Bald Eagles

Bald eagles are opportunistic feeders. They will eat whatever is the easiest. A lot of what they eat is carrion, since it is pretty easy to catch dead stuff, but their primary food source is fish. Eagles are divided into several different groups. Bald eagles belong to the Sea or Fish Eagle group. These are eagles that have special adaptions that help them to fish These include featherless scaled legs that they can dip into the water thus keeping their feathers relatively dry, and a large hooked beak designed to rip through tough fish scales.

Viceroy

At first glance this may appear to be a photo of a monarch butterfly, however if you look closely you may notice a subtle difference. This is a viceroy butterfly. It is believed that they look like the monarch is a form of a defense mechanism. Because they eat the toxic milkweed plant as a caterpillar monarchs are either distasteful, at the least, or toxic to most predators. By looking similar to a monarch the viceroy may avoid encounters with predators that are wary of monarchs. The main way to tell the difference in the field is by size, the viceroy is noticeably smaller then the monarch, and the postmedian band that runs across the hindwing of the viceroy

Red Tailed Hawk

Probably one of the most common raptors seen through out North America is the Buteo jamaicensis, or red-tailed hawk. The red-tailed hawk is a large stocky hawk which is a member of the Buteo genus, which encompasses the soaring hawks. The typical wingspan of a red-tail is just over four feet long and average weight is about two and a half pounds. They are found through out all of North America except for extreme northern Canada and Alaska.
Red-tails have been able to adapt quite well to a variety of different habitats. This may be due in part to the fact that they hunt and eat a wide variety of prey. They are an ambush hunter. They can typically be seen perched in a favorite spot waiting for prey. When they spot something that looks like it would make a good meal they drop down and ambush the prey. Where I live we typically see many of them on light poles on the sides of highways and freeways. This is great hunting habitat for red-tails. The lack of large trees by the side of these roads enable the red-tails to fly unencumbered. The light poles make an excellent hunting perch and garbage thrown from cars attract a good supply of rodents to eat. While people have negatively impacted many different species of wildlife it is good to see that some species, like the red-tails, have not only adapted to survive in harmony with people they actually have seemed to thrive.

Eat or Be Eaten

WARNING: There are parts of this post that are quite graphical. Since nature isn't always pretty I have decided to include a photo that may gross out some people. I am giving you this warning so that if you are squeamish you can decide whether or not you would like to continue.
Dragonflies are predators. They hunt, kill and eat other insects. Unfortunately when you are an insect sometimes the predator can become the prey. All sorts of other creatures often snack on dragonflies. This includes birds, frogs, spiders, wasps and more.
Dragonflies, also often attack and eat other dragonflies. Typically it is the largest dragons that eat the smaller ones. One day while I was out photographing dragonflies at Wild River State Park during the summer I had the opportunity to photograph the life and death struggle between two dragons.
In this case the larger yellow dragon appeared to be a midland clubtail while the smaller one looked like a rapids clubtail. The midland grabbed the rapids by the thorax, most likely coming at it from above, wrapping its legs around the smaller dragon in a death grip. Then its used its jaws to eat out the thorax of the rapids. The rapids club put up a fight. Its attempt to break free flipped the pair over on their backs but it could not break the grip of the larger dragon. I don't think that the midland was quite finished with its meal but it decided to use caution around the large predator that was taking photos. As you can see from the last photo there was not much left of the rapids clubs thorax. Perhaps the midland returned later after I left to finish its meal otherwise I am sure that scavengers like ants, bees, or spiders finished the job.

Birdfoot Violet

Birdfoot violet is a native perennial here in Minnesota. It provides quite a bit of sustenance to many different species of insects. The flower is very popular with many small butterflies and skippers. It is also one of the host plants for the larva of several different species of fritillary. Even ants are attracted to the sugary coating that covers the seeds. In return for the food the butterflies and bees help to pollinate the flowers and the ants help to disperse the seeds.

Blanding's Turtle

The Blanding's is a rare turtle that can be found in the Great Lakes region of the United States. While these turtles were once more common through out much of the eastern U.S. they are now limited to several Midwestern states and southeastern Canada. Even in most of these areas the Blanding's turtle is listed as an endangered or threatened species, even though it is not nationally listed in the U.S. In Minnesota they are found in the eastern part of the state and they are listed as a threatened species.
A big part of the problem that Blanding's turtles are facing comes from the fact that it takes them about 12 to 14 years to mature. This makes it difficult for the turtles to make up for any population losses. They make up for this by living up to about 80 years. Unfortunately because much of their habitat has been fragmented, because of people developing the land, their mortality rate has been increasing. Both eggs and young have been affected by increased predation, approximately 93% mortality rate. While adults are frequently hit and killed by cars, especially females who travel away from their wetland homes to look for a sandy location to dig their nest.

Sky by Frances May

Lie underneath the azure sky
and watch the clouds float on by
the little boats bob in the sea
the rose red apples in the tree

Lie underneath the azure sky
and watch the birds as they fly
the old fishermen in the sea
turn right around and look at me

Bee

Fishing Hawk

The osprey is a large raptor that is found through out the world. They are commonly referred to as fishing hawks because the majority of their diet consists almost exclusively of fish. Unlike most sea or fishing eagles the osprey often dives down into the water, submerging itself up to two feet deep in search of prey. Eagles usually only get their feet wet which is why osprey are much better at catching fish then a sea eagle such as a bald eagle. Unfortunately most eagles are larger then osprey and they are not against bullying or stealing an easy meal.

Ungulate

The term ungulate means being hoofed and refers to any hoofed animal. The hoof is a modified toenail that evolved over time in many prey species that needed to be able to run from fast-running predators. Because the hoof can support the entire weight of the undulate it is the only part of the foot that touches the ground. The rest of the foot has evolved and become a part of the leg allowing the undulates to have a longer stride.
Ungulates were at one time a part of the order Ungulata, however since many ungulates are not very closely related Ungulata was broken down into six separate orders. Since the order Ungulata no longer exists the term ungulate usually now just refers to the hoofed mammals, most of which are members of the Perissodactyla, odd-toed, order or the Artiodactyla, even-toed, order. Members of these orders include horses, cows, bison, rhinos, camels, giraffe, moose, elk, deer, sheep and more.

Water Lily

Did you know that that water lilies are not really lilies? Other then the fact that they are both plants there is no relation at all. Most water lilies belong to the family Nymphaeaceae in the order Nymphaeales where lilies belong to the Liliaceae family in the order Lilales. Water lilies are not the only non-lily lilies, day lilies and spider lilies are also not really lilies. I photographed this tropical water lily at the water gardens at the Como Zoo and Conservatory this summer.

Canada Darner

It is pretty easy to tell if a dragonfly is a member of the darner family. Darner dragonflies have large eyes that come together in a long line. They are often described as looking as though they are wearing a helmet. Unfortunately when it comes to distinguishing one darner species from another it is not usually so easy. Several species are very distinct, however those that are what are often referred to as blue or mosaic darners can be very difficult to identify.
One of the most difficult is the Canada darner. It is very similar to the green striped and lake darner. The way to identify the species is to look at the two stripes on the side of the thorax, called side stripes. In the photos above you can clearly see a notch in the front side stripe of each dragonfly. If this notch is greater then 90 degrees then it is probably a green striped darner, If it is less then 90 degrees then it is probably a lake darner, if it is 90 degrees then it is probably a Canada darner. There are other things such as size, and the existence and thickness of a rearward flag at the top of the front side stripe. In the bottom photo the pair of Canada darners are mating.

Symbiotic Relationship

Bees and flowers have a symbiotic relationship. Flowers provide the bee with pollen, which they typically feed to their larvae, and food in the form of nectar. In return the bee will typically carry excess pollen which is stuck to the tiny hairs on their feet and body, which will often fall into the next flower that they are feeding on thus pollinating the plant so that it can produce seeds. This type of symbiosis, between two different species for the benefit of both, is called mutualism.

White-crowned Sparrow

I don't know about you but sparrows are right behind gulls when it comes distinguishing between the different species. There is a class on sparrow identification that is held in South Dakota each summer. Perhaps I will attend it one year so that I can improve my ID skills. Fortunately the white-crowned sparrow is one species that is not so hard.
Most white-crowned sparrows breed in northern and western Canada as well as Alaska. They winter in the lower two thirds of the US and into Mexico. This was by far the most common sparrow that we saw when we were in New Mexico last month. In Minnesota we usually only see them during migration. Often they will stop and forage on the ground for seeds and insects to help them as they continue their migration. They are often considered a sign of fall and when we see them up at Hawk Ridge in Duluth where I took these photos.

It Looks Like Winter Has Finally Arrived.

Today is the first day of December and here in Minnesota we woke up to fresh snow on the ground. This is not the first snow that we have see so far this year. We did have one small snow storm in November but then it warmed up and all of the snow melted. I don't think that we are going to get that lucky this time. According to the latest weather forecast the temps for the next week will be lucky to get above freezing for the high. We are also supposed to get more snow today and possibly some on Saturday. Oh well, I did not really expect winter to hold off for too long, after all it is December in Minnesota, but one can dream can't they? This photo was taken on the North Shore of Lake Superior last winter.