Did You know - outdoor edition

[YellowHammer]

Did you know if you paint the end of a shotgun barrel bright red, the hummingbirds will put their beaks in it looking for nectar?

Did you know that there isn't much meat on a hummingbird drumstick? :D :D

[Magicman]

  

[WV Sawmiller]

   IMHO eating a hummingbird is like eating a possum - Times ain't got that bad (yet).  ;)

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know in flood situations fire ants will make rafts of their bodies to protect the queen and eggs/larva? I have seen them many times in the backwater and main river course of the Escambia River in N. Fla as a child. Clumps of ants from the size of a couple of quarts to a gallon size or more would be floating down the backwater. It would have been a great time to have a can of bug spray or a cup of gas to throw on and light to watch the pests go bye-bye.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/watch-5-000-fire-ants-140002598.html

[YellowHammer]

Yes, I definitely knew that, as I was wading one time and didn't notice one of the floating fire ant balls brush up to me and perform a beach head invasion up my side.  That was not a good day.  I was early fall teal duck hunting, was in waders, carrying a shotgun, and besides the delightful feeling of the little beasties crawling down the inside of my waders, me running to the shoreline pushing up a wake like Godzilla coming ashore at Tokyo Harbor, except I had a loaded shotgun, was the laughter of my hunting buddies at the spectacle.

Yes, I can testify to that one...   

[WV Sawmiller]

    Did you know that in extreme cold situations alligators and possibly similar reptiles will brumate or basically go into a sort of suspended animation? They will stick their snouts up out of the water/ice so they can breathe and basically do nothing until the water warms up. Below is an article showing alligators in NC/SC who have been brumating this past week during our current cold spell.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/deep-freeze-grips-south-north-182911812.html

[Magicman]

That is what I did last week but I did not know that it had a name.   :

[doc henderson]

and I did not realize you were and alligator MM.      smiley_deadheader_ride_alligat smiley_deadheaders_buddy smiley_deadheader alligator

[WV Sawmiller]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-alligator-found-breathing-frozen-134000044.html

   Here is another article from Texas about the same thing with alligators there.

[Magicman]

I did not realize you were and alligator MM.

If it defines being completely worthless and accomplishing nothing, then I am what I is.

[WV Sawmiller]

    Did you know that in addition to the alligators "brumating" in cold weather they have serious problems in S. Fla with the green iguanas doing something similar and falling out of the trees? I would not want a 5-10 lb frozen lizard falling from 30' up on to my head. I wonder if anyone has been killed or seriously injured by them? As I understand in most cases if not picked up and captured or dispatched most of the iguanas thaw out and survive the encounter with no particularly ill effect.

[doc henderson]

we all deserve a few days like that especially when it blows, rains or freezes.  Even the 80 somethings that put the rest of us to shame.    

[Ianab]

NZ has a small reptile called a Tuatara, it looks like a lizard, but isn't actually related to them. It doesn't technically hibernate, but just slows down in the cooler weather. It can take it's breathing down to about 1 breath per hour, and might not eat for 6 months. Basically it seems to live in "slow motion". They only breed about every 4 years, as it takes that long for the females to develop a clutch of eggs, but they are thought to be able to live for  about 100 years. So there seems to be some advantage to taking things slow.

[Magicman]

Lets see, Marty is 55 years old so it has been that long since I bred.  That means that things are looking better for me all along.   :   ;D

[Ianab]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

Wild tuatara are known to be still reproducing at about 60 years of age; "Henry", a male tuatara at Southland Museum in Invercargill, New Zealand, became a father (possibly for the first time) on 23 January 2009, at age 111, with an 80 year-old female.

[caveman]

My 5yo grandson likes to try to catch lizards, most of which are Cuban Anoles.  During the warmer time of the years, he chases a bunch of lizards.  Lately, with some cooler weather, he has been more successful, as they slow down considerably.  

I flew out of Miami nine or ten years ago and I noticed a bunch of big iguanas roaming around in city parks and yards.  I was tempted to go back with a spinning reel and some grapes and other fruit for iguana bait.  I think that would be a hoot to catch an iguana on light tackle.  On another note, I had a student several years ago that spoke of putting a mouse on a hook and sending it down a gopher tortoise hole attempting to catch a rattlesnake.  I don't know if he actually did this or not.  

It has been in the 40's and 50's here quite a bit in the mornings the past month.  As the sun comes up, the snakes and gators are soaking up the warmth on the banks.  I walked up on a 6' gator sunning by my pond last weekend.

[Magicman]

It is no fun to snag-hook a Water Moccasin while fishing.  Actually getting rid of it is the no fun part.   :-\

[Treeflea24]

Apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere in this thread.

[Old Greenhorn]

OH, that's funny right there!

[Magicman]

It made me smile and chuckle for sure. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Cavey,

   Did you know your GS may catch some lizards/Anoles (I don't know if Cuban Anoles is the same as we had in NW Fla) by tying a fly to a fence or other likely lizard path. The lizard will bite the bug and hold on till your GS removes him.

Lynn,

   The first time I ever went frog gigging I gigged a big water snake about 4-5 feet long. He was not easy to get off - and he was not even poisonous. I have never gigged another one.

[Magicman]

Poisonous or not, a big old diamond back water snake will scare the crap out of you.  In a defensive mode they can really put on a bluff.  I have had them to slide out from under the boat seat and cause you to completely destroy your boat paddle.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yes, and I have heard of several people shooting holes in the bottoms of their boats for the same reason where I grew up. 

   I ripped a 12" slice into my R side as a kid getting away from a big cottonmouth sliding off the creek bank where I was swimming. Turned out that vine or limb I was backed into and trying to push down was actually a shiny new (tight) barb wire fence. :-\

[caveman]

A little hook with a bug on it may be a fun way for him to catch some lizards.  The Cuban Anoles are a little bigger than the Green Anoles.  The Cubans are brown with darker brown splotches.  The Green Anoles change color from brown to bright green.  The green variety tend to be more arboreal than the Cubans.  I sometimes watch them eat bugs at night on my bathroom window, which are attracted to the light in the bathroom.  

[WV Sawmiller]

    Does anyone know why different members of the deer family are referred to using different terms? For example Moose, Elk, Caribou, etc are called Bulls Cows and calves while the smaller to midsized deer like Whitetails and Muleys are called Bucks, Does and Fawns?

    Also the smaller member include the word Deer such as a Whitetail Deer or Mule Deer while the larger members are just called a Moose, an Elk, a Caribou, etc? (Okay - I understand if you just said a Mule people would think of an equine animal.  :-\ )