My Hearing's Alright (to the tune of "Feelin' Alright")

The most recent song: presenting "My Hearing's Alright," to the tune of "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker.  Pretty sure that this is the only song ever to work the primitive bat Onychonycteris in!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Seems I've got to have the best hearing
Cuz under a few feet of snow I hear lemmings
My hearing's just as good as a dolphin
Random clicks and whistles or so it seems
To them its sounds as loud as a scream
But they're using echolocation to help them see

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

There's no use in, tryin' to go and hide
Above your heads I'm way up high
Using echolocation while I'm above to help myself while flyin'
Suddenly under an attack, bugs just don't know why
Eating mosquitoes and their allies
Other bats drink blood I can't deny

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

52.5 million years from today
A bat named Onychonycteris lived, that's hard to say
Researchers say that this bat could fly but not echolocate
So these bats probably flew during the day
'Til something came along to take their place
The birds had come at last: to the night they chased

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

Cowbird (to the tune of"I Know, You Know," the theme song from "Psych")

So song number ten, "Cowbird," goes to the tune of "I Know, You Know," the theme song from the very popular television "Psych."  It also probably requires a little explanation: the cowbird is a type of bird which lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, when the parents aren't paying attention.  The surrogate mother then has to raise her own children, as well as the other birds.  However, the cowbird doesn't let the other baby birds survive for long, and will push the eggs, as well as the other chicks, out of the nest.  So now that you have a little background, now you can enjoy "Cowbird!"  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:

In between the pines there's a lot of obscurity
I'm not inclined to resign to maternity
If it's too tight, then it's so long
I'll push out all your eggs so that they fall to the lawn
Oprah Winfrey I would appall

I know, you know that this just couldn't be true
I know, you know that I'm much bigger than you
Embrace the deception, my appetite with no end
Might send my surrogate mother go flying around the bend

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

Raccoon Dance (to the tune of "Moondance")

Number shichi (in Japanese) song in our song list thingy!  This one is "Raccoon Dance," to the tune of "Moondance" by Van Morrison!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Well, it's a marvelous night for raccoon dance
With a little black mask on their eyes
A fantabulous night to take a chance
And then carry it off with my prize
The owls above are all calling
As they have since so long ago
Across the road I go crawling
There's a good dumpster here I know
But even though I look quite cute, and a lot like a little kid's plush
If you try and hug me your face I will bite and crush

Chorus:
Every single night the raccoon dance helps keep the streets bereft of
All of the trash you filthy humans leave behind we dispose of

Well, my very image seems to cause some fright
'Till over the horizon the sun has come
Although my bark is worse than my bite
But you still don't mess with me just for fun
But on the raccoon you best not be hating
Because I eat everything from plants to bone
I'm an omnivore just like a bear, dear
And I'm found in the north temperate zone
And every time you touch me, you must tremble inside
And I know how much you want to run but still you can't hide

Chorus

Repeat 1st Verse

Chorus

One more raccoon dance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can't I just have one more dance with you my love

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

I Can't Decide (Whether I Should Swim or Fly) (to the tune of "I Can't Decide (Whether You Should Live or Die)")

Numero cinco (he said in flawless Spanish) of our song parody series!  "I Can't Decide (Whether I Should Swim or Fly)" to the tune of "I Can't Decide (Whether You Should Live or Die)" by Scissor Sisters!  This song is all about penguins!

Here are the lyrics to the song:


It's not easy having yourself a good time
Greasing up those penguin feathers
Waddling around, as clumsy as ever
Molt and feed my young at the same time
My feathers are fluffy and look like cotton
I smell like something dead and rotten

But I'm a penguin tonight
I live in sea and not the sky
I'm just a loner baby
But your dance led me astray

I can't decide
Whether I should swim or fly
Cause swimmings got its perks
But then with flight I just drop by
OK, goodbye
Blue sky, I will abide
Where its cold and hard and petrified
Jump on in, through the water we'll glide
At low or high tide

It's not a cinch getting other penguin to like you
Steal their rocks you make them bitter
Even though they're dull and not shiny like glitter
Doing all your moves at the right cue
Mating dance until I'm crippled
Scarf ten sardines, they're raw not pickled

I've got to flipper it to you
You've played by all the same rules
But now you stole my mate from me
Although I scream like a banshee

[CHORUS]

Oh I could throw you in a lake
But you can swim for goodness sake
I won't deny it's not too hard to egg me on
Oh I could try and make you dive
But in the water you still thrive
Which makes me see that maybe
That's why

I stay alive, underwater I can fly
Because flight has its perks
But underwater by and by
I will defy
Other birds who like to stay bone dried
The cold is where I will abide
The world has yet another side
It really must be tried

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

Aquarium Spotlight: Georgia Aquarium

In 2006, my family and I visited what would soon become my most favorite aquarium I have ever been to: the Georgia Aquarium!  It was fantastic, and they had a ton of really cool animals that I had never seen before!  So join us for this Aquarium Spotlight on the Georgia Aquarium, with a bunch of pictures that my mother took while we were there!  Let's start off with the penguins.  The Georgia Aquarium has a colony of adorable African penguins there, sure to be a favorite on your trip!

Another animal that is sure to be a favorite is the whale shark.  The largest shark and, for that matter, largest fish, still alive today, the whale shark behaves more like a whale than a shark, being a filter-feeder, consuming copious quantities of krill.  (Like that alliteration back there?)

Now, the photo below I originally thought was a whale shark, but it looks like its tail might move up and down like that of a whale, dolphin, or porpoise as opposed to side-to-side like that of a whale shark, so I'm not really sure what the heck that is!

The four whale sharks are all in an enormous tank with a ton of other animals, such as large schools of fish, stingrays, and guitarfish, amongst others.  Something that seems to be pretty standard in aquariums these days is the circular walkway thing (pictured below), but, in my opinion, that never gets old!

 

 A stingray

A guitarfish (left) and a stingray (right)

Another fast-favorite will undoubtedly be the beluga, one of my favorite animals of all time!

 

Another smaller and more unassuming creature that is just as interesting as the African penguin, whale shark, or beluga is the leafy sea dragon, THE SUBJECT OF A PREVIOUS ANIMAL SPOTLIGHT. 

 

Another really cool animal was the giant Japanese spider crab!  Inhabiting the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean near Japan between 150 and 1000 feet below the surface of the ocean, the giant Japanese spider crab has evolved to be able to cope with the extreme cold and lack of light experienced so far down in the ocean.

A sea turtle swimming around.

 

 

Greatly interactive, the Georgia Aquarium also has a number of touch tanks for a hands-on experience!

 

Finally, some jellyfish!

Jasper on Dwellable

Aquarium Spotlight: Monterey Bay Aquarium

When my family and I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, we saw a ton of really cool things!  So let's take a look at some pictures of some of these animals now in our very first....Aquarium Spotlight!  First off, the sea otters!  They were really super cute and were swimming ALL over the enclosure, as it was feeding time, and some of the zookeepers were doing a feeding demonstration with training.

 

 

 

 

 

Sea otters weren't all that they had, though!  Another thing that the Monterey Bay Aquarium had was a pretty good jellyfish exhibit.

 

 

 

They also had one of my most favorite animals, the African penguin!

 

 

They also had a few fairly large tanks too, with large schools of fish that looked super amazing and really pretty.  My mom tried to get some good shots of them, but it was dark and they didn't really come out super well.

 

 

 

 

Finally, the other main thing that I thought was worthy of mention were the sea turtles, they had some pretty cool sea turtles!

 

 

 

 

Photo credit for all of these pictures goes to Julie Neher.

Monterey on Dwellable

Zoo Spotlight: Gatorland

When my family and I visited Disney World in Orlando, Florida in 2007, my dad really wanted to go to this alligator zoo thing that he had gone to before, called Gatorland.  It was really awesome!  So let's do a Zoo Spotlight on it!  Every photo in here was taken by my mother, so there is no need to do a "Photo Credit" for every single one!  First off is the entrance to Gatorland!

Perched right next to the entrance were a number of black vultures!

And, as you can probably imagine of a place called "Gatorland," there were lots and lots of alligators, all over the place!  Probably some of the coolest alligators we saw while we were there, though, were the ones that were involved in the feeding demonstration!

There were lots more alligators too, though.  Some were sunning themselves....

 

 

Now, what was that bird in the last picture of the alligator sunning itself on a dock?  That was a great blue heron, and not only do we have those here in Colorado, but there were a bunch there too!

The great blue herons seemed pretty comfortable in the murky water, although something sinister lurked beneath....

 

 

 

 

 

And as if that wasn't enough, they had a place where you could feed goats, too!

 

So would I recommend Gatorland to anyone who was going to be in the area?  Heck, I would recommend it to anyone who isn't going to be in the area, too!

Buena Ventura Lakes on Dwellable