Well, the vampire finch at first glance seems like another ordinary finch, Right? However, the name gives away the most unusual behavior of this bird – it eats blood.

And not just any blood, the specific blood of the Nazca and Blue-footed boobies. (I wonder, why only these birds?) People believe that the boobies willingly let them drink the blood because it rids them of parasites. Maybe they only choose these birds because they have special parasites that are tasty for them.

Well, this is how they drink the blood.

1. They peck a hole through the boobies’ feathers

2. They drink the blood from that area

That seems pretty simple for this bird. However, it supplements this strange diet with a more finch-like diet. It drinks the nectar of the Galapagos prickly pear (Opuntia echios gigantea).

When the 19th century naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) visited the Galapagos Islands, he discovered 15 different species of finches. The vampire finch was among them. From what he discovered, each one of the finches had evolved to fill a different niche in all the islands. Some were blood-eaters (Vampire finch), nut-crackers (Large ground finch), and grub-catchers (Woodpecker finch).

Despite the name, these birds are not finches. They are called finches because after Charles Darwin brought the specimens to Europe, the ornithologist John Gould misidentified them as common, or true finches.

The ancestors of the tribe Geospinizi (many people group all these finches into their own little group) are probably Eurasian Rose finches that got blown over from Russia thousands of years ago.

The descendents of these rose finches soon adapted to the environment. When they got to the Galapagos, it was easy to do this because there was such a plentiful bounty of food.

I am a potato. No seriously, I am Frank Billy Joe. I have been working in the mountie service for twelve years in the Alberta Mountain forests. This is my usual day. SSSSS!!!!!!!! Oh! That’s my alarm! (My best friend, Jeremy Frank Bob, a Massasauga Diamondback Rattlesnake   has become my alarm. ) So I mounted my Veery (songbird), and flew over the forests of Alberta. I then landed near a small clear, which was very close to where the supreme gem of EH was located. So I checked. It was there. Then I saw a long arm detach from a giant falcon-shaped robot. It took the gem and put it in an internal compartment. This happened in 6 picoseconds. Then I knew there was trouble. I told Jeremy these instructions in potato: “œ∑∂å∂ ƒ†¥ø! Óåß∂  ∫µ√ç ¥∆∫ ∆µ∂ß œ∑å!” (That means, Stop him! Don’t let him get away with the gem!). Jeremy faithfully followed my command. I knew that this was the work of my immortal enemy, the dark falcon. Potato: ´ÂŒ∑ †Ïı√Ω. English: “Flying Arsenic.” Judging from that translation, one can tell he was terrible. Jeremy went slithering to our cabin. It was only 3 meters away. Jeremy went to the laser-guarded security system and found the Veery-bot. “This will do. Meanwhile, Frank was also there to get the snake-bot, which he could use to attack the falcon-bot when it comes within striking range. So Jeremy flew up in the Veery bot and used the grappling hooks to perch on the railing of the ship: A giant black Lego Block. (Well, his craft looks like a Lego Block.) So he managed to clamber into the bottom without being seen. Then, I flew into one of the many suction tubes leading into his control system. Here, everything is fit for beak control. So the dark  falcon was busy into the control. It was time to go into fast mode. Here I quickly set the controls of his ship to self distruct. It was counting in falcon. Kleep, Keeee, Keee, Keeee, Keeee Keeee, Kellep, Keelp. BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ship was destroyed. All the falcon-bots were destroyed. Those who escaped Jeremy were attacked by Frank down below. However, the dark falcon escaped. No one, as of yet, is able to catch him. Finally, we can rest. Ahh, Maple Syrup, Pancakes, and Hot Chocolate is a refreshing meal. After this we work the night shift. Now we will have to defeat the Dark Owl. (I will talk about him later.) For now, it was a good day. (We did retrieve the supreme gem of EH.

Recently, I have become interested in war and have been focusing on World War II (1939-1945). I am mainly interested in war around the Asia-Pacific region, and I have learned about the Japanese Empire along with it. This is how it started:

In World War I, Japan was on the side of America, Britain, France, and the USSR, known as the Allies. However, when the peace treaty was drawn, Japan felt like it did not have enough land, so in 1940, a year or so after World War II broke out, Japan, along with Italy and Germany, signed the Tripartite act, and joined together to form the Axis. Japan had a short war with Russia over the province of Manchuria, known as the Russo-Japanese War, and Japan won the war. On September 8, 1931, Japan won Manchuria due to the Mudken Incident, which happened due to bombing on a Manchurian railroad. Soon the Japanese spilled into China and attacked the Capital, Nanking, in 1937. In 1939, World War II broke out, and Japan signed the Tripartite act in 1940 (See above). Yet on December 7, 1941, Japan launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii. This brought the US into the war. In May 1942, the US had a major victory over the Japanese in the Coral Sea, and by June 1942, the US won the Battle of Midway as well, and the Japanese Empire was coming to an end. By 1944, Burma was liberated by the British, and by 1945, the Japanese surrendered due to the two Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Code names “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”). That was the end of the Japanese Empire.

The Ornate Hawk-eagle, a bird found in Tropical South America, is a stealthy eagle that hunts prey from treetops. It is usually found in warm climate, which the birds thrive in. However, 30 to 20 millions years ago, the tropics extended further north than usual, reaching the United States. This climate change helped the Ornate Hawk-eagle spread further north, possibly as far as Nebraska.

When the climate changed again and began to cool down, Hawk-eagles began to decline in the United States and moved on to South America, so today, we do not see Hawk-eagles in Nebraska.

The fact giant eagles lived in North America is amazing, and North America at that time was home to many different kinds of mammals, the new masters of the Earth ever since 40 million years ago. Daedon, nicknamed the killer pig, was the top predator at that time in North America. Certain South American birds of 1 million year ago, like Argentavis, a giant bird that hunted small horses. It hunted them possibly by landing on them and killing them with a heavy blow. Perhaps  Hawk-eagles in Nebraska possibly hunted the same, except with smaller prey.

C = captive

R = Rare

* equals common

White-cheeked Pintail (C) 

Common Eider (R) 

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye

Bufflehead *

Redhead (R)

Common Pochard (R) 

Canvasback (R) 

Pied-billed Grebe

American White Pelican *

Brown Pelican (R) 

Double-crested Cormorant (R) 

Great Blue Heron *

Snowy Egret (R)

Great Egret (R)

Common Black-Hawk (R) 

American Coot *

Black-necked Stilt *

American Avocet (R) 

Dunlin (R) 

Purple Sandpiper (R)

Red Knot *

Black-tailed Gull (R) 

Ring-billed Gull *

Pomarine Jaegar (R) 

Groar…Groar… Something big is coming through the jungle. He looks around with his mean eyes and thinks only of one thing (at the moment): food. He Narrates the following:

He was watching a Pachyrhinosaurus herd. His sharp brain knew where they were going. A small bird landed on his shoulder. “Lets see… hmm… we need some young Pachyrhinosaurus.” So he followed the herd to their nests, and then waits. His eyes light up when he saw: “eggs!” he rushed forward and grabbed an egg. Dinner was ready. The bird on his shoulder (Alexornis) said, “Umm, Troodon, I’m pretty sure that they saw that.” Troodon looked up, alarmed. “Help!” he screamed. Then Troodon and the Alexornis ran, hoping to evade the huge, killer horns. Luckily they grabbed a Quetzelcoatlus and flew away. They now (With Troodon’s thermal vision cellphone), could get a stereo version of the ground. Then they flew back to their house (He lived all alone, excluding his mentor, Alexornis.)

Southern Rubber Boas are small, and are native to the harsh desert regions of the American Southwest, mostly Southern California. Seen in wetter regions as well.

Description: Mostly brown with some black.

Distribution: Mostly Southern California, lives in some other regions of the Southwest as well.

Diet: Small animals, similar to the Northern Rubber Boa’s.

Genus: Charina

Family: Boidae

This small snake is native mostly to the counties in Central California, also having populations in Northern Nevada.

Description: Largely different colors; the juveniles are brightly colored, sometimes red, pink, orange, and sometimes black.

Distribution: Occasional to Northern Nevada, mostly lives in North and Central California.

Diet: Small mammals, lizards, possibly frogs and Salamanders.

Genus: Charina

Family: Boidae

This small snake is native to all across America. It likes a diet of frogs, and other small creatures.

Description:

This snake is usually black with a streak of yellow. Largely different across the U.S.

Distribution:

Native to most small forests and wetlands in America

Diet: Frogs, small mammals, lizards, and other easy to catch prey.

Genus: Thamnophis

Family: Colubridae