Pretty interesting to see a chinkapin oak somewhat outside its natural range at 1000 acre environmental center. The plant is more common in SW Wisconsin but the plant is represented in the groups logo which must mean its presence is valued by local plant folks.

The weasel had recently killed a large adult rabbit and was alternately eating it and trying to drag it into its burrow (without success). It was reasonably wary of humans, but not overly skittish or aggressive. It allowed us to stand about twelve to fourteen feet away and observe after we remained still and quiet for several minutes.

Behavior suggests an obvious pet escapee/release, but according to a prior iNat observation, it's been out there since at least August 31st, so I'm considering it "wild" since that's how it was found.

Now, however, it has been taken in and some people are going to try to reunite it with its owners or otherwise find it a home. The "method of capture" was it jumping off of a tree onto my girlfriend's head...and then not leaving. Oddly, this is not the first time I've seen this method of capture employed. Occasionally, feral animals can be absurdly snuggly.

Found this adult albino Prairie Dog in a huge Prairie Dog town on the west side of Concho Lake. Surprised to see an adult as most albinos rarely survive to adulthood. See additional photos of the normal P-dogs, including a pup in one photo. Another adult is actually is the photo with the albino just to the right of the albino, but obscured by the grasses.

This roadrunner was at a bird feeder at Sandia Crest (~10,678 feet elevation!) and was first observed lying flat in the seed tray of the feeder. After it was disturbed by me and left, a few Mountain Chickadees arrived at the feeder. When I returned to the spot sometime later, the roadrunner was back in the feeder tray and then was observed on the ground under the feeder swallowing a bird -- perhaps a chickadee it had caught. Unfortunately I missed the actual capture of the prey bird.

Incredible experience with this Mink. She was moving her babies from one den to another. When I arrived, I was told she had already moved 2. I saw her move 2 more.

Not sure why she was doing this, but guessing her den was disturbed somehow. It is right next to a place where fishermen sit, but not sure if it was that or another animal that got up in there.

Such interesting behavior to see!

When I woke up this morning I didn't know I'd be taking a selfie with a duck. Or running after it as it tried to take off from a wet road, which they never can. Or driving one-handed to release it at the nearest body of water. Rescue mission: successful! The duck is on the left.

I had previously identified this as E. murinus, but on closer revision I noticed it is E. beniensis (based on the black spots, rather than circles on the lower part of the body, as well as the pattern on the head - although only partly visible in the second pic)

Wolf and coyote for comparison. These two are from Montana and shows the dramatic size difference. This is for all you warm and fuzzy Disney movie believers of coyotes cross breeding with wolves. Wolves kill coyotes, they don't breed with them, regardless of who said it.

It was then unknown species to science. It was first scientifically described in 2017: Bresseel J., Constant J. 2017. The Picasso stick insect. A striking new species of Calvisia from Vietnam with notes on captive breeding and new methods for incubation of eggs (Phasmida: Diapheromeridae: Necrosciinae) // Belgian Journal of Entomology. V. 46. P. 1-18.