Category: Wildlife

Bee Slayer!

So the other day Christopher, Robert, and I noticed a swarm of bugs flying outside the studio window (we call the room in the back the studio, because that is where we practice).  We realized the bugs were a bunch of bees, swarming around the palm tree.

Later that day when we went outside we found that the bee had quickly constructed a large hive in the palm tree. Since it was later in the day the bee were far less active, so Dad took the bee killer, sprayed the nest all over, and then ran inside. The bees were as mad as hornets (or maybe bees)! They flew around palm tree like crazy, attempting to find their tormentor, but to no avail.

By time we came back to see if any of the bees had survived the nest had already fallen off the palm tree. All that was left of that mighty bee army, was one solitary bee, who flew around the palm tree, looking for his lost city. A city he would never find, for it had been destroyed by my Father, the bee slayer.

If Pigs Could Fly.

A short article titled “If Pigs Could Fly”.

If pigs could fly… SCIENTIST WOULD GO CRAZY, THEY WOULD START STUDYING THOSE PIGS JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THEY GOT OF THE GROUND, I MEAN THEY MUST HAVE BIG WINGS SINCE BIRDS CAN FLY BECAUSE OF THEIR LIGHTER BONES, NOT TO MENTION THE PIG ARE JUST FAT IN GENERAL!

In short scientists would have a renewed interest in pigs and farmers would put roofs on their pigsties. There would also be a bigger bird poop problem. Always carry an umbrella.

Green Pool

So yesterday I put up a post about how we painted the pool deck, but if you remember I never showed a picture with the pool uncovered. That’s because currently our pool is rather… green. Yeah, you can’t even see a foot into it. We let it turn green because the algae bonds with a chemical in the pool which, when we clean out the algae, will come out with it. And that will be nice I’m sure, but I still don’t like not being able to tell if an alligator is in the pool or not.

Gardenia Buffet

When we got up a couple of days ago we saw this guy having his breakfast in the gardenia. There must be plenty of bugs and lizards in the gardenia, because he has sitting in it eating every morning for the past few days. I think we should make him pay for it, you know like a bed and breakfast, or a hotel.

Bare Feet no More!

So as I was walking out to bring in groceries today, and what should I run into, but a dog. Yep, a big brown dog just staring at me. So I started to go back inside but the dog was following me. Now here I got in a bit of a pickle. Because I didn’t want to try to go inside, and have it follow me, and I didn’t want to stay outside with what might be a stray dog (there are a couple in our neighborhood). To make matters worse I had no shoes on, so even though it looked friendly, if it attacked me I couldn’t kick it, and have it bite my foot. Luckily, Nicholas came out and told it to shoo, and it was friendly so it left. Still, I have resolved to wear shoes from now on.

Toads in Florida

So a couple days ago Nicholas was taking out the trash and he called us out to show us something. As it turns out it was this very large toad.kimg0603

We all watched it for a while, and were really quite impressed with this small rotund creature. The funny thing is, though this toad was fairly large, it was just an ordinary toad. We had frogs in Ohio by the dozens every year, and took little notice of them. Then when we moved to Florida we thought the lizards were quite the novelty. I had never seen a lizards in person before we moved to Florida, because they could not survive the winter in Ohio. Now we think nothing of the lizards and think frogs are a novelty! However, lizards do still freak out Mom  if they get in the living room.

Bird Found Alive With One Leg.

I was walking to my convertible from school yesterday  when I spied a large bird loping awkwardly through the grass.  Normally I would have thought nothing of this as I live in Florida and birds half your size are as common as alligators (that’s really common), but something was different about this bird, something was off, something was missing…Oh, it was his right leg.

20160912_192402
Old Peg Leg

Yep, somehow this fellow had broken off this essential appendage just a few inches below the flesh of the drumstick.  Still despite his crippled condition he fights bravely to survive (I mean the only other option is die…so maybe it’s not quite so brave…).

Now you’d think a one legged bird would be limited to a life of perpetual flying punctuated by brief rest on his singular perch, but you would be wrong.  if you think such a creature can walk you would also be wrong (you can’t walk with one leg it’s physically impossible).  Instead of either option such unfortunate avians hop away from danger. Observe…

I like to think that this poor fellow forever forfeited his ability to walk in some gruesome fight for life and limb (well he half won) with some fearsome predator like the Florida panther or a vicious alligator.  Or perhaps he was rock climbing and a rock slide trapped his leg so he had to peck it off.  But I’m afraid that in reality he probably lost his leg in the more common and mundane way, hunting great white whales.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid  we’ll never know the true story behind this bird’s broken off bones.  He flew away before I could ask him.

I would have let him have the book rights.

(These videos can be seen combined on YouTube here).

 

 

Opossum VS. Possum

The answer to the question I never knew existed.

 

Have you ever seen a small rodent like animal playing dead and wondered “is that a possum or an opossum?” Neither have I, quite frankly I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as an opossum until we made our fourth comic book. Turns out those funny rodents that play dead are  opossums and the differences don’t end there.

 

Opossums Possums
Habitat in colder climates like North America Habitat in subtropics primarily Australia
Omnivorous Mostly herbivorous, rarely omnivorous
Hairless tail functions as a

fifth hand

 Bushy tail helps to balance

possum
Thumb-like toes on all feet Thumb-like toes on back

feet only
Play dead Don’t play dead
Long faces with elongated snout Flat, round faces
Lifespan of 2 to 4 years Lifespan of 6 years
Gray or white fur Tan to brown fur

 

 

This whole confusing situation started when a gentleman named Sir Joseph Banks saw the possum in Australia and assumed it was in the same immediate family as the opossum. Little did he know that the two species’ only similarity is that they’re both small rodent like marsupials.