Wings have a purple~blue~green sheen to them that you can see most clearly in the otherwise very blurry last photo
easter bunny came late
Not the bladder snail itself, but whatever is attached to it. I have no idea if they're parasites or not or if I should be concerned but the snails seem, honestly, fine? I've noticed most of my bladder snails have them.
(Not marked captive because whatever these are, I did not intend for them to be here)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) an aquatic diving bird in the Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) family. Conservation Status: Vulnerable (S3) in California.
Neck appears kinked in flight. Large, rounded throat pouch is yellow-orange year-round. Eyes often appear blue. Breeding adults have a wispy, white crest, a tuft of feathers curving back from behind the eyes. This dark, long-bodied diving bird floats low in the water with its neck and bill raised. It is often seen standing upright near water with wings spread out to dry. It is larger and has a shorter tail than the Neotropic Cormorant.
The Double-crested cormorant is the most widely distributed cormorant in North America, and the only one likely to be seen inland, even in the desert near bodies of water. At the coast, Double-crested Cormorants tend to nest in trees, unlike Brandt's Cormorants which nest in mud impressions on offshore rocks, and Pelagic Cormorants which nest in sides of cliffs.
E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/doccor/
Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/double-crested-cormorant
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017. pp. 252-253.
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, p. 88-89.
Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 108
The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ (enter common name) and https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double-crested_Cormorant
Bird songs and sound recordings from around the world: https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Phalacrocorax%20auritus
Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/
Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php
Captured at Tuum Market, Baragoi-Kenya by Simon Musila and released back to the wild
Everything is out of proportion with this dove that managed to perch at my AI feeder for some closeups.
The yellow lichen
They were hanging out in a sad, shitty little trashpond that only exists very briefly after heavy rainfall or large snow melts
speckled buddies hanging out at the usual pigeon haunt
I thought the one on the left was the cow pigeon from a distance, maybe next time
very curious fella, he was following me around while I was taking some measurements and he kept jumping on me
blessings of the cow pigeon upon ye
The "pff-FWEET" and "chk" sounds. Most of the audio is not that, but when it happens it's hard to miss because it is VERY LOUD, you can hear it pretty early on in the second recording, at about 19 seconds in. You can also hear another one in the distance doing the "pff-FWEET" call I think, though you can only hear the latter part. Any time this one would do the first sound, it'd puff itself up real big on the "pff" part, like it was taking the biggest breath it possibly could lol
This is an interesting story with a happy ending. My friend David Ferry and I were driving along Hwy 87 at 60 mph near Crystal Beach, Texas, when I glimpsed what I thought was a Least Bittern standing on the very edge of the road with cars whizzing past. I made a U turn and went back where we indeed found a Least Bittern, resting back on its tarsus joints within inches of passing traffic. I picked up the bird and we stood on the side of the road to examine it. My best guess is that (1) it took a glancing blow off a car windshield, perhaps, or (2) It was totally exhausted from migrating across the Gulf of Mexico. It did not seem to be badly injured and its wings did not seem to be broken. Rather than just leave it here on the road to be crushed and killed I decided we would take it to a nearby marsh area off the roadway where it could die in peace and dignity. So we drove off with Dave holding the bird in his lap and heading to a marsh well off the road where I know Least Bitterns were present. We put the bird down on the edge of the marsh and it just stood there looking at us. I was about to just drive away and let nature take its course, but decided to take a few more shots of the bird. I got down low to the bird's level and it went into the characteristic bittern pose by stretching its neck high and trying to look like a swaying bit of marsh grass. It kept a watchful eye on me from both sides of its raised bill and image 1 shows this action. The bird then started slowly walking away from us. I bent down to take another shot and the bittern took flight and flew out into the marsh and out of sight. I choose to believe it recovered and is doing well.
near Crystal Beach,
Galveston Co., Texas
26 April 2018
Falcon by Thomas Circle eating a dove
Caught during an owl banding session at the Wildcat Hills banding station
male and female
One of the photo opportunities we were most interested in at this location was the vulture photo blind which had been constructed nearby. King Vultures are regularly seen here ad we hoped for the chance to get some shots. I have seen King Vultures on numerous trips to southern Mexico and Central and South America dating back to the late 70s, but most of my views were of birds soaring very high in the sky. The species is known to be shy of people and can difficult to get close to.
Our guide obtains pig heads from a slaughterhouse in the region when he has clients such as Dave and me who are interested. These heads are put out in the early morning and hopefully by 9 AM or so the Black Vultures will find them which may attract one or more Kings.
The hide or blind is constructed into the ground so that the photos are taken at more or less ground level. You are shooting through optical quality glass in windows in order to lessen the disturbance to the birds and from the bird side of the glass only a dull reflection is seen. It is an incredible piece of construction and was designed very well.
To make a long story short, during our morning in this blind we had hundreds of Black Vultures and 6 Kings! Three adults and other younger birds of various ages. I have over 400 nice images, just a few which are here. It was quite an experience to see this magnificent bird up close and personal. At one point an adult King Vulture was within 5 feet of us....I took some cell phone shots!
Found in a net used to sweep along the shoreline of a small pond. Photo taken while this was swimming in a container after being caught. Photographed 2 hours after found. 1.5 mm head to end of tail.
Colour morph "Marble Queen", cutting taken from a much larger plant my mom has. They were taken from a side of the plant that doesn't get much direct sunlight exposure, and before placing them in my tank, the streaking was way fainter. The damage on the small leaf was there before taking the cutting, from an infestation that had cleared up a long while before taking it
In Diana Walstad's "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium", there's an entire chapter that focuses on the efficiency of partially-submerged plants in many regards, such as ability to remove water contaminants that can be harmful to fish, as well as speed of growth, and other such areas. I picked Epipremnum aureum just because my family already has something like 5 plants I could take cuttings from. Not pictured but still present in the tank is some sort of duckweed I recently bought because they also provide some of the same sorts of advantages.
No idea if this was a stray or someone's outdoor cat or what. Seemed quite afraid of me.