wildlife photos

Oh, those are the most fabulous colors I've ever seen!!!! Oooo-ahhhh!

 

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

 

Re: Snowy Photo Ops

Actually, it isn't a baby Robin. It's too soon for that. And baby Robins have speckled fronts, not the solid like you see in the adults. It probably looked small because it was fluffed up to fend off the cold. Here's a picture of a juvenile Robin.

I love your Bluebird pics. They are so beautiful!

 

A pain in the ?

 

Re: Snowy Photo Ops

So perhaps this is just a small, adult robin? It looked much too small to be a full-sized adult robin, it was only a little bigger than the bluebird.... But it's coloring doesn't match any other bird I could find.

Thank you

 

Hello from a newbie! I couldn't resist posting this pic, taken through the window into our back yard this morning. He's sitting on top of our (empty for now) bluebird house, looking for breakfast.

 

Hey, we should sticky this thread.

Anyway, this time I have pictures of a Cicada Killer bee that I found nesting under one of my newly-planted spiraea. I saw a mound of dirt and thought it was an anthill, and shifted the dirt a bit to see what kind of ant... and THIS backed out of the hole and began digging! Hard to tell size, but in my estimate it's about 2.5"-3" long and almost 1" wide.
Notice in the first pic, a grub by the bee's head... wonder if that's one of her baby bee grubs?
This is the 3rd summer this kind of bee has made a nest in my garden... I wonder if it's the same family line returning home to roost each year?
Enjoy!

 

Deer Run and Turtles

I'm sure I'm not the only one to find it, but there's a deer run in the woods behind the Broadlands Marketplace, straight back from the lot between Walgreens and Taco Hell. I took a picture of the run and of the deer tracks I found (hey Nature Center - these would make great plaster castings if you have a kids' day camp or some such...). I also got a pic of one of the larger turtles in the wetland preservation area. The giant turtle had his head up for a moment but was too camera-shy to stick around.
PS. I'm not sure the big turtle is a snapper, I just named the image file that to call it something. Any turtleologists want to chime in?

 

Here's one of a huge toad that hangs out on our patio and eats bugs every night....

 

Holy Herpetology Batman!

Although the colouration is a bit different, is that little guy an American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)? Be interested in hearing what some of our naturalists think this little guy is.

Very happy that you are not trying to get rid of it. Toads and frogs tend to spend most of their time eating stuff that we don't like around us.

 

Re: Deer Run and Turtles

I am not a Herpetologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

I wish we had some better pictures but based on that picture he looks like an Eastern Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina)

 

He is more than welcome to stick around and eat all the bugs he wants. He's there like clockwork every night sitting under our light, so I'm sure he gets lots of bugs that fry themselves on the bulb and fall to the ground.

Our dog gets motivated to check him out every so often but backs off if he jumps.

 

Hi there,

I'm the new naturalist here at Broadlands. Just getting a feel for how to use the forum and catching up on other things.
I'd say American toad, that's what is usually in my yard. I'm checking though to see if it could be a Fowler's toad instead. Those are pretty much the only candidates, I think.
Easiest way to tell: did they trill at night? American toads make the familiar trill, although I think we were hearing that earlier in the spring.

Thanks for sending in photos! And yes, thanks for letting the toad live happily in your yard.

 

here are some recent pictures taken at the reserve. the egret and ducks were from this morning!

will post some of the snapper, too.

 

and here are some of the snappers. there are some huge ones at this park! i believe there are 2 that are off the "pier" - one seems larger than the other. i've seen them there most evenings. two of these pics were taken with them in the mulch (can you believe those nostrils?!). almost didn't seem him! the one on the sidewalk was trying to cross demott. i was by myself and wasn't about to try and move him alone. when i went back he was gone.

 

Here's a link from a notice I received today about NWF's Wildlife photo contest: http://www.nwf.org/photozone/enterphotocontest.cfm?s_src=20090713_Photo_Contest_Email_Postcard
Hope this link works. The deadline is July 20.

 

Saw this guy while going for a morning walk....

Anybody?

Brewer

 

Brewer,

At first I thought it was a Northern Coal Skink but they are not usually found in this area. I would hazard a guess that this fellow is Broad-headed Skink.

A Skink is one of the sub-groups of Lizards


Look at its tail. If it has five stripes it is an original issue tail. If it is brownish or grayish, it is a replacement tail.