hydrobates_tethys's Favorites

The culmination of my hiking and birding efforts in SoCal in June 1974 was the discovery of a nesting pair of Spotted Owls in Trabuco Canyon. A day after the initial discovery, I invited raptor bander Pete Bloom to accompany me back to the spot to attempt to band the birds. Pete was successful at capturing and banding both adults and the single fledgling. Here is some documentation of that effort, including a John Denver-ish image of me at the time with the fledgling and Pete Bloom holding one of the adults. I also include an image of the canyon as it looked that day where Pete set up the small trap to capture the owls.

“96 degrees” on my vehicle’s temperature gauge, at 8:37pm. (Approx 4,000 feet elevation) Felt cooler than that. I think my temp gauge was off. I have seen 3 variable groundsnakes in this area now, 2 this week and 1 last summer. All were different colors. The first one was black and orange banded with some white, the second was white and striped with orange, and now this one, white with orange bands. Really awesome! Hence the name “variable” haha.

A whale shark approached the fishing boat Triton while fishing for yellowfin tuna off Catalina Island. Warm waters are bringing many sub tropical species up the coast.

Reported by Captain Ryan Gangler, photo credit

The captain also reports seeing a Hammerhead shark and green sea turtle

As I continue to dig around in my attic and cellar, I'm not just finding "dirt" - I'm finding observations that are "older than" it! haha! This is absolutely the darkest "Black Timber" I've ever encountered (and, I've seen - let's say... a "few") in 40 years - no pattern visible whatsoever, even completely black ventrally! Truly a "masterpiece of melanism". Scooted off the road to safety in 1979, in the vicinity of the Ellenville Fault Ice Caves, Ulster County, NY.

Albino individual of black vulture (Coragyps atratus) next to two other vultures with normal coloration. Note the radical contrast in coloration and the absence of melanin in the retina.

Address: Nosara beach, Nicoya, provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Recorded date: 2019/03/25

Credits: José Venegas

Found this lil one which I have never seen a color morph like this for a Mud snake. I determined it to be one based off the visual/physical features such as the “tail spine”, pattern, head/eye shape, as well as a divided anal plate.

This is the first known specimen of ridgenose rattlesnake from the Peloncillo Mtns. This snake was given to me by NM Game and Fish, as I was studying obscurus on a grant from them at the time. This was a gravid female that delivered six offspring some months after capture.

Finally, something that gets me excited about Bullfrogs again...

I stopped for a Spring Peeper, and then noticed a yellow object with a red reflection, a ways down the road. I assumed it was some trash, and then realized as I got closer that reflection was an eye shine.

Photo taken from my record on NAHerp.com

Specimen found during 2nd year survey (2004) for the Herpetological Inventory of the Chihuahuan Desert National Parks. It was the only alterna found within any of the surveyed parks. Specimen deposited within the MSB per survey protocol.

https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/439721

Habitat Preserved but disked continuously.

This entry is for the upper middle kingsnake (light brown and Yellow) All three were found within 30 yrds of each other.

The other two kings in the photo have their own observation (entries)

Beautiful leucistic Cal King found while road cruising in the Mojave! This lavender morph is common in the pet trade but rare to find out in the wild. It was very far from human habitation so it is definitely not an escaped captive bred snake.

1 of 4 individuals seen. Air temperatures between 90-100F. This one was observed 5 different times 10-20 minutes across this night. Every time we came back, it would be back out on the rock before retreating under the lights.