susanhewitt's Favourites

A wasp mimic.

I found it almost drowned in the overflow ledge of the John Jay swimming pool. But it was rescued by me.

However the moth never completely revived and died during the night, outdoors on my windowsill.

A valve of this species in really good condition. Great!

Dr. José Leal will be very happy to make a photograph of this valve in order to replace the image of the chipped valve that is currently up as part of the Shell Guide on the museum website.

This is only the 3rd valve of this species ever found on Sanibel and Captiva, and all three valves were found by me on Turner Beach, one in December 2017 and two in December 2021.

I was walking to Alley Pond Park and heard a loud ruckus of Blue jays calling. It sounded like juvenile birds. I looked up at the tree, where the sounds were coming from, and saw a young Blue jay dangling upside down from a branch. The poor thing was calling loudly and seemed to be in a lot of distress. There were several adult Blue jays who were also very upset and were calling loudly - they were flying up to the young Blue jay and perhaps were trying to encourage him. I couldn't see very clearly what was going on with the young Blue jay's foot, but I quickly decided to climb up on this tree and try to help the poor bird. He was probably about 15 feet above ground, and fortunately I was able to climb up to him. I was a little worried that the adults might try to attack me and peck at me, thinking that I may try to hurt the young bird, but I took the risk. I got to the little bird and broke off some of the branches around one of his feet, which was bent in a strange way and appeared to be caught in the branch. I was then able to put the bird right side up on one of the tree limbs. He was very scared and at one point pecked at me, but it didn't hurt. I petted his back with my finger for a second and spoke to him softly to try to soothe him. He quieted down, and the adult birds stopped calling. I climbed down and watched the little bird for a few minutes. He remained perched quietly and none of the adults were coming to him. I really hope the parents returned to this poor bird and that his foot was OK, not broken. I then noticed a feral cat lurking in the bushes, under the tree. The cat may have been eying the young Blue jay. I hoped the cat had not gotten one of the parents. I threw some rocks in the bush, near the cat, which scared the cat away.

A truly amazing encounter with one of the world's most enigmatic ungulates. When I first saw this Pygmy Hippo, it was resting on the ground a few meters off the trail, covered with sweat droplets. After about an hour of waiting, it got up and slowly walked through the forest. It did not appear to mind my presence.