natureswondersbyclyde

      Torrent ducks and white-capped dippers are unrelated birds that live along swiftly-flowing rivers and smaller waterways in the Andes Mountains of western South America.  And because of their shared habitat, they have characteristics in common.        Both species eat aquatic invertebrates from those cascading waterways, but from different parts of them, thus reducing competition for that food between these birds of rushing waters.  The ducks dive to the bottoms of those swift waters and use their beaks to poke among stones and rocks to find aquatic invertebrates, including worms and insect larvae.  With strong legs, and large, webbed feet, as well as slender bodies, these ducks are strong divers and swimmers to maneuver in fast-flowing currents.        These dippers don't dive for their aquatic food, but get it in rushing shallows on tops of rocks and along shorelines.  They use their beaks to tur...

      The adaptations of plants and animals for survival never cease to amaze me.  Many are truly remarkable.  I recently learned that a kind of lungless salamander, the wandering salamander, climbs giant redwood trees in northern California and Vancouver Island to find mates and invertebrate food, especially ants, in clumps of arboreal, epithytic ferns in the crotches of redwood limbs.  What's remarkable is salamanders must keep their skins moist to live, and they expose themselves to predators when climbing a couple hundred feet up those large trees.        But the air in those redwood forests by the west coast is humid, keeping wandering salamander skins moist, so these unique salamanders can leave the dampness of log and leaf shelters on forest floors.  And those skins are dark and yellow-mottled, making these slender, five-inch amphibians nearly invisible on tree trunks and boughs.           ...

      A few kinds of small, wild plants, including common dandelion, blue violets, grape hyacinth, Veronicas and purple dead nettles, have lovely flowers that brighten and beautify miles of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania's country roadsides in the middle of April each year.  Those plants are adaptable and able to thrive on lawns, fields and roadsides, in spite of mowing lawns and roadsides and plowing fields, therefore making attractive, wild bouquets of themselves, with no work on our part.  And all these species are aliens from Eurasia, except blue violets that are native to North America.       Cheery, yellow dandelion blooms are the largest of these wild, roadside blossoms in April and into May.  Each flower head, composed of many tiny, golden blooms, is a bit over an inch in diameter and stands out above its plant's ground-hugging leaves, the other kinds of flowering vegetation, grass and garlic plants.       ...

      Orcas, the largest species of the ocean-going dolphin family, are aptly called "wolves of the sea" because they are apex predators in all oceans on Earth.  Adult orcas are so big that no creature preys on them.  And they hunt prey in cooperative family pods, like wolves.      Orcas are well equipped for catching different prey species.  They are intelligent, and each group is led by an older female with experience in hunting.  They have good vision and hearing, and use echolocation to find prey.  They have several strong, pointed teeth to seize victims and tear chunks of meat off them.  They have powerful tails to be able to swim twenty to thirty-five miles per hour after prey.      In the Southern Ocean, around the Antarctic continent, some pods specialize in snaring fish.  Other packs of orcas prey on minke whales. and a third division hunts seals.  Those different diets help reduce competition ...

      One of the wildest, most dramatic natural happenings on Earth is the great sardine run along the eastern coast of South Africa in the Indian Ocean in May, June and July, the Southern Hemisphere's winter.  Several shoals of sardines, with many millions of individuals in each school of foot-long, stream-lined, silvery fish, move north with cold currents of ocean from Antarctica along the South African coastline to feed on an abundance of zooplankton and phytoplankton suspended in the water.  Those shoals are so extensive they can be seen from planes, and even from space.        I have seen sardine runs on television documentaries and on our computer.  And I have witnessed their shoals being attacked and eaten by hungry sharks, birds and mammals of various kinds.        Generally, shoals of sardines are deep in the ocean by day to avoid predators.  But at dusk they rise to the surface to feed on plan...

      Every summer in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I enjoy seeing three kinds of small, harmless flies- large bee flies, long-legged flies and hover flies.  They are intriguing, little critters, but one has to know when and where to look for them.        These flies have a few traits in common.  As adults, they all have swept-back wings to fly in search of food and mates.  Their larvae are predators on other types of invertebrates.  And adult flies are attractive.      Every April, I see several cute, little bee flies standing camouflaged on soil paths in local woodlands.  They quickly fly up at my approach and hover in the air, close by.  They are covered with dull-brown "fur" and each one has a straight beak that sticks out in front and can not be retracted.  They look a bit like tiny, furry hummingbirds.       Adult bee flies ingest flower nectar and pollen from early-bloo...