UL Creatures

A trip through the jungle in Tikal Nat'l Park, Guatemala

A Lemur

A Macaw couple

Local borracho welcoming guests

An Agouti

An idea what kind of lizard this is?

Grey-necked Wood Rail

I took this shot this morning with my latest camera upgrade; a Ricoh GXR with an S10 lens unit.

I photographed this handsome fellow a couple of weeks ago with my previous Ricoh GX200

@ Jay, cool reptile shots.

On your third shot, the one of the close-up of the lizard in your hands, I noticed the lizard has what appears to be an engorged tick attached to its side.

I recall reading that ticks in CA have a significantly lower incidence of carrying lyme disease, partially because the two most common lyme disease carrying ticks in CA are considered to be three-host ticks (which means they feed on three different hosts during their individual life cycles). In their early stages of life (i.e. first host), these two species ticks mostly feed on lizards and rodents.

If the lizard the ticks feeds on during it's first host stage is a Western Fence lizard, the tick will lose all of its lyme disease-causing bacteria. Apparently there is something in the blood of Western Fence Lizards that kills the lyme disease but allows the tick to survive and continue on otherwise unharmed.

Anyway, I saw your photo and thought I'd share that interesting bit of info. Seems we have reptiles to thank, at least partially, for our lower rate of lyme disease in CA compared to other parts of the U.S.

Very Large Orange Alligator Lizard

Garter Snake, Morris Meadows, Trinity Alps

In the Dark Canyon Wilderness

Water bug in Coyote Gulch

Peacock butterfly taken in the Oust valley, Morbihan, Brittany.
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Jason, lemurs only live in Madagascar. That's a Coati, which are related to raccoons. The various species range from AZ all the way through the Amazon. They're quite entertaining and can sometimes be seen in troops of 50 or so.

This isn't the animal, but the tracks of the animal. For scale, the lens cap is 3.1 inches in diameter, so that makes the paw print maybe 2.5 inches. The mud was sticky and fresh, and I believe that the prints were about twelve hours old. The pine needles are about eight hours old due to wind. This was Friday at an obscure lake in Yosemite where almost nobody goes.

Mountain Lion, perhaps a young one. We heard a coyote chorus three times during the night. The prints are too large for a coyote.

–B.G.–

Bobcat maybe?

Jay, I understand. The prints were too large for a bobcat and too small for a mountain lion. Due to the vegetation, I could not see any other prints behind or ahead, so I could not measure the stride. I have seen a bobcat at this same lake once, but that was over 25 years ago, so it doesn't mean much. I did not have materials with me to make a print mold.

I just wish that I had gotten an audio recording of the three sessions of coyote chorus at around Oh-dark-thirty.

–B.G.–

I saw my first wolverines last week while hiking in the Elk Lakes Provincial Park in the Southern Canadian Rockies. Shortly after I crossed over a high mountain pass and started dropping down the other side, I spotted them racing up the talus and snow heading for the pass I had just crossed. I had enough time to take a couple of photos. Snow and wind were blowing directly in my face as I took the photos but they still turned out alright. Definitely a very special moment for me.

That is really cool

That's one of the the things about being out in the wild – seeing wildlife

Tory: Very cool to sight wolverines in the wild. Very rare, too.

Large mammals I haven't seen in the wild in the USA/Canada: Wolverines, Polar Bear (I've looked both times I've been on the Arctic Ocean), and Mountain Lion.

I've seen Mountain Lion tracks in the snow on top of my tracks from the previous day.

I think they're very wary. They actually quite commonly watch us but we don't see them.

Mountain Lions are definitely very wary. I have seen 2 in my lifetime but none in the past 20 years.

And yes, the wolverine sighting is quite a rare one. I feel very fortunate for that experience!

I also saw my first wolf this year. That along with 8 grizzly bears, nearly 100 mountain goats (including a single group of 39), and dozens of sheep. I have spent more time in the mountains this year than any other year of my life. All in all a very good year for seeing wild creatures.

Those are some awesome pictures Troy. Very rare I bet!

I've shot only one photo of a single wolverine. Getting three in one frame is great.

–B.G.–

Cool and rare Horny Toad on Bear Mountain Road in Henry Coe.

Ugly dinosaur looking turkeys!

Alligator Lizard, Castle Rock

A baby rattlesnake.

–B.G.–

dead fish

big lizard

Newt! Henry Coe

Garter Snake