Category: photography

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 7, 2026 • 8:30 am

Today we have urban wildlife, from Marcel van Oijen in Edinburgh.  His notes are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Urban wildlife in Scotland: Vertebrates

Marcel van Oijen

 

We live in Edinburgh South and our back garden borders a small woodland. The following pictures were all taken in the garden over a number of years, but I sorted them by month, from January to November.

Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are among the first visitors to our garden each year. They have become very common in British cities. There are about 400,000 foxes in the U.K., and roughly one third are city-dwellers.

Magpies (Pica pica) come in droves to our garden. They are fascinating to watch but tend to frighten off the songbirds and steal their food:

Occasionally we see sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus) plucking pigeons apart until what is left is small enough to fly away with. The magpies resent the sparrowhawks invading their territory, and gang up against them:

Carrion crows (Corvus corone) usually come in pairs; this one was an exception. The way it walked, paused, looked around, nodded its head, inspecting everything – it all suggested confidence and cleverness:

We do not often see Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major), but regularly hear them pecking away when walking in the woodland behind the garden:

The mammals we see the most are our American friends, the Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). They tend to chase ach other away, but these two were friendly, maybe young siblings:

We are always surprised to see amphibians because there is not much open water in our neighbourhood. This summer visitor is a Common Frog (Rana temporaria):

Wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) are almost as acrobatic as the squirrels, and we see them climbing up the stems of plants and jumping onto the birdfeeders:

We don’t see hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) often enough – we would like them to eat more of the slugs that invade our house from the garden:

This is the more common behaviour of the Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis): entering supposedly squirrel-proof birdfeeders and being nasty to each other:

We often see pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) around the golf course one kilometer away, but last November was the first time one came to see us:

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 6, 2026 • 8:15 am

Today we have some flower photos from reader MichaelC.  His captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Sri Lanka Flora!

 

Recently I sent WEIT some photos from the Dambulla cave temples in Sri Lanka. My wife and I took a “pre-honeymoon” there (we took our honeymoon before the wedding; we’re olde so rules don’t apply to us!) and I have a large number of photos of Sri Lankan flora.  [Today we have the flora.]

I hope some of the ones I’ve selected are new to readers. I have tried to identify them, some I’m sure of, others not so much, and some I don’t know at all. The countryside in Sri Lanka is bursting with color; there are flowers everywhere. And birdsong! If you don’t like singing birds, Sri Lankan is not a place for you. Most of the flowers are probably familiar to people – I’ve seen many myself. These were mostly taken at the Royal Botanical Gardens or on the estate of the Dilmah Tea Plantation.

A Vanda orchid, possibly Vanda suksamran?

Black Bat flower (Tacca chantrieri). I know some Goth friends of my son who I bet would like this plant!:

Some type of rose. St. Nicholas’ Damask, maybe?:

Scarlet Sage (Salvia splendens):

Bachelor’s buttons (Centratherum punctatum or Centratherum intermedium?):

The familiar Hanging Lobster Claw (Heliconia rostrata):

There were a large variety of Angels trumpets (Brugmansia spp.) in parks, gardens, and jungles all over Sri Lanka. Here are a few;

Some kind of orchid (my notes say it’s a Dendrobium orchid):

Egyptian Starcluster (Pentas lanceolata):

Star of Bethlehem (Hippobroma longiflora):

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 5, 2026 • 8:15 am

Well, I still have no new wildlife photos, but so you can see your daily organism, I’m stealing another batch of photos from Scott Ritchie of Cairns, Australia.  Scott’s captions are indented and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. You can find Scott’s Facebook page here.

And please send in your own pictures!

The first leg of my Melbourne to Sydney tour is finished. While I dipped on the Lyrebird (winter is their season!), I did see many other cool birds. Here is the 1st leg on the Victoria Gippsland trip, birds captured on a brief stopover and walk in the Dandenongs. It was amusing stumbling across a Swiss nature photographer that I follow on Youtube. I’m sure Fabian Fopp was equally alarmed that some old fart came out of the blue and said “You’re Fabian Fopp!”

Anyway, it was fun chatting, and photographing parrots with him. I’ll get the lyrebird next winter!

Crimson Rosella [Platycercus elegans] at close range:

. . . while hopping amongst the grass, hoping we feed him:

Nearby a sentinel looks for danger in a nearby tree. He calls, and flashes and shakes his tail, to tell the others “watch out, humans are coming!”:

A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo [Cacatua galerita] hears the warning too…:

. . . And takes flight:

In the deep forest, Crimson Rosellas can be seen playing in the gum bark:

Seemingly enjoying a cigar:

The ever-present Australian Magpie [Gymnorhina tibicen] keeps a keen watch!:

No readers’ wildlife today

February 4, 2026 • 8:15 am

Yes, the much-feared situation has occurred: I have run out of reader’ wildlife photos. Perhaps readers have lost interest in either sending them in or seeing them, but it’s a sad day when there are no animals and plants to look at and learn about. If you have photos (and good ones), please send them along.

In the meantime, I’ll shortly post a new Jesus and Mo, which will have to do you for today.

I guess I’ll take a short nap.

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 3, 2026 • 8:15 am

This is my last batch of photos, so please help us (i.e., me) out and send your good wildlife photos.

Today’s photos of sunflowers come from Pratyaydipta Rudra, a statistics professor at Oklahoma State University. Pratyay’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Pratyay and his wife Sreemala have a big bird-and-butterfly website called Wingmates.

I have shared some stories about our Maximilian Sunflowers before. This batch is a set of images of the sunflowers in bloom from the fall. They bloom for a relatively shorter time (a couple of weeks), but it creates a wonderful sunny vibe at that time and the pollinators, especially the migrating ones, definitely appreciate the buffet. Here are some insect photos on or near the sunflowers.

The Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani) plants bordering our property. They are not just low maintenance (no water required even during hot Oklahoma summers), but also kind of hard to kill if one wants that! We had them accidentally mowed down to the ground by a neighbor during the first year, and they grew back up just fine:

A leafcutter bee (Megachile, not sure about the exact species) flying over:

Painted lady (Vanessa cardui) butterfly taking off:

The bloom coincides with Monarch (Danaus plexippus) migration as we see plenty of Monarchs stopping by:

I called this image “The flame and the bee”. It’s the same leafcutter bee from the other image:

A close view of the bee nectaring on the sunflower:

A Spotted Cucumber Beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). These are considered pests, but we see a good number of them every fall and they had never caused any trouble in our vegetable garden:

I think these are Goldenrod Soldier Beetles (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), or something closely related to them:

Some kind of Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum). I love these with long antennae. They keep us entertained all fall and the garden suddenly sounds so quiet after the frost sets in:

Another Painted Lady. Note how it does not have the typical white spot of the American Ladies (Vanessa virginiensis) on the orange patch. The smaller one is likely a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus):

The skippers are often overlooked but they have a lot of character! I can spend hours watching them interact with each other. I find them quite hard to properly identify sometimes even with a field guide. This one is probably a Sachem (Atalopedes campestris):

The skippers are fast, but they can still fall prey to these efficient hunters: Goldenrod Crab Spider (Misumena vatia). These spiders can change their color (during molts) to match their surroundings. It’s not a surprise that this one was yellow, efficiently camouflaged among the sunflowers:

I like playing with the backlight through the leaves of these plants. I was happy to capture this little Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) dragonfly coming back to its favorite perch:

Another backlit image of a sunflower plant with some nice bokeh of out-of-focus mosquitoes/gnats:

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 2, 2026 • 8:15 am

Well, this is the last batch of submitted photos, but I hope for me. Don’t dash my hope!

Today we have a lovely text-and-photo post by Athayde Tonhasca Júnior, featuring a bizarre and mimetic beetle. Athayde’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Fabulous pretenders

Termites, cockroaches’ sophisticated cousins (Order Blattodea), live in intricate, organized societies with division of labour and a caste system. The mound-building species are also skilled engineers, constructing temperature-controlled, ventilated nests that protect their inhabitants from the harsh conditions of the outside world.  Colonies may comprise millions of individuals, including eggs, larvae and workers. Just like other social insects, termites have to be on guard against many an envious enemy: their cosy nests are tempting to would-be squatters, with the even more tempting bonus of being packed with energy-rich morsels.

Termite workers and soldiers ready to defend a damaged sector of their nest © U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wikimedia Commons:

Damage to a nest of Formosan subterranean termites brings hoards of workers and soldiers with dark, oval shaped heads scrambling to repair the hole. Termites shown about 4 times actual size. USDA photo by Scott Bauer.

Termites are mostly successful in keeping invaders at bay, but a sizable group of outsiders has evolved skills that allow them to breach those defences. These are the termitophiles: macro-organisms that live in association with termite colonies. Termitophiles, ranging from harmless inquilines to predators and parasites, rely on chemical mimicry and numerous morphological and behavioural adaptations to avoid detection and mingle with their hosts.

Among the many impostors, rove beetles from the subfamily Aleocharinae are particularly noteworthy. This is a huge group (~16,000 species) within the humongous Staphylinidae family, which comprises some 66,000 species, one of the largest families of organisms. Many aleocharines are myrmecophilous (associated with ants); some 670 species are termitophilous.

The termitophilous rove beetle Corotoca phylo © Zilberman et al., 2019:

Aleocharines have reached extraordinary levels of deception, but two termitophilous species of the genus Austrospirachtha from northern Australia – the only known species so far –  take their art to a new level. On first seeing their images, one may think they are AI-generated. Or pranks devised by putting together bits of different insects, entomological versions of the Piltdown Man hoax.

A. carrijoi, lateral and dorsal views. Its recent discovery caused a sensation © Pires Silva, 2024:

The first described species, the less publicised A. mimetes. Lateral view, setae omitted (1) and abdomen viewed from above (2) © Watson, 1973:

The termite puppets on their backs, complete with dangling pseudo-appendages that resemble antennae and legs, fool their hosts into accepting them as nestmates. You may see these beetles as rough simulacrums of the real thing, but in the pitch-dark confines of a termite nest, mimicry is based on palpation rather than vision (Watson, 1973).  The mouthparts of A. carrijoi are very small, which suggest it dupes termite workers to feed it, a process known as trophallaxis (Zilberman & Pires Silva, 2023). Presumably, the same happens with A. mimetes.

We know very little about these beetles or any other symbiotic aleocharines. But the rare insights into their outlandish appearances are glimpses of the marvellous workings of natural selection.

References

Pires Silva, C.M. 2024. Cladistic analysis, taxonomic revision & biological notes of the termitophilous genus Xenogaster Wasmann, 1891 (Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae, Corotocini). Master’s Dissertation, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Watson, J.A.L. 1973. Austrospirachtha mimetes, a new termitophilous corotocine from Northern Australia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 12: 307-310.

Zilberman, B. et al. 2019. Viviparity in Staphylinidae and reproductive behavior of Corotoca Schiødte, 1853. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 59: e20195919.

Zilberman, B. & Pires Silva, C.M. 2023. A new species and morphological notes on the remarkable termitophilous genus Austrospirachtha Watson from Australia (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa. 5336: 424-432.

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 1, 2026 • 8:15 am

Today we have part 2 of Paul Handford’s hummingbird photos (part 1 is here).  Paul’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

The Rufous hummer, Selasphorus rufus, was a common frequenter of our yard, boldly visiting the feeders.  It has the distinction of being the northernmost breeding species of any member of the family (61°N, in southern Alaska).  Given that they winter on the Gulf Coast and the southern Pacific slopes of Mexico, this means that, in terms of body-length, at least some Rufous hummers make the longest of all avian migrations!

The females closely resemble those of the congeneric Calliope hummer, differing in having longer tails and rufous, rather than buff flanks:

The males are mainly strongly rufous, and with a brilliant ‘metallic’ scarlet throat.  Again, this is a colour produced by interference produced by the structural characteristics of the feathers rather than by pigment.  As such, the brilliance shows when it is viewed directly;  from the side, it appears dark, even black: