This line is actually a sensory organ that helps fish detect vibrations in the water. The colour of an Atlantic Cod is often darker on its top than on its belly, which is silver, white or cream-coloured. In rocky areas, a cod may be a darker brown colour. Cod are often mottled, or have a lot of darker blotches or spots.
It can weigh up to 63, kilograms and measure up to 16 metres. Females tend to be a bit larger than males — measuring, on average, one metre longer. Its head makes up about a fourth of its body length, and its mouth is characterized by its arched, or highly curved, jaw. Its skin is otherwise smooth and black, but some individuals have white patches on their bellies and chin. It has large, triangular flippers, or pectoral fins.
Its tail, also called flukes or caudal fins, is broad six m wide from tip to tip! Unlike most other large whales, it has no dorsal fin. For a variety of reasons, including its rarity, scientists know very little about this rather large animal.
For example, there is little data on the longevity of Right Whales, but photo identification on living whales and the analysis of ear bones and eyes on dead individuals can be used to estimate age.
It is believed that they live at least 70 years, maybe even over years, since closely related species can live as long. Unique characteristics. The Right Whale has a bit of an unusual name. Its name in French is more straightforward; baleine noire, the black whale. The American Eel Anguilla rostrata is a fascinating migratory fish with a very complex life cycle. Like salmon, it lives both in freshwater and saltwater. It is born in saltwater and migrating to freshwater to grow and mature before returning to saltwater to spawn and die.
The American Eel can live as long as 50 years. It is a long, slender fish that can grow longer than one metre in length and 7. Males tend to be smaller than females, reaching a size of about 0. With its small pectoral fins right behind its gills, absence of pelvic fins, long dorsal and ventral fins and the thin coat of mucus on its tiny scales, the adult eel slightly resembles a slimy snake but are in fact true fish.
Adult eels vary in coloration, from olive green and brown to greenish-yellow, with a light gray or white belly. Females are lighter in colour than males. Large females turn dark grey or silver when they mature. The American Eel is the only representative of its genus or group of related species in North America, but it does have a close relative which shares the same spawning area: the European Eel.
Both have similar lifecycles but different distributions in freshwater systems except in Iceland, where both and hybrids of both species can be found. The American Lobster Homarus americanus is a marine invertebrate which inhabits our Atlantic coastal waters.
As an invertebrate, it lacks bones, but it does have an external shell, or exoskeleton, making it an arthropod like spiders and insects.
Its body is divided in two parts: the cephalothorax its head and body and its abdomen, or tail. On its head, the lobster has eyes that are very sensitive to movement and light, which help it to spot predators and prey, but are unable to see colours and clear images. It also has three pairs of antennae, a large one and two smaller ones, which are its main sensory organs and act a bit like our nose and fingers.
Around its mouth are small appendages called maxillipeds and mandibles which help direct food to the mouth and chew. Lobsters have ten legs, making them decapod ten-legged crustaceans, a group to which shrimp and crabs also belong other arthropods have a different number of legs, like spiders, which have eight, and insects, which have six.
Four pairs of these legs are used mainly to walk and are called pereiopods. The remaining pair, at the front of the cephalothorax, are called chelipeds and each of those limbs ends with a claw. These claws help the lobster defend itself, but also capture and consume its prey. Each claw serves a different purpose: the bigger, blunter one is used for crushing, and the smaller one with sharper edges, for cutting.
The Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica is a medium-sized songbird, about the size of a sparrow. It measures between 15 and 18 centimeters cm in length and 29 to 32 cm in wingspan, and weighs between 15 and 20 grams g.
Its back and tail plumage is a distinctive steely, iridescent blue, with light brown or rust belly and a chestnut-coloured throat and forehead. Their long forked tail and pointed wings also make them easily recognizable. Both sexes may look similar, but females are typically not as brightly coloured and have shorter tails than males.
When perched, this swallow looks almost conical because of its flat, short head, very short neck and its long body. Although the average lifespan of a Barn Swallow is about four years, a North American individual older than eight years and a European individual older than 16 years have been observed. Sights and sounds: Like all swallows, the Barn Swallow is diurnal —it is active during the day, from dusk to dawn.
It is an agile flyer that creates very acrobatic patterns in flight. It can fly from very close to the ground or water to more than 30 m heights. When not in flight, the Barn Swallow can be observed perched on fences, wires, TV antennas or dead branches.
Both male and female Barn Swallows sing both individually and in groups in a wide variety of twitters, warbles, whirrs and chirps. They give a loud call when threatened, to which other swallows will react, leaving their nests to defend the area.
Freshwater turtles are reptiles, like snakes, crocodilians and lizards. They also have a scaly skin, enabling them, as opposed to most amphibians, to live outside of water. Also like many reptile species, turtles lay eggs they are oviparous. But what makes them different to other reptiles is that turtles have a shell. This shell, composed of a carapace in the back and a plastron on the belly, is made of bony plates. These bones are covered by horny scutes made of keratin like human fingernails or leathery skin, depending on the species.
All Canadian freshwater turtles can retreat in their shells and hide their entire body except the Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina. This shell is considered perhaps the most efficient form of armour in the animal kingdom, as adult turtles are very likely to survive from one year to the next. Indeed, turtles have an impressively long life for such small animals.
Most other species can live for more than 20 years. There are about species of turtles throughout the world, inhabiting a great variety of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems on every continent except Antarctica and its waters. In Canada, eight native species of freshwater turtles and four species of marine turtles can be observed. Another species, the Pacific Pond Turtle Clemmys marmorata , is now Extirpated, having disappeared from its Canadian range.
Also, the Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina has either such a small population that it is nearly Extirpated, or the few individuals found in Canada are actually pets released in the wild. More research is needed to know if these turtles are still native individuals.
Finally, the Red-eared Slider Trachemys scripta elegans , has been introduced to Canada as released pets and, thus, is not a native species. Females tend to be slightly larger than males but are otherwise identical.
As its name implies, it is pale tan to reddish or dark brown with a slightly paler belly, and ears and wings that are dark brown to black. Contrary to popular belief, Little Brown Bats, like all other bats, are not blind. Still, since they are nocturnal and must navigate in the darkness, they are one of the few terrestrial mammals that use echolocation to gather information on their surroundings and where prey are situated. The echolocation calls they make, similar to clicking noises, bounce off objects and this echo is processed by the bat to get the information they need.
These noises are at a very high frequency, and so cannot be heard by humans. Narwhals Monodon monoceros are considered medium-sized odontocetes, or toothed whales the largest being the sperm whale, and the smallest, the harbour porpoise , being of a similar size to the beluga, its close relative.
Males can grow up to 6. Females tend to be smaller, with an average size of 4 m and a maximum size of 5. A newborn calf is about 1. Like belugas, they have a small head, a stocky body and short, round flippers. Narwhals lack a dorsal fin on their backs, but they do have a dorsal ridge about 5 cm high that covers about half their backs.
This ridge can be used by researchers to differentiate one narwhal from another. It is thought that the absence of dorsal fin actually helps the narwhal navigate among sea ice. Unlike other cetaceans —the order which comprises all whales—, narwhals have convex tail flukes, or tail fins. These whales have a mottled black and white, grey or brownish back, but the rest of the body mainly its underside is white. Newborn narwhal calves are pale grey to light brownish, developing the adult darker colouring at about 4 years old.
As they grow older, they will progressively become paler again. Some may live up to years, but most probably live to be 60 years of age. Although the second, smaller incisor tooth often remains embedded in the skull, it rarely but on occasion develops into a second tusk. Tusks typically grow only on males, but a few females have also been observed with short tusks. The function of the tusk remains a mystery, but several hypotheses have been proposed.
Many experts believe that it is a secondary sexual character, similar to deer antlers. Thus, the length of the tusk may indicate social rank through dominance hierarchies and assist in competition for access to females. Indeed, there are indications that the tusks are used by male narwhals for fighting each other or perhaps other species, like the beluga or killer whale.
A high quantity of tubules and nerve endings in the pulp —the soft tissue inside teeth — of the tusk have at least one scientist thinking that it could be a highly sensitive sensory organ, able to detect subtle changes in temperature, salinity or pressure. Narwhals have not been observed using their tusk to break sea ice, despite popular belief.
Narwhals do occasionally break the tip of their tusk though which can never be repaired. This is more often seen in old animals and gives more evidence that the tusk might be used for sexual competition. Adult coho salmon have silvery sides and metallic blue backs with irregular black spots. Spawning males have bright red sides, and bright green backs and heads, with darker colouration on their bellies.
The fish have hooked jaws and sharp teeth. Young coho salmon are aggressive, territorial and often vibrantly coloured, with a large orange anal fin edged in black and white.
Ptarmigans are hardy members of the grouse family that spend most of their lives on the ground at or above the treeline. Like other grouse, ptarmigans have chunky bodies, short tails and legs, and short, rounded wings.
Willow Ptarmigans weigh from to g, White-tailed Ptarmigans weigh about g, and Rock Ptarmigans are intermediate in size. All ptarmigans have feathered feet, unique among chickenlike birds, which improve their ability to walk in snow. They also have white wings throughout the year.
Inflatable red combs above their eyes, which are especially evident in territorial and courting males, are inconspicuous to barely visible in females. Ptarmigans have three seasonal plumages per year, instead of the two that are usual for most birds. These plumages keep the birds, particularly the female, well camouflaged at all times. In winter, all ptarmigans of both sexes are basically white. Whereas White-tailed Ptarmigans have permanently white tail feathers, the tails of Willow and Rock Ptarmigans remain black throughout the year.
In winter, male—and some female—Rock Ptarmigans sport a black stripe that extends through the eye to the bill as if they had put on charcoal goggles to prevent snow blindness , distinguishing them from male Willow Ptarmigans. In ptarmigans, the moult, or shedding of old feathers, starts with the head and progresses towards the tail.
As soon as the spring snowmelt begins, females moult into a barred breeding plumage of brown, gold, and black. Female ptarmigans are difficult to tell apart in spring, but the overall tones of the White-tailed Ptarmigan females are cooler in comparison to those of the other two species. Breeding males delay their moult.
The Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii is a seabird that resembles a small gull, but it has the typically slender body, short legs, and long, pointed wings of all terns. It is closely related to the Common Tern Sterna hirundo and the Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea and is frequently found in their company.
They seem to prefer peanuts and are more likely to eat them than fighting for a single seed from the sunflower feeders. I place peanuts with shell on a platform feeder to keep these birds happy and to make it easier for the smaller birds to feed from hanging feeders at the same time.
Watch them and you'll see as they hold the nuts with their feet and then crack the shell with their bill. Often they'll cache their food. I was watching one day as the bird came for one peanut after another from the feeder in the backyard just to hide them in my front lawn. I have to admit I stopped feeding peanuts for a few days and started placing fewer in the feeder when I started feeding again.
Beginning in early May, the Blue Jays courtship habits begin. Generally a group of seven or more are gathered together in the top of a tree. One female will be among this group. When the female flies off, the males will follow and land near her. Bobbing their heads up and down and displaying for her.
The female will eventually select a mate from this group and the nesting cycle will follow. The nest is a bulky cup made of twigs, leaves, roots, grass, moss and sometimes held together by mud. Usually placed between 8 to 30 feet above ground. You can try attracting these birds to nest in your backyard by placing a nesting shelf in a tree, or on the side of a garage or shed overlooking both open spaces and foliage.
Place the nesting shelf 10 to 12 feet above ground. Choose a location that provides protection from predators, elements, access, visibility, and varying sunlight. The female lays 3 to 7 greenish buff, blue, or yellow eggs with brown or grey spots.
Incubation last 17 to 18 days and is done primarily by the female although the male may provide some help. The male will feed the female during incubation. She may leave from time to time to bathe and stretch. The young will leave the nest in about 17 to 21 days after hatching.
Both parents share in feeding the young birds. After the nesting season in late summer and early fall these birds will travel in small flocks and family groups. Although only partially migratory mainly a permanent resident sometimes flocks numbering over can be spotted moving south. Watch the Blue Jay Give His Call Blue Jays are extremely territorial, often diving at cats, dogs, and even humans who get near nesting and feeding territories.
They may be loud and fly close enough to cause you to worry but don't. If they were to run into you it would be an accident. His parents started to build a new nest. They scouted together in my backyard, gathering moss and rootlets. Bulky, well hidden in crotch or outer branch of coniferous or deciduous tree, ft above ground, commonly ft. Built by both sexes of thorny twigs, bark, mosses, string, leaves; lined with rootlets. The pair has time to raise a second brood, especially if the female laid eggs in the first week of June.
From first egg to fledging takes 38 to 45 days:. I hope to see baby blue jays around July
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