Life is cruel some times-Warning Graphic Content

[Clip]

I had not thought about the laying egg into possibility. Could be.

[Clip]

Gopher Tortoise - found dead yesterday on the side of a road. I always try to move turtles and tortoises off the road when I find them so they don’t get run over. Sometimes like in this case I’m too late.

[mkanimallover]

Probably chowing down; looks like the mandibles are sunk into the poor thing, although it is kind of hard to tell from the photo

[apusaffinis]

I don’t see how you hit a turtle that big without intending it. If it were a rock it’d trash your car too. [This paper](https://doi.org/10.1080/10871200701322423\) suggests many more of them than you’d like to think are intentional..

[Clip]

I was thinking the same thing actually. The tortoise was well off on the side of the road so yes I agree it had to be intentional.

[Clip]

The fish (a Brown Hoplo) isn’t having a good day but the Great Blue Heron is having a good meal.

[Clip]

This female Mallard has a deformed bill. I have no idea why. Photo taken 2016 at Chatfiled SP in Colorado. If memory serves she seemed happy.

[mkanimallover]

@Clip just saw this now–maybe this is the cause of the issue?? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/864604-Mycoplasma-gallisepticum

[Clip]

Looks about right. No way to know for sure probably.

[Clip]

Found this Mexican Long nosed Armadillo out riding my trike not long ago. I’m not sure what the story is. There are no actual roads nearby so it wasn’t run over. Perhaps a fox or coyote got to it.

[Clip]

This male Mallard suffers from a condition known as Angel Wings. This is a deformity caused by the consumption of too much bread in it’s youth. Ducks with this condition cannot fly and are easy prey for Coyotes and Foxes. Please do not feed ducks bread it does not contain the nutrients they need but fills them up so they don’t seek proper food.

[shreedave]

The wings of this Bamboo Treebrown where all shriveled up, must have eclosed wrongly or something. It couldn’t fly and couldn’t last too long.

[bromine_17]

I’ve never heard of that condition, I’ve never fed ducks but I didn’t know this could happen. Thanks for sharing that.

[nature_demon]

dw he still able to walk

[Clip]

I think this is a Black Scoter. I have no idea why it passed.

[broacher]

Get a Raynox macro clip-on and a filter ring reducing adapter for the P1000’s very large lens diameter. Either a150 or 250. It’s great to switch from birds to bugs just by reaching in your back pocket for the clip-on. Vignetting? Yes, but still worth it.

Back on topic….

How about this midge? Fascinating fungal (or other?) growth emerging from its abdomen. Midge still very much alive (legs and head movements).

Still haven’t ID’d this. Even after forwarding the photos to a couple of experts who were very interested.

BTW, the camera? My birding camera, the Nikon P950 with the Raynox DCR-250 clipped on. I spotted this on an outside windowsill of a building of a lakeside park coming back from some birdwatching in late March. It’s why I always carry the 250 in my backpocket. You just never know.

https://inaturalist.ca/observations/267991635

[adrien_ferrand]

Very interesting. Could you please share your observation?
I’d be interested to learn about the ID once available.

[broacher]

Thanks. I added it after the pics. The experts I emailed these to weren’t convinced this was fungal so…. all you need is life, right?

[adrien_ferrand]

Curious to see what it turns to be if not fungi. Looks very much as a fungus to my untrained eyes.

[Clip]

@broacher

Get a Raynox macro clip-on and a filter ring reducing adapter for the P1000’s very large lens diameter. Either a150 or 250. It’s great to switch from birds to bugs just by reaching in your back pocket for the clip-on. Vignetting? Yes, but still worth it.

Looking into now. Thank you!