cabings's Favorites

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.

in the absence of a trunk or stone to lean on, a capybara may be an option;
I have observed these two individuals do this twice;

see also
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/nelson_wisnik/21258-the-friendly-capybara

My first attempt at diatoms cleaning.

Three specimens observed, from the same sample of my previous observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141202070 taken on 2022-11-05.

Stria density: 7-8 per 10 μm (center), 10-11 (extremities).
Puncta density: 11 per 10 μm.
Length 213-225 µm, width 41-44 µm.

Stigmata visible near the central nodule.

According to Diatoms of Europe vol.3 by Kurt Krammer, 2002, it looks like Cymbella peraspera:
“Valves moderately to distinctly dorsiventral, dorsal margin rather evenly arched, ventral margin with a slightly gibbous central portion. Valve ends not protracted and broadly rounded. Length (130)154-320 µm, breadth 44-52 µm, maximal length/breadth ratio about 6. Axial area moderately wide, linear, widening at mid-valve to form a shallow central area, about ¼ to nearly ⅓ of the valve breadth. Raphe slightly lateral, tape ring near proximal and distal ends, becoming filiform near the proximal and the distal ends. Proximal raphe ends with moderately large roundish central pores which are slightly ventrally deflected; terminal fissures sickle-shaped and dorsally bent. Striae throughout radiate. Puncta distinctly and more or less roundish in focus high and low. A large number of stigmata on the ventral side of the central nodule, in focus low differently shaped from the puncta, commonly distant from the middle ventral striae. Striae 5-8/10 µm, becoming up to 10/10 µm near the extremities. Puncta 7-10(11) in 10 µm.”

Found this smallish beetle (about 1/4 inch long) clinging to a tamarisk. I think my fiddling with the bush to try and get a better angle for photos scared it, because it dropped to the ground and I lost sight of it.
The ID algorithm is suggesting a bunch of different beetles, but its top guess is genus Micraspis. Which, now that I looked into it, seems like a bad suggestion since nearly all the observations of that genus are not from North America.

My first sighting of a tarantula in the wild! My guess is A. iodius, but I don't know that there's a way to be sure. This male was on the prowl for a mate and walked around the whole time we were there. When we first spotted him from the car, he was with another tarantula, but by the time we got out, that one had scurried into a burrow. The burrow structure was massive! If you zoom in on that photo, you can just see the tarantula walking off the bottom right of the mound. Anyone know if the tarantulas would have built this themselves?

Watched this heron take 20 minutes to choke this poor snake down. In that time, he beat the snake, lost it, promptly caught it again, then tried to orient it correctly for eating. When the bird finally got it, this poor snake wrapped its head around the bird's beak to keep a grip on life.