Color

The temperatures are falling fast now, and the animals are adapting accordingly. They signal their interests by different colorations, which shows off well in the bright snow and against the light sky.

 

 Hot blooded birds like this American kestrel usually have ample reserves of energy for short term hunting. Their high glucose levels, high metabolism and blood pressures mean they stay powerful and focused in all weather conditions, but only for short periods of sustained bursts. The reddish brown coloration of those feathers is a complex topic, but might be related to their high diet of protein.

These birds, and the Coopers hawks were harassing a flock of Junco in much the same way tuna dive into bait balls of fish in the oceans.

 

Their prey were roosting in the apple orchards. The flock always kept moving and the raptors mostly were looking for any individual bird that was straggling or acting oddly. Having many eyes in a flock watching is a big help to not being singled out by a hunter. The flickers don't form flocks and prefer to stay hidden down in the branches. They certainly shrieked a lot from shelter when the flock was being eyed by the pair of raptors. The flock stayed up high on the branch tips where they could see and maneuver better. 

After the raptors had moved on, the junco flew down to pick up as many tiny fruit seeds as possible before the snows covered them all up for a few days.They had to move fast to pick up enough to get a decent meal.

 

The cold morning allowed the 2-3 herons that regularly fish at the end of Andrew's Lane more time together, as the dog-walkers were delayed by the cold This large bird chased off another from the old tree snag that seems to be the "throne" for this area. 

 

The reason the smaller bird did not want to leave was that it had dragged out a large fish from the ditch. It seemed a bit confused what to do with it. It had a reason to be cautious. Herons cannot rip fish up, and some have been documented to choke to death on prey that is too big to swallow whole. Here, the heron is showing off the black patches of feathers along the leading edges of it's wings. These are feathers with high melanin granules that give feathers extra abrasion and bacteria resistance where it is needed most, the belly and flight feathers. The dark green/blue/black color of the trout's back reflects the light sky and dark ground along it's back.

 

The sides of the trout distinctly show the rainbow hues of the guanine lined silver scales. The straight line down the side are the pressure sensors used by the fish to detect movement underwater. There has been more study done on this Russian import than just about any other fish on the planet. The Latin species name is "mykiss" and sums up most people's thoughts on this creature.

 

In western cultures, black is seen as the color of death, and it is for land animals. But is east Asia and Egypt the color of death is white. Upside down trout stands out clearly, due to the white of the abdomen. This color scheme was studied by an artist known as Thayer and is called counter-coloring.

 

 Clear ditch has a large number of dead trout right now. There could be many reasons; from disease, too low oxygen, no food, or nitrate shock. I admit many things about stocked fishing makes no sense to me. But it is undeniable that many people appreciate this form of recreation. These large fish are also a clear source of food for those animals that usually survive on a sparse diet of apples, too. It turns out, there are many other people, beside me, who study coyote poop

 

Tracking animals is a calling and with a lot of time, the sign of an animal can give a lot more nuance to the story of the animals. For example, this coyote scat has apple mixed in with this high fur, grey, slimy scat. The fur is likely rabbit down, but the grey color comes from a diet high in fat. Likely this color comes from a diet of a hatchery raised fish or two. Coyotes do not cross bridges, and each morning there are water trails leading out of clear ditch and back into the bosque preserve.

 

Nearby, the scat was apple, too. But on the right is a black scat (digested blood) full of little rodent bones (likely house mice). On the left is some scat containing scavenged goose feather quills (non digestible) 

This woodpecker did not seem to be bothered by the falling snow, but zooming in, I couldn't help but notice the feathers were pretty unkempt and waterlogged, this might be a side effect of all that headbanging, but wouldn't the loss of heat be a problem? The stems the woodpecker was attracted to appeared to have been debarked by a porcupine

 

 The porcupines have thick fur as well as sharp spines and appeared to be having no issues with the cold or the wind. We spotted five today they were all hunkered down high in the tree branches. This one was the only one still eating. The rest were asleep in a tight ball.

The paths have a good covering of snow now and there is not many animals out. By tomorrow there should be some impressive tracks around as the animals adjust to their new environment.

The outdoors appears to be pretty unwelcoming right now, with the biting cold and darkness, and full of uncertainty. But the stories in the tracks on the ground tomorrow will tell of adventures of rodents, and birds, the hunters and those hunted. All stories being written now and waiting to be discovered by someone tomorrow...