Category: mammals

Readers’ wildlife photos

June 9, 2026 • 8:15 am

I forgot to post part 2 of Abby Thompson‘s latest batch of California intertidal photos, so here they are (the first batch is here). Abby’s captions and IDs are indented, and, as always, you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

The stars of this set, improbably enough, are two flatworms.   The first two pictures are of the elegant Eurylepta californica, which I think of as the “art-deco flatworm”.  It’s rare up here; I’ve found it once before.  The next flatworm (Family Euryleptidae) is an undescribed species.   It’s been recorded several times, almost all in the Monterey Bay area.    This is its third sighting (as recorded on inaturalist) this far north.  There isn’t agreement on the genus. It’s a beauty, and it’s unusual to have such a striking animal remain undescribed.   Both worms are about ¾” long.

Eurylepta californica (striped polyclad flatworm) Art deco flatworm:

Eurylepta californica:

Family Euryleptidae (Yellow frilly flatworm):

The starfish plague of several years ago was devastating along the coast, and several species (like the incredible sunflower stars) have not recovered, but the ochre stars are back with a vengeance.     I see many more of them than of the bat stars, but the next picture is one of each buddying up on a rock above the low tide line.

Patiria miniate and Pisaster ochraceus (bat star (red) and ochre star (yes, purple)):

The next three pictures are a slightly deceptive series.    I’m not sure that the first two pictures really are otter tracks, but the alternative is probably raccoon tracks, and otter is a better match.   They did not, in fact, end on the beach right next to the where I saw the otter in the third picture.   But at least the third picture below is definitely an otter.   This almost surely is a river otter, not a sea otter, as are most seen around here.

Otter tracks:

Close-up of otter tracks:

Lontra canadensis (North American river otter):

Finally, the roof of a cave, with sea anemones (green and pink– Anthopleura xanthogrammica and Anthopleura elegantissima) and sponges (the bright red-orange, not possible to ID from a photo):

Readers’ wildlife photos

June 6, 2026 • 8:30 am

I have but one batch of photos left, and I’ll save them. But if you have some, be sure to send them in.  In lieur of wildlife photos, I’ll substitute two items of local interest.

First, two pictures of consorting with my squirrels at Botany Pond. Since I’m oten there feeding or tending ducks, the resident squirrels (there are three) have sussed me out as a source of food. And, sure enough, I have bought good stuff to give them: walnuts in the shell, shelled almonds, and roasted but unsalted peanuts (I have to worry about their blood pressure).

Over a few months I have tamed them, starting with introducing them to walnuts (there’s nothing like seeing a squirrel’s first encounter with a walnut!), and then gradually allowing them to get closer. Finally, I’ve trained them to crawl up my body to get a nut or eat from my hand when I’m sititng down, as in the photos below.  Having been severely bitten by a baby squirrel years ago, I proceeded very gradually, rebuking them when they gently nibbled my fingers. These photos are the result of several months of labor.

Now we are friends, and for the first time this week one of them allowed me to pet her.  (She’s a lactating female.)  When I was feeding her, a kind lady sitting on the facing bench took photos, and asked me if I wanted them. Of course I said yes, and here are two.  In the first, the squirrel (unnamed) crawls onto my shoulder, and in the second I am petting a squirrel while she gets a nut.

Yes, I know it’s weird; you don’t have to tell me.

Madame Squirrel gets a peanut:

They have very soft fur:

Last night I was woken up at 1:40 in the morning, but didn’t know why, as I was sleeping well. Then I saw lights flashing on and off in my crib, like lights on a fire engine or police car. They were very regular, and so I prowled around to find the source. It took me a while to realize that they weren’t in my place, but coming from the outside. I went out on the balcony (just the landing of a fire escape) and saw repeated and semi-regular flashing behind the clouds. It must have been lightning, but there was no thunder.

I groggily found my iPhone and filmed some of the atmospheric fracas, which went on for a long time. Here is a bit over a minute of it, which I posted on YouTube (it briefly goes out of focus).  The sound is on, but you won’t hear thunder.

It was cloudy, so you can’t see the lights of downtown.

Looking for “lightning, June 6” on the Internet, I found one video taken near downtown Chicago.  Here you can see the lightning. The poster describes it as an “epic lightening storm”:  There’s also a video similar to mine on reddit.

From Facebook:

It was quite a storm, but the rain has abated, so graduation this morning will be cloudy but dry.

Here’s the elk calf!

June 5, 2026 • 10:30 am

Did you spot the elk calf in Matthew Hill’s photo this morning? Here it is!

When I asked Matthew how, in the tagging process, he found the hidden calves, he replied:

Typically the cow has a vaginal insert transmitter that comes out when the calf drops, which allows us to pinpoint the birth location. Several hours later the cow and calf move a short distance off the birth location where the calf conceals itself. Say, within 50-500 m. When we arrive, the cow leaves the area but will come back within 4-5 hrs. We systematically survey the area looking for it. Really hard game of hide and seek!

Example of an “activated” vaginal insert transmitter (“vit”) recovered at birth location.

More photos from the tagging process:

 

More: a wolf attacked another calf, but mom apparently drove it off. Matthew:

I’ve attached pics from yesterday of a five day old calf that survived a wolf attack only hrs before we arrived. Very lucky calf.  It must have been a single wolf, and the cow was able to fend it off. If two or more wolves, the cow would have bailed to live to breed another day.

Spot the elk calf!

June 5, 2026 • 8:15 am

Reader Matthew Hill sent some photos taken during his tagging of elk calves (Cervus canadensis), and one of them qualifies as a “spot the. . . ” photo.  Can you spot the elk calf, hiding from predators inconspicuously?  The reveal will be at 10:30 Chicago time, along with other photos from Matthew’s endeavor. His words are indented:

I’m currently involved in tagging elk calves in northern Wisconsin. I thought one of today’s tags might be a fun one for an I spy post. Not super difficult.  It’s a two-day-
old female.

Can you spot it?  You can tell us in the comments if you did, but please don’t say where it was. Again, reveal is at 10:30 a.m.  Click the photo to enlarge it.

 

Readers’ wildlife photos

June 4, 2026 • 8:15 am

Reader Mark Joseph, inspired by my post on leucistic Australian ducks, went in an example and some other photos. Mark’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Your post this morning coincidentally arrived as did this photo from a person in our birdwatching group; it’s a leucistic house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus):

And, to give you a small set instead of a singleton, here are a couple of my feeble efforts, all taken with an iPhone in suburban southwestern Michigan. Hopefully, you can use them. I know even less about flowers and insects than I do about birds, so all identifications are courtesy of Gemini.

A zinnia (This specific variety is likely a Zinnia elegans, such as the ‘Canary Bird’ or ‘Benary’s Giant Yellow’ cultivar”) with a bumblebee (“specifically consistent with the Common Eastern Bumblebee, Bombus impatiens). I have enjoyed taking photos of flowers and insects together:

Spotted Knapweed (Centaurea stoebe, sometimes classified as Centaurea maculosa). Unfortunately, it is invasive:

A crabapple tree and a closeup.  This closeup helps narrow it down to a Sargent Crabapple (Malus sargentii) or a Siberian Crabapple (Malus baccata).

Sargent Crabapple (Malus sargentii) or a Siberian Crabapple (Malus baccata):

This is a Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) or a Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus).These two species look nearly identical from a distance and are the two most common bats found roosting on residential brick walls across North America.

Brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys).When we first moved here and I decided to take some pictures, I got all excited because I was able to get a really good picture. Then I found out it was a stink bug, and invasive to boot. So, not a new species of peacock. But, it’s one of the things evolution has produced. Order Hemiptera, the “true bugs.”

A Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus), commonly known as a Shaggy Mane or Lawyer’s Wig. The next day the cap is just black goo, and the day after, nothing is left but the stem:

A shirt and a puggle

June 1, 2026 • 10:30 am

There’s a dearth of news, or should I say there’s a dearth of news that I want to write about: the interesting news is relevated to the morning Hili post.  But since it’s June 1, which marks for me the Day to Begin Wearing Hawaiian shirts, I present my garb for today. I have about 50 Hawaiian shirts, acquired when I went through an aloha-shirt phase, but I wear them only in appropriat weather. This one is semi-authentic, as it’s not old but has coconut buttons and a pocket matched with the shirt’s pattern—two features of an authentic Hawaiian shirt. (The real old ones from decades ago are made of rayon, not cotton.  I got it from a now-defunct outfit that had gorgeous Hawaiian shirts: “Paradise on a Hanger” (great name). Sadly, it is not longer in business, but i have enough shirts.

This one has a lovely green-and-orange fish pattern. I wish that mainland Americans would take up this habit, for you see them all over the islands of Hawaii, especially on “aloha Fridays.” It counts as “business casual” garb, too. You can hardly be unhappy when all around you are colorful shirts.

And Matthew sent this short YouTube video about a new puggle (the name for a baby platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus) from ZoosVictoria, which really does seem to be interested in conservation. Note that the incubation for the egg is just ten days, but it’s four months until it emerges from the den. It’s okay to hold females, but remember that males have poison spurs on their hind legs, which can inflict a painful and slow-healing wound.

Readers’ wildlife photos

June 1, 2026 • 8:15 am

Today we have pictures from the shore of New Jersey taken by Jan Malik.  Jan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Here are a few pictures from my walks on Cape May and Sandy Hook, taken this April.

Starting from the Atlantic Ocean (eastern) shore on Cape May, I met this pair of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus). In Cape May, a section of the beach is fenced off to protect nesting sites for them and for Piping plovers. They are feisty birds and every spring there is a competition for nesting sites; the bird on the right is calling at another Oystercatcher:

The pair took off to drive out the intruder:

The place where I found that pair was littered with the remains of Sand fleas (possibly Emerita talpoida). These fossorial crustaceans normally stay buried in the sand, exiting only when the sand is awash with the shallow tide, but Oystercatchers’ bills are well adapted to dig them out. I think the birds ate only the soft and juicy parts of their telsons, leaving the crustaceans mortally wounded and unable to move:

These Sand fleas are small and difficult to catch alive. That’s what their front end and first pair of legs look like. These crabs dig backwards, starting from their telson, and the front pair of legs is used as a sand anchor:

Another arthropod – the Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), came ashore, atypically for it, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the peninsula. These are treacherous waters for these spiderlike creatures, for they are easily flipped over by ocean waves and become stranded. They are an interesting part of the Delaware Bay ecosystem and I may share more pictures of them later:

On the Delaware Bay shore of Cape May, there were already many Laughing gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla), which mostly move south in winter but return to their breeding grounds in the spring. They are quite similar to the Eurasian Black-headed gull:

Terns also made their appearance. I think this may be a Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) because of the lack of black tips on its primaries and its pure white underbelly, but they are difficult to tell apart from Common terns (Sterna hirundo):

The terns landed on old quay pilings and started courting. There’s no way to tell females from males other than by their courting behavior; males can be slightly larger, but the difference is less than 5%, which is hardly discernible to the human eye:

The courting consists of the two mates trying to look “smug”, with wings drooped, necks extended, and bills pointed toward the sky:

Then there’s the courtship dance and ritual feeding. Here is a fragment of it, taken from a large distance, so I’ve compensated for the lack of pixels by cobbling together this composite. The male presents a fry to the female and then, if she accepts (which is not a given), circles around the female while stomping his feet:

On my way home, I stopped at Sandy Hook, a sand spit where shore gun batteries protecting New York Harbor were once located. It is now a prime nesting site for Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus):

The former Army garrison required many houses for the officers, and these are now excellent nesting sites for Ospreys. Standing in the center of Officers Row (as the area is called), I counted four nests on top of chimneys:

The meadow below the houses was full of American robins (Turdus migratorius) fattening up for the nesting season by preying on earthworms. I know little about annelids, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is the common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris), since it is a favorite prey for robins:

Finally, moving to the class Mammalia, here are Sandy Hook’s harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), congregating on rocks exposed by low tide (the tide was rising so, one by one, the seals were forced to slip back into the water). There are eight seals in this picture, but I counted 15 in total. Their population around the New York inlet has increased in recent years, which may soon put them on a collision course with the fishing industry: