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Fishermen traditionally have stories of minnows the size of blue whales that got away with no evidence to prove or disprove the stories. Today, while helping with a survey to find some dormeece for a Mammal Society course, two managed to escape from a box I was checking. The first one shot out the hole in the back of the box and up the tree it was on before dropping onto the ground - behaviour, neither of us surveyors had seen before. It then climbed up a piece of stick where it posed blinking, for us to photograph it. When we attempted to catch it to put back in the box it disappeared up a tree. I was asked to check the box just in case and as I did so another one shot out and up the tree and out of sight. Not the best start I've had to a survey.
Illegal immigrants are all the news at the moment, how about these ones in another dormouse box?
After all that we found some more for the students so they got to see a live dormouse or two and I got to handle another one. All of course while researching for Bike.
Comments
Of course. (this is a pun you
Of course. (this is a pun you know) Spectacular photographs Ang. What type of birds are these ? Wrens?
How close were you? Did you use a SLR digital?
I'm full of questions as usual. "Inquiring minds want to know" .
Is that Sphagnum moss that's
Is that Sphagnum moss that's used as bedding for the meece? It's also the best for Venus Flytraps.
PS:If Cameron was more like Trump, a wall would have kept them out.
The birds
are great tits and both the photos were taken with my Canon Eos 400D using an 18-55ml lens. The nest box was taken from about 24" and the dormouse from about 3-4' away.
Angharad
You can't go on line to
You can't go on line to research those birds, too many alternate references. I went to my Audubon bird book, Here in New England they are a chickadee, also a titmouse. So you had the wrong meece in the box, tit meece rather than Dor meece Lonnie Anderson does come to mind here.
Karen
Moss
I would have expected that the tits dragged that in, popular nesting medium.
Ang are you sure that avellanarius doesn't translate as "bar of soap"?
"Reach for the sun."
The little fuzzball looks
The little fuzzball looks like it is trying its best to defend itself even if it is futile. I have to wonder if it is male trying to protect a female or if it is a mom trying to distract you from the kids...either way, that little thing is doing a good job of getting your attention.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
What an eventful day of
What an eventful day of surveying! Thanks so much for sharing your "research for Bike" with us.
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
Mammal Society?
I always love your critter pictures, Ang....
Mammals ROCK, although birds might be a close second.
I think us mammals lucked out, to have the brains that not only can think somewhat but let us connect with stuff and each other emotionally and not just be little wind-up instinct machines. The more I research marine life for my series, all those squishy things blooping around it the deep, the more I realize that I might have been born the wrong sex but I'm pretty damn happy with my kingdom (who wants to be a fern?), phylum (luv that endoskeleton), class, and sometimes even my species.
I guess I could have it worse...
hugs, Spacepup
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0