On this day of freedom, let's talk about how bald eagles are queer!
It starts with a female eagle named Hope and a male named Valor I. The two settled down to neat together, however Valor I wasn't a great dad. He did show up to incubate the eggs and basically never came around.
In comes another male, Valor II. He immediately did what a good eagle dad is supposed to, incubate, maintain the best, all that. This lead to him becoming Hope's new mate.
Here's where it gets interesting, Valor I didn't seem to mind and actually stuck around! Eventually Hope started mating with both of them, and Valor I even learned to be a good dad!
Unfortunately in 2017 Hope was killed by intruding eagles, but! The two male's actually stuck together and successfully raised their chicks!
Soon enough a new female named Starr came along and joined the two, and now she mates with both males every season!
This arrangement allows for the eagles to have a much more successful rate of raising chicks and fighting off other predators!
This particular story isn't the only one! Bald eagles have been seen in multiple arrangements including two females and one male!
Henry James Burrell (1873-1945) ~ Young Platypus, ca. 1914. Glass negative | src Australian museum
[...] most famous for being the first person to successfully keep platypuses in captivity. To do this he invented the ‘platypusary’, a storage tank which enabled him to both study and exhibit live platypuses. The platypusary was used [...]
I'd like to introduce everyone to this little fella!
This is most likely an eastern cottontail, though there is some debate that it may be a new england cottontail but that's unlikely.
Now normally I am very against feeding/interacting with wildlife on regular occasions but this guy is a special case.
See I'd been going out to put seed out for wild birds for a few months now, sitting nearby to take pictures of them to the point that they'll land around me, fly over when they hear my footsteps and just have a general understanding that I'm not going to hurt them.
Then I notice a little bunny hop out from under the brush a bit wary, but I stay still so I don't scare it and can hopefully get some pictures. He ended up, over a few days getting more familiar and eventually tipping over the scoop I use for the bird feed while being less than a foot away.
It really is a neat thing for wild animals to come to the understanding that you aren't going to hurt them, just enough trust to hang around you.
He's absolutely adorable and I love this little fella