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Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Tag: Wildlife

Other creatures in our world

A New Rabbit Appears

Mary chased a small rabbit out of her garden a few days ago, whereupon we up-armored a few vulnerable parts of the fence. The culprit turns out to be insufferably cute:

Young Rabbit – at the gate

You cannot be annoyed with something like this:

Young Rabbit – alert

Oh, yes, you can. Rabbits are basically eating machines:

Young Rabbit – grazing

They’re welcome to all the greenery in the yard, just nothing in the garden:

Young Rabbit – overcompressed A

It’s known as a 2×2 Bunny, because it can fit through that size opening in a chain link fence while traveling at a dead run.

This one has yet to learn about being wary around the Big People:

Young Rabbit – overcompressed B

The alert reader will have noted the crappy quality of the last three pictures, at least in comparison with the first two. It’s the difference between digital zoom on my Pixel 3a phone applied to a zoomed-all-the-way image and optical zoom on a “real” camera (admittedly, an old Sony DSC-H5). On the other paw, I had the phone in my pocket when Mary spotted the bunny on the driveway, which counts for everything in similar situations.

JPG compression doesn’t handle hair particularly well, so the low-res bunny wears a rather artistic brush-stroke coat; it’s OK if you like that sort of thing.

2021-06-05
Bird Nest Material: Plastic String

This nest appeared in a path near Mary’s Vassar Community Gardens plot:

Bird Nest with plastic string – top

The bird obviously took advantage of modern technology, because it’s held together with generous loops of plastic string:

Bird Nest with plastic string – bottom

We don’t know where it came from or how it got onto the path.

2021-05-30
Snapping Turtle on the Move

A snapping turtle headed toward the beaver pond on the Dutchess County Rail Trail:

Snapping Turtle – DCRT – 2021-05-26

At this time of year and phase of the moon, she is most likely in search of a good spot for a nest and her clutch of eggs. Being an aquatic creature, she and her progeny surely benefit from Team Beaver’s engineering.

Today I Learned: snappers are the New York State Official Reptile.

2021-05-29
Nuthatch Threat Display

Mary spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch facing off against a red squirrel on the patio near the birdfeeder, wherein the nuthatch spread its wings to look as fearsome as possible. The squirrel seemed unfazed, perhaps because a bird the size of my thumb simply doesn’t pose much of a threat.

A few minutes later, the nuthatch repeated the display from the feeder, starting with a hostile side-eye:

Nuthatch threat side-eye

Then he (we’re pretty sure) went into full-on threat mode:

Nuthatch threat display

Nuthatches are perfectly happy hanging upside-down from any convenient perch, so it’s not quite as ungainly as it may seem. However, the threat bounced off the squirrel, which continued stuffing itself from seeds scattered by none other than the nuthatch.

The nuthatch threat display seems identical to the nuthatch courtship display, so we may have been witnessing an offer for rishathra.

Ya never know!

Taken through two layers of 1955 window glass with the Pixel 3a zoomed all the way, then ruthlessly cropped.

2021-05-22
Vultures Sunning

Spotted after pre-season prep at Mary’s Vassar Farms garden:

Vultures sunning

It must feel really good up there atop the old barn, even if they’re sunning themselves to kill off parasites.

Taken with the Pixel 3a zoomed all the way in at 7× from a bit over 200 feet:

Vultures sunning – photo range

Then cropped and sharpened just a smidge. Not a great picture, but good enough for practical purposes; the Good Camera + Big Glass takes better pix and is too awkward to carry in my pocket.

2021-04-03
Tour Easy Seat Hatchery

Removing the seat from Mary’s Tour Easy revealed an unexpected sight:

Tour Easy seat – bottom view

A closer view:

Tour Easy seat – pupal remains

An insect, most likely a rather large butterfly or moth, decided to pupate on the underside of the seat, tucked inside the old seat cover. We can’t fault the critter’s logic!

Mary is sewing up new seat covers for our Tour Easy ‘bents in preparation for the new riding season. Who knows what we’ll find under there in a few years?

2021-01-30
Suet Feeder Extension

Shortly after this season’s suet feeder deployment, the neighborhood raccoons emptied it. A few years ago, putting a 3D printed feeder at the end of a repurposed ski pole protected it for a few weeks, so I scrounged another pole from the pile, cut off the flattened top and battered tip, and put it into service:

Suet Feeder Extension – deployed

The near end has a loop made from a pair of stainless steel key cables, because a single cable was just slightly too short:

Suet Feeder Extension – anchor loop

The far end has what was once a hook, beaten straight to fit through the hole, then beaten around the curve of the pole:

Suet Feeder Extension – chain anchor

Raccoons lacking opposable thumbs, this should suffice until the black bear(s) spotted around here take up residence in the yard.

2020-11-27