Wanna see a Great Horned Owlet groovin’ to the music? Well, sorta.
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood
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Month: May 2014
American White Pelicans Herd Fish
After American White Pelicans herd fish together, the birds feast, with their heads dipping and rising and dipping and rising again, like horses on a merry-go-round.
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood.
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A Great Horned Owlet’s First Week out of the Nest
The owlet’s first week is about baby steps, baby jumps … and bike riding.
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood. Click “Subscribe” to be notified of new movies.
A Killdeer’s Broken Wing Act
Is it unethical for a videographer to peer at Mama Killdeer’s eggs in order to film the female doing her broken wing act? If so, I’m guilty. But she did perform with élan.
Killdeers are shorebirds … who don’t need a shore. If you don’t believe me, visit any high school football field or golf course, where you’ll likely find a nesting pair of Killdeer. They’ll help you find them by screaming “killdeer” as they fly off in alarm. In fact their Latin name testifies to their noisy habits: Charadrius Vociferus.
They produce “precocial” babies–babies that are already fluffy, ready to run, and able to feed themselves. What’s more, those babies are all born at the same time, no matter how many days apart the eggs were laid. That’s because the first egg laid does not begin to develop until the mother Killdeer begins incubating the eggs. She doesn’t do that until the last egg has been laid.
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood. While you’re there, click “Subscribe” to be notified of new movies.
The Frenetic Wilson’s Phalarope
It’s shorebird migration time in Missouri, and on May 3rd, I filmed four female Wilson’s Phalaropes, close up, whipping and whirling as they fed at a mud flat. They’ll make you smile.
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood.
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Snake: Eastern Yellow-bellied Racer
Just because you’re out birdwatching doesn’t mean you don’t see other wildlife. My husband and I happened on a snake in a birdwatching blind. This Racer didn’t show us how fast he could move, but he did show us, closeup, how fast he can flick his tongue. He was smelling us to decide if we were dangerous.
When I was in my twenties, I was terrified of snakes. So when I was about thirty, I went to a biology teacher who kept them in his science room and asked him to help me get over that fear. He did so by having me touch a boa constrictor–a large one–because he said that it was so large it wouldn’t make any sudden, scary moves. He was right. By the time I left, I had draped the snake around my shoulders and enjoyed the feel of its muscles moving. (And when I got home, my cat bit me because he smelled a snake on me.)
You can see all my movies on my YouTube channel: Jo Alwood.
At the YouTube site, you can click subscribe to be notified of new movies.
Bird Movies by Jo 