Saturday, November 5, 2016

Potpourri at Ft Desoto Park: 11-2-16




Cooper's Hawk
Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a dangerous lifestyle even for these agile and powerful fliers.  In one study of more than 300 Cooper's Hawk skeletons, 23% showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the wishbone.




Falcons tend to kill their prey by biting it, but this hawk captures a bird with its feet and kills it by repeated squeezing, holding their catch away from the body until it dies.



White Ibis fly-over
 The darker birds are juveniles







Paper Wasp




Turkey Vultures, Nature's cleanup crew




Like its stork relatives, it often defecates on its own legs, using the evaporation of the water in the feces to cool itself.




Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay




Female Red-bellied Woodpecker




These woodpeckers are attracted to noises that resonate.  The males will often tap loudly on metal gutters, aluminum roofs and even vehicles to attract a mate.




This female is about to enter her nest hole?












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