Memorial to the best dog ever

Our dog Lily that we recently put down

Flying away in the hand

Brown Thrasher taking off

Small collection of some birds that I have taking off in the hand or trying to fly away while being held!

Baltimore Oriole

This is mon@rch and since Young Naturalist J has been computer less for the past few months . . . I have decided to post a few of his Baltimore Oriole pictures that he took in Ohio.

Wildlife Wednesday

Ruddy Turnstone picture from 2005

Got a picture of this Ruddy Turnstone a few years back, sorry about the low resolution, it was an older camera!

A Walk in the Creek

Flooded path going down to the creek

With the foot of snow that we got last week and the rising temperatures, I knew there was going to be some snow melting in some of the local creeks. I will admit on the way down to the creek that I wasn’t expecting for there to be five inches of melting snow on the ground. I quickly realized that I was going to get wet with a small creek flowing under the snow that was on the path down into the creek.

Wildlife Wednesday [video]

Our dogs Lilly and Oliver playing in the snow

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!

Snow falling from the sky

After seeing the news on Friday about a snow storm coming out way our way, I immediately thought “Hey! There is something to blog about!” I went outside Saturday night when it starting snowing and took some pictures. We were getting about an inch/hour of snow and after 36 hours it quickly accumulated. Here in western New York we have not been getting much snow this year, so I was pretty excited.

What we can do to slow Global Warming

Construction of some Wind turbines by monarch

Global warming is having a negative impact on today’s ecosystem. It is caused when greenhouse gases mix with our clouds and solar radiation is then reflected off of the earth’s surface. The sun isn’t heating the air but heating the earths surface which is then warming the earth by winds and water currents. THE GLOBE IS GETTING WARMER!! The molecular structure of the clouds is composed of elements methane, water vapor, ozone and carbon dioxide the elements push back the radiation that comes from the ground and the process continues over and over and over.

The fish tank cleaning process

The pain staking process of cleaning

Here are some helpful hints that you may want to know if you are going to be starting up a fresh water fish tank. Patients is the best possible advice I am able to offer you. My dad and I have recently started a fish tank with out realizing how hard it would be to keep the water levels where they need to be. When you first fill up your tank the water levels, Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia are going to be right where you want them, but as soon as you add fish, it is going to go threw a process called cycling, which is the balancing of the water levels. When you go to add your first cycling fish you are not going to want to add more then 25% of your maximum capacity for fish, and any fine fined fish because they will not be able to withstand the water level changes. You measure the amount of fish by inches, one inch of fish per gallon of water. For an example we have a ninety gallon tank, and when our tank was cycling we had about twenty two fish in it.

Short-eared owl banding

BC Trap used to catch Short-eared owls

Mon@rch and I left yesterday to go to a banding station outside of buffalo to attempt to catch Short-eared owls. The owls like to come out at dusk and they are looking for mice and other food. There are post traps, BC traps and a bow trap. The BC trap seen above has Meadow Voles in it along with some dried hay; the sound of the Voles running through the hay attracts the owls making them think it is dinner time. When the birds come down to catch the mouse they hit the top of the trap and try to fly away. The nooses get a hold of them and the get tangled in them when it goes to the nooses tighten around the owls feet