Stinky Pete

Earlier this month, Ben was running his usual Sunday route and he sadly discovered that a mama opossum was killed on the road. To add to his sorrow, several of her babies were also hit as well. All of her babies had already died except for one little guy that clung to his dead mama's back. Ben knew at once that he had to save the lone survivor and ran the last mile home with the little guy in his hand. I decided to give him the name Pete, which later turned into Stinky Pete, because opossums are quite odorous!  

Here he is right after Ben brought him home.  It had rained earlier in the morning so Pete was very wet and pretty sad looking.

 After a bath and some food, Pete was feeling better and looking cuter.  

 We took the opportunity to train Laney to sit still by placing Pete on her back.

After a week of feeding him, we decided he was ready to be on his own.  Laney was very interested in his release.

I wanted to hold him one last time before we let him go.  It's not every day you can hold a baby opossum.

Freedom!

Laney saying goodbye. 

Pete hiding in our brush pile.  We hope he stays around, but we haven't seen him since we let him go.

 Goodbye Pete!  It was fun having you for a short visit.

Armadillo Encounter

While visiting Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park we found an armadillo.  It was quite a treat to see such an interesting animal up close.  The armadillo didn't seem to mind us getting a closer look.  It even let Laney sniff it.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

After descending from Mount Scott, we headed west through the wildlife refuge to see if we could find any Chestnut-collared Longspurs. One place that people had been reporting them was at or near the prairie dog town near the junction for the Holy City. It had not occurred to me how interested Laney would be in prairie dogs. She was good, but very alert.

The prairie dogs were aware of Laney, too. They scolded her from their burrows. I am sure she heard taunts. I did not find any longspurs. Maybe I needed to walk through the grass and try to flush them, but that wouldn't have been an option with Laney.

A view of Mount Scott, looking east.

The wildlife refuge had free-range Texas Longhorns. This guy was sitting in a pretty setting near the road. They also have bison and elk at the park. I saw some bison from a distance, but no elk. This park played an important role in the preservation of bison. The park used to have a subspecies of elk called Merriam's Elk that ranged across the southwest. That subspecies is now extinct, and the Rocky Mountain subspecies has been re-introduced.

I did get a nice look at a Greater Roadrunner along the road as I was heading out. Not a bad consolation prize for the Chestnut-collared Longspurs and all of the other birds left behind for another day.

Northern Short-tailed Shrew

Little did I know that today I would find myself face-to-face with one of North America's most ferocious predators, and a venomous one, at that.

I was getting ready to take Laney for a walk when I thought I heard something scurry on the other side of the garage. I checked a couple boxes and bags. I thought I heard some scurrying when I was checking one trash bag. I took some of the trash out and then dumped the bag into a trash can. Down fell a shrew. I have seen them poking around before, but I hadn't gotten a good look. He ran around quite fast. Laney was interested, but not too interested. I got him some duck leftovers and he went to town. He wasn't content to just eat, he wrestled the duck wing, rolling around with it. Joy helped me get some pictures by holding a light. After a brief incarceration, I put him and the duck wing back in the bag. Happy hunting.

Mammals of Indiana, a Field Guide by Whitaker lists these shrew facts: Their heart rate may reach 20 beats per second and their breath rate may reach 12.5 breaths per second! They consume great quantities of worms, insects, and other invertebrates, and some vegetation. Additionally, they feed on the minute, underground fungus Endogone. The short-tailed shrew is one of the most common native mammals in Indiana. On average, they live about a year. (I guess that would make about 3 days a shrew year.)

Wikipedia lists these Short-tailed Shrew facts: The Northern Short-tailed Shrew consumes three times its weight each day. The saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew contains a kallikrein-like protease, used to paralyze and subdue its prey. The toxin is strong enough to kill small animals, up to sizes somewhat larger than the shrew itself, and results in painful bites to humans who attempt to handle the shrew. (I had on two layers of gloves, and I didn't handle him much.) Apparently, these shrews also can use echolocation! That's a pretty awesome little mammal.

Cimarron National Grasslands

A windmill on the background of the yucca and sage steppe of the Cimarron National Grasslands.


An American Kestrel perches on a yucca stalk. I made the trip to these national grasslands Tuesday afternoon. I had a couple hours to spend before sundown, which is no where near enough time to bird/explore the area in the way it deserves. CNG is in the extreme southwest corner of Kansas, abutting Colorado and Oklahoma. This area was very hard hit during the dust bowl, after which, the government started buying the devastated land and setting it aside for conservation. Now it is one area of short-grass prairie and steppe that has some natural character in the area.


A Badger looks up from his business in a wheat field. He wasn't sure what to make of me, and kept smelling the air, before waddling off and continuing his hunt.


Another windmill in the distance obscured by heat distortion. I know it is an old effect, but I love the impressionist painting look it has.


I decided that my goal at CNG was going to be the Lesser Prairie Chicken lek. I couldn't work out any way to visit the lek in the morning, so evening was going to have to do. The National Forest Service had set up a blind, and the log book had been reporting at least a couple Lesser Prairie Chicken displaying for the last couple mornings. I hiked/birded around for a couple hours before the sun got low. The birds were occasionally supposed to display on the lek in the evening, approximately one hour before sunset. Sunset happened to be about 8:20 central time. A very nice British couple and I got in the blind a little before seven o'clock. The weather was warm (mid 50's) and sunny, but the wind was brisk. I appreciated the windbreak of the blind. We kept our eyes and ears peeled, but the prairie chickens never showed. It was by far an unpleasant time, though. There was a prairie dog town with a pair of Burrowing Owls on guard. A Kestrel was hunting the steppe. Western Meadowlarks and Horned Larks (pictured above) sang to us. Jackrabbits and White-tailed Deer wandered past.


Slowly, the sun set, and I had to leave. Almost as soon as the sun dipped below the cloud layer on the horizon, a pack of coyotes just over the hill broke out into chorus of yaps and howls. It was quite a magical experience. I hope the Lesser Prairie Chickens can hold on against the coyotes and habitat destruction. If I ever get the chance again, I'll have to come back and try again, and look for the other specialties there like Scaled Quail, Mountain Plover, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-headed Grosbeak, Cassin's Sparrow, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, McCown's Longspur, and Chestnut-collared Longspur.

The Manatees of Crystal River

West Indian Manatees resting in the Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida

One of the highlights of our Florida trip was kayaking around the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. I was hopeful that there would be good numbers of manatees with the recent cool weather.

Three Sisters Spring is a beautiful spring right in the town of Crystal River with crystal-clear spring water. Manatees gather here in the winter for the relatively warm water. There were probably over 50 manatees in the spring when we visited in the morning. As the day warmed, many of them headed out into the bay to feed.

One young manatee liked the attention and came up to Paul and myself and rolled over to have his belly scratched/rubbed. Pursuing (or any harassment) of the manatees is forbidden, but if they initiate contact, it is allowed.

Sleeping manatees in the spring. Every couple minutes, one would rise to the surface to breathe, apparently without waking. Florida Manatee adults get between nine to eleven feet long and typically weigh up to 1300 pounds. They were very impressive to see up close. Almost every manatee had propeller scars, which was sad.

Paul with his friend

Heading out from the rental area. After checking out the spring, we took a tour around the bay to enjoy our time on the water.

One of the underwater pictures that turned out.

A Fall Day in Southwestern IN

I spent a day in Pike and Gibson counties last week. The weather was great for field work.

In the morning I was digging soil data pits in an open ag field. We saw this buck from a distance. Surprisingly, he kept coming closer and closer, eventually circling around us. He was quite majestic.

Here is the fabled confluence of the East and West Forks of the White River. The West Fork is coming in over the sandbar at the top of the picture, the East Fork is coming in from the right. Over 11,109 square miles of central and southern Indiana drain water past this point.

Possumhaw Holly (Ilex decidua) was in fruit on the Wabash floodplain in Gibson County. Persimmons were also in fruit, and we took advantage of that as well.

Laney's Preoccupation

The primary target of Laney's preoccupation, the piney, also known as a red squirrel. Laney didn't happen to see this one, as he sat on a branch right over the trail in Algonquin, watching us intently.

Laney peering off into the brush on a hike. It would be fun to know what her senses are experiencing, but I think most of the time she had squirrels on the brain.

Laney pointing towards a piney.

Laney and I were hiking at Killbear, when we saw something dart off into the woods. We gave reckless chase, and ended up at this tree.

It's hard to tell whether this raccoon is bored or disgusted.

Laney was quite proud of her accomplishment.

Algonquin Red Fox

As we were leaving the park on Monday, I spotted this red fox off to the north side of the road.

We stopped and he crossed the road in front of us, which was fortunate, because there was much better lighting on that side.

He didn't seem bothered by us near as much as he was by the ticks or fleas on his neck. I got some amusing pictures of him scratching, but they were very back lit.

Laney and I walked down the drive to Lake Opeongo in the evening while the rest of the group shopped. Didn't see any moose, but it was not time wasted.

The cotton grass heads seemed to float in the air above the bog.