Observed 182 R. draytonii post-metamorphic frogs. Observed adults and froglets along and near the shoreline. Nightime visual encounter survey only.
I was sent this photo by a neighbor she claims it is a great white she saw while stand up paddling. I’ve lived in that area all my life and never seen any shark that size.
Organized by retired State Park biologist Mark Faull, along with current State Park biologists and I found several shells and live snails of this poorly known species in Red Rock Canyon State Park. We hope to shed light on how closely it is related to other Sonorelix in the Mojave Desert. We were very glad to find that it still survives here, despite climate warming and drought.
This White Ibis caught a small snake for a meal.
The White Ibis observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3418073
Cueva de Los Quinteros
Murciélago atrapado
growing in open field
Piebald found by Kacy. Also one of the thickest I've seen.
Orange fluorescence under 365nm blacklight.
Individual with unique markings indicative of the southern lineage
Probably Lesser (canadensis) as that's the dominate SSP in neighboring Imperial county at the Salton Sea and the red crown seems fairly limited.
Mother and pup. Photos 1, 2, 3 are the mother, photo 4 is the pup. They (and a 3rd seal I saw later) had green algae growing all over them.
Predating a hatchling Western Yellow-Bellied Racer (Coluber constrictor mormon). The racer was still alive when I first found them. It was either envenomated and killed or it became paralyzed and was eaten alive.
In 2020, I observed very a similar situation, where a DOR hatchling racer was scavenged by a nightsnake.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56854956
Lake County, Oregon
August 2023
Found in woodrat nest during field research. Military training firing range, access highly restricted
Pair of House Wrens nesting deep in the throat of a Pterodactly sculpture.
Maybe a Colima maybe a Colima X Virginia's - a potential hybrid swarm has been known from the upper elevation sod the Davis Mountains for some time now. A researcher from Texas Tech U is now looking into the issue and this is one of the birds he caught and took DNA from.
OR-103 on a brief sojourn into the Salmon River watershed before he was killed in Oregon.
Black-white morph mountain king snake in Yosemite Valley, climbing up a crack on Washington Column. ~200 feet below summit, 1000+ feet above valley floor.
Second and third photos are looking climber's right and below where the snake was observed
Western Grebe with large sucker species that it fed to a Clark's Grebe.
First pair of chum seen spawning in this creek in a while. In the past we have seen chum but no evidence of pairs before.
A spotted night snake ate this variable sandsnake (probably because they spent the night together in the same trap). When we handled the night snake, it decided to regurgitate its recently eaten prey.
Found along Moenkopi Loop Trail at Red Rock Canyon
Mating? The larger brighter colored one emerged first, followed by the two slightly smaller drabber colored ones, who wrapped themselves around it when it stopped.
Found another mystery KRP Spadefoot in the same area as the last one. I am now leaning towards Great Basin Spadefoot, which I think is still a fairly big range extension.
Gopher Tortoise Tick (Amblyomma tuberculatum) on a Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus).
Growing in talus on north face of Cross Mountain. Hundreds to thousands scattered in steep, mobile scree.
I have no idea what this lizard is definitely not a western fence lizard
PLEASE READ FOR ID.
Just killed by Coyote. The coyote was joined by its juvenile pup and then the male. She chased the male away to have the meal to herself and let the juvenile watch.
Edit: Note I saw species in same area three years ago: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54302918
This is not a gopher snake, contrary to what I IDed it as to start. I thought it was a weird "morph" but due to range; it was the only species that made sense. Zoom in and look closely; it does not have the correct barred markings. ID credit goes to herpetologist Robert Hanson. He also IDs it as female. This is a Sierra Gartersnake - Thamnophis couchii https://californiaherps.com/snakes/pages/t.couchii.html. Though east of its range it is possible that it came here via humans either released after tiring of it or by accident via produce box from the orchards in Tehachapi area or camping gear from someone camping at Brite Lake. It was caught in habitat where it would thrive due to lakes filled with fish and toads and plenty of tall grass, cattails, and other plants for mice and the snake to hide in.
I saw this snake at rest for a while and then slithering away in the Ballona freshwater marsh.
Two live individuals present.
in the ranches on the border with mexico next to the river
Snapping turtle caught a duck by the beak. (nb see the duck post to see what happened)
Eating a Rufous Owl Ninox rufa.
While the quality of the photo isn't great, I clearly observed (with binoculars) the shape of the python's head, its slender body, and its colour (pale grey with darker, sparse, markings) which all suggested the ID of Oenpelli python.
Observed in a patch of monsoon forest beside a sandstone scarp.
Swimming very slowly at the surface, barely noticed my kayak was there. Swam within 1ft of kayak, did not spook.