Baby Moose Part 1

Casper Kelly sent this from an email that was making the rounds. Originator is unknown.


Baby moose 12 hours old

This one was not even a half a mile from our house. The mother
picked a small quiet neighborhood and had her baby in the front yard at
5:30 am. We were out bike riding when we came upon the
pair. The lady across the street from this house told us she saw it
being born. We saw them at 5:30 pm. So the little one was 12 hours
old. What an awesome place we live in to see such a site.

Baby Moose Part 2

Baby Moose: Part 3

Amazing Deer Rescue!

This one was sent to me by Casper Kelly from an email received.
***
Last Saturday morning, my buddy Bo Warren and I were trolling for stripers in the Chesapeake Bay. We were 1½ miles offshore in about 80 feet of water contemplating why the fish weren't biting. We looked back to check our gear and saw something odd in the water. Was it a seal?

Can't be, we don't have seals around here. On closer look, it turned out to be a buck that was WAY off course. He was desperate and barely staying afloat. I've seen deer swim a river or bayou before. When you see that, the first thing you notice is that they are powerful swimmers. Their head and shoulders are out of the water and they make surprisingly good headway. This critter was just keeping his nose up and looked like he'd been swimming all night long. In fact, he was so worn out that he swam toward the boat probably thinking it looked enough like land to him. When he got closer though, he wasn't sure what to make of the two dudes on board, and backed of f. So , since the fish weren't biting, we thought we'd give this buck a hand. Turns out Bo grew up around cows and was really handy with a bowline. He lassoed the deer on the first shot!

Bo grabbed his neck, I grabbed the flank, and we barreled over backwards into the boat. Before I knew it, Bo was on top of him and had him tied up just like a calf. We hit the gas and ran him to the closest beach - Kent Point . I beached the boat and we carefully unloaded the deer onto the sand.

The whole time we kept thinking he was going to kick the hell out of us. He never did though, he was totally spent. We untied him and jumped back. Too weak to stand, he just sat there quivering. We even picked him up again and put his feet underneath him, but he still couldn't walk. Don't know if he made it or not, but I think his chances were vastly improved.

Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)

(c) 2007, Tom Lera

The Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), the brilliant bird found in the cloud forests of Central America, was sacred to the Mayans and figures prominently in their artwork and legends. The name "quetzal" is from Mayan quetzalli which means "large brilliant tail feather" Today the Quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala, and name to the Guatemalan currency.
Despite its legendary history, the Quetzal is in danger of extinction, partly due to hunting of the bird for food and trade, but mainly due to destruction of its elevated habitat to clear land for subsistence agriculture. Some countries, such as Costa Rica, have managed to preserve the Quetzal's (as well as other species) habitat by setting aside land for national parks to promote eco-tourism.
The Quetzal, reputed to be the most beautiful bird that exists in the American continents, belongs to the Trogan family. The iridescent color of its plumage appears green or blue, according to the changes of daytime light. It lives in the mountainous, subtropical, humid regions. The vegetation of the territory it inhabits is quite dense and rich in humus. In this habitat, the Quetzal searches for an old tree trunk situated in a tiny forest clearing to make its nest. Finding them together in the jungle is a rare experience as the birds do not make a lot of noise and they sit very quietly on the branches looking for insects. (see photo)
From February through April, the hen lays one or two eggs. Both the hen and cock take turns during the 18-day period of incubation. The male Quetzal enters the nest, always leaving his beautiful tail plumes outside so as not to injure them. The female doesn't have this problem, for her tail feathers are very short. After the birth of the nestlings, their parents feed them with worms, insects, and larvae. The adults will eat forest fruits. The young can fly 20 days after birth, and abandon the nest to fly freely through the skies.

Coatimundi (Nasua nasua )

(c) 2007, Tom Lera

The Coatimundi (Nasua nasua ) is a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae); a diurnal mammal native to South, Central and south-western North America.
The Coati is a raccoon-like carnivore but is more slender and possesses a longer snout. It is a nosy, busy little creature with an insatiable appetite. The Coati is gregarious and noisy as it travels about in groups of from 6 to 24, holding its tail almost erect and chattering with others.
This grizzled gray-brown mammal grows 30 to 55 inches long and stands 8 to 12 inches high at the shoulder. It can weigh from 10 to 25 pounds. Males are almost twice as large as females.
The Coati has a long snout that is white near the tip and around the eyes, which often have dark patches above. The Coati has small ears, dark feet and a long, thin tail (as much as 2 feet long) with 6 or 7 dark bands.
Coatis are diurnal, spending most of the day foraging for food, which includes insects, lizards, roots, fruits, nuts and eggs. They are very fond of fruit, especially the manzanita berry and are very easy to see in the jungle foraging for food.
Coatis apparently mate in early spring and deliver a litter of 4 to 6 young after a gestation period of about 11 weeks. The female educates and feeds the young from the den site, usually a rocky niche in a wooded canyon.
Natural enemies include jaguars, hawks, eagles and humans.

Sharp-nosed bat

(c) 2007, Tom Lera
***

From my good friend Tom Lera:

Sharp-nosed Bat (Rhynchonycteris naso)
These are common bats and fairly easy to see roosting over or beside water during the day. A distinctive feature is the way that they roost in groups of anything from 3 to 45 in a line one above the other about 2 to 4 inches apart.
They roost on the lower side of a large branch, the steep face of a bank, below a bridge or, as in this photo, on the lower side of a leaning tree trunk. From a distance they look like a vine wrapping around a branch, but as you get closer you see that they are bats.
The natural enemies of the Sharp-nosed bat are hawks, falcons and herons.

Python!

Maybe you got a copy of this email? If not (and whether it is real or photoshopped, it is still scary) here it is.

Seems a sheep farmer was puzzled about the disappearance of some sheep on his farm. After a few weeks the farmer decided to put up an electric fence. About a week later, this is what he found! This is a Python & they're extremely aggressive & have a few teeth that they use to hold their prey while they wrap around them & then constrict. (Note: The wires are 10 inches apart.)