Texas iNat gathering in Dripping Springs on November 11, 2015.
Kneeling from left: @mchlfx (checkered shirt), @robberfly, @maractwin (blue shirt), @mksexton, @sambiology, @kueda (red bandana);
standing L to R: Bob (husband of taogirl) and Tuffy the dog, @greglasley, @lotus (sunglasses), @mikaelb, @blubayou (red blouse), @gpstewart (red shirt), @taogirl, @annikaml (sunglasses), @gcwarbler, @connlindajo, @brentano, @billdodd, Wilson (wife of cullen), @cullen, @cgritz, Aaron (husband of cgritz). Photo by Cheryl (wife of greglasley)
Brown anole who fell in love with a fairy!
Falcon by Thomas Circle eating a dove
Cardinal getting territorial with itself in this mirror. It was doing the same thing last week too. It spends a not-insignificant amount of time battling itself.
The photo was taken by Lisa Hatfield. Lizard survived the encounter with the young cat and was released nearby. Though it may have been injured during the encounter, and during subsequent removal.
this chicken is extra fresh
TUFTS UP
Wait for it … (it’s a short video) https://youtu.be/KG5DyPKQLDA
I could not resist posting this short video clip from our owl house on Monday. When I saw the Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) raise its tufts, I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair!
Observation & photo submitted by @tighephoto (Michael Tighe) via Instagram #macarthurparklake
mom sitting on chicks
Spotted towhees are not very common visitors to the yard, but recently a pair of them have been seen frequently. One or both of them can often be seen shadowboxing with various parts of our cars.
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.
Pair of House Wrens nesting deep in the throat of a Pterodactly sculpture.
3 years post-fire, strongly resembling Cupressus sempervirens
To this date, the second largest Burmese python caught in the Florida Keys. The animal was located in a novel way, it had eaten a Virginia opossum outfitted with a satellite telemetry collar. After a set period of inactivity, the collar would send off signal indicating that the animal was dead. Well this happened, and then the collar would move a few hundred feet, then go back on mortality signal, then move again and so on. After a week of this, we decided to go see what was up with the animal, so we tracked it to the hardwood-mangrove edge underground, odd for a opossum. We set up a grid of camera traps and baited them with cat food and no opossum showed up. A few days later, we tried digging at the point where the signal was strongest, thinking that maybe the collar slipped and after an hour we saw scales! We were able to extract the python that day after quite a fight pulling her from her burrow.
(1) Myself and other CLNWR employees holding the python
(2) First image of the python in the underground cavity
(3) Python being measured
(4) Python's enormous head
(5) Location of the collar (RIP Prairie Dog) in the python's GIT
(6) X-Ray of the collar within the python
Point submitted to EDDMapS and under review.
TL: 383.54cm
SVL: not taken
Mass: 28122.7kg
Sex: Female
Blooming in mass numbers throughout Walker Canyon Area, with a preference for south facing slopes.
Blue colored frog on Cow parsnip. I have never seen a blue one before.
'The Return' - a month after spawning the megalops (hatchlings) return to shore in a red carpet that covers whatever is in their way as they migrate inland.
This guy was at the very summit of Shasta! What is this dude doing up there?!?!
The search is over, folks. This is the best flower in the universe.