Tool-using Wolves, a Garden Bird Surprise and other interesting matters including more hoar frost
Sunday 23 November
Things are quiet here on the wildlife front as temperatures fall, snow is on the ground and most creatures are hunkering down until April. Today, I offer a few articles and quotes likely to be of interest to the followers of Whilst Out Walking (the WOWsters ?). The Sharp-shinned Hawk below spent some time with us a couple of days ago - we “think” he scored a Junco but was away so fast, it remains unconfirmed. Later it had tried to take a House Finch from a feeder hanging by a window but only succeed in clipping the glass with a wing-tip. I don’t know what the success rate is for raptors catching meals (something like 1 in 10 rings a bell - must check) but ours usually depart empty beaked.
I always welcome your comments and feedback …
On Thursday I shared a photo-post of beautiful hoar frost, which is unusual hereabouts. After enjoying that, and realizing that it was going to hang around for some time, we breakfasted and took ourselves up to the birding station to wander about seeking birds and photo opportunities. Not only did we find the anticipated quiet whiteness, but also sixteen bird species, including two species of hawks and a (sound the trumpets) Northern Shrike.
Paleontology and altered animal habitat
I read a most interesting article by a paleontologist who was looking into the climate records and where the fossil evidence shows species used to live before human pressure and climate change compelled them to live where they could, rather than where are best adapted to live.
… today’s animal ranges don’t really show where species prefer to live. They show where they’ve been forced to survive. For conservation, that matters a lot. Many conservation plans and models rely on where species live now to predict where they might live in the future. But if those maps are already distorted by human disturbance, we might be protecting the wrong habitats entirely.
She also has interesting things to say about how important scientific data and thinking is so often hidden “in the literature” rather than being openly accessible to the lay public. The results of the study mentioned here would have something important to say to the conservation community if only they knew about it - which they might if only it could be published in a more accessible publication than only the academic scientific press.
Tool Using Wolves
This article in a newspaper a few days ago speaks for itself. I was greatly impressed. It also appeared in video on the CBC News … remarkable.
Active Evolution
City raccoons are becoming a new species
A few days ago, looking out of the sunroom window, I watched the fattest, roundest, happiest raccoon I have ever seen. It was com ing towards the hour along a garden path and its rotundity was such - doubtless due to pre-winter fattening - that it almost seemed its feet could not reach the ground. This character was clearly making a very good living in the neighbourhood.
City raccoons are showing early signs of self-domestication, becoming physically and behaviorally different from their rural counterparts. Research analyzing nearly 20,000 images from across the US found that urban raccoons tend to have shorter snouts, rounder faces, and social behaviors that make them less fearful and more tolerant of humans. These changes resemble what scientists call neural crest domestication syndrome, a set of traits common to animals that adapt to living closely with people. Dogs and cats underwent similar transformations thousands of years ago.
The urban environment, especially the ready availability of human food like garbage, applies selective pressure that favors raccoons that are tamer and better able to coexist alongside humans. These raccoons show enhanced problem-solving abilities, more cooperation when foraging, and less territorial aggression than their wild relatives. Urban raccoons navigate city obstacles more successfully and appear to be evolving strategies specifically suited to human-dominated landscapes.
Despite these early domestication-like traits, raccoons remain wild animals with unpredictable behavior and the potential to carry diseases. They are not suitable as pets. While full domestication would take thousands of years, the changes in city raccoons today provide a fascinating glimpse of evolution in action. This natural evolutionary process demonstrates how wildlife can adapt rapidly to human environments, potentially leading to new urban-adapted animal populations.
This text comes from the following link:
Seen locally:
Now the Garden Bird Surprise.
A Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) which is not at all a common bird anywhere hereabouts and less so in our garden, turned up and seems to be hanging around. It is several years since we saw one anywhere and although common down in the US they don’t come much further north than this. This brings our 2025 garden list to 97 species - closing in on the target century. Things are getting tense around here, only three species needed.
Coming Soon - Wednesday
I wanted to plug the organizations working in the area with the wolves and there is also a documentary to see here: https://placeofwolves.ca/the-film
Just by luck I happen to follow working dogs for conservation and they shared the link to the film.
Tool using wolves made me think of our current administration, down here in the US. But let me move on. ~ Your Tufted Titmouse is so handsome! I'll be cheering you on for the next three or more birds to add to your 2025 list!!!