Global Warming Brings More Kittehs?

Recent records of the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) are indicating they are being newly seen in northern Mexico and in Arizona. There is evidence that they are extending their range much farther north than in past year

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Taken by a remote camera, this remarkable photograph is the first verifiable record of this elusive wild feline alive in Arizona. Although a small number of ocelots live in south Texas, ocelots have never before been recorded alive in Arizona. Additionally, this record from Arizona places ocelots over 200 miles north in latitude from where they are found in Texas.

So, ocelots are joining the Northward march of species. I've written about Northern Mockingbirds a couple of times. Here's a graph of their numbers observed over the last few
Toronto Ornithological Club's Xmas Bird Count.

Mind you, this is a one day count, so only a fraction of their total numbers, which if I am remembering correctly is about 500 pairs in the GTA. Common enough now that the local birding shops have begun referring to them as native. They're charming little birds in ones and twos; in numbers they become a bit of a pest, with the unpaired males singing endlessly through the summer nights.

Mind you, I'm not sure these guys have any redeeming qualities, and since a neighbor of mine claims to have seen one around Lawrence and Warden, we can assume they've spread East from Mississauga. Like everyone else in Miss., they probably got bored.

Oh, and then there's the pythons moving North too. I love snakes, so I say bring 'em on, but for most folk they're just another thing that's gonna eat the pet chihuahua.

Global Warming Comes To Toronto Island?

HWWD has a nifty little post re the possible effects of AGW on Toronto Island's foliage. Nice pictures of TO from the air.

Where HWWD does foliage, I do birds. Here's an old post on how Calypte anna or Anna's Hummingbird has been gradually expanding its range into the interior of Vancouver Island. And here's another on how the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) has been pushing North into the GTA, its numbers, if you go by the Toronto Ornithological Club's Xmas bird count, having tripled in the past ten years.

"Look carefully at nature and you'll be able to pick out the signs of global warming."

A Feathery Reminder Of Global Warming

The only half-decent shot I managed of one half of a pair of Northern Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) that summers in the Markham/Steeles area. (Click on the picture above and it doesn't look too bad) The range of these animals have been creeping North with our warming summers until, at the moment, there are 400 pairs living in the GTA (according to a representative of the Toronto Ornithological Club).

Here they look like a nondescript grayish thingy, but with wings spread (see below, picture from web) they become quite a bit more notable. According to some, by displaying the white stripes as they fly low over fields, they frighten insects into flight.


If you want to try attracting Mimus polyglottos to your feeder, try chopped apples or raisins, or plant multiflora rose (another invader). Although, if their GTA numbers continue to increase, they will probably come to be seen as an annoyance. They are very noisy and aggressive birds, especially when defending a nest (the one above buzzed my head not long after the shot was taken.)