Fall Videos

Recently Larry Whiteley sent me pictures of a bear sitting in a deer tree stand.  Deer stand sounds like it would be for deer which lack the ability to climb.  The bear apparently did not recognize that the stand was reserved for hunters and it obviously didn't have a deer permit.  I mentioned the pictures to Jay Barber and he told me about a video he had seen of a bear climbing up onto a tree stand- with the hunter in it!  Here is the youtube.com video.

On a more relaxing note, this video was sent to me by Gala Solari.  It shows a murmuration of starlings in Ireland, a shape shifting flight of thousands of birds seemingly flying patterns for the sheer joy of being able to do so.  No one knows why they do this spectacular acrobatic display at the onset of winter, let alone how they avoid collisions. 

Murmurations like this are seen annually in Europe.  Starlings are native there and their numbers have actually been dropping off lately in Great Britain.  We on the other hand have them in large numbers without the joy of the murmurations.  The closest we come to this sight are sunset flights of migrating birds such as purple martins and chimney swifts and winter gatherings of red-winged blackbirds.

Enjoy.  Video details are at huffingtonpost.com.