We took in a "Summer Adventure" walk at the Stevens Nature Center yesterday, and there were some amazing sights and sounds (e.g. A fairly close encounter with a Red Tailed Hawk, a nearly in-your-face with a Copperhead snake, and a sea of Lizardtail) Among the most striking sights was the commonplace: a Northern Cardinal nest. This one is inhabited (see the female's tail jutting out the left side), but bizarrely enough, this Cardinal chose to nest practically at the front door of the Nature Center building. Crazy? maybe not. We didn't see the thing until pointed out, and supremo Naturalist Mark Johns suggested that location might be unattractive to hawks. So while she may be safe from avian predation and human gawkers, she may still at risk from snakes, who have an easy path up. We shall soon see if this is crazy...or immensely clever.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Crazy as a Cardinal
We took in a "Summer Adventure" walk at the Stevens Nature Center yesterday, and there were some amazing sights and sounds (e.g. A fairly close encounter with a Red Tailed Hawk, a nearly in-your-face with a Copperhead snake, and a sea of Lizardtail) Among the most striking sights was the commonplace: a Northern Cardinal nest. This one is inhabited (see the female's tail jutting out the left side), but bizarrely enough, this Cardinal chose to nest practically at the front door of the Nature Center building. Crazy? maybe not. We didn't see the thing until pointed out, and supremo Naturalist Mark Johns suggested that location might be unattractive to hawks. So while she may be safe from avian predation and human gawkers, she may still at risk from snakes, who have an easy path up. We shall soon see if this is crazy...or immensely clever.
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