UL Creatures

Bob:

Whoops, that's what I meant! Honestly I thought it was a Coral Snake at first but the ranger I described it to set me straight. He said he'd only seen one.

Being from Oregon I'd never seen such a colorful snake in the wild (well, a Wagler's Pit Viper(?) once but that's still not as flashy as the Mountain King Snake).

"Honestly I thought it was a Coral Snake at first "

1. A coral snake is red and black and _yellow_.
2. Coral snakes do not exist within a thousand miles of California. I saw a lot of them in Louisiana.

I'm a little jumpy about snakes right now. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake today.

–B.G.–

Hey Ryan, Beautiful mountain goat pic. Don't know if you read the story here a few weeks ago about the fellow who was followed and then killed by one. The dude had complained about goats following him to the rangers before. I think it must have been really bad karma or he smelled all too much like a male goat!

Testing the macro function on my new acquisition – an olympus E-410 DSLR

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Taken in bright sunlight with the 17.5-45 kit lens I got with my bargain shooter.

1. A coral snake is red and black and _yellow_.
2. Coral snakes do not exist within a thousand miles of California. I saw a lot of them in Louisiana.

not so fast.. they can also have yellow so pale, it appears white – but it isnt the colors that matter, its the fact that the body rings completely encircle the animal.
and, the Coral snakes around here prove that second statement untrue.
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Snakes-Subpages/h-m-euryxanthus.html

Hoping Miguel might help identify this big boy. About 2" long.

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Mt. Diablo with a gopher snake.

I'm starting to get the hang of the Olympus E-410. This was taken using shutter speed priority at 1/400 sec on an overcast day in the English Lake District.

Dall Sheep, Denali AK

Sea Lion, Valdez AK

Black Bear, Seward AK

Ptarmigan, Hope AK

Dragon Fly, BWCAW

the Kea, the worlds only alpine parrot, at Mackinnon Pass, Milford Track, New Zealand

East Bay opportunist and survivor!

This little guy lives at Half Dome eating the trash tourists left there.

And some capricorns from Switzerland.

Nearly completely black morph timber rattlesnake. Otter Creek Wilderness, WV. I stepped over a large log and it was extended along the side of the trail. Both the head and tail rose up and I some how teleported about 6 feet in the opposite direction:

Bumblebee attempting to get nectar from a purple fringeless orchid (Platanthera peramoena) in Fayette County, PA. I doubt it was successful as this species has long nectaries and is generally pollinated by skipper butterflies.

Waste not,

want not.

Cheers,

Rick

Australian Tawny Frogmouth

We were collecting sawn firewood from a dropped branch at the edge of our farm. We had driven the small tractor and trailer to the tree which had dropped the branch. Loaded the trailer up. Then I looked up and he was sitting there, head pointed upwards pretending to be a dead branch. They do this in the daytime to avoid being seen, and hunt at night. Very silent flight: the mice have no chance. Anyhow, he was about an arm's length away.

So we took our trailer load of firewood and departed. Then we came back for another load, and he was still there. He cracked an eye open when I started the tractor to leave, but otherwise did not move. So I came back later with the camera, and he was still there, still pretending to be a dead branch. He will fly away tonight to hunt.

Cheers

Roger that is one awesome piece of creation!

I've never heard of the Tawny Frogmouth but I love it! Some really interesting pics show up when I search.

Todd

My daughter took these two pictures of a bobcat that was just hanging out in the driveway. It was about 40 yards away. Before it turned and walked away, showing his bobbed tail, we thought it was a small cougar.
This was probably the largest bobcat I have seen. I would guess an older male, from the long white "sideburns".

I got about 2 feet from this little one before even seeing it.

Tuesday hike with boy with lizards and snakes in Mt. Diablo State Park.

A Heron and a peacock on the Lamprey River in Southern NH

Backyard butterfly

Winged creatures of Pawtuckaway State Park

Spruce grouse, White Mountain National Forest

Bear Brook State Park

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Desert Tortoise at Joshua Tree Nat'l Park

A Newt in West Fork San Gabriel River – Angeles Nat'l Forest

San Rafael Wilderness

Marmot at Sequoia Nat'l Park

Frog at Bear Creek, Angeles Nat'l Forest

Pine Sawyer Beetle, Pecos Wilderness, NM.

Moth, Headwaters of the Pecos River, NM

Random fly. Pecos River.