Vide-Ohs: Amazing Hummingbirds

I feel fortunate to live in an area that attracts quite a few hummingbirds and some are year-round residents. The beautiful video below has some magnificent footage of these aerial acrobats.

Just as fascinating are all the facts about hummingbirds. Did you know they have the largest heart per animal size?

From the video’s website:

Over 20 amazing Facts about Hummingbirds. Slow motion footage of the hummingbird in Full HD. Great for school nature projects. Watch hummingbirds fly in ULTRA slow motion. Watch the humming bird (the hummer) hover and fly backwards in slow motion. Videos of hummingbird babies (chicks) being fed. Learn about the hummingbird tongue and it’s eating habits. Discover how fast it’s heart beats and how fast it’s wings beat.

The white hummingbird can be leucistic or albino. The leucistic hummingbird has partial loss of pigmentation so it’s not totally white and can be a little patchy in places. The very rare albino hummingbird is totally white with pink eyes, beak and feet.

The colibri (hummingbird) is a sacred bird for the Taino Indians because it is a pollinator and as such, brings life.

 

More Vide – Ohs

To See additional Interesting Videos Click HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged #please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2020 – JBRish.com



Piggy Back for 100s of Crocodile Babies

 

The gharial is a fish-eating crocodile generally found in India. At one time, these creatures roamed a much wider geographical range. It is hard to believe they are now an endangered when, as this photos shows, a male gharial is giving a ride to over 100 of his offspring.



Picture courtesy of Popular Science

Read more about the picture and the gharial and the photograph HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2020



Photography: My Shot — Wild Burros at Lake Pleasant – Morristown, AZ

We decided to take a hike at Lake Pleasant to see if we could locate the wild burros that reportedly live there. As we travel along the highways, we see signs to watch out for the burros, but we have never seen one.

The park has a Wild Burro Trail so naturally we decided this would be our target destination. Lucky for us we were less than ten minutes into the hike when we spotted a lone burro. Upon further exploration, we came across the tres amigos (three friends) pictured here.

So…there really are wild burros at Lake Pleasant!



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Metadata

File Name: IMG_1103_r.tif
Capture time: 10:44:14 AM
Capture date: Feb. 15, 2019
Exposure: 1/400 sec @ f/5.6
Focal Length: 79mm
ISO: 80
Camera: Canon PowerShot AS590 IS
Lens: 4.3-215mm
Edited in Lightroom/Photoshop

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See more photography posts HERE and visit Jeff’s Instagram site HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2019 – JBRish.com



Video-Ohs – Unwitting Killers in our National Parks

The video below is of a photographer who was taking photographs of a young male elk in one of our national parks and even though he was abiding by all the rules, the elk started to manifest aggressive behavior. This, unfortunately, would lead to the end of the elk.

As someone who enjoys hiking in our national parks and photographing all wildlife in a safe and respectful manner, I find this very sad.

You can read the follow up below, under the video, for the details. The video itself is an interesting lesson regarding such confrontations.

The notes below are copied from the YouTube page:

Update: I’ve been in contact with the photographer in the above video and we would both like to issue a statement regarding the news of the National Park Service’s decision to put the elk down.

My statement:
I am deeply saddened by the fate of the elk. It has certainly pulled a black cloud over this whirlwind “viral video” experience.

I spoke to the reporter who broke the story and she assured me the decision was based on a pattern of aggressive behavior that began prior to the incident documented in this video. The behavior was the result of visitors feeding the elk and conditioning them to seek food from humans. This video only serves as an example of the elk’s dangerous behavior, not an impetus to it.

Again, it brings me great sadness to learn of this beautiful animal’s demise and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it.
I’m looking into a destination for proceeds from this video to help the NPS educate visitors on the dangers and consequences of feeding wildlife.

I also want to be clear that James, the photographer, was not complicit in a behavior that led to the elk’s demise, but rather was made an example of the result of such behaviors. The elk approached him from behind, likely looking for food as he was conditioned to do.

Statement from James (the photographer):
I love and respect animals and that’s why I photograph them and don’t hunt them. I am deeply hurt by the loss of such a beautiful creature that in its own way bonded with me. I looked forward to watching him grow to a mature bull as the years passed.

I’m truly heartbroken to know he is gone.

Original video description:

While photographing elk at sunrise in the Cataloochee Valley of Great Smoky Mountains National Park I turned around to see what appeared to be just a curious young bull sniffing a photographer’s camera. I snapped a few frames of the apparent harmless encounter.

But the elk became more interested in making trouble than simply the scent of a camera. He started physically harassing the photographer, escallating to full on head-butts.

I quickly switched the camera to video and let it roll (much of the time wondering when I should seriously consider intervening).

Most people who see this ask why the photographer seems to just take the abuse. I asked him in an email what was going through his head. This is his response:

“My first thoughts were “wow, he’s getting pretty damn close here.” But I’ve been up close before without incident. I hoped being still and passive would see him pass on. When he lowered his antlers to me, I wanted to keep my vitals protected and my head down. I felt that standing up would provoke him more and leave me more vulnerable to goring. I think that while protecting myself with my head down, having my head down was a signal that I was rutting with him. I was concerned at first, but when he started rearing back and lunging at me later on, I got scared and pissed off. That’s when I wagged my finger at him to cut that shit out. I was relieved to see the Ranger coming.

So I guess at some point if the Ranger hadn’t of pulled up, I would have had to disengage the best I could. I’ve joked with my friends that at least he took me for a buck and not a cow!”

 

More Vide – Ohs

To See additional Interesting Videos, click HERE


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©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2018 – JBRish.com



A very poignant look at an old institution in New York City, a chess shop. This short documentary tells a compelling tale.

chess, institution, old, social, competition, compelling, life, living, work, occupation, game, thrilling, friendship, intergenerational, New York City, documentary, video, story, poignant, gratifying, opportunity

Humor by Nature and Man – Blue-Footed Booby!


It is hard not to be drawn immediately to those blue feet and what a color of blue they are! As it states at the referenced link below, it is a bit of coincidental humor to be named a “booby” and have those feet!


Picture Via

 
See previous STATUS QUOtes HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2018 – JBRish.com


Yellowstone and Bear Country



I recently returned from more than a week of hiking in Yellowstone National Park and all I can say is WOW! We hiked over seventy miles, but enjoyed every hard-earned inch. We are so lucky to live in a country that has such natural beauty in abundance.

Whenever I explain to other people that I hiked in Yellowstone one of the first topics to be raised is bears. Yes, Yellowstone has bears and by reading all the literature, posted warnings and sales pitches for bear spray one would think they were lurking around every corner. I am not making light of visiting areas in bear country. It needs to be a real concern and we did take it seriously, but not everyone sees the bears of Yellowstone when they visit the park.

My wife and I both had bear bells to make noise as we walked so we didn’t startle any bears in the vicinity. One thing worse than an unintended encounter with a bear is to startle a bear unexpectedly and have them feel threatened. Wearing bear bells sometimes brought snarky comments like: “I thought you were Santa Claus.” My retort would be: “Not Santa Claus, but no bear claws!”


Yes, Yellowstone has two types of bears. Grizzlies are more agrgessive than Black bears. – Picture courtesy of naturalunseenhazards.wordpress.com

All the hype does make one a bit paranoid, but I am not sure that is a bad thing. According to the National Park Service, over 100 million people have visited Yellowstone since 1980. During that time 38 people were injured by grizzly bears.

Here is an interesting breakdown according to their website Bear-Inflicted Human Injuries & Fatalities in Yellowstone

Type of Recreational Activity: Risk of Grizzly Bear Attack

  • Remain in developed areas, roadsides, and boardwalks: 1 in 25.1 million visits
  • Camp in roadside campgrounds: 1 in 22.8 million overnight stays
  • Camp in the backcountry: 1 in 1.4 million overnight stays
  • Travel in the backcountry: 1 in 232,000 person travel days
  • All park activities combined: 1 in 2.7 million visits

Also noted is that only eight people have been killed by bears in Yellowstone since 1872. To keep things in perspective, the website reminds visitors that more people have died from drowning, burns, etc.

We had two grizzly bear encounters in and near Yellowstone National Park. We were hiking along one of the paths around Ice Lake in Yellowstone returning to the parking area. Three hikers were hiking towards us and as they passed, they explained that a mother grizzly crossed in front of them with two adolescent cubs and they were going to hike around the lake to get back to their car. This was a significant, lengthy detour part of which was uphill along the roadway.



Picture courtesy of National Park Service

All the literature I read indicated that the chances of being attacked in a group of three or more was only two percent. I suggested to the group that we continue heading back toward the parking lot and risk a bear encounter since we were a larger group and had several canisters of bear spray between us.



Picture courtesy of National Park Service

We walked quickly, but deliberately toward the area near the road where the bears were spotted. We noted their tracks along the path. Apparently they didn’t like the debris in the wooded area any more than we did and they were walking along the relatively clear hiking path.

About one quarter mile from our cars, the three bears (not those three) were spotted about 300 feet ahead of us. The mother bear (very large!) stood up on her hind legs and spread her arms wide in an “it was this big” fashion. I estimate that she stood at least nine feet tall at that point. One of the rather large cubs also stood in the same fashion while the other remained on all fours looking our way. The bears were only there for a half-minute or so when they scampered into the woods.

It was very exciting indeed, but we were glad that we did not have a more intimate bear encounter. We made it to the cars without further ado. My only regret was that the action happened so fast I couldn’t get a picture.

Our second sighting a few days later was of a grizzly with three cubs along the Beartooth Highway near Beartooth Lake. We noticed a group of people along the side of the road, a certain giveaway that something interesting was happening, and we pulled over.

Sure enough, there was a group of three Grizzly bears about 450 feet downhill munching on a carcass that I assume was that of an elk. The speculation was that this was a mother with her cubs, but the bears all looked to be similarly sized…so who knows? The bears were more interested in eating than in what we were doing and since we were a lineup of more than a dozen people standing quite a bit away uphill, it was not a tense encounter.

Bears are large and they look fat, but don’t ever think you can outrun one and don’t for one minute think climbing up a tree is going to help. Read the placards above to see how to survive a bear encounter.

I am an enthusiastic amateur photographer. I enjoy wildlife, but I don’t have an expensive wildlife kit. The closest I come is my Canon SX50HS bridge camera that has a telephoto lens of approximately 600mm of reach. This isn’t the highest quality camera or lens, but I think you can get an idea of what we saw at the bear buffet along the Beartooth Highway.


group of grizzly bears


lone grizzly bear


two grizzlies bears


lone grizzly bear with carcass



After leaving Yellowstone, we stayed in Red Lodge, Montana one night and did some hiking along the Silver Run Plateau, Trail # 102, Loop #3 in the Custer Gallatin National Forest.

There were warnings there as well.



There’s a reason for all these signs. One shouldn’t be afraid, but it is important to take precautions and be aware. They refer to it as being “Bear Aware” and they aren’t kidding.

Yellowstone even uses celebrities to help impress the importance of bear safety upon visitors.



We now have bear encounter memories that will last forever and we are very happy that they turned out the way they did.

 

Read more Hiking and Exploration posts HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2018 – JBRish.com



Birding with an Opportunistic & Occasional Birder

We recently spent ten days hiking the trails of Yellowstone National Park. This was a bucketlist item for us and we were thrilled to be able to check off this box. Although we are senior citizens, we logged more than seventy miles along the pathways and mountains of this beautiful and intriguing geographical area.

We were enjoying the beautiful meadows and wooded areas while hiking to Cascade Lake. There were bison in the area (more about that in a later post) and while photographing and admiring these large animals, I saw a silhouette of the bird below. At first it appeared mostly black.


Northern Harrier Hawk

I took several steps closer to get a better look and rather than a raven as I originally thought, I knew this was a falcon or a hawk. What I normally do in this situation is I take several pictures while moving a bit closer for each click of the shutter. In this way, I hope to capture shots that will enable me to identify the bird without chasing it away.


Northern Harrier Hawk

This was a very confident bird. As you can note, it was clearly perched in an open and perhaps vulnerable spot. As I moved a bit closer, it did not move on inch. The only change in posture was for this hawk to turn its head to look at me.

I always try to respect the animals I photograph by giving them plenty of room. I do not get very close because, after all, this is their home and I do not want to frighten them or change their behavior. I try to observe from a distance. I have a Canon bridge camera which does allow me to get fairly close with an equivalent 600mm lens.

After trying to identify this bird, I thought it might be a Harris Hawk, but as I normally do when I am unsure, I post a question in the Bird Identification forum on the BirdForum website. If you are interested in birding or bird identification, I cannot recommend this resource more highly. The members are very helpful in guiding novices to learn how to properly identify birds.

After making my guess and posting the three pictures from this post on the forum, I learned that this was a Northern Harrier Hawk and that the facial markings, referred to as a mask, is the clincher in this identification.

This was a bird that I had seen from a very far distance in Arizona, but I did not have a photograph of it. I was glad to add these photos to my birding collection. I now have seen and identified more than ten percent of all birds that visit North America some time during the year according to the American Birding Association (ABA).

Check out the BirdForum if you have in interest in birds and/or birding.


Northern Harrier Hawk

To read more JBRish.com posts about birding, click HERE.


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross 2014 – 2018 — JBRish.com


Birds of Arizona: Glendale Recharge Ponds – Pt. 2

Note – If you missed part 1 of this story, you can find it here:

Birds of Arizona: Glendale Recharge Ponds – Pt. 1

As we continued our walk and circled around the pond, we came across several Cormorants sunning themselves. I usually associate these birds with shorelines, but they were probably just passing through.

cormorants

closer view of cormorants

As we returned to the parking area where our car was located, this Black Phoebe was sitting on top of a no fishing sign. It didn’t say he couldn’t catch flies!

Black Phoebe

The southern boundary of the recharge pond park, had a nice wide path for walkers and bikers.

walking path near parking area

Having had enough gnats and/or flies, we headed back to our car. We did not anticipate that a good number of the annoying recharge pond denizens would want to hitch a ride with use, but pack into the car they did.

The morning was moving on and the prime bird watching window was closing, so we decided to head to the Tres Rios Base & Meridian Wildlife Area which often attracts a variety of birds. Our GPS led us a bit off course, but we finally made it.

It is located very near the ISM Raceway, South Phoenix.

ISM Raceway, Phoenix

There was no event at the racetrack so parking was wide open. We parked along the side of the road and walked through the gate toward the river inlet.

Tres Rios Sign

While the water was not “raging,” it was moving well. Several people were fishing as we walked along the riverbank looking for birds.

Wide area of the river

We could see movement in the trees and we knew there were birds in the distance, but I am not skilled enough to be able to identify them by song. I would need a relatively good visual sighting to confidently ID a bird.

As we walked under the roadway overpass, we could see the Swallow nests

Swallow nests under the bridge

swallow nests under the bridge

I did spot another Phoebe waiting in the tall, dried grasses.

Phoebe waiting on a reed

Not having much success finding birds to identify, we decided to leave. As we made our way to the parking area, we spotted a Cormorant sunning on a partially submerged log.

Sunning Cormorant

He wasn’t alone long as a “buddy” also thought this would be a good location for sunning.

Second Cormorant heading for the perch

Two Cormorants sitting on the log

What is it they say about “birds of a feather?”

It was an interesting day and we enjoyed finally visiting the areas to see what they had to offer.

The Tres Rios Base & Meridian Wildlife Area hosts a number of events including nature awareness and bird watching opportunities. You can follow the along on their Facebook page to see what the upcoming functions offer.

See previous JBRish posts about birds HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross – 2018


Birds of Arizona: Glendale Recharge Ponds – Pt. 1

We had heard about the Glendale Recharge Ponds and the variety of birds they attract. As hikers and explorers, we decided we would head out that way to see what birds we could find. We started our jaunt early to have the best chance at seeing the most birds and while we thought it might be a bit tricky to find, the directions were actually quite good (see Part 2 for directions).

Right away we saw the discharge for which the ponds were named.


water being reclaimed

The facility is located west of and in a direct line with the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals football team.


University of Phoenix Stadium

Along the access road leading to the ponds and along the sides of the waterways, there was a variety of farms and stables.


Small farms and ranches abut the ponds


Very quickly we noticed something very, very annoying – – flies. Loads and loads of flies. Perhaps gnats would be more accurate! This might be very good for the birds, but not so pleasant for us.


Gnats were abundant and annoying

Can you see all those light brown specs in the picture above? Those are some of the flies that were flitting around as soon as we left the confines of our car. Let me circle (in red) a couple for you.


Gnats circled for reference
Only five were circled, but there were hundreds upon hundreds!

We traveled for about an hour to get to our destination so we were not be deterred. A move perhaps we would later regret.

Only a few short steps along the pathways we saw what I identified as a Cattle Egret. If you look closely on the neck you can see flies on the bird. Other gnats are also clearly visible on the bird.


Gnats on the Egret

We hadn’t planned on most of the wildlife to be so far away. As we walked, the waterbirds swam to the far side of the large pond to seek safety and therefore escape our gaze. While I had three cameras with me, the only camera that was useful was the Canon SX50 HS with a large zoom lens.


As we walked, most birds fled
Those specks in the distance are numerous waterbirds

A more intrepid pair of birds, Black-necked Stilts, weren’t as quick to run away. They were busy searching the shallow depths for food. These are very interesting birds not only because of their somewhat whimsical black and white coloration…


Black-necked Stilts looking for food

but because of their long legs! Now we know how they got their name!


Long legs of the Black-necked Stilts

Lurking farther down the path and around the bend was an alert and somewhat wary Great Blue Heron.


A wary Great Blue Heron keeping an eye on us

In several locations there were warnings about no fishing! I have since learned that people do fish there even with the signs posted.


No Fishing sign

There were many, many Coots in the ponds, but also in the group were several other water birds. The male Northern Shoveler Duck was quite handsome.


Northern Shoveler Duck among the Coots

A Killdeer looked on with interest probably wondering what we were doing out-and-about with all these bugs in the air.


Watchfull Killdeer

To read the other JBRish posts about our Killdeer visitors:

Birds of Arizona – Killdeer ( Charadrius vociferus )

Killdeer Eggs in Our Yard; Oh My!

Killdeer’s Empty Nest in our Front Yard

For more information about the Killdeer’s rearing process, you can read The Precocious Killdeer.

Unfortunately, wherever people go, there are bound to be traces that they were there. Whether intentional or not, we found a floating flip-flop and this football.


Floating lost football left behind at the ponds

Overall, however, there wasn’t too much debris. We continued to walk a while longer to complete the circuit around the one large pond nearest our car. We were becoming a bit uncomfortable trying to “chase down” the birds with all the bugs buzzing around.

Read Birds of Arizona: Glendale Recharge Ponds – Pt. 2

See previous JBRish posts about birds HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross – 2018


Birds of Arizona – Red-tailed Hawk ( Buteo jamaicensis )

For casual bird watchers, identifying a particular bird can be quite a challenge. One would think that a Red-tailed Hawk would look very much like every other Red-tailed Hawk, but it isn’t quite that easy.

Unfortunately, there are often variations on a theme. One problem, for example, is that a juvenile bird often looks quite different than it does as an adult. This can reveal itself with differnt feather patterns or colors or perhaps a less developed feature that, when the bird is mature, would be quite prominent.

Facing this challenge, I often farm out the job of identification to the wonderful world of birders on the Internet. That is how I was able to determine that the bird below is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

As you can see, we have a power pole near our house and very often one hawk or another will stop by to enjoy a meal or keep a lookout for the next one. While they are atop this perch, I am often able to walk close to them to capture a portrait.


Red-tailed Hawk
As I approached, the bird wanted to keep an eye on me.


Red-tailed Hawk
Here the bird decided to turn around to face me.


Red-tailed Hawk
When approached, hawks don’t necessarily run away, but will often just stare back!

Read more identifying Red-tailed Hawks – Telling Juvenile from Adult Red-tailed Hawks

 
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Metadata for the bottom Photograph

File Name: 000022_49.CR2
Capture time: 9:55:03 AM
Capture date: February 6, 2016
Exposure: 1/640 sec @ f/6.5
Focal Length: 215mm
ISO: 200
Canon PowerShot SX50HS
Lens: 4.3-215mm
Edited in Lightroom

See previous JBRish posts about birds HERE


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All original content on this blog is copyrighted by Jeffrey B. Ross with ALL Rights Reserved. While reference links back to JBRish.com are appreciated and encouraged, please acquire approval for any reproduction of original content from this website.

©Jeffrey B. Ross – 2018