Vertebrates but not birds

This pair of chickadees just lost their chicks, thanks to a cat raiding the nest. If you have read my blogs, you would know of my bird garden, nest boxes, and a brood of chicks belonging to a pair of black-capped chickadees.  I was excited to hear the peeping indicative of young and noted with great pleasure the rapid comings and goings of the parents.  I was a grandfather, of sorts, although my wife would find that analogy outrageous.  It was the other day when I noticed a black cat perched atop my arbor, just behind the birdhouse.  I wrote a blog on this ( click here ) regarding my fears about the future wellbeing of the fine feathered family.  My worst fears were realized when, two days ago, I found the bodies of the two young birds on the ground.  They had been ravaged, by a cat I'm sure, and their demise led me down a dark path of loathing for the clawed killers.  Even worse, they were not eaten due to a state of hunger of the feline predator, they were simply killed and

Moose on display at a Bass Pro Store One goose but two geese, So you'd think the same For a similar name; One moose and two meese. For more than one moose, The name does not change No need to arrange It's not meese, its moose. Mousses is the word For two tasty treats To make them's a feat Or so I have heard. Mouse could be mouses But really is mice For one of them twice Found in our houses. Mouse, moose, goose, geese mousses, mice, almost done Mousse, meese, Oh such fun What do you call more than one sheep? Hope you enjoyed my temporary elapse into insanity.

I photographed this wild gopher tortoise while visiting in Florida last year. Habitat is important for animals.  Most creatures need a place to live, food to eat, and can live only within certain temperature and precipitation tolerances.  This all sounds very rhetorical, but we seem to forget this when it comes to land usage.  It becomes about the god which seems to drive man more than any other; money.  The land becomes part of the foundation for our creations of building, transportation, or recreation.  These destroy the habitat which the native occupants require, and they do the only thing they can.  They die. It is amazing how much one organism affects another.  A great example of this is the gopher tortoise.  You may think that this slow-moving domed reptile would not have much in the way of needs, or that its existence, one way or another, wouldn't make a difference to neighbouring creatures.  But, you would be wrong.  It turns out they are so important they have the di