Raptor

  

 C  A  L  I  F  O  R  N  I  A       C  O  N  D  O  R

A large bird of prey with a ten foot wingspan.

These are vultures left over from the Ice Age,

soaring over a landscape rich with Sabre Tooth Tiger,

Woolly Mammoths and ground sloths that appeared

near the size of elephants.  By 1982 the condor was at

the brink of extinction with its population down to

twenty-two.  As scavengers they became the victim

of ranchers who set out poisoned carrion

in order to kill coyotes that preyed upon

their livestock.

A captive breeding program has increased their

numbers to over six hundred, as of 2025.

This vulture loves meat, as any raptor should,

but it first has to already be dead.

Birds of prey are required to have talons

powerful enough to hold fast their struggling

prey, then kill it and carry it away.

A vultures feet are good only for standing.

There is no need to tightly grasp a

desperate morsel.

 

 

B  A  L  D       E  A  G  L  E

The term Bald in the name is from the Old English

balde, which means "white head", not bald like

a head naked of feathers.

 

Designated by Congress as the National Emblem in

1782, the Bald Eagle was right out of central casting,

an icon of strength, resolve and justice.

The truth is more complicated, as you might expect.

Survival is the animal's goal in the wild.

Use your energy efficiently.  Why go to the effort of

killing food when you can eat something that is

already dead, waiting for your appetite?  Eagles

mostly scavenge.  They also resort to 

bullying osprey and other smaller birds of prey

and steal their lunch.

Still, they look spectacular performing their

grab and dash fishing skills while skimming 

a river's surface.

 

 

 R  E  D  -  T  A  I  L  E  D       H  A  W  K

 Look at all the surface area of this bird's wings 

and tail.  Broad wings and a fanned tail sacrifices

speed for the sake of lift.  Warm air carries the bird

upward to great heights, and with little effort on

the part of the bird.  Burn your calories sparingly,

especially in the desert when a meal might be

limited to a scraggly jackrabbit, itself half-starved. 

 

From this floating perch the hawk surveys the

terrain below with a vision that is eight times

sharper than that of a human, looking for mice,

lizards, snakes and anything else small enough

to carry off.

The female Red-Tailed Hawk is about twenty-five

percent larger than the male.  It makes sense

that she have the muscle, since she's the one

left defending the nest.  Also, and this is more

important, a brawny mom is able to wrest meat

from the beak of a male, reluctant to share

his meal with the nestlings.

 P  E  R  E  G  R  I  N  E       F  A  L  C  O  N

 This bird isn't made to soar.

The Falcon is all about speed.

The long, narrow wings and slim, aerodynamic

tail; its sleek airframe tough enough to withstand 

speeds reaching over two-hundred miles an hour

in a dive.  Falcons prey on birds in flight.

Its critical you kill your target with your talons.

A bird to bird collision makes you both

equally dead.

The falcon's vision is comparable to that of the hawk

but each species utilizes this advantage differently.

Hawks look about for small animals to eat from

a great height overhead.  The falcon behaves

as a bullet adjusting its own path in flight to

achieve the perfect, lethal hit.

 

 G  R  E  A  T       H  O  R  N  E  D       O  W  L

 What is the point in having a head that can swivel

nearly all the way around?  There is a reason

behind everything.  In this instance, the neck's 

dexterity compensates for the owl's limited

peripheral vision.  The owl has wonderful eyes.

Why this weakness?  

Rule of everything - nothing's perfect.  

Nature is filled with trade-offs.  You have to

give up something to get something.

One factor contributing to the owl's spectacular

sight has to do with the bird's unusual eyeball

shape.  Its oblong.  And it is this characteristic

that enables the eye to close in on an object,

acting as a telephoto lens does in a camera.

Achieving this feat of vision requires an eye

so large it barely fits its socket, making the eye 

totally unable to move.  

Hence the swivel neck.

Nature gives up something to get something 

in return.  In this case, what is being sacrificed

for game-changing vision?  The individual can

see only straight ahead.  Unacceptable.

The compensatory solution:  a neck that

can twist to 270 of the circle's 360 degrees.

Nature's judgment:  the species thrives with these

choices having been made.

 

 B  R  O  W  N       P  E  L  I  C  A  N

 How do you grasp your prey when your feet are webbed?

Talons are useless for swimming and pelicans 

must be fast swimmers to catch their prey.

The solution for grasping lies elsewhere.

Most birds of prey lead with their feet when attacking

their prey.  They attack with a powerful grip, using their

long claws like teeth.  The pelican attacks head first

in pursuit of a targeted fish.  Growing teeth on their bill

was tried by ancient species, all extinct.  It made the

head needlessly heavy.  Claws became the bird's teeth.

We've ruled out talons and now, teeth as well.

The problem is we are looking to grip the prey

when all we have to do is control it.  Bag it.

A pouch, and one that is elastic would work.

It would expand to scoop up and retain a large,

thrashing fish.  But this expansive gullet is not

for storage.  Once the prey is corralled, the

pelican slings back its head and swallows 

the fish whole.  No arguments.

Just a meal. 

 

 

 

*   *   *   *   * 

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY 

coldValentine

good morning jeremy

  

M   E   R   C   U   R   Y

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Serengeti

  

A  F  R  I  C  A  N       S  A  V  A  N  N  A 

 In this region of west Equatorial Africa

an ancient cycle of life has continued, unchanged,

over the millions of years leading up to now.

Played out on this stage is an endless migration,

vast in the scale of animal movement.  

The grassland, covered with wildebeest, zebra

and gazelle, all on the move, trekking by 

the hundreds of thousands to elsewhere...

someplace that exists only as a feeling,

shared by the individuals involved in 

this Hollywood size epic.

 B  A  O  B  A  B       T  R  E  E

 A giant, drought resistant tree stands much as it has

over the past 200 million years, a glimpse of life 

that prevailed on this land even before

Africa became a continent.

Locals call it the Upside-Down Tree because,

when the leaves drop, the branches look like roots

to a tree stuck in the ground wrong-side up.

 I  M  P  A  L  A

 This athletic antelope can clear a ten foot high obstacle

while its pursuer must go around.  It's abilities such as

this that keeps a healthy Impala one step ahead 

of a pursuing lion or hyena.

Moving from grassland to the woodlands

doesn't make you safe.  Leopards and male

lions specialize in ambushing Impalas that

browse the brush, casually nibbling leaves.

Suddenly its neck is being crushed in a

vice-like grip.  All hope for breath ends.

The feast begins even as the last embers

of thought leave the mind.

 L  I  O  N

 A rare social cat that requires for survival a complex

family unit, ruled by a matriarch.  Much of the time

males are on the outside looking in.  The ticket to 

fatherhood requires getting past some battle-scarred

male guarding his harem.  The odds of success 

are made better when young males band together

to take out the previously feared leader.

The victorious lions must now face-off among

themselves as to who is most worthy of 

now becoming the new breeder in chief.

 B  L  U  E       W  I  L  D  E  B  E  E  S  T

 The wildebeest migration never ends; a herd of 

more than a million and a half strong, grazing on

the nutrient-rich savanna grasses that flourish

with the passing rains.  

There is no opportunity to lead a herd that

stretches to the horizon.  There is no decision maker

leading the way.  Instead, wildebeest rely on

"swarm" intelligence.  Movement is collective.

Everyone just follows everyone else.

 S  P  O  T  T  E  D       H  Y  E  N  A

A matriarchal society of carnivores that compete 

with lions for ruling the savanna grasslands.

Hyenas organize into clans that can number

over a hundred.  Adult females are larger than

the males.  In fact, they look more like males

than do the males.  Males are needed to

provide genetic diversity to the species as well

as delivering bonus seasoning to another

individual's life.

 M  A  S  A  I       G  I  R  A  F  F  E

 It takes a twenty-plus pound heart to ensure blood

makes it up that long neck to deliver oxygen to

the brain.  Giraffes can grow to 19 feet in height.

They consume about 75 pounds of leaves daily

to stay healthy.  All those leaves are lassoed by

its 20 inch tongue.  The tongue's pigment is very

dark, protecting it from sunburn.

What a rare and exotic beast.

There is no other animal like the giraffe.

What is it about the habitat of the Serengeti

that it alone could enable an animal such as this

to prevail? 

 A  F  R  I  C  A  N       E  L  E  P  H  A  N  T

 The oldest female runs the herd.  She best knows

the location of water and food in times of drought.

Her top priority being family survival.

Another Serengeti animal of rare and exotic

anatomy is the elephant.  What other animal

relies on its nose to serve as its arm, one sensitive

enough to pick up a blade of grass, yet having  

the power to uproot a tree.

Nature has truly engineered an out of the box solution

for overcoming the challenges an elephant faces

in life.

B  L  A  C  K       M  A  M  B  A

 If you don't have antivenom handy when bit 

you have about thirty minutes to write your

last will and testament. 

The mamba doesn't want anything to do 

with you.  Provide it a path to escape and 

it will leave.  Corner it and you are contending

with the most feared snake in Africa.  It has

extraordinary speed and size.  The mamba

bites you multiple times when it strikes,

injecting lethal doses of toxins that kill nerves

as well as toxins to attack your heart.

May your good-byes be speedy.

 R  U  P  P  E  L  L  '  S       V  U  L  T  U  R  E

An aircraft stuck one of these birds flying at 37,000 feet.

Its exotic hemoglobin protein enables it to breath 

in very thin air.  What advantage would this characteristic

give to this savanna scavenger?  They benefit from

their panoramic view of the savanna to spot carrion

but altitude quickly becomes counterproductive 

when above a couple thousand feet.  

A vulture flying at several thousand feet 

is no longer looking for dinner down below

because they are searching the horizon for

evidence of something big.  

The sight of vultures circling is like a dinner bell

for other vultures working the area.

Come join in on the feast.  

Something found dead and big as a zebra means

everyone that shows up gets a full belly

for the day as its reward.

 O  L  I  V  E       B  A  B  O  O  N

 Females stay with the baboon troop they were

born into, inheriting the social rank of their mother.

Males leave around the age of six and take on

the challenge of establishing their position 

on the pecking order totem pole of another

troop.

Elephants have a defensive alliance with

baboons around waterholes.  The baboons 

provide the alarm when danger lurks nearby.

In turn, agitated elephants ward off hungry

lions, hyenas and leopards - and anyone

else looking to have baboon for brunch. 

*   *   *   *   *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

coldValentine

good morning justin

  

z   e   n         g   a   r   d   e   n

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Pond

  

 F R E S H       W A T E R       P O N D

 A tight, interdependent little community sharing

a small body of water that doesn't quickly go away.

Each animal is both predator and prey, an unknowing

participant in a self-sustaining cycle of nutrients,

a cycle of life, first by devouring another and then

by becoming a meal for someone else.

This is not survival of the fittest.

This is simply fate for the living.

 B L U E       D A S H E R       w i t h       W A T E R       M I T E S

 This brightly colored male dragonfly should be at

his prime, getting fat eating all the tasty insects

arriving at the pond... as though they were

checking in to a resort for a five star makeover.

Sure, coming right up.  

You're gone so quick

you don't know you're gone.

That's dragonfly normal.  Just like the training manual

described.  But your belly is festooned with a couple

hundred parasitic larvae.  You're exhausted.  Out of sorts.

And just sluggish enough to be snatched and devoured

by a patrolling perch.  Your nutrients are passed along

to another.  Crisp on the outside, thick and gooey 

on the inside.  It has a delightful larval topping.

Like caviar.  

 Y E L L O W       P E R C H

Excellent flavor.  We farm them by the tens of thousands.

They aren't going anywhere.  They are a fish fry staple.

Gills and scales commercially farmed like chickens.

They aren't exposed to what lurks in the dark, still waters

of a grassland pond.  Here the story gets even more

precarious.

Ponds are isolated patches of water that change

with the seasons.  They are found where the ground

is too hard for the water to be absorbed or it dips

into the surrounding water table.

Water evaporates and ponds periodically run dry.

It could be months, even years, before rain restores

the ponds and life returns.

Who returns?  How could frogs and fish

possibly survive this drought?  No water.

No food.  No oxygen.

It's amazing what a line of animals can adapt to

given a million years of trying.

 B  U  L  L  F  R  O  G

 Up to eight inches long and over a pound in weight.

That's as big as any native frog gets in North America.

These guys are famous for their deep, resonate croak.

They work together with crickets to create that 

good old country, nighttime melody.  

This is a male frog.  Look at that eardrum behind his ear.

It's huge.  The female eardrums are about half this size.

They both sit like buddhas on a lily pad... motionless,

waiting.  A dead bluegill floats belly-up nearby.

It's smell of decay is a delicious scent to a passing

fly.  It pauses and hovers to investigate.  Snap!

The frog's elastic tongue-like appendage snares the fly

in 0.07 of one second.  Impossibly fast.  

Faster than a speeding bullet.

The bullfrog spends his summer days

at the pool, sunning his pleasant self,

leisurely sweeping up insects as though

they were hors d'oeuvres, featured with

cocktails, in the lobby at four.

N O R T H E R N       W A T E R       S N A K E

 No eggs.  They give birth to their young live.  A litter of 

twenty or more squirming babies is not unusual.

They become hefty with size - big boned thick

as adults.  They favor frogs, salamanders and

fish of every description for food. 

They aren't poisonous and, unless cornered,

they prefer running over fighting.

You live longer.

It makes sense for a water snake to not lay eggs.

Where's the land?  Eggs can't breath in water.

Eggs are food for herons and raccoons.  

They wouldn't stand a chance left alone.

No, the strategy for this snake's young

are like that of the jackrabbit.  From day one

its basically scatter and hide.

 M  A  R  S  H       W  R  E  N

 They kill the young ones of birds that dare to nest

near them.  The male is always building new nests,

anywhere from six to over twenty, during the

course of the breeding season.   The female choses 

one, lining it with something soft and comfortable.

The remaining nests become bachelor pads

and places to strut about.

 R  A  C  C  O  O  N

 Trash panda.  They love your leftovers.

And for greater convenience they can nest 

in the attic.  Masked bandit.  You are a pest

to them.  Always getting in their way.

The good news is they prowl around at night

eating mice and insects.  They prefer living alone.

Raccoons have been introduced to other habitats

globally.  Invasive species generally disrupt

the area as uninvited guests to the table.

They wipe out native species that better

fit the balance of nature.

*  *  *  *  *

©  Tom Taylor

 

OVER   EASY

 

 

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