Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fascinating things you have observed in nature.

The other day I was down by the pond and heard a screech, out of my peripheral vision, I saw a hawk swoop down and snatch up a field mouse and fly off with it in its talons struggling to get free. The hawk made a circle, dropped it in the middle of the pond, then made a circle around, picked the mouse up once he got close to the bank, then made another circle and dropped the mouse again in the middle of pond and when the mouse was near the bank, again swooped down and picked it up and carried it off for (I presume) a meal. Not sure if the hawk was trying to do (drown it, tire it out, clean it, or just playing with it), but it was amazing to watch.

I suspect the mouse was fairly purged after all that. I'm sure I would have been cleaned out from the fear overloads.

Maybe the hawk was trying to bait a bass, two meals for the price of one.

You think the hawk was chummin'? Ha!

That would seem to be a bit above a hawks intelligents level, but there are those special few in nature that show extraordinary talents. NOW, with that said, if you had told me that it swooped down and caught the fish that was after the mouse...I wouldn't believe it! One of those things that you have to see to believe.

Hello.

Did you walk in the wood at night, and see that.

It's in french, but you have a nice picture of that thing.
http://www.sepaq.com/parcs-quebec/blogue/article.dot?id=dc70b8f5-e124-4137-bf38-6cfc163fce49

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My buddy's and I were golfing Lake Wales Golf course in Florida. Waiting on the tee blocks we watched a bald eagle swoop down and grab the biggest snake off the water I have ever seen. The thing must have been 8 feet plus. After the snake recovered from the first hit it started to fight back. The eagle dropped this huge ass snake into the back yard of this poor buggers white picket fenced in yard.

I do not do well with snakes. That same course I seen a snake in a stump pile. Never seen its head or tail I was just out....

If any one is around that area there is a hole in the wall restaurant that is called Cherry Pocket Steak & Seafood. Drop in you will never regret it. Had my first taste of gator there.

Cheers Don.

Azteca,
...is that phosphorescent wood?

Very interesting!!
Google Translation:

It is during a night hike that Guillaume Poulin (naturalistic garde-garde and animator specialized in astronomy) notices a strange glow not far in the forest. As he approached, he noticed that a strain emitted a greenish light. His curiosity piqued, he takes several pictures of the phenomenon. After some research, he identifies what he discovered: it is a spectacular bioluminescent mushroom.
Bioluminescence is the product of a chemical reaction between molecules (luciferins) and an enzyme (luciferase). The photons released by this reaction thus generate so-called "cold" light, since it emits no heat. The fireflies are the best known representatives of this type of reaction, but it is also found in certain species of fungi, insects, cyprinids and several inhabitants of the sea. The biological cycles of these species (defense, dispersal, Reproduction, etc.) are intimately linked to darkness.

Natural lighting: day and night
These species in need of darkness, however, constitute only the tip of the iceberg of the nocturnal needs of nature. Indeed, many other phenomena are related to the photoperiod (duration of the natural luminosity). For example, the spectacular increase in activity of certain species at dawn or dusk: while birds go there with all their songs, frogs and frogs spur themselves and the insects crackle, the game of Prey / predators is in full swing. Bats twirl in the darkness; The flowers open in the morning, then fall back in the evening. A multitude of species therefore depend on the alternation between light and dark.
The rhythms of nature are called nychtemeral rhythms, which change according to the contributions of daylight and night. Nychtemeral rhythms are intimately related to circadian rhythms (biological rhythms based on a period of 24 hours, but including mechanisms other than light). A whole field of biology is concerned with the nocturnal functioning of the living: scotobiology, or the "biology of the night".

Artificial lighting: day without night
The main consequences arising from artificial light are phototaxy. The phototaxy can be either "positive" (irresistible attraction towards the source of light) or "negative" (repulsion). The most typical example of phototaxy is the propensity of moths (such as the moon butterfly, the emblem of the park), cluster around light sources and expose themselves to predators. Large disorientation phenomena are also associated with phototaxy, for example in birds.
The distribution of artificial light on the territory thus creates a whole new geography of night, ranging from trap zones to fragmented areas, to areas of pure and simple exclusions (some over-illuminated places are plainly "deserts" for Some species).
Nature has evolved over millions of years with the day / night cycle. This situation is today greatly disrupted by the increase in light pollution. National parks thus have a fundamental role to play as nocturnal harbors.
Studies concerning the impact of light pollution on the environment have multiplied in recent years.
For those wishing to go further, there are several of these documents on the website of the Mont-Mégantic Star Reserve International Reserve (http://ricemm.org/documentation/scientificstudies/)

We used to find that either in Wisconsin or Minnesota, can't remember which. We called it Fox Fire. Eerie to see it in the dark. I think it is a type of fungus that infects wood. I cut off a large piece one time to bring home to Illinois but it must have killed the fungus somehow.

Hello.

Thank you Kelly.

If I can find my book, I have an anecdote during the ( World War2 ), about the phosphorescent wood.

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Very interesting. Thanks for sharing

As a kid I found some while Boy Scout camping in the ADK, it glowed for more than a year in my parents basement before the hunk of wood got tossed out.
My dad said when he was a kid and camping, he got up to leave a leak on a moonless night. The entire area around his tent was glowing, presumably from foxfire.

Night walks in the woods on dark nights can reveal quite a lot of cool things, but mostly that I have not gotten completely over my fear of the dark so it is not all that enjoyable with the feeling of being watched by a pack of hungry wolves.

Some friends and I had just finished fishing at a 12 acre stock pond in Texas when we saw something odd.

There were electric fence wires going out on posts into the shallow water to keep the cattle from getting into deep trouble, though the electricity was turned off. Anyway, the wire had been there for many years, and sagged in the middle between posts. Not enough to touch the water, but maybe eight or ten inches above it.

As we were leaving, three swimming ducks decided to go from the fenced in shallow area to where we'd been fishing. Two of them detoured slightly to go under the wire at the post, where it was several feet above the water.

The third duck didn't notice their departure at first. When he did, he made a dash to catch up, taking the shortcut between the posts. Evidently he didn't see the single strand of wire.

He charged into the wire at the lowest point, where it caught him right across the neck. Wire stretched maybe half a foot, then SPOING! sprang back, hurtling him backwards several feet.

Obviously befuddled, he shook his head and charged again. Exactly the same result.

Finally he figured out what was going on and swam under the post. But as he did so, he stretched up and pecked the heck out of that devilish wire!

Wish I had video. One of the funniest things I've ever seen!

Hello.

From the book......The wonderful world of mushrooms.
by......H.L.Pursey

During the Second World War, a wooden yard had to be covered near London during the aerial raids, because the glow was so intense at night, it could have attracted ennemy planes.

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