a roseate spoonbill. This is very rare for Kansas and the last confirmed sighting was in 2017. To coin a phrase this is quite a feather in her cap. Cool, very cool indeed. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3292 "2024-08-13T02:12:29Z")
That’s pretty doggone wow. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3293 "2024-08-13T15:59:57Z")
Florida softshell turtle, passing through. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53920953003_6d0479e20b_b.jpg "Softshell") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/45215582@N06/53920953003/) ---
**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:** [August 13, 2024, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3294 "2024-08-13T16:45:16Z")
Cool! In Pennsylvania we have common snapping turtles in our lakes and rivers. If you see a snapping turtle in Pennsylvania that is not in the water, chances are it is June, because that is when they nest. A friend texted me a few months ago and told me there was a big turtle in her yard. I told her it was June, so it was a snapping turtle. She was perplexed until I explained why. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3295 "2024-08-15T01:29:53Z")
Watched and listened tonight as two great horned owls scoped out my yard. Never could get a good picture but I’m glad to know they’re around. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3296 "2024-08-15T03:45:56Z")
[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/xKcQWQD.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/xKcQWQD) An odd visitor at my bird feeder this evening, 50 feet off the back porch. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3297 "2024-08-15T04:17:37Z")
> [@Dogginit](#): > > An odd visitor at my bird feeder this evening, He seems just a little put out by the inconvenient positioning of what is clearly his deer feeder. You’ll need to do better in the future 😉. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3298 "2024-08-15T14:33:40Z")
Going to have to broaden the meaning of “saw” here. As I was coming back from the mailboxes yesterday I noticed that something had eaten quite a few leaves off an ex-tree-now shrub out front. High enough off the ground I suspected deer. Then I later noticed I got a text from the neighbor across the street that was sent just before that alerting me that there were 3 bucks in my front yard, including a pic. We’d see deer in the older part of the neighborhood in the AM sometimes. This is the first time I’ve had them around the newer (far less vegetated) part and in the afternoon, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3299 "2024-08-15T15:08:53Z")
We flushed out an armadillo on our walk this morning. That creature had absolutely no sense of urgency as it ran on the path beside us. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3300 "2024-08-15T23:04:35Z")
Possum on the half shell! 🤣 ---
**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:** [August 16, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3301 "2024-08-16T17:42:51Z")
Deer and an eagle while driving through a park that runs along the Mississippi river front. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3302 "2024-08-17T21:20:56Z")
A seal having a nap on a buoy in the Firth of Forth. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53928465522_4575fe6374_b.jpg "NIK\_0171") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/197666118@N08/53928465522/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3303 "2024-08-17T23:10:12Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > A seal having a nap on a buoy in the Firth of Forth. Grey seal, I think. Which triggered a very random memory about seal competition in the [Firth of Forth](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-55621602). Harbor seals are doing fine overall and greys are native, so nothing tragic in general. But mildly interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=166)