Birthday Gift From Portia De Rossi To Wife Ellen Degeneres Can't Be Topped

Portia De Rossi, left, recently gave Ellen DeGeneres a 60th
birthday gift we can all be happy about. 

My husband's birthday is today.  

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!!!!

I want to give him the world, but unfortunately, funds are tight. He's going to have to settle for something much smaller. Sorry, Jeff, I'm trying!

I do wish, however, I could give him a birthday gift like Portia De Rossi gave to her wife, Ellen DeGeneres, on Ellen's recent 60th birthday.

By the way, this is going to be a feel good story, because in this day and age, the more feel good stories, the better.

DeGeneres is a longtime fan of scientist Dian Fossey, who spent basically her whole life studying rare mountain gorillas in Rwanda. You might remember Fossey from the book  "Gorillas In The Mist."

Fossey was murdered in 1985, but her work goes on, thanks to lots of awesome volunteers and donations from people who understand how important Fossey's work was.

DeGeneres is among those who totally understands why Fossey's work and legacy is so important. DeGeneres talk show made a big deal out of her birthday, and finally "special guest" De Rossi came on to disclose what she bought for her wife for the big birthday.

Dian Fossey spend her life protecting African gorillas unti
she was murdered in 1985. American celebritites Ellen
DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi just ensured Fossey's
work continues. 

Because DeGeneres is such a fan of Fossey, De Rossi sprung for the construction of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. It's next to Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and this will be a part of a center for education, tourism and scientific research.

They also established the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund to study, protect and advocate for the world's most vulnerable animals and wildlife.

My husband Jeff is a total animal lover, especially dogs. An excellent way to judge a person is how they think of animals. People like Jeff are keepers because they love animals. People who have a soft spot for animals tend to be morally, ethically, emotionally beautiful. That describes Jeff.

De Rossi probably knows she's very lucky to be married to DeGeneres for the same reason.

Here's the very nice announcement of De Rossi's gift on the Ellen Show back on February 1:

2017 Wildlife Comedy Awards Delight As Always

"Laughing Dormouse" by Andrea Zampatti. Looks like
this little guy is having a GREAT time. 

I've highlighted the annual Wildlife Comedy Awards in the past, but I cannot resist focusing on them again, because they are such a delightful distraction from the ills of the world.

The awards go to nature photographers who find usually inadvertent, but hilarious moments amont wild animals.

This year's winners don't disappoint. Go to this link to see this year's winners, and the winners from past years.  It's SO worth the browse.

Meanwhile, see, below, a couple more of this year's wildlife triumphs. Click on the images to make them bigger and easier to see.

"Monkey Escape" by Katy Laveck-Foster. A very fun
outing on a motorbike, it looks like. 

"Mudskippers Got Talent" by Daniel Trim. Not sure if these
frogs are in a televised talent competition or they just heard
something Donald Trump said. 

"WTF" by George Cathcart. These California seals look like
they've been watching too much Fox News

Races With Wolves: Canadian Woman Has An Interesting Commute

Rhonda Miller in northern Canada spotted this fellow commuter
on a highway during her commute to work. That's an
enormous wolf you see there. 

I can literally see Canada from my house, I kid you not.

And the more I hear about the way things happen in Canada, the more I want to live there.

One example: Here in America, the people are wild and the animals tend to be more normal. In Canada, the people are tame and it's the animals that tend to put on a show.

So it was when a teacher Rhonda Miller commuted down wintry Highway 3 in Canada's Arctic Northwest Territories when she unexpectedly encountered some traffic.

Miller was in the middle of nowhere, so it wasn't other cars that complicated the commute. It was wolves, notes the CBC.

Big, bad, huge, wolves.

Luckily, she was safe in her car, but these two enormous wolves were blasting down Highway 3 just as Miller was. She was trying to get to work in time. I'm not sure what the wolves were up to.

Miller said she was traveling at 40 to 50 mph and the wolves were going almost as fast.

Below is the excellent video she shot on her smart phone. The music playing on her car radio made it all seem even better. Bet your next commute to work won't be this interesting:

Animals Are Comedic Geniuses

A finalist in the C'omedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Image by Alison Buttigieg.

One piece of good news I learned as the year draws to a close is that somebody has come up with the annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

The winners are photographers who capture images of animals that just make us laugh.  

Apparently, there are a lot of them.  You have to scroll through the list of 2015 winners to really get a chuckle at these wonderful animals. I might be anthropomorphizing, but the animals in the photos exude such joy. 

The awards are the brainchild of Paul Joynson-Hicks, who is himself a wildlife photographer.

Says he on the wildlife comedy web site:

Finalist in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
Image by Charlie Davidson. 

"I often enter wildlife photography competitions (NB so far with very little success!) but I love seeing the funny pictures. Strangely enough, they are harder to come by than you might think."

The Comedy Wildlife Awards are partnered with the Born Free Foundation, which works to provent animal suffering and protect animal species.
 

The photos are judged on how funny, creative, dynamic and interesting they are, and on the technical proficiency of the photographer. The funnier the captions the better.

Obviously, the 2015 competition is closed, since the winners have already been announced, but let's hope this becomes an annual tradition so we can look forward to the 2016 winners.

Finalist in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
Image by Julie Hunt 

Officer In Trouble For NOT Summarily Executing Two Bear Cubs

A conservation officer in Canada was
 suspended from his job for not
killing these two bear cubs.  

A female bear kept getting into the freezer of a remote camp in British Columbia recently.

When bears become a problem like that, they sometimes have to be put down, and that, sadly was the case with this bear.

Even worse, this bear had two cubs. Conservation officer Bryce Casavant was ordered by his supervisors to kill the bear cubs, too.

He refused and took them to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association near Vancouver, British Columbia.

For Casavant was suspended for his job without pay, says the Canadian broadcaster CBC. 

The situation, first reported in the North Island Gazette in British Columbia, set off a HUGE erupton on social media, especially in Canada erupted at the news of the conservation officer's suspension.

Nothing like an order to kill two cute little black bear cubs to get people riled up.

It's true if bear cubs are conditioned to cause trouble, they, too have to be put down, say wildlife experts. But the CBC quoted the recovery center's manager as saying he is perplexed by the order to kill the cubs.

"(The mother bear) was a problem, but these cubs did nothing," said the manager, Robin Campbell.

Campbell said the cubs were not habituated to humans and could be successful re-introduced to the wild. Casavant, the conservation officer, did the right thing by bringing the cubs to the wildlive recovery center, Campbell said.

"In 30 years, this is the first time we've ever had an issue like this," Campbell said, as quoted by the CBC. "There has to be some kind of misunderstanding... hopefully somebody will come to their senses." 

It's unclear if that will happen. Certainly the shoot to kill the cubs order sounds sadistic, but we haven't heard yet from the guy who ordered the deaths. British Columbian environmental authorities haven't decided what to do about the cubs yet.

Casavant is still suspended from his job, but now it's with pay, because of the public outcry over this.

Even if more information comes out and it turns out the cubs were misbehaving and habituated to humans, why the rush to kill them? And why the rush to suspend Casavant? As one commenter pointed out on the North Island Gazette Facebook page, let's let animals be innocent until proven guilty, too.

Others point out that Casavant's job title is Conservation Officer, so let him conserve, in this case the life of these bears, if at all possible.

Still others took a big picture look at this and said it is humans invading the habitat of bears, and not bears invading the habitat of humans that's the real problem here.

Of course, when you look at the big picture, that's when things really get sticky. Us humans are ruining the habitat of countless species, and we're spawning a great wildlife extinction.

The simple solution to the bear cubs in British Columbia is to reinstate Casavant, release the cubs to the wild if possible and move on.

As far as the big picture goes, I don't think anybody has a good solution to us humans and our environmentally dangerous ways. We're all guilty, this writer included.

It's fine and absolutely correct to be upset over the callousness some people had toward these bear cubs. But this makes me wonder how many innocent wild animals I might have unwittingly harmed.

Mom Doesn't Let Her Kid Play In Traffic

Do NOT play near traffic!  

In British Columbia, Canada, recently, a mom was not too pleased when her kid decided it would be fun to play on the roadway near traffic.

Watch how this mama bear deals with the situation. Awesome!!!    

Happy Ending For Deer Stuck In Picket Fence

Ah... The American dream. A nice house. A nice yard surrounded by a nice perfect picket fence.

This deer got stuck while
trying to leap over a picket
fence in Attleboro, Mass.
Luckily the homeowner freed
the deer, which did not appear
to be seriously hurt.  

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, for an unfortunate deer in woodsy suburban Attleboro, Massachusetts, plenty.

Apparently, our deer was running through the neighborhood and tried to take a graceful leap over the Kelley family's picket fence.

Not so graceful.

The deer's hind legs got caught at the top of the fence, and the animal did a nice faceplant on the lawn. And he was stuck.

Yes, we're continuing with our theme of the day, clumsy animals. Earlier, you might have seen my post about penguins having trouble getting past a rope.

Anyway and luckily, 7 year old Grant Kelley noticed the problem with the deer in his backyard.  He told his mother, Kate Kelley who told her husband, Brian Kelley

Even more luckily, each board in the fence is removable. Dad Brian Kelley went out there and removed a couple of boards, which freed the deer.

The only problem is, since Kate Kelley was filming, the whole world gets to see the deer's humiliation.

Otherwise, though, the deer is fine. Watch the funny report from television station WCVB in Boston, which used the Kelley video to tell the story, which has a happy ending:

Random Video of Clumsy Penguins, Just Because

I most have a mean streak because I found myself laughing at a random video of penguins tripping over a rope.

They didn't get hurt, which helps, and I like the way they get back up and pretend the mishap never happened.

Watch and see if you laugh, too:

Awesome Video: A Dolphin Stampede, And A Momma and Baby Whale

From Grist, we have an awesome video today of a dolphin stampede and a whale mom and her little kid. 

From the video: A whale mom and her child  

As Grist points out, drones get a bad rap. We associate them with murky military strikes and a whiff of scandal.

Do drones go over remote areas of Pakistan and bomb (sometime innocent) people? Do drones spy on people from the air, including spying on people nobody ought to be spying on?

The answer to those questions is "Probably."

However, it's not the drone that's the problem, it's how they're used. Sometimes, they give us some amazing views, like the dolphins and the whales in the video below.

The video was put together by Capt. Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point, California.

So watch my version of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (though I should note I have no affiliation with Mutual of Omaha)

Anyway, enjoy!

Technology and Wildlife: Pelican Learns To Fly With a GoPro

OK, this video is basically a GoPro camera commercial, but it's too fun to resist.

Apparently, a young pelican was recently abandoned on a Tanzanian beach by the rest of a flock after a storm.

A nearby wildlife refuge took "Bigbird" in so he could recover. They also attached a very small, lightweight GoPro camera to him as he took is first flight after learning to do so.

Here's the result. I kind of wish I was up there with him:

In Minnesota: Wild Turkey 1, UPS Driver, 0

A UPS driver delivering packages at a Minnesota hospital had a hard day at work recently, judging from the encounter in the video, below.

I guess the turkey really didn't want the package delivered.

Amazing Video: Mama Bear Rescues Two Cubs That Had Gone Over Waterfall

I so want to go to Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

Bears at Katmai Park in Alaska. 

The park has "bear cams" deployed along some of its water ways so that you can watch bears doing what bears do along the river.

From those bear cams comes an amazing video came out recently that shows a number of bears on a beautiful looking stretch of river called Katmai Brook Falls.

The video shows a mother bear fishing near the falls when suddenly her two cubs get swept over the falls and into a torrent. Mama bear leaps over the falls to rescue her young. Another bear tries grab at one of the cubs but Mama quickly shuts the other bear down with a quick snap, and goes back to rescuing the cubs.

So that you don't worry, the video has a happy ending. But you HAVE to watch it. It's so cool. Here it is:

Instant Justice in Elephant Poaching Case

It's infuriating to read these constant stories about poachers gunning down endangered and magnificent animals like rhinos and elephants because idiots think if they get their hands on the animals tusks, or better yet injest them, they'll be strong, virile he-men.

Wildlife justice: Did an elephant fight
back againt a poacher, killing him?  

Of course it's obvious that anyone who would ingest parts of a tusk from such a beautiful creature is anything but a he-man. You'd think nobody would want them as a sexual partner.

Often, the poachers who kill these animals get away with the crime and make a tidy profit from the scumbags who would buy from them.

So it was delightful to read the story of instant justice:  A poacher was trampled by an elephant he was trying to kill, according to the Sunday Mail of Zimbabwe, via the Nothing To Do With Arborath Blog.

Hmm.  I keep hearing stories about the intelligence and cooperative nature of elephants among their herds, so I have to wonder if this was pure instinct at work on the part of the elephant. Maybe the elephant has a well developed sense of justice.

U.S. To Bomb Guam With Poison Mice To Combat Snakes

If you needed more proof that the United States is a leader in weaponry innovation, here it is:

We're going to bomb Guam, a U.S. territory, with toxic, poison mice, according to the Associated Press

Dropping poisoned mice on Guam
might solve a snake problem.  

Yes, it sounds like this is one of those snarky "Your tax dollars at work" attack on government waste, but this actually sounds like it might be for a good cause.

The poison mice, raining down from the skys, will seem like manna from heaven to the invasive brown tree snakes that have pretty much wiped out the bird population on Guam. That is until the snakes, having eaten the poison mice as if they were at a giant rodent buffet, get sick and die.

I like this line from the AP story:

"The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol."

So, I guess Tylenol is good for my headache, but bad for brown snakes. I wonder if the mice have headaches that get cured before they die from acetaminophen poisoning.

The plan is pretty brilliant in that the scientists are taking care not to hurt other animals. The toxic mouse bombs have stuff attached to them so that they get hung up in the trees when they fall, so the tree snakes get them, but the rodents don't make it to the ground, where they could otherwise harm other wildlife.

As for hurting birds on Guam with the toxic mice, that's no problem. The tree snakes have already killed all of the birds,  so poison mice aren't a problem in that regard.

I just wonder what happens to the dead snakes after they've eaten the Tylenol flavored mice. On second thought, maybe I don't want to know.

Girl Gets Wild Catch While Fishing

Here's documentation of a fish that got away. In a wild way.

A woman was fishing off a deck on a rainy, miserable day near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And she got one! Yay! So she started reeling it in.  But watch how the fish got away. Or, more accurately, stolen.

I wonder if something like this would happen in Lake Champlain, Vermont, if the legendary lake monster Champ intervened.

NOTE: Video has some strong language, so NSFW:

An Urban Pileated Woodpecker Calls Burlington, Vt. Home

As I was walking through City Hall Park in downtown Burlington, Vermont yesterday, I approached a sugar maple that was past its better days. It was half dead, and I think the city is going to take it down.

This pileated woodpecker made
a nice hole in this tree in a downtown Burlington, Vt.

I passed under the tree and suddenly, wood chips rained down on me. I stopped, and heard a tap, tap, tap overhead. I looked up and saw the fellow pictured in this post: A pileated woodpecker.

They're usually in forests, pecking away at rotting trees, looking for their favorite foods, such as carpenter ants. I guess this guy found what he was looking for in a city park.

I think I was the only one who noticed him. Everybody else in the park was talking to each other, or on cell phones, or sitting on benches soaking in some sun. Nobody even seemed to notice as I grabbed my camera aimed up, and took a portrait of my new friend.

Fly, Robin Fly

I did an article for the Burlington Free Press on the fact that robins this year are basking in the warmth and bounty of a Vermont winter.

Yes, I know a Vermont winter is barren, cold, snow covered and empty, but this year is different. Lots of berries are left over on trees from a wet summer and fall. The ground has little or no snow, so there's plenty of food there. Less importantly but still significant, it hasn't been that cold, so those robins aren't exactly freezing to death.

A robin I photographed for the Burlington Free Press
story I wrote on robins wintering in Vermont

The robins I've seen around my house all winter look happy enough, except when my dog Jackson decides they're great toys to chase. (Jackson is always so disappointed when the robins fly away. They're supposed to stay on the ground so he can catch them.)

Just because my ADHD brain runs off on tangents, often cheesy, campy tangents, all these robins made some 1970s disco highlights pop into my head. I just love that era, so icky, so kitschy, so gold lame, so sexual in a one night stand sort of way.

Specifically, the winter robins made Silver Connection's epic 1975 disco hit, "Fly Robin Fly," pop into my head.

I find it striking that the entire lyrics to the song consist of seven words: "Fly, robin fly. Up, up to the sky," yet there are dozens of Web sites that offer you the lyrics to the song, in case you want help memorizing it.

The video for "Fly, Robin Fly" is pure 70s schlock.  Watching it gave me a belly laugh. And if you are as sick as I am, you will too. Watch: