tkoffel's Favourites

Drama. These guys all normally get along pretty well, but here a squirrel decided to start something and nearly got kicked in the head as reward. Moments later they were back to munching sunflower seeds side-by-side again.

First iNaturalist record.

With Graham Armstrong, Pete Ellis, Steve Guy, Guy Langan, Paul Harvey, Phil Heath, Ian Lewis.

Seen for more than an hour after dawn, in a small loose group of Eur. Curlews, feeding in a short-grass field on the south side of the main lake. This was "limpy" - the bird that had been shot about 3 weeks earlier, but seemed to make a recovery.

This location is the last known wintering site for this species. The last record from here was in February 1995.

Here is a link to the last video taken at this site, in January 1995:

http://www.hbw.com/ibc/video/slender-billed-curlew-numenius-tenuirostris/bird-foraging-short-grass

3 to 4 adults encountered and observed from a respectful distance. Followed ethical viewing guidelines of keeping distance and watching for signs of stress such as standing up and alarm whistles.

Watched with Simone for about 15 minutes from a nearby hill when all of a sudden we heard loud calls coming from an obscured bushy area. We initially interpretted these as an alarm call and were getting up to go when we spotted 2 adults aggresively fighting. Hard to tell through the brush but they seemed to be on their hind legs biting each other on the nose. Made an audio recording of the fight and holy hell it was something to see. Image #4 you can just make out the fight. Once they quited down one of the pair came up on a log and had a visible gash on its nose, see pictured. Over the 15 seconds I photographed the individual bleeding increased and poured down to its mouth. What appears to be a scar on the right side of its face makes it seem this is not their first fight, but then I don't know much about Vancouver Island Marmot behaviour.

At any rate, absolutely incredible to finally see this Critically Endangered species and feeling incredibly grateful to the Marmot Recovery Foundation who has worked tirelessly to save this species from extinction! Those metal clips on the marmot's ears are just one sign of the work they do, and I believe indicate this is one of the individuals they raised in captivity and released into the wild. At any rate, to hear more about their work, have your Marmot questions answered, and donate to a great cause, you can go to marmots.org