Flora & Fauna: Bald eagle vs. Canadian goose; ping! It's a whale; a woolly devil; feathered roommates; bird hitchhikers - Entrepreneur Generations

A Canada goose and a bald eagle battled in Burlington, Ont.
The goose survived. (Photo by Mervyn Sequiera via CBC)

A bald eagle swooped down on a Canadian goose that looked like an easy meal. A battle ensued. "Mervyn Sequeira — who watched and photographed a 20-minute battle between the two birds — the goose held its own," reports Aura Carreño Rosas of CBC News. "Sequeira and his family witnessed a rare event — a fight between the national bird of the U.S. and the iconic Canadian animal. Sequeira told Rosas, "When we thought that it was really over for the goose, strangely, the bald eagle just gave up and left."

A marine AI tool is doing something humans can't do. "This is WhaleSpotter, an artificial intelligence-powered whale detection system that aims to transmit real-time alerts to ships to prevent them from colliding with whales — a threat that leads to the injury or death of thousands of whales each year," reports Ashley Braun of bioGraphic. "While the AI system is designed to filter out false alarms — such as signals from birds, breaking waves, and boats—the aim is for ship captains to receive zero false alerts, so that every ping truly requires their attention."

The first photo of the woolly devil made a stir among
botanists. (Photo by Deb Manley via Atlas Obscura)

Big Bend National Park has bragging rights to a "devilish" discovery. "This tiny, fuzzy sunflower relative has been hiding in plain sight — it represents the first new genus identified in a U.S. national park in nearly 50 years," reports Andrew Coletti of Atlas Obscura. "The Big Bend species has been given the scientific name Ovicula biradiata. Informally, it’s become known as 'the woolly devil,' for its fur and the 'devil horn'-like rays protruding from its flowers."

Maple seeds are made to get around -- even if that means flying in the rain. "When wind or other disturbances detach winged maple seeds called samaras from their parent tree, they spin through the air – and can even spin when it’s raining," reports Andrew Dickerson for The Conversation. "The samaras’ spinning movement, called autorotation, keeps them in the air for longer so they travel farther. My colleagues and I filmed raindrops as they crashed into autorotating samaras. The samaras shed drops by shattering them, flinging the drops off, or rolling out of the way – like they’re turning away from a punch."

Spike is a 'small but mighty' Eastern Screech Owl.
(Fontenelle Forest photo via M. Stewart)

It's hard to match the curious cuteness of screech owls -- especially when they have heart-tugging stories. Meet Spike and George. "Spike was found trapped in a train car, during which he sustained brain damage that made it impossible for him to survive in the wild. But since finding his new home at Fontenelle Forest, one of Nebraska's oldest conservation organizations, Spike has been thriving," reports Sydney Wingfield for Martha Stewart magazine. "Spike is an excellent roommate to George, another owl who arrived at the conservation 12 years ago after his nest tree was mistakenly cut down. While George is notorious for being a picky roommate, he and Spike have proven to be a perfect match."

Flower mites hitch rides on hummingbirds. (Pixabay public domain photo via Physics.org)

Hummingbirds may seem like an odd choice for a taxi, but tiny bugs can hop on for a ride. "Flower mites spend their lives slurping nectar and nibbling pollen in flowers throughout the tropics. To travel from one blossom to another, these tiny, eight-legged creatures hitch rides on the beaks of hummingbirds, taking shelter in the birds’ nostrils during flight," reports Douglas Main of The New York Times. "When a speedy hummingbird arrives at a flower to drink nectar, mites run toward its beak to get onboard before eventually transferring to another blossom." The mini stowaways are blind and can't jump. Main explains how they "hummingbird hitchhike" here.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/XibvcSq Flora & Fauna: Bald eagle vs. Canadian goose; ping! It's a whale; a woolly devil; feathered roommates; bird hitchhikers - Entrepreneur Generations

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