|
Oop thanks, I was just about to post that. Thanks for showing me the thread! Edit: To contribute, here are some other friends! Everyone lived. Hungry lady mallards.  I got peenched. (I 100% deserved it, first time catching one)  Catch and release 4 lyfe. (brown trout)   Itty bitty rainbow trout.  Mule deer doe x2  Brand new to this thread - please let me know if the fish/fishing bothers you and I'll be happy to exclude them or remove them. My family is big on catch and release but we love documenting what we catch. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Oct 3, 2019 |
#
¿
Oct 3, 2019 20:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 10:32 |
|
|
Telebite posted:The one on the right is actually a male. Check the beak color. Yellow beak = male. He is in his eclipse plumage. Thank you so much! A day where I learn something new is worth it, gonna carry that one with me for a long time.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2019 04:06
|
|
|
OneTwentySix posted:Looks like a California toad, Anaxyrus boreas, to me. I'm not an expert on west coast animals, but the two toads in that rough area are California toads and Yosemite toads. Yosemite toads don't typically have the line down the center. Okay thanks! I was trying to ID it with pictures from California Herps, is there a better source to learn from, or is it just practice?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2019 05:32
|
|
|
Hihohe posted:I went fishing all day and all i caught was this Oh my god he's adorable. Crosspost from the hunting thread: I have been going scouting to find deer. Edited to exclude my gun/hunting stuff. Hope you guys enjoy this, I've added a few goodies just for you at the end. Chaosfeather posted:Some choice pictures from scouting last week:   This was half-buried, looks like some coyote's old lunch. I just wanted to pull it out to make sure it wasn't someone's remains, since the trail I was on today is notorious for giving people heat problems. Both bones were returned.   More Super Soft Sage, Scholar of shady spots.  Additional Dodder   A very scary friend was discovered while taking this first picture.   I'm not super good at IDing plants yet, so all of my favorites are easy to spot and recognize. 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2019 05:19
|
|
I am absolutely not above crouching next to a bush in the midday heat to get some shade. Just as long as there isn't anything that's going to bite and/or sting me (which often has a monopoly on the shade anyway).
- Yes, I mean the parasite Dodder, not the poor host. It's too dry for them to be in full color right now, but this stuff gets bright orange when it's not so hot.
|
the yeti posted:That a tarantula burrow there in the background? We have them out here, but I rarely see them. Honestly it's hard for me to know who is currently occupying a burrow - could be a rattler, could be a hairy spider friend, could be rodents. Smaller holes could also be for scorpions. This was in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 15, 2019 23:34
|
|
|
I sadly do not have an ID picture, but earlier today I discovered that wasps can have hives in the ground. This doesn't shock me, it was just something I wasn't aware of before. What did startle me is that they were out at nautical dawn. Not a lot of them, but they were. Was this because I was approaching the nest? I wasn't stung, but they definitely were starting to wake up and get agitated, so I left. This is my best guess to what happened, but I admit I don't know much about wasps because I'm terrified of the things, and perhaps they are just awake that early?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2019 20:33
|
|
|
What a good black and yellow friend! Thanks for the re:wasps. I didn't realize what I stepped past was a hive at first, due to there being literal hundreds of holes in the ground in that sort of environment, but I'm glad my instincts led me correctly in this case. Even if it meant I got spiked by some of the local foliage, I still count that as a significant improvement over "stung to death by wasps in the desert".
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2019 04:26
|
|
|
Yesterday was Deer Opener in San Diego! And now You'll get to see as much of the deer as I did!   (note I'm actually a tiny person and my hands are small, so this isn't super helpful for scale. More for my notes)Tadah! Now for the other critters. Not pictured: Numerous moths, insects and bats eating said insects that were attracted to my headlamp on the hike in at 4 in the morning. Also not pictured: Two burrowing owls on the road in the morning, numerous birds in the bushes. Alas. Sorry for the potato quality, I'm not great at taking insect pictures. The ones of the tarantula hawk didn't come out at all, and the tarantula pictures were way, way too out of focus you couldn't even see them in the shadows. Just trust me when I said they were out there on the mountain with me.    Some good plants.      And some landscape shots, I hope those are welcome too.    (hours later)      (hours later) At the top of the Laguna Mountains it was hovering around 97-103 for most of the day before I enjoyed a nice, cool 85 degrees on the way down. Good day, too hot and dry for ticks, which is a huge plus. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Oct 28, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2019 00:06
|
|
|
PathAsc posted:I'm digging this, please post more next time you go! I'll respond in kind on my next outing! Even if I don't get a picture of the critters? Well okaaay. SAN DIEGO DEER SEASON: PART 2  Started on the top of the ridge, first thing in the morning. Bumped another burrowing owl on the way up, they must be gettin real tired of my poo poo cuz this one scolded me. Still cute.  I found some extremely confusing tracks once I left the trail to go to the plateau. A nice boulder to climb. Rocks are always welcome around here - easy to climb, beautiful and not likely to spike you. Some very nice views of the private property edge. And the mansion it contains. The plateau at the top of the mountain here. No shade but a good breather. Found this cute plant up there. Not sure what it is. Dodder? DODDER  What a nice quartz vein in this one. Had a few of these - sadly they are pretty damaged from people chipping away at them. Thanks for focusing on the wrong flower, dork. I was also followed by some Ravens throughout the morning? I think? One gave a call at some point that sounded like a rolling chirp, something I've never heard a raven make. It puzzled me, to say the least. They'd circle a little and leave for a while then come find me again an hour later. Maybe they wanted food? I'm not too keen on feeding the wildlife, even if I really want to befriend them and be a disney princess.I got to see more deer tracks!  Although I don't have proof, I also saw a doe! She was smaller than some of the other does I've seen which isn't shocking - desert animals tend to be. She was also more grey than brown. I reached for my camera but honestly by the time I had it ready she was back in the shrubs and not super visible. Fortunately for her you can't hunt does in Cali, so she's not in danger any hunting season.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2019 03:47
|
|
|
Potential BFF posted:
Cute little ribbit  treat posted:Hopefully I can help make up for the missing deer. Yess! This is more deer than I generally see all year in SoCal, so thank you for providing. Pronghorn are really cool looking creatures and I didn't appreciate them until a herd got really close to my car one day and I got a real good look at them. And..is that a wild burro? That's one I have yet to see, very cool! Gorgeous country, thanks for the pics! I appreciate the little critters, but especially the mantis. I can never get a good photo of the drat things, the ones around here are just way too twitchy. I can catch them just fine and it's not like their bites hurt at all, but they really don't like me nor my camera coming close. Can't say I blame them.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2019 15:39
|
|
|
treat posted:I found a robin with a broken wing in my front yard yesterday. After spending the night locked away from the cats in a grocery bag, he's now safely recovering at the Ruth Melichar bird center. Donate to your animal rescues & rehabs, they're practicing balls-out socialism but with rad animals. I never knew that's why they either healed quickly or died in rescue situations. I used to be a part of a wild bird rescue and I found it curious that results were fast but I assumed that was because everyone knew what they were doing (or alternatively, the birds were too far gone when we reached them) I have a new report, this one is from TEXAS  This post has a lot of spiders in it. Please skip if you have arachnophobia It's a big state but my hunting buddies invited me out to try to hunt with them out here. None of us had any luck, but we encountered lots of cool stuff that I normally never, ever get to see. Birds! More specifically, potato-quality birds eating purple berries in a forest:   Footprints! So many footprints! But these were the best and most distinct   M-Mollusks? I didn't even realize freshwater clams were a thing until last month (This one may be dead, I can't tell to be honest. It was probably dug up by pigs but was still closed)  Bugs!  So, So SO many arachnids. We'd see them in the dark from our headlamps - it wasn't dewdrops shining on the ground but thousands of spider eyes everywhere. I uh, am still getting over my arachnophobia so that was still a bit creepy.  The best night image isn't great - it was mostly these fellows on the ground. Stowaway on the truck. We caught him(?) before driving off and placed him in a bush.  This fine friend startled me while I was reading a horror book. It was a very curious feeling to not only look at a spider and have it react to me, but to watch it turn towards me as my head swiveled to see what that movement on my vest was. Thankfully I wasn't wearing the vest, as we hiked back to camp for a lunch break. Not a great angle on this one but I was having the damnest time getting a photo of them. Including potato quality to show what about 20 others looked like. We had a close encounter with 3 wild pigs but unfortunately didn't get enough visibility for a clean shot. We also bumped deer three times without visibility, so no pictures, alive or otherwise. It was opening of duck season so unfortunately pressure from last weekend's opener and duck opener this weekend spooked everything. We also spotted countless squirrels but they were never still, which is a shock to everyone I am sure. So here are some fungi.         Some great plants, most of them not very good for you in various ways.   Greenbriar and I got very well acquainted this weekend. (My poor legs) What the robins seemed to enjoy eating   And of course, I wouldn't want to disappoint on the landscape end, though visibility was quite limited.   Catte Tax  Edit: One of my buddies is trying to learn the differences between mushrooms and had guesses at these, could anyone ID any of them as an answer key? They were all located in Caddo National Grasslands. Thank you if you can, and no worries if you can't/don't wanna. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Nov 11, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2019 04:25
|
|
|
the yeti posted:Feel free to drop those in the mushroom thread! I can’t do much for ID from my phone but I can try after work. Thank you! Will do! poverty goat posted:The way I see it, a moment like that should just underscore the fact that if we were truly enemies with the spiders we would stand no chance and humanity would have perished long ago. It's best to embrace our common cause in the foreverwar against the annoying flying insects and just try to avoid walking into webs like some kind of idiot flightless moth I definitely felt like an idiot, I ran into so many webs. I wasn't irritated when retaliation happened - a few webs were built on my equipment while I was sleeping, and my arm while I was reading.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2019 06:39
|
|
|
The first time I saw a house centipede it freaked me out so much I killed and disposed of it since the cat was playing with it. Even if it couldn't bite the cat SURELY if the cat ate it it would ingest poison. Sorry and RIP little centipede, you were ultimately harmless. This last weekend I went to NORTHERN NEBRASKA to the Sandhills region outside of Valentine. It's a fun place for hunters this time of year and I tagged out, but I'll spare you the pics and details. If you are interested at all please check out the hunting thread where I made a big ol effortpost. Instead, please enjoy all of the fun, still-alive critters I met on scouting day.  We drove past a group of pheasant on the way out.  Beautiful birds, one of my favorites. They are also super delicious  The water table was very high this year, and although it's thawed a bit most of everything was still frozen. Everybird that does was migrating. Having trouble IDing these guys. Snow geese? Swans of some sort?   Canada geese are easy to ID, thankfully.  Sadly didn't get a picture of the eagle that was hanging out in the morning, but snapped this red-tailed hawk when I spotted em.  All of the amphibians came out to play when the day warmed up!  Teeny ones   Big ones   And very squirmy ones. Not that I blame them  Finally, and ultimately, we saw more deer than I've seen in my entirety of living in Southern California. Behold. Happy Tresspassing ones  Hungry ones  Thirsty ones  Peekaboo ones  Stealthy ones   Speedy ones  Wide bois  And a very, very photogenic boi (even if he was a bit ticked off)   Lastly, I think this is a form of nightshade? Just a wild guess, I'll ID it when I get home. Still out and about and I fly back to the warm tomorrow. A very good trip. Edit: Thanks for the ID!   A view of our stalking grounds, we were ultimately successful and harvested a small buck. We were quite lucky since poachers decided to drive their drat truck onto the reserve.
Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Nov 25, 2019 |
|
#
¿
Nov 19, 2019 16:11
|
|
|
Recently I've been going to various SoCal marshes and wetlands for school and volunteer work. I've been saving some of these up but to say I've been super lucky in some of my sightings is a great understatement. These are going to be birds, because I love birds. But rest assured there are plenty of other great critters and I will try to get good footage of them on future trips. Many of these are also distant shots, because birds. If any of these are wrong, please feel free to correct! I am new to IDing most birds. Turkey vultures aren't generally on the ground An irritated black-crowned night heron Black-necked stilt A rightly pissed off redtail hawk (We spotted the nest nearby on our way out) A bufflehead who decided he didn't like our duck calls. Great horned owl just trying to get some drat sleep White-tailed kite near their nesting area A great egret on the hunt (they were successful! It was a fish) We don't see redhead ducks that often down here Handsome pintail Probably the most bold mallard I have ever seen I keep mixing up my scaups. I think this is a lesser scaup? A goddamn golden eagle holy poo poo Sleepy barn owl American Kestrel A wild clapper rail! This is an endangered species (at least locally) that I am volunteering to help monitor with video traps, but it was very exciting to see one in person.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2020 20:41
|
|
|
I recently have lucked into a job that is still active, and deals with outdoor birds in southern California. I've been posting in the pet bird thread about the friends I am making but perhaps you folks would appreciate a crosspost. Sorry for the huge.Chaosfeather posted:In celebration of the probations and feathers (and me getting my humble job back) I present to you This is a male Red-winged Blackbird  He Has Opinions of me  And none of them are good  A very handsome boy, these guys typically live near wetlands. Not to be confused with the similar-looking tri-colored blackbird.  They have a very distinct marking, sometimes the yellow band between the red and black is more obvious than on this fellow  He had  Five  Girlfriends  Most of them shared his opinion  One did not (she got the ice cream cone treatment)  This update has been brought to you by me. And by LAB graciously giving us all our wonderful feathers.  I will continue to post if we get another species in here, I can think of two others that I've seen already, just not today.  Chaosfeather posted:
It's that time again to BOTHER SOME BIRDS I've been keeping these for a little while so I don't overwhelm this wonderful thread, but here are some friends from my traps. Of note from the species we've met, I've caught this boisterous fellow in my trap three times now.  How can I tell? His patterning is extremely unusual! I named him "Wierdo" because I'm great with names.  \The other redwinged blackbirds continue to scold me as I remove them from the trap, even going so far as to yelling at me from the outside of the trap after I've released them and they've landed in the next bush. I do love these guys. Our Towhee resident is still visiting  I call them and the second bird Mister and Missus Towhee. This is regardless of what their actual sexes are. "Mister" Towhee has scuff spots on his beak, and "Missus" seen here does not. They are now extremely chill when I handle them. Now for our new friends! This is a sad, terrified songbird.  The cowbirds in the trap are much larger and were picking on it. I let it have a little rest and some millet before I released them. We have captured other song sparrows.  Song Sparrows (not house sparrows) are natives and are released. I'm getting better at IDing these friends.  Very tiny and delicate and good at hopping around.  Another sparrow friend, one easier to ID not seen as often is the White-Crowned Sparrow  They spent a small time in my car drying off from the rain and recovering from being picked on.   He was released with great, pipping fury.  Or that was the plan. He actually chilled out once I opened my hand long enough for me to take this picture. Then he flew off.  You're a puzzle, little one. Last but not least, the invasive European Starling  These extremely pretty birds are, unfortunately, also targets. We don't seek them out.  But legally I am required by the state of CA to manage this species as well.  I assure you that I take as best of care of these critters as I can as long as I have any say in their care.  Nearby there are several swallow species, including this one with blue on them.  They rarely stand still long enough to get close or take a snap, but imagine these friends whirling overhead all over the place. Thank you for attending this brief intermission.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 14, 2020 07:27
|
|
|
the yeti posted:That’s really cool CF; I’d be interested in knowing more about your target species and how the program works but I understand if you’re skittish about getting into it. Sure, I don't have a problem with that. I just didn't want to down the pet bird thread with talk of the nitty gritty of managing these guys. So the primary target species is the Brown-Headed Cowbird, and invasive species that humans introduced to the region when we brought over our cattle. They used to be buddies with our bison but as we have expanded our beef industry and moved the cattle around the birds have followed. The primary concern is that they are obligate brood parasites. So the females can lay dozens of eggs in other bird's nests and let them do the hard work, which works if they evolved side-by-side or the birds are half smart. The problem is they endanger species like the Least Bell's Vireo even further by doing so. The idea is to limit the number of females laying eggs haphazardly in everyone's nests with a capture and cull program. I need to do more research on the topic (as there are some drawbacks from having too few brood parasites in the region, causing other species to essentially drop their guard...) but from what I understand this program has caused an uptick in not only Least Bell's Vireo but also Song Sparrows and other native birds that are often the targets of the parasitism in this area. Because of it's success they get to keep doing it. While we are at it the state of California also requires us to retain and cull any European Starlings or House Sparrows (also invasives) as they are a species that the state is trying to manage overall. To be honest I only see a couple of starlings and I have yet to see a house sparrow caught in the traps. The traps are modified Australian Crow Traps, with a similar idea to a minnow trap - easy way to get in at a low middle point, high corners to keep any potential escapees trapped. These are decently large - I'm a short person and have to duck to get in the door but can otherwise stand in every trap. I do see some birds disappear and reappear, which tells me some of the smarter ones can figure out how to come and go at will. In addition, a sly Cooper's Hawk has decided to camp one of the traps and sit at the top, pulling through birds for an easy meal. They are effectively eliminated so it's not so much a problem, but we do try to discourage them so they don't become dependant on the traps for food. This can be done by closing the trap for a few days, as they can't seem to reach through the mesh. The traps are baited with a small set of birds. Since they are social we leave more females than males, some fresh food (millet) and water sources (a guzzler and a tray to bathe in). These traps have bottoms so thankfully not much can get in from the ground, but we do see mice and sometimes other critters on the floor. These birds have clipped wings so even if they escape they can't go far and wreck havoc. Once we capture enough birds (the traps are checked daily) the traps are 'reset' back to normal numbers and people like me will transport them back to base. At base we have holding pens (read: Large, very basic aviaries) that we hold the birds until it's time to cull them. Once a certain number is reached (I believe a minimum of 50) another person captures the birds from the facility, humanely euths them and they are frozen and passed on to falconers to be used as food. So the birds get recycled. One of the routes includes the holding pens, so I clean those three pens a couple times a week as well. One for males, one for females, one for starlings. I have yet to see house sparrows in there. We definitely get more males than females. I want to say we catch 10 males for every female we catch. Not sure if that reflects the population levels or just that the males are more likely to be lured. There are other parts of the program but I'm very new and that's what I understand of it. I just check and make sure the birds are alright, count who and what is in the trap. Any non-targets are released manually, and when there starts to be crowding problems I put them in a carrier and get angry chirps in my car for about an hour while I drive. Edit:  Pestered some swallows today  Rudely interrupted these guys getting it on  Encountered this pretty plant (I am horrible at IDing plants) 
Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Apr 15, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2020 05:57
|
|
|
Okay, as a 'recovering' arachnophobe I have to ask - How the hell do you hold a spider without them biting you? Is there a trick to it? I've been bitten by more spiders than I've tried to handle, so I'm a bit wary of the idea. But there's definitely some that I find chill enough that I want to try to help get over my fear. In return I should have some buzzy friends and some other birds to give the thread after today's shift.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2020 17:02
|
|
|
Mak0rz posted:You just hold them! Spiders aren't out to get you and unless they're an aggressive tarantula species or something they don't have any interest in biting you at all even when you get up in their business. The ones I find chill are typically house spiders, sometimes I find jumping spiders that I find cute but I don't want to scare them. I'm not super good at IDing spiders beyond that. I used to have an apartment that had a serious spider problem. No matter what I would do they would end up in my bed, in my bathroom, etc. I was full-blown terrified of them so I was just absolutely mortified whenever it rained and they all decided to come indoors for the day, or when it seemed like the babies were starting to emerge from wherever they came from. Most of these bites would be in my bed, or on my couch, but one notable one was on my toilet paper roll. That one nearly sent me to the hospital, I'm convinced it was a desert recluse with how bad the toxins felt in my arm, but to be honest I don't know what it was. I have a scar from where that one bit me. Being the idiot teenager at the time I didn't realize that the thing that 'felt like dying' on the inside of my arm going to my chest probably should have been checked on instead of knocking myself out with benadryl. The bite itself festered a little for a day but outside of that I had no lasting damage. It was brown and I killed it with great vengeance. (I live in southern california so it couldn't have been a brown recluse). Edit: Oddly enough tarantulas, at least the wild ones around here, typically move slowly enough that I am not super scared of them. They are like big fuzzy friends. Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Apr 29, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2020 17:20
|
|
|
Thank you for all of the spider advice! Like I mentioned most of my interactions were clearly accidental (I reached over to the tp without looking and got bit, was bit when sleeping, etc). I know it was a spider bite because as Dick Trauma describes they look like itty bitty vampire bites. They typically didn't hurt much it was just annoying and more upsetting when I was super scared of them. So I didn't take pictures of everything I encountered today, because I encountered a lot of very interesting corpses. This includes a Great Blue Heron, a sad but sizable Garter Snake that had been previously run over, and an extremely fat squirrel. I only took pictures of the corpses on the traps for the biologists to log, I can include them in another post if someone is interested (song sparrow, common ground dove). I just figured it was more a live critter thread. The snake was relocated to some grass nearby so the birds that were eyeing it could eat without fear of the cars. Here are the living friends from this week. First some unknown (to me) buzzy friends.  Sorry for the blur, they wouldn't stop moving but were at least the size of a quarter.  This friend spent long enough on the flowers I could get some snaps!    Some lovely milk thistle. I shamelessly plucked one to dry. I like thistle.   Birds that I shamelessly bothered! Here we have a handful of female and male House Finches!     Very timid and flighty, these were a bit more difficult to chase in the larger trap.   "Ugh, humans" I just loved the loving scowl some of them had.  They were not amused that I lined this picture up. Don't worry I let them go super fast afterwards.   There was just a swarm of these birds at once, we let them go and closed the trap. Haven't seen them since.  Next we have another species we manage, House Sparrows  The males are brightly colored and super noticable.   I've caught a couple of them now, all males except one.    She is so done with my poo poo.  And lastly, a new species for me! Period! These are (both female) Yellow-headed blackbirds!   We had two ladies chilling with a flock of cowbirds. This one was pretty chill.   However... Her friend gave me the fury that I'm used to getting from blackbirds. If she wasn't biting me, she was yelling at me.  I love this little shithead. Thanks for joining me! I hope to have some decent arachnid photos for you folks soon. I never find the hairy ones when I am looking for them, sadly... 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2020 04:27
|
|
|
Chaosfeather posted:
Additionally, some caterpillar (?) friends that are everywhere that I have taken to calling 'fuzzies'. Because I am a child.  They get pretty sizable! 
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2020 07:13
|
|
Borb obtained.
I cannot tell you how much time I spent going "OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO LITTLE"
Just moved them to base today, made a little ramp for them since they aren't great at flying yet to get off of the ground. In an aviary with other house sparrows. Stay safe little kiddo.
|
I love all the yard critters, especially the herps Please keep posting if you can get the wild Pokemon to evolve!Chaosfeather posted:Tis the season of getting all of the babby birds. I've gotten a couple of babs that the adults are too large, too agile or just plain too smart to be captured and it's a treat.  This is a young Northern Mockingbird! Easily ID'd by their distinct patterns. They also do some cool acrobatics. Admittedly this one did not. They kinda bounced around frantically. I swear they weren't harmed, they just decided to thrash about when they had the chance. Lookit the little whisker-feathers!  Right now we are getting a shitton of starlings in the traps. You tried to escape and found my boob. Good job. Dear lord this one was a drama queen. Towhees: Still in the trap on a daily basis. Baby house sparrows are pretty regular too. Still cute as a button. HERE is a new one, and actually one I've narrowed down to two possible species. This is a juvenile Oriole! Could be Hooded Oriole, Could be Bullock's Oriole When the biologist you report to goes "eeeeh it's difficult to tell at this age" then you just shrug and move on. A very pretty and patient new friend. 39 baby starlings in the same trap: Insanity. We release the juveniles since they don't do well as captives. This egg was on the ground in a grassy area and I nearly ran it over. Candling revealed it was a dud, so I gave it to my nearest cowbirds as a treat. Here's a bird that I mis-identified at first because we don't really get them around here very often. This is a female Brewer's blackbird, and I got some help in IDing her. A male (I assume mate) was absolutely frantic on the outside of the trap and refused to leave, even as I got in the trap. They flew off together upon her release. We are starting to get juvenile Cowbirds! They are pretty darn cute, too. For some reason they have a bit of yellow on them. It fades in adults but makes them easy to ID.  They make good ice cream cones. And lastly: Cowbirds bathing. They generally don't like the camera IN the cage but will happily bathe when I am in there, so I've left the cage for these pictures so they will act normal. Easily the best part about the job is changing the gross water on a hot day and immediately having birds go down to cool off. Please forgive the shmutz on the rims, I swear I scrape them as hard as I can and it doesn't get rid of all of the scaling. I know they don't understand english but I always talk to them and tell them what good birds they are. I like to think the fact that most of the birds I care for are pretty used to me and chill is partly a result of this. I have two sets of traps I care for, one four to six days a week and the other set only two days a week. The two-days a week traps are generally absolutely filthy, but the calves really love watching the cowbirds bathe, too. You can see some of the birds like watching them right back.Some bonuses that are outside the traps:  A Southern Pacific Nope Rope Coyote fast food. Very common, very cute. Fancy lad. Some people keep these on their property. Some get out. This black-crowned Night Heron snatched up a gosling for a meal. A couple of toads live under one of the traps. They come out when I change the water.I'd like to take time to do more herping but I'm generally on the job when I go to these places so I can't stick around for fun. Edit: trying to fix the post so it doesn't make the app explode. Sorry about that! Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Jun 21, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2020 18:34
|
|
|
Captain Invictus posted:please don't full quote posts of dozens of images, it explodes the awful app. Sorry sorry I won't do it in the future. Any way I can fix the previous post? also cute water snek. Edit: Like this? Or reducing the image count itself? Chaosfeather fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Jun 21, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Jun 20, 2020 23:55
|
|
|
Cowbird text update: So frequently when I go to change waters there is debris in there. Poop, sticks, dirt, dead bugs, whatever. If the bugs are still alive I try my best to gently pluck them out of their watery grave-to-be and drop them off next to me where it's dry. It's a pretty normal part of my routine now. One of my best birds (I've been calling her Brave Bird since she'll come right up to me when I'm in the trap doing things. Very good with names I know) was idling on a nearby branch and saw that I plucked a spider out of the water tray. As *soon* as I dropped the little arachnid on the ground she swooped under my hand and ate them. RIP spider, but I was amused that she knew exactly what was going on, knew I wasn't a threat and took advantage to get a tasty snack.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2020 23:36
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 12, 2024 10:32 |
|
|
Oops, I guess that means I should post some friends from work before the thread closes. Most of these will be birds since that's what I work with, but there are a few exceptions. An Acorn Woodpecker  Western Bluebird  California Quail  Greater Roadrunner  An understandably irate tri-colored blackbird. (He was released safely)  I think this is a San Diego Gopher Snake, but it may be Pacific instead.  A soft digfriend  A western toad (who was placed back into the mud immediately after the pictures)  A black-headed grosbeak with strong opinions  A wild red-eared slider that was successfully rehomed out of our wilderness.  And a handsome yellow-headed blackbird, who was released.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2021 01:22
|
|