8 Images of Tundra Bean Geese in Flight

Migratory Visitors to Okinawa

A scientist would call this Bean Goose, Anser serrirostris because, that's the way they talk.

These birds only come to our island for the winter months.

This morning, I was up and out of the house before the sun came up.

This pair of birds was on the ground, when I first spotted them and, they saw me coming.

Plenty of photos were taken, before they decided, to take off in flight.

The males of this species are a bit larger than the females. Look closely at the second bird.

The one that seems to be yapping at her mate. Now, let's have some fun.

Imagine her screaming at him, "What did I tell you?  That guy's gonna shoot us."

"Wait 'til your mother-in-law hears about this. You never listen to me."

She goes on and on, flapping her wings and mouth, while he says nothing.

"The old man was sneaking up on us and, you did nothing."

"Now, he's shooting us, like we're a pair of sitting ducks."

So he's thinking. "Later honey. I have to land somewhere and, take a crap.  See ya later."

FOOTNOTE: Now, everybody knows why, I'm not a scientist.

Bug Photo: The Common Water Slider

This bug fools a lot of people because it looks like a mosquito.

The Common Water Slider (Gerris remigis) doesn't have wings.  It can't fly.

But, they walk on water and eat mosquitos so, you should make friends with them.

A website, Study of Northern Virginia Ecology, can teach you more about them than I ever could.

While researching this insect I found all kinds of bugs at the University of California.

If you ever get stuck with a bug, you can't identify, checkout their photo collection.

Wikipedia people might give you some information overload if you look at these bugs over there.

When I read what they had to say about Gerris remigis:

......"The most consistent characteristic used to separate these two families are internal genitalia differences. Since internal genitalia require specific training and tools to identify, it is almost impossible to tell a member of the Gerridae apart from a member of the Veliidae by external visual cues.".....

.....it suddenly dawned on me, I don't want to become a bug scientist.

The folks at the University of California and Northern Virginia are good enough for me ! 

Weird White Long-haired Lizard-looking Creature (Photos)

Standing on a bridge in Okinawa, Japan as the sun was setting last night, I spotted this thing that appeared to be a feather from one of the white egrets we have flying around here.

          It caught my attention because when the wind stopped blowing, it didn't stop moving.

        Too get a better look, I unholstered my camera and zoomed-in on it.  It looked back at me.

Feathers don't have eyes.  So, I climbed down off the bridge and got as close as I could without falling in the river.  There's no telling what this creature might be.  All I know for sure is it isn't a feather.  It might be a bug, a lizard or some kind of ancient mutated minature dragon and I ain't telling anybody where it lives until some scientist tells me the scientific name of the creature.

If they don't have a name for this critter, I'll name it for them.  It'll be something like:

WIERD WHITE LONG-HAIRED LIZARD-LOOKING ANCIENT MINATURE DRAGONASARUS ryukyumikusjaponicus, or something like that.  You ever seen one ?