EXPANDING YOUR WORLD BY EXPLORING NEW AREAS OF INTEREST

The Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) inhabits swamps and forests. These ring-tailed animals will investigate every nook and cranny in order to find food or just to satisfy its curiosity. Raccoons tend to live in the hollows of trees, but they will occasionally make their homes in bank burrows or crevices in rocks. The hollows in which they live are made by some other animal that has deserted the spot. It is very normal to find up to six raccoons rooming together in these hollows. Raccoons can sometimes fall out of trees because of loose bark. Mother raccoons will remove loose bark to make sure that her young won’t slip and fall.


Raccoons are mostly nocturnal animals. They spend their daytime resting or maybe even soaking up the sun on high branches in trees. During nighttime, the raccoons are never far from water and will travel up to 5 miles. They stop at any point of interest, and will investigate an area for up to an hour. Just before dawn, the raccoons will bed down in any convenient shelter.


Raccoons do not truly hibernate, but it does enter a “cold sleep”. When the temperature drops below a certain point the raccoons will enter this “cold sleep” and awaken when the temperature rises back up. Snow makes it difficult for the raccoon to get food. Its short legs make it clumsy in deep snow, so the raccoon will stay in its den. Strong winds are also not a friend to the raccoon. When the wind is high, the raccoon’s senses are reduced making it difficult to hunt and know when predators are coming. The raccoon is always alert for any sign of danger. They might be completely absorbed in a task, then their incredible hearing will pick up the slightest of noise and they will lift their head up and investigate the sound before running away if it feels there is danger.


The raccoon would not be the best house guest, because it has dexterous fingers which give it a hand much like the human hand. It will open doors, unscrew jars, uncork bottles and it will take everything it can get. Raccoons will easily break into your garbage cans and search through the contents, generally leaving a large mess behind.


Raccoons are omnivores. Some of its favorite foods are: frogs, crayfish, fish, clams, poultry, corn, chestnuts, honey and sugar. The food supply for this furry creature is very inconsistent. It will gorge itself in the summer and fall, but will face starvation in the winter and spring. It will feel along the rocks and crevices in water to find clams, crayfish and frogs. It will allow the crayfish to pinch onto its paw and will then eat it. In a slightly similar fashion it will let the clam clamp onto its paw and will then chew on the muscle hinge to get the clam to open up. In German the raccoon is called “wash bear” because it will wet its food before eating it. They do this to soften the dry food so that they can swallow. They will also wet their paws which increases their sensitivity to touch.

Tapetum Lucidum is the reflective cells at the back of the raccoon’s eyes. It allows the raccoon to see in partial darkness. Light enters the eye and is absorbed; the light not absorbed passes back through the retina allowing to be absorbed. Coon hunting was a popular pastime in the southern states. The hunters would follow the dogs to a tree where they would shine a light up the tree and easily find the raccoon by its “glowing” eyes. In a confrontation between a raccoon and a dog, the raccoon will first try to not fight, but if it’s forced to it will lead the dog to water where it will get on the dog’s back and drowns its attacker.


TAKING THE LEAD IN ORDER TO RELEIVE PRESSURE FROM THOSE AROUND ME

The Whistling Swan (Olor Columbianus) has a wingspan of eighty-three inches and can weigh up to sixteen pounds. It is a migratory bird from Alaska and to the east coast from Chesapeake Bay to North Carolina .  It is considered to be the most graceful of birds. The swan’s ribcage and back bones are fused. Only the tail and neck are moveable. The bone structure and quills of the feathers are hollow to help make the bird lighter so that it can fly. Each feather is made up of hundreds of miniature feather structures called barbs. Each barb is made up of barbicels which hold the barbs in place. On one bird, it was counted that it had 25,216 feathers, most of which were located on the neck, which provides padding to protect the skin and provide insulation. Once in flight the swan is relatively silent in flight. A bony knuckle located on the swan’s wing is actually a bone joint, but it serves as a weapon when needed. The powerful muscles of its wings allow the swan to inflict a devastating blow.


The swan’s webbed feet are helpful for swimming and getting food. The swan will walk on its webbed feet and toenails to dig up roots, wild celery or other plant life. It will turn back around to eat the food it just dug up. Swans have bills with serrated edges called lamellae. When the jaws are closed the swan can sift out food particles taken from the water. The swan’s plumage will often turn gray or rusty brown when feeding because it stirs up dirt from the bottom of the water and eats in the water.


The swan needs a long runway in order to take flight. That is why it takes off easier from water. It will pick a nesting spot with a large amount of water to make sure that it can take flight. Nesting spots must have irregular shorelines, for protection, and must be at least nine acres in size. It takes five to six years for a swan to completely mature. By the end of the third or fourth year, it is capable of laying eggs. Although even at maturity, it is only 65 percent successful in hatching its four to six eggs. A young swan is called a cygnet. The adult male is called the cob. Time is the cygnet’s greatest enemy. If a female lays her eggs too late in the spring, her young might not be able to fully develop or their preparation for the long migrational flight can be shortened by an early fall. These unprepared birds will face starvation or exhaustion and will probably die. Lack of time takes a heavy toll on the swan population.

 

RESPONDING QUICKLY AND WISELY TO SITUATIONS OF DANGER

The Spotted Sandpiper (Arctitis Macularia) is an eighteen inch bird that inhabits ponds, lakes and streams throughout North America. Its innate agility, long legs and pointed bill enable this bird to easily and effectively catch its prey. It positions itself in a manner that makes it indistinguishable from its background. It points its bill straight towards the insect, stretches straight out and parallels its body with the ground level. It slowly walks forward to within inches of the insect where it then quickly snatches its prey. It bobs up and down the water's edge in search of insects that live in the shallow waters, muddy pools and vegetation of the shoreline. Most of its diet consists of insects, such as flies, grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, and various aquatic insects. It will also dine on small crustaceans, worms, grubs, minnows and the fry of various fish.

The sandpiper changes color once every year from March to April during the courtship time of the year. Most of the year, it has greyish olive coloring with white underparts. The pre-nuptial molt occurs when the bird loses its body feathers but not the wing and tail feathers. The new plumage consists of the white underparts, but it is now dotted with black spots. In August, it experiences a post nuptial molt and loses the distinctive spots. The sandpiper is also known as teeter, teetertail, see-saw, sand-peep, sand snipe, river snipe, sand lark, tilt up, teeter peep, peet weet, or tip up which comes from its nervous habit of tilting its body as it walks.

A sandpiper's nest is actually very crude when in consideration to other birds. The birds don't rely on vegetation to conceal their eggs, but the eggs themselves  are pale and blotched which gives them a natural camouflage.  The egg is very thin and delicate. Its porous shell allows evaporation from within and replaces the water with oxygen. The yolk of the egg nourishes the chick while the albumen, white liquid, insulates the developing embryo from sudden changes in temperature. At the time of their hatching, the chicks are able to walk, see and even feed themselves. They mimic the adults even in their teetering walk. Its incubation period is longer than that of other birds because once it hatches they are far more developed than other birds. When in danger the mother will signal her young to flatten themselves to the ground and freeze. Their yellowish, buff colored down with a sprinkling of brown shades enables them to blend extremely well with their surroundings. When the dangers passes the mother signals for them to come to her where she calms them down under her wings.

The sandpipers begin to explore the area two days after hatching. Within weeks they have separated from their parents. If difficult conditions arise they might spend up to a month with their parents. From ten to twelve days old the sandpipers have fully developed their wings and are capable of flying short distances.