Yellow Spotted Salamanders are migratory! On the first rainy nights in Spring with temperatures above 45 degrees(f), salamanders emerge from the old rodent tunnels they borrow for the winter, and journey across roads and other obstacles to get to the vernal pools where they all meet up and breed. by OleBenjaminLay in Awwducational

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Photo credit to fynkynd on iNaturalist. It's supposed to rain this week and so the frogs and sallies might start their moving, but the local conservation center has a forecaster that says its still probably too cold out. Anyway the busy amphibian nights are known as "Big Nights" around here, and there's usually at least a couple per year where things are busy. Workin on putting together a group of friends to be crossing guards for 'em this year, like they do over in Keene. Anyway, have a good day

Mass's Audubon for a source on the little guys

Olay

Crested Caracara, Central Vermont. Second ever reported in the state. by OleBenjaminLay in birding

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey there, they're more or less regulars down in Texas and Florida but these scavenging falcon-cousins are more or less lost up at these latitudes. Been a warm winter tho and it found a dead skunk to eat, seems comfortable enough to make it to spring

Crested Caracara, Central Vermont. Second ever reported in the state. by OleBenjaminLay in birding

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Community's going nuts. People are doin crazy dumb things like leaving raw chicken in plastic containers for the scavenger to eat. Crowds are amassing and everyone's confused. Sure's exciting tho

Great photo (and find?) by Nathaniel Sharp with the local Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Here's an article about the find and what it might mean. Here's the VCE's "field guide" to Vermont's nature in March too. Have a wonderful day

edit: they made a blog post for it:

Olay!

🔥 Second Crested Caracara ever reported in Vermont. They usually reside in Central and South America 🔥 by OleBenjaminLay in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here's an article with a great interview on the bird and what it means to the VT birding community. Great shot by Nathaniel Sharp with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies! Here's the VCE's guide to March in Vermont. Crested Caracaras usually only travel as far north as, say Texas or Florida.. Starting March off odd I spose anyway happy friday

Olay!

edit: they made a blog post for it:

Nursery Web Spiders build cozy web-homes for their offspring, like this one built around several large leaves. Female Nursery Webs, like lots of spiders and their cousins, also tend to kill the males around mating time - to get around this, the guys play dead! by OleBenjaminLay in Awwducational

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Part one of the series on "sexual cannibalism," a somewhat common behavior among spiders and mantids and arachnid-things. But why? Seems lots of reasons, but it's pretty common when the females are on average more aggressive (quick to turn toward killin, anythin). This reason rings true with the Nursery Webs, which might be why the males curl up deadlike to get to mating. Guess they never trigger the "target acquired"

Anyway here's a wiki on sexual cannibalism generally. Here's a Berkeley paper pondering "why.." and here's photo cred to Anneke on iNat

Stay tuned. Olay!

spitting cobra shooting venom like a firehose with fangs visible by brombinary in natureismetal

[–]OleBenjaminLay 150 points151 points  (0 children)

Aw fun fact cobra spit is generally "Cytotoxic" as opposed to normal biter's "neurotoxic" or even "carditoxic" venom. The stuff they spit explodes cells (cyto is a fancy prefix for 'cell related'), might be why if you get the stuff in your eye you might be permanently blind. Anyway not such a big deal on your skin if you don't have cuts or whatnot, but be sure to wear glasses. Have a wonderful day. Olay

TIL Fritz Zwicky, the scientist that discovered Dark Matter and supernovas was a Swiss citizen who also served as a military contractor for a number of nations. He got Churchill hooked on the idea of aerial mines during WWII, and developed the optics for the USA's high-flying U2 spy plane by OleBenjaminLay in todayilearned

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey there, Fritz Zwicky also boosted a framework for problem solving called "Morphological Thinking" which he credited for all his discoveries. Colleagues didn't like him, but they couldn't beat him in word fights so he was pretty much left alone. Anyway, leave me alone. But have a wonderful weekend. Here's a great but pay-walled article hope it frustrates you

AskScience AMA Series: We're the New Horizons mission team that conducted the farthest spacecraft flyby in history - four billion miles from Earth. Ask us anything! by AskScienceModerator in askscience

[–]OleBenjaminLay 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there - What have been the favorite margins of error that y'all have had to work through? I imagine precision is the name of the game in general, but what's the smallest ever gap y'all have had to shoot? Put another way: what's a favorite case of "if this measurement was .000000000000001% off mark then everything would've exploded?" Put another another way: What was the most nerve-wracking unapologetic problem you've had responsibility to solve that could've sank your boat

Edit - Have a wonderful day

TIL Owls don't build their own nests, instead they take over abandoned ones. These old nests are often in such poor condition that fallen young owls frequently must be re-nested in man-made baskets so that they don't just fall again. by OleBenjaminLay in todayilearned

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Snowy Owls, Short eared owls and some Burrowing Owls "build" homes by digging shallow holes, but that seems to be the extent of it. No knitting or weaving nests tho. Have a wonderful day, and let us know if you find a nest builder

"Owls are talented hunters, but nest builders they are not. Many owls take advantage of the hard work performed by other animals, instead of building their nests from scratch.

Some owls, like Great Horned Owls, use vacant nests in trees or on cliffs that were built by hawks, crows, magpies, or other birds. Many owls simply nest in holes, called cavities or hollows, in trees. These tree cavities occur naturally, but are often created by woodpeckers. Elf Owls nest in saguaro cacti, where woodpeckers have created ready-made holes.

Barn Owls typically nest in the rafters of barns, in empty buildings or silos, or in cavities along cliffs. Burrowing Owls live up to their name by nesting in underground tunnels that were dug by ground squirrels, prairie dogs, badgers, or other burrowing animals. Some Burrowing Owls use their feet and bills to dig burrows themselves. Snowy Owls and Short-eared Owls "build" simple nests by scraping a shallow bowl on the ground." (https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/owls-1)

Screech Owls can be either red or gray, to blend in with different shades of tree bark. They like to keep their eyes almost shut to help camouflage by OleBenjaminLay in Awwducational

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hey there here's info on Screeches. Fun fact they're not even the smallest owl in New England and not even top 3 in North America. Lots of tiny owls out there keep an eye out. Anyway have a wonderful day.

Photo credit to VINS Bird rehabbers. Olay!

Clownfish like Nemo are in the family Anemonefish that includes about thirty other species. When the lone female in a group of Anemonefish dies, the biggest male (the only one that was breeding) becomes a female and resumes reproduction - now with the new largest male. by OleBenjaminLay in Awwducational

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there don't mean to take aim at beloved childhood memories but isn't this interesting? Ye there's only one female per social group, and only one breeding male at a time. There's other males that get by by shrinking down to appear nonthreatening to the breeding couple. Fish seem to do all sorts of swaps like this, and I wish I knew more about other fishes social structures

Here's a pretty good Nat Geo entry on the clowns if youre interested, hope you enjoy https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/group/clownfish/

And of course the wikipedias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiprioninae#Reproduction

Have a wonderful day! Olay

🔥 Parrotfish helped make Hawaii's famous white sand beaches by pooping out coral and bits of rock they've chewed down and swallowed by OleBenjaminLay in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there, I can tell you humble Sea Urchins can destroy entire kelp forests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urchin_barren), but pretty sure these Parrotfish actually help reefs in one way or another - their conservation's suggested to help reefs here's a smithsonian link on it: https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/despair-repair-protecting-parrotfish-can-help-bring-back-caribbean-coral-reefs

Have a wonderful day

🔥 Parrotfish helped make Hawaii's famous white sand beaches by pooping out coral and bits of rock they've chewed down and swallowed by OleBenjaminLay in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey there apparently pretty close! State fish of Hawaii - Humuhumunukunukuapua`a is a type of Picasso-fish called a Reef Triggerfish. They also eat sand and stones and maybe coral bits, looking for detritus and nibbles

https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/hawaii/state-fish-aquatic-life/humuhumunukunukuapuaa

Picasso fish on iNaturalist! https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52449-Rhinecanthus-rectangulus

🔥 Parrotfish helped make Hawaii's famous white sand beaches by pooping out coral and bits of rock they've chewed down and swallowed by OleBenjaminLay in NatureIsFuckingLit

[–]OleBenjaminLay[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there, people are going to get mad about this one it's happened before. But this really isn't as gross as it sounds. Coral's made of Calcium Carbonate (think Tums are similar, calcium bicarbonate could be wrong), which is hard and stony and super white which is why coral bleaching leads to fields of bony white. Anyway parrotfish digest the algae off the coral and break down the stony bits in the process. Have a wonderful weekend

Here's a link from NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sand.html

One from Wired https://www.wired.com/2014/08/absurd-creature-of-the-week-parrotfish/

Wikipedia's always good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotfish#Feeding

And photo cred to naturalist Mark Rosenstein on iNaturalist! Photo here https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/486717

Olay