Favoritos de scottking

A male petrolling creek in the morning, hovering for 2-8 sec. in a location, moving slightly and hovering again. Doing it for many minutes but occasionally perching on stone out in the creek.

A female also came to the area, laying eggs.

January 2020.
Creek crossing H-Track, Paluma, Queensland, Australia.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise, going through the pics taken during my first summer at Fundy National Park. Taken with my clunky old Nikon D50 (6 megapixel), which I bought used from my bro way back in 2006. I think this is a distinctive species, especially the female with her large, subquadrate markings on tergite 2, but as always, corrections welcome. A few more pics coming, pending crop and slight rework to pull out the details a bit better. New for me and new for the park list ;)

Confirmed on Bug Guide by Bill Dean:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1505367

On August 16, we witnessed what has to rank with one of the most incredible wildlife experiences I’ve ever had. Cheryl and I were on a trip with 6 other nature photographers and our leader. We had been in the Pantanal area of Brazil for about a week with 5 days along the Cuiaba River near Porto Jofre, looking for Jaguars and other photo ops. Our daily routine was breakfast at 5:30 AM and we took off on boats from 6 till about 11AM, lunch at noon at the lodge, then on the boats again 3PM till dark. Our group has 3 boats so just 3 people per boat so plenty of room for photo gear, etc. Over several days we had seen 10-12 Jaguars. Some were very good photo ops, some poor photo ops, some just glimpsed.

There are several lodges in the area and it is a popular place to visit for folks hoping to see Jaguars, so much like Yellowstone National Park, a crowd can gather when some significant wildlife is seen, but instead of car jams to see a Grizzly such as Yellowstone, this can be boat jams for a jaguar. I have seen as many as 22 boats, 70-100 feet off shore with lots of people in each boat taking photos of a sleeping Jaguar. BUT…that is not the end of the story! We were often in more remote areas of the rivers and inlets and streams more or less on our own looking for birds, etc., so lots of times there are no other boats around. The boat drivers all have radios, so if a Jaguar is seen, other boats are informed. We move 20-25 miles up and down the river to explore, so many times other boats are not close enough to arrive while a Jaguar is in view.

My limited Jaguar experience is that some are just sleeping and/or resting and mostly ignore the boats in the river. Others are walking though the edge of the forest near the river and when a boat becomes visible, the animal just vanishes back into the forest. This morning at about 7:30 AM our three boats were in an out-of-the way location, a mile or so apart. The boat I was in was photographing a Great Black Hawk when one of our other boats called us on the radio to say they had a Jaguar swimming in the river, apparently hunting, so we headed to that area. Apparently the Jaguar, with just its head visible, swam up to loafing Yacare Caimans and pounced onto a caiman which was about 6 or so feet long. The Jaguar and the caiman thrashed in the water with the Jaguar biting into the skull of the caiman. That is about the time our boat arrived, after the Jaguar had mostly subdued the caiman, but the caiman was still thrashing about. The Jaguar was up against a high dirt bank, still mostly in the water with a firm grip on the skull of the caiman and the Jaguar was not letting go. It was very dark and under heavy foliage and vines so I was shooting at 4000 and 6400 ISO but that was my only choice. Eventually the Jaguar was able to work itself and its prize away from the vines and it drug the caiman out of the water and up the dirt bank and eventually back into the forest to enjoy its catch beyond the curious and amazed eyes of the human observers. The caiman was as large or larger than the Jaguar. All I have to say is that a mature Jaguar is an incredibly powerful predator and watching this whole 15 minute episode is something I’ll not forget. What a beast!

This entire series was shot from a boat, perhaps 40 feet off the bank with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II and a Canon 100-400 IS lens in case anyone is interested.

Cuiaba River,
near Porto Jofre,
Pantanal,
Brazil
16 August 2017

One of the most impressive things to witness in the dragonfly world: Notoaeschna sagittata depositing eggs on the sides of rocks under rushing water. The current was quite strong; I was having trouble standing in the water beside the emerging rock.

Male Pachydiplax longipennis attempting to wipe rain from eyes

I went out the other day as it was about to rain to see if I could follow some dragonflies and find the best types of places they hole-up when it rains.

I got there a little too late and the rain was coming down pretty heavily so I just hung out under some tree cover and looked around.

As I moved from one covered spot to another I saw this lone Blue Dasher clinging to a branch, sitting there as it rained. He kept trying to wipe the large water droplet that had accumulated near the vertex but he was unable to dislodge it.

I don't know what it is like to see like a dragonfly but I imagine the water must distort the vision quite a bit. As well it could possibly have been a grooming response (just as if other detritus where resting on eyes) and not been related to the fact that the water may distort vision.

Either way, kind of funny to watch.

A banded Piping Plover record I had not posted previously

Color banded Piping Plover
Rollover Pass,
Galveston Co., Texas
20 April 2016

Right leg above joint: yellow flag with black lettering 0F2
Right leg below joint: pale blue over dark blue
Left leg above joint: USFW metal band
Left leg below joint: yellow over green

reply to info on this bird:
Greg,
Thanks for the resight!  I apologize for the delay.  We just got out of the field and are back to our desks.  0F2 was banded as a chick June 2013 on Lake Sakakawea near New Town, ND. Awesome photos!
Thanks
~Megan Ring
Biologist
USGS Missouri River Tern & Plover Team
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Jamestown, North Dakota

I see lots of shots of animal tracks posted on iNat, but save for a raccoon or a few other simple ones, I claim no knowledge or expertise in tracks in the snow, mud, etc. But I thought tracks of Emperor Penguin in soft snow might add a different critter to the tracks repertoire! Image 3 shows the culprits making the tracks! We watched this daily for 8 or 10 days on that trip to the Ross Sea in 2001. The track in image 1 is made by a single individual. When there are multiple birds in a line (and they often travel 2 to 25 or more in single file in the same rut), those marks on the side of the rut where their flippers propel them along get very obscure from multiple flippers.

When on rocks and gravel or a thin snow cover, Emperors walk upright. But when in loose snow, or they want to speed up, they flop down on their bellies and "take off" propelling themselves along with their rear feet as well as their flippers. Under many circumstances they can move a good bit faster than a person is able to. Emperors are 3 feet tall and large ones can weigh 70+ pounds.

Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
Cape Washington,
Ross Sea
Antarctica
4 December 2001

these images scanned from 35mm slides

Location: Cape Washington, Ross Sea, ... (Google, OSM)
Places: AQ, AQ, Antarctica More...
Lat -74.5248, Lon 165.1697
Accuracy: 1000m

Official on BBC 6th May 2016, this species is described as Acisoma attenboroughi. This picture here was given framed to David attenborough in a tv interview on BBC, as they celebrate his 90th year birthday.
January 2016.
Pond close to Isalo National Park. Madagascar

Male Pachydiplax longipennis being eaten by Opheodrys aestivus

Like a lot of these predation shots I heard the irregular beat of frantic, chafing wings before locating the scene.

I was taken aback when I first realized what was happening. That quickly wore off though and I was on the ground trying to get as close as possible without disrupting or having any meaningful influence on the situation.

Two great predators. In the end the dasher broke free and clumsily flew off (though he was lucky there were birds looking for an easy catch). I can't say for sure whether or not I played any part in the snake not succeeding in this struggle. If it were venomous I think (though I don't know if venomous snakes spend their venom on dragonflies or if they specialize in more protein-rich options) the dasher would've been done for.

But, the snake maneuvering his jaws to clamp down on the dragonfly gave some room for escape--especially since his jaws were over the thorax and wings, which were already beating trying to escape.

Neurobasis chinensis chinensis

1. male over water
2. male floating on water on wings to demonstrate rate of flow, female hovering around
3. crop of second image
4. male and female (about) in copula
5. resting in tandem post-copula

6. perched male displaying response (upward abdomen curl) to intruding male attempting to usurp

I rode the motorbike around until I saw signs for a waterfall that someone had told me about. As I followed the curves up the mountain farmers and villagers kept stopping me and putting their fingers to their mouths. I didn't get it at first but then I realized they wanted cigarettes because I came from the town. I told them sorry but I didn't have any and kept going. After a while I stopped stopping for them as they tried to flag me down.

When I got to the waterfall, which turned out to be many tiers, there were a few people playing around at the top. Thankfully as I walked up they made their way down. Looking back I may have looked kind of odd carrying a big shoulder bag, wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt when everyone else was in sandals and bikini tops. I didn't have time to flirt--I'm serious about dragonflies.

So I got to the top and sat down and just took a deep breath, stared over the edge of the waterfall and then looked up and saw it run down and change course by the rock in front of it. It looked like I was on a 20-foot wide rock slide, jungle surrounding me on both sides and endless mountains cascading in the distance, bird and insect noises coming in and out the fore of my senses, trading places with the draining humidity.

I snapped out of the lull and--shit this is already too long. I saw two magnificent genera of damselfly, two that I had seen in books and read about and now they were in front of me: Rhinocypha and Neurobasis. I looked around me in shock that i was the only here appreciating these tiny creatures, blue and black with iridescent purple rectangles in the wings; metallic green with dark tips speeding by less than an inch above the water.

The entire trip I made, with absolutely no agenda and no direction was at this point a success. I only lamented that I carried just a 35mm and 100mm lens with me.

The male Neurobasis chinensis chinensis flew in front of the female who was perched on a leaf overhanging the running water, 10 to 15 feet away from the drop. He sparred with a male before driving him away and then he fell backwards on the water with his wings open, showing the female the rate of flow of the water. Before the end he erected himself and flew back toward her. They then mated. I tried to get as close as possible without disturbing them. This is another reason I'm glad no one was up there. As I'm sure some of you know...shooting bugs you end up in weird positions on the ground or propped against trees or rocks.

The whole scene was unbelievable. I hope to return one day and do it a justice. The last photos are of a male infringing on another male's territory. He show's his dissatisfaction with the upward abdomen curl, a sort of odonate middle finger. ;)

The head/humidity and the adrenaline wore me out and many times I retired in the shade and scoured the perimeter so I could shoot and rest at the same time. I saw some other amazing dragonflies (really cool Gomphidae obelisking) that I will post later. Since I got a late start I was also getting hungry.

I packed up, surveyed the landscape in front of me and tried to take it all in, then hopped on the scooter and headed back down the mountain. There was a place that looked like might or might not be a restaurant depending on ability to read Thai. I can't read Thai so I stopped and prepared for another embarrassing/awkward situation.

Whether or not it was a restaurant, the girl brought me food. She was also breastfeeding a baby while we attempted to understand each other via gesture. And one gesture she made before the one symbolizing eating...was the gesture of inhaling a marijuana joint. She also knew the word "weed".

So...all of those people on my way up the mountain had not been asking me for cigarettes after all...everyone was trying to sell me drugs.

[I should have known this actually--Pai is a notorious backpacker town--I only visited because I knew the streets were less crowded than Chiang Mai and I wanted to ride a bike through the mountains.]

I declined and reiterated that I only wanted whatever the food gesture meant.

Thanks if you made it to the end.

The geodata for this one is off--I just used the guesthouse because I couldn't find the waterfall on the map. If I find the name I will update it.

A colony my Safari guide knew from his German course in the Goethe Institute in Dar es Salaam. The bats were located in the garden of the institute some years ago. When we arrived there, the trees were cut down (also done some time ago), but the security people helped: The colony is now located directly along the highway - opposite of the GIZ. The first tree is located in the garden of a chinese restaurant. According to some people around, they eat the bats in the restaurant.
Exact number is difficult, probably more than 10.000 but less than 100.000 individuals.