h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I wanted to post this for Willem to see, but then I thought the rest of you might enjoy it, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiJLT1klKnI

That nuthatch is amazing with the display behaviour.

A very surprising thing happened yesterday: it didn't snow. Instead, the temperature climbed to a startling 25 degrees C. Nature's going nuts. It's warm again today, too. Does it mean spring is here? The chipmunk under the porch and the bunny with the cottontail and cute ears seem to think so, ditto the birds. We spot buds on trees.

Rain is coming, they say. There may be snow on Monday. Who knows? It's unpredictable. Molly's looking curiously out all the windows, and chasing stink bugs around the house.

I'm pulling for spring. It's past time, already.

Oh, and here's that chipmunk again, outwitting a crow for possession of a prized cob of maize. Efficient little food gatherers, chipmunks.

Solnushka says the weather in Moscow climbed to double digits. Maybe it's true...

Thanks Dmitri, that was a great video! The chipmunk was cute. That was quite an interesting wing-spreading display from the nuthatch! I wouldn't have thought it would work as well as it did. Nuthatches are cute too, as are juncos. And bluejays are actually beautiful!

What do those stink bugs look like? We have stink bugs here too, we call them in Afrikaans 'pampoengoggas' (pumpkin bugs).

We've had a hot and sunny day over here. Probably hit 25 degrees C or so here as well.

Well, they're flying beetles (we think), brown, and shaped like somebody designed them that liked weird corners. Sort of origami-bugs...

https://www.orkin.com/other/stink-bugs/do-stink-bugs-bite/

We get two or three per day inside the house. We suspect the heating vents. I don't like it when they parachute down on me from the ceiling and appear suddenly in front of my keyboard...

Hi there, thanks for that answer! Stink bugs aren't beetles, but true bugs of the order Hemiptera. The ones we get over here are very similar, a bit longer in the body though. I've never seen one in my (or anyone else's) house, but they're in the garden. Truly a horrendous stench if you touch them, and it doesn't wash off easily at all! I just do my best to avoid them! Apart from the smell though they're totally inoffensive. Yours seem to take some inspiration from drop bears though!