Nature Photography (Formally Spring is in the Air)

[Gwangi]

Thanks Paleo! I'm quite rusty on my invertebrates, probably would have taken me some time to figure that out on my own. 

[Thagirion]

Aw so many cute fat birds. Love the Grossbeaks. And the dandelions in the background are so nice.

[Takama]

This little guy woke my up from my sleep with his loud mateing call.


good thing i have a box of rubber gloves


and a long sleeve shirt or Id be a toad

[paleoferroequine]

Takama, not to worry, it's not a toad (hope you're joking about turning into a toad ) but I believe a gray tree frog, either the Eastern Gray or Cope's Gray , Hyla chrysoscelis or Hyla versicolor . But, if I'm wrong somebody here will know.

[Takama]

Yes i was jokeing about turning into a toad.

suprised how such a tiny critter can make an anoying alarm clock

[ZoPteryx]

Great pics everyone!

Recently, a trio of male Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) have been visiting my backyard.  Not the best image, but here's one of them.

A female and a male Black-headed Grosbeak were with them a few days prior.

[Gwangi]

Beautiful bird, around here we have scarlet tanagers but I've only ever seen one. I've heard them around up in the trees though.

[radman]

I've kept my seed feeder up all this time, and have been rewarded with my cardinal pair, who still come to feed every day, raising up a duo of youngsters.  I don't know if they're males or females, they have sort of in-between coloring and their bills are neither red nor pink.  Here are the two babies:



Here is one on the grass:



Lastly, here is the male feeding one them, whether it's a seed or an insect, I'm not sure:



Anyway, it's been fun to watch, happy birding!

[ZoPteryx]

The male looks stunning against the green foliage!

[Takama]

Almost ran into this big spider while on a walk.

[paleoferroequine]

Almost ran into this big spider while on a walk.

Probably a wolf spider, hard to tell but maybe Hogna carolinensis or H. helluo  or H. aspersa  There are 200 species of Hogna in the world and 23 species in US. There are  13 genera of wolf spiders with 200 species  in US. Of course this could be a Pardosa sp. instead. All these spiders vary so much in color and pattern that unless you have it to examine it is very hard to figure out and I'm not good enough to tell from this picture.

[radman]

Special all-mammal update!
A not-shy young doe wandered out of the woods:



She seemed curious, not sick or lame and, she came right up to us:



I wished I'd had a carrot or apple, but just as well, no point in having her get used to people, that won't end well. 
She was very curious about us, then took off suddenly.



Next, Rammstein the Maus, who has been living under my stoop for a long time, finally got caught in my have-a-heart trap, so I was able to capture him alive and release him in a brush pile several meters into the woods.  He had been crepuscular in looting the fallen seeds from the bird feeder, I had observed him often  at dawn and dusk.  Nothing against the little fellow, but I didn't want him taking up residence in my house if he ever found a way in.
This is him/her in a little aquarium I put him in so my kids could see him, before his release.



Toilet paper roll for scale.

These little varmints are to blame for the demise of my feeder; ultimately, I was unable to keep the squirrels out, regardless of my efforts.  I had read a Yahoo article that a piece of PVC pipe would keep them off a bird feeder, but apparently they don't have internet access, 'cause they scampered up this thing like a pine tree:

 



So now the birdies will be on their own for the summer, which is just as well.  I'm taking the feeder down, it will go back up in late October.

Meanwhile, here is a little fella enjoying the forest/grass borderline:



Spot the varmint!  A little photoshop magic makes it clear, but the previous pic is probably what most predators have to deal with.



Close-up:



Alas, here is Brenda the raccoon, bold enough to come out at high noon, as you can tell from the shadow; she is obviously feeding kits and is desperate for sustentance.  I  don't like her coming up to the house like this, I just close the blinds until she goes away. I do give her a can of dogfood now and then, a few yards into the woods, in a spot where it is unlikely to be swarmed by ants.  Sometimes I check on it an hour or so later and it is licked clean.

[Roselaar]

Oooh, that raccoon looks so cute staring through your window.

[paleoferroequine]

She sure does! Be interesting to see how many kits she has. And I didn't think you would defeat the squirrels. Hard to do. I was wondering, do you live in town or outside?

[ZoPteryx]

Here are some wildlife photos from my trip to Anza-Borrego State Park in extreme southern California.

First up, a scenery shot of the natural oasis at the end of the popular Palm Canyon Trail.  Those palms are CA Fan-Palms, the only palm native to the western U.S.  The animals in later photos were all seen around the oasis and on the trail.


Starting in the flatlands at the base of the canyon and beginning of the trial, I found this pair of Common Side-blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana).  These are easily the most common lizards in the park.


A close second in commonality is the Tiger Whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris).


The largest resident of flat sandy areas is the Desert Iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis).  These guys are pretty confiding if you move slowly.  This one was nibbling on that green plant to its right.


Moving up the canyon, you get into rockier terrain.  This is the home of the biggest lizard in the park, the Common Chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater).  This one's just a juvenile and has yet to develop the species characteristic black and orange coloration.


The species I most wanted to see was the Banded Rock Lizard (Petrosaurus mearnsi) and this gorgeous male granted my wish.  This is almost the northern most extent of this nimble lizard's range.


And if your in an American desert canyon, you're bound to see some sort of spiny lizard, in this case, a big male Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister).


We've now arrived at the oasis, where a different type of spiny lizard rules, the Granite Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus orcutti).  These two are relatively dull for the species.


Tiny lizards like this Baja California Brush-Lizard (Urosaurus nigricaudus) can also be found here.  This oasis is the northern most extent of its range.


Amphibians are abundant at the oasis, like this California Tree frog (Pseudacris cadaverina).


Amphibian predators are also abundant, like this giant water bug (left)(aka: toe-biter) and dragonfly larvae (right).


As I went back down the trail, I kept my eyes peeled for the last lizard on my want list, the Baja California Collared Lizard.  I didn't have any luck with that one, but I did get surpried by (and, fortunately, did not surprise) this impressive specimen chilling less than thirty feet away!  A ram of the endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni).

He hardly flinched as I slowly walked past. A park ranger later told me some people have lived in the area their whole lives and had never seen one.  I guess I was just lucky!

[paleoferroequine]

Wow, those are all fantastic! Especially the Bighorn.    I love to see different biomes completely different to what I'm used to. Hope you get more pics.

[Gwangi]

Excellent series of photographs and you were really lucky to see that ram, you got a great picture of it.

[ZoPteryx]

Glad you both liked them!   Here are some other animals seen on that trip.

Female Banded Rock Lizard (Petrosaurus mearnsi), much more cryptic then the male.


Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus).  I'm always surprised how much bigger these guys are then normal rabbits.


Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata).  A common desert bird that often travels in pairs.


Male Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus).  I suspect he had a nest in the palms at the oasis.


Male Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) displaying to a female with strange body postures and gurgly-hissing-rattling song.  Ultimately, he was successful.

[Pilkington]

Here are a few pictures from around my neighborhood:

This baby rabbit was on my front lawn:


A small toad that took residence in the pool for about a week:


These two ducks have been around the neighborhood awhile now:

Unfortunately the neighbors across the street have taken to feeding them bread. 

Red Tailed Hawk:

A few nights ago a rabbit was hit by a car on the other side of the street from me and the next day when I checked to see if anyone had picked it up before I took the puppy for her walk I saw this hawk enjoying his free meal.

I saw these three squirrels while on a walk with the puppy a block from my house and had to rush home to get my camera:







I've also had a few missed opportunities when I was out on walks without my camera.  Just yesterday I was walking the dog and suddenly she stopped and just stared ahead, refusing to move.  I couldn't figure out what her problem was until I noticed that about 3 houses away there was a deer standing directly in front of us, I'm still not sure how I didn't see it sooner.  Not to mention there are wild turkeys that roam through the neighborhood but I never seem to have my camera when I see them. 

However the one that really bugs me is about a month ago I was walking the dog, again, about 2:00 in the morning when we saw two coyotes a few blocks from my house.  I've heard about the coyotes for quite sometime but I personally had never seen them.

[Gwangi]

Those are some really interesting looking squirrels. I've never seen them with that sort of coloration. Around here we have melanistic (black) grey squirrels. I have yet to get a photograph of one but we do have one stuffed and mounted on the wall.