Readers’ wildlife photos

January 24, 2015 • 8:30 am

Well, the readers are heeding my call and sending in photos, but if you have some good ones, do send them, too. I’m not happy without a substantial bank of photos in the folder.

Today we’ve heard from reader Stephen Barnard from Idaho, who’s on a fishing trip to New Zealand and sent a few photos:

No  kakapos, unfortunately, but here’s a typical New Zealand rainbow trout  (Oncorhynchus mykiss). I caught MANY rainbows this size or bigger, 5-7 pounds. Trout fishing in New Zealand is very different than in the US or anywhere else I’ve been. There are fewer fish but they average much larger. Once you’ve fished a beat it has to be rested for weeks before it fishes well again. The guides jealously guard the identity of their rivers and I’m sworn to secrecy.

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The highlight in North Island was fishing on a enormous ranch (they call them “stations”) of 30,000 acres and 18,000 sheep, with a beautiful freestone river that hadn’t been fished for many years, and even then hardly at all. Nearly everything in the landscape photo is part of the station. It was easily my best day of trout fishing ever.

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Another photo is of a stick insect of unknown species. They would somehow land on my face and my fly rod.

The fleabag hotel where I’m staying in Auckland blocks your website for some reason, as well as many others. I don’t think it has anything to do with religion.

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Also from the Antipodes, a photo by reader Tim Anderson:

The wedgie (wedge-tailed eagle; Aquila audax) is Australia’s largest raptor. This one was beside the Adjungbilly Road in southern NSW, waiting patiently for the chance to carry off a VW Beetle. The pale russet colour on its back indicates that it is probably a young male, as their plumage darkens considerably as they grow older.

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Reader Sharon, who claims that she’s a “crummy photographer,” nevertheless sent some nice photos:

Here is a Langur (Semnopithecus dussumieri) from Jim Corbett National Park in India.  Then a wild elephant and a nice sunrise pic from the same.  I tried hard to get a tiger pic, but they are too stealthy.  I spent a month a couple of years ago in India and have really been enjoying your posts and pics of your recent trip.
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Can you spot the elephant (Elephas maximus)?
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Finally, reader “largeswope” from Colorado, which I hear is snowbound, sent a photo of the first flower of the year:

 This is a picture of my first flower of 2015, a Snowdrop (Galanthus),  blooming near a Mother of Thyme plant. This was taken January 19th. Instead of blooming at the end of January I am now seeing them in the middle of January.

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Are snowdrops a harbinger of global warming?

15 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photos

  1. Maybe you will see a weta, Stephen. One but my aunt’s finger when she was a kid & she still has the scar.

    1. Funny you should say this. My foster kittens are becoming keen hunters. This evening I confiscated an earthworm from Scout and a weta from Jemmy Button and returned them to the garden!

  2. Hi: Here is a photo of a common merganser mama and her chicks, taken on a trip to Lake Chelan in Washington state. Laurel Strandlaurelsstudio.com/laurelsstudio.wordpress.com/ From: Why Evolution Is True To: strandlr@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2015 6:31 AM Subject: [New post] Readers’ wildlife photos DO NOT POST #yiv6987376806 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv6987376806 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv6987376806 a.yiv6987376806primaryactionlink:link, #yiv6987376806 a.yiv6987376806primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv6987376806 a.yiv6987376806primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv6987376806 a.yiv6987376806primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv6987376806 WordPress.com | whyevolutionistrue posted: “Well, the readers are heeding my call and sending in photos, but if you have some good ones, do send them, too. I’m not happy without a substantial bank of photos in the folder.Today we’ve heard from reader Stephen Barnard from Idaho, who’s on a fishi” | |

  3. “The fleabag hotel where I’m staying in Auckland blocks your website for some reason…”

    It’s not a Comfort Inn, is it?

    KP

    1. I stayed at a great and cheap place in Epson – it was like a small apartment with a kitchen and it was in a nice treed spot.

        1. He asked how to submit photos yesterday, and I told him how to find Jerry’s email. I’m once again on a device where it’s too much hassle to look it up for him – perhaps someone else can?

  4. Great photos all!

    I’m jealous of the pristine rivers you’re fishing in Stephen! Beautiful rainbow, and stylish Columbia fly-fishing shirt I must say 🙂

    Nice photos of India mammals and sunset…I wouldn’t label any of them as crummy, quite the opposite actually.

    Daffodil bulbs are beginning to sprout around our house a few weeks early…another harbinger no doubt.

  5. Really excellent photos. Of the warming bit, after our light 4-inch dusting in Colorado Springs a couple days ago, we’re looking at 60-degree temps for Monday.

    We still have not gotten our “deep freeze”, which helps kill off the ticks & fleas & bubonic and such. At least we’ve gotten some water, which has broken the 100-year drought. With many stretches of 60-degree temps here already this year, I’d be surprised if we are not in for record high averages, at least in this part of the planet. Not good.

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