# 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:** 72
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1422 "2022-04-29T13:45:51Z")
Lovely. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1423 "2022-04-29T14:35:45Z")
Blue Jay? ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1424 "2022-04-29T14:42:55Z")
No idea. I can only recognize a few types: crows, ravens. sparrows, pigeons, hummingbirds. The cutie above does not fit in any category. Maybe someone can enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1425 "2022-04-29T14:54:10Z")
Looks to be a very chubby fledgling Blue Jay to me. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1426 "2022-04-29T15:34:20Z")
^Agree. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1427 "2022-04-29T17:13:36Z")
“I’m not fat, I’m fluffy!” ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1428 "2022-04-29T18:54:57Z")
I saw a little, baby snapper on the running trail today. It couldn’t have been bigger than a silver dollar. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1429 "2022-04-29T18:56:40Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > It’s off-road biking season for me at the moment - trails have dried up but haven’t overgrown yet, so there are a couple of rides that are at their best right now, and I’ll be doing them a lot for the next couple of weeks. As close to the middle of nowhere as you can get round here… I took a photo of this view and was unimpressed with my effort; but weirdly, The Google Earth People sent their camera van down this dirt trail (which leads from nowhere much to nowhere else much, passing through the middle of nowhere (-ish) _en route_) and the view they provide gives a better impression of the general emptiness. I’m sure there are much starker wildernesses out there; but none, I would hazard, within twenty or so miles of Big Ben. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=%213m2%212sen%214v0%216m8%211m7%211sOzTe1_w1IZ0ah3cB31D7LQ%212m2%211d51.1984946%212d-0.2790829%213f290.32%214f8.602%215f0.75 Nature in broad sweep, I guess. The high ground straight ahead is Leith Hill, the highest point in SE England - someone built a tower on top of it to take it to exactly 1000 ft. The high ground to the right is the North Downs. j ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1430 "2022-04-29T19:05:12Z")
Breathtaking! I sure hope I get back to England some day. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1431 "2022-04-29T19:16:27Z")
Something more specific. Back in post 555 I mused on geese “kindergartening” their goslings, which I had seen a year earlier but had not seen since. But today, for the first time in a while, I saw something approaching it. [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FzQEFXYEr2CDge6XO713yQnOhVM-EthDp1fi34aAQwbAnKgN9w90kxk0suGTOeNWWIPcMrPzBgsz___dYf3vRZKcLJX5tO8I9IpP_sCRmwh6fk8U_POhesOj7nbpw8WMiUlOI28GFg=w600-h315-p-k "New item by j") ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/n4rLG91rpLyLMqGeA) So here we have three families of greylag geese, seemingly looking after the kids collectively. The one adult on the far left is simply on guard duty\*, for example. I didn’t know geese did this - do we have a goosologist in the house? Has anyone else noted this behavior? I know that @merrick has photographed grelags with goslings.- any thoughts? j \* - And yes, I was very well guarded away. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1432 "2022-04-29T19:35:22Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Breathtaking! I sure hope I get back to England some day. Why, thank you - I’m very pleased you like it. And you remind me of something which has been on my mind for a while: I had been toying with starting a thread, an AMA of sorts, called something like Days Out In South East England - basically describing possible places to visit for Dopers who might be planning a trip, but also serving as a curiosity and entertainment for anyone else interested. I genuinely don’t know whether this would be useful/interesting, or niche to the point of ultra-vanity. Any thoughts? (And apologies for the hijack). j ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1433 "2022-04-29T19:39:18Z")
I might not post, but I would look at it! ---
**Author:** ![merrick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@merrick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrick)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1434 "2022-04-29T20:16:30Z")
I’m about as far from a serious goosologist as you can get, being both completely uneducated in such matters and a confirmed town mouse who only gets to see nature on intermittent weekends. But Wikipedia links to the wonderfully-named [The Social Life of Greylag Geese](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fTgoAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false), which states “shortly after the young hatch, parents may sometime join together, forming large groups that are able to defend all the offspring.” I haven’t seen the behaviour myself, but the local density of greylags is rather low. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1435 "2022-04-29T20:42:44Z")
That’s pretty high octane goosology if you ask me. Nice work! j ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1436 "2022-04-29T22:21:42Z")
Went for a dip with some alligator gars this morning at Blue Spring State Park [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UYs0o8p-p8A/maxresdefault.jpg "Blue Spring State Park swimming with the alligator gars") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYs0o8p-p8A) ---
**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:** [April 29, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1437 "2022-04-29T22:28:23Z")
Yikes! I would have come right out of that water. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1438 "2022-04-30T03:43:58Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I genuinely don’t know whether this would be useful/interesting, or niche to the point of ultra-vanity. I would very much enjoy it. ---
**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:** [April 30, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1439 "2022-04-30T14:33:54Z")
I would enjoy that too. I want to go back to England sometime. I put up two new nest pockets under the eaves of our front porch. Less than a week later, we’ve got two house finch families nesting in them. One of the parents sings quite loudly whilst on their nest. I’ve never seen (well, heard) that happening before. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1440 "2022-04-30T19:11:43Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > The one time I saw a fox in the middle of the day, it was right in our yard and was stalking me. I shot it and submitted it to our local Department of Agriculture. It tested positive for rabies. That’s what they say about raccoons around here. If you see one during the day, keep your distance. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Also, the wild parents are no longer entirely freaking out when they see me in the bedroom window. Love this typo. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/1441 "2022-04-30T19:42:15Z")
No typo - meant the wild bird _parents_, not wild _parrots_, which are not near my building (Our local colony is by the Highland, Indiana post office a couple towns over). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=71) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=73)