The Animal Blog

Today I ran across a photo slideshow of celebrities and their dogs.

And this is a real-cream of the crop, A-list group including:

• Britney Spears
  
• President Bush and Laura Bush
  
• Paris Hilton
  
• Martha Stewart
  
• Venus Williams
  
• Isaac Mizrahi
  
• Anna Nicole Smith
  
• Gisele Bundchen
  
• Elton John
  
• Lucy Lui
  
• Pamela Anderson
  
• Fran Drescher
  
• Nicolette Sheridan and
  
• Melissa Joan Hart

You've always wondered about these celebrities, now find out about their dogs!

Click on the link below from MSNBC for the slideshow:
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.aspx?type=ss&launch=7847256,4602461&pg=1

What is a Pygmy Slow Loris you ask?

A Pygmy Slow Loris is a primate native to Asia. They are very small growing only to within 18-21 cm. They are also virtually tail-less.

You know you want to see one.

Click on the link below to see the picture of the newborn:
Baby Pygmy Slow Loris

Digyourowngrave.com has posted an article about animals living together:
Crazy Interspecies Animal Friends!

They've got a good list going there including:

• dogs and squirrel
• hippo and turtle
• kitty and rooster
• dog and ducklings
• tiger and piglets
• cat and crow
• and, dog and fish

I'll contribute this to the mix, here's a picture of Missy's dog Skippy with a frog:

Don't worry, Skippy doesn't lick the frog. They just like to hang out.

After the Detroit Tigers won game 2 of the World Series, tigers everywhere are showing their disrespect for cardinals.

The tiger shown below is quoted as saying "TAKE THAT CARDS!!!" shortly after the game.

It's a sad state of society we live in when even tigers can't win with class. We can only hope that the remainder of the series will go down in a more civilized manner.

Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time.

Lots of activity at the bird feeder over the past couple days. Here a picture of some of the highlights:

Chipping Sparrows

Tufted Titmouse

Unknown Wren

Carolina Chickadee

After a few days of back and forth (and the female making an appearance), the bluebirds have decided to take the box and they've started to build.

Working together

Female gathering pine straw

Entering the house

Male and female posing

Another puffed male shot

Day 4 of building and the bluebirds have made good progress. Not sure how much longer they're going to take.

Female in construction

Partially completed nest

The bluebirds finished building their nest a few days ago. Today, while pulling out of the driveway before work, I notices that the male was back and hanging around the hole to the bird box.

I got back late today to a nice surprise.

Finished nest

First egg

From hereon, they're supposed to lay one egg per day, up to five. I'll post with daily updates.

As expected, the second egg is here today. Update again tomorrow.

Egg number 2

Third bluebird egg

The fourth egg arrived sometime this morning.

Egg number four:

Per numerous resources I've read, eastern bluebirds will lay between 2-7 eggs in a clutch, one egg per day. This is going to be the last time I'll check the nest for a couple days. It's going to get cold over the next two days and I don't want to let a cold breeze in, so next time I check the box there could be up to another three eggs, or maybe just four.

This might be the last bluebird egg. The picture is from Monday, but the parents have become very protective since making me think that the Mom is incubating.

If I even get close to the box, the Dad swoops down over my head... which is a good thing, because I want them to be defending their box from potential predators.

Until they get comfortable with me, I won't be able to look in the box again.

But assuming this is the last egg, they're scheduled to hatch on the 28th.

The eggs are set to hatch in about a week. The parents seem to be getting more and more used to me every day, but are still very protective. I managed to sneak a peek inside of the box and did confirm that they stopped at five eggs.

Here are some pictures of the mom and dad looking after their box:

Here's footage of a Golden Eagle picking up a goat and throwing it off of a cliff. Below is a picture of a pair of Golden Eagles from the Nashville Zoo.

Here are some more pictures of the bluebirds, this time perching on various trees around my backyard:

After 15 days of incubation, the Bluebirds finally hatched yesterday. Still blind and naked, it'll be about 12-14 more days until they're ready to leave the nest. I hope to be able to get into the box each day as these little guys become less and less bug-like.

Click here to follow the chronicle of this bluebird family.

The hatchlings are two days old now and the down is starting to fill in. As you can see, they've flipped over since yesterday. Their eyes still haven't opened.

You can also see that they're very hungry!

Click here to follow the chronicle of this bluebird family.

This bluebird hatchlings have arranged themselves now so that you can see all five of them.

It's good to see that all five are alive. They've faced some pretty cold weather in the mornings, but it's all passed now.

The bluebird hatchlings seem to be getting stronger and stronger each day. As expected, the parents are very busy, feeding their babies several times per hour.

Apparently eating every 15 minutes is not enough for these birds though:

Click here to follow the chronicle of this bluebird family.