As I was finishing up a very hot field day along the greenways (temps above 90 today), I went down to the creek in the shade of the bridge. As I scanned the armored gravel bar, I saw something. Was it a flatworm? No, our invasive land planarians don’t get that big. A salamander? Maybe, but I didn’t see any legs.
[Image description:] Long, smooth-skinned, legless animal coiled among rocks and sand. [End image description]
Whatever it was, I could tell that it was going to dry out and die if it stayed where it was. I picked it up, and suddenly it began thrashing with snake-like movements, but I knew it was no snake. It was an eel! What was it doing up on the sandbar? It was still in the “yellow eel” stage, not mature enough to be making the journey to the ocean that Rachel Carson so vividly narrated.
After quickly taking the pictures, I placed it in the water – an inch of depth was all it needed and it swam off and vanished among the rocks.
A short distance away, I found another eel up on the sand bar, this one less than half the size of the first. Alas, it was too late – the smaller eel was already dead.
Alsthough estimates vary, catch-and-release is thought to be associated with 18–20% mortality – more or less, depending on species. I’m sure that eel had suffered great trauma, lying there drying out on the sandbar. The fact that it didn’t try to get away until after I picked it up suggests that it was exhausted and was waiting to die. So: it may have died anyway. Still, my intervention at least gave it a chance, which it wouldn’t have had otherwise. Maybe it will see the Sargasso again. Maybe.
Found this rather large grass snake on an unassuming Saturday afternoon in my local nature reserve with my dog. Originally thought it was a slow worm when I saw it slither and spent about 15 minutes trying to coax it out with no luck, eventually I left for a bit before doubling back and managing to yoink him from the hawthorn bush he was in. Got musked on and the stench stayed on my hand for ages after that but def worth it. Ever since i found him ( or her) my luck in finding reptiles increased with a chonky common lizard in Wales and 2 other grass snakes in and around Stratford Upon Avon ( one small guy under a piece of plywood filled with field voles and another swimming across the Avon.
I had gone to Durham for a follow-up medical appointment; the problem was that the VA authorization had expired. After a frustrating phone call while pulled off on a exit ramp, I decided to go ahead and show up and see what would happen. After a discussion at the front desk, I decided that it was best to just forget it and cancel – it was only a routine follow-up, no risk of adverse events.
Well, having already driven more than 100 miles to Durham, I didn’t want to waste the trip. After a cold October, the weather had turned hot again for a few days, so I checked Google Maps for some nature places. Eno River looked likely.
The Piedmont seems to have brighter fall foliage than the Coastal Plain. But then I went down to the river to see what sort of underwater life was about. A cluster of rocks had caused drifting leaves to accumulate into a thick, floating mat. I dug down into the mat for a bit, trying to see how thick it was, and buried in the middle of it, where the leaves were wet from contact with the water, I found this:
There is nothing random or unexpected about a fallen pine cone being inside a floating mat of leaves on a river. But I never expected to find a mushroom in such a spot!
Some months ago, I went for a walk to the local park. At the forest edge, when I was walking back home, there were many birds making noise. Jays, flycatchers, blackbirds, mockingbirds, they all were there screaming. I immediately knew what was happening. ‘‘Snake!’’ was the first thing that came to mind. I then started looking for the snake, and there it was. A boa had caught a hopeless grackle, hiding under a pile of leaf litter.
I’ve been really into going into the woods around and just after sunset so I can listen for owls. This past Saturday, my fiancé and I headed over to my favorite forest for watching wildlife. On our way over to the trail, 2 barred owls flew out from a stand of white pines. Pretty cool, I’ve seen barred owls many times in this area and they’re always a treat. We go up the trail and head to a clearing near one of my favorite swamps to sit quietly and listen. After a few minutes we hear coyotes howling! I know they’re incredibly common but I just love the sound and don’t get to hear them often. They started to sound closer and closer and started barking and yipping-- so close my fiancé was getting nervous and thought we should go.
It was fairly dark by then and heading away from the coyotes we started to hear a great horned owl. I’ve never seen one and this was only one of the handful of times I’d heard them. Even though it was pretty dark we went up a small hill under the white pines where the barred owls had been and the hooting was louder-- I spotted the GHO on top of an old radio antenna thing. I could only see the silhouette against the sky at that point but we stood quietly and listened to the hooting. Then a screech owl called out twice, very close by and the GHO flew off in that direction.
Barred owls, coyotes howling, my first great horned owl sighting, my first time hearing a screech owl call-- it was a fantastic hour in the woods!
One time I almost missed office hours because as I was walking there and a Red-tailed Hawk just flew down and stared at me for awhile. When they didn’t seem like they would fly off I snuck my phone out and snapped some pictures. My chem professor understood when he saw the pictures
This didnt happen to me but my great aunt. She was the family “nature lover” before me. For a while she would leave food out on her back porch and then watch the raccoons come to eat it from inside. Oreos were a particular favorite. One day at the grocery store she realized that she was spending a fortune on raccoons who definitely don’t care if they’re given the knockoff brand. Apparently, they do care. They would not touch the knockoff brand and were even suspicious after she switched back to the name brand.
It should go without saying that you shouldn’t feed wildlife, knockoff or name brand
Was getting lunch ready for my kids before taking them to school when I hear my daughter shriek and cry. I immediately run to where she’s at, she’s screaming hysterically “it bit me!!!” There was a huge wolf spider in her school shoe thankfully she had socks on and the spider really didn’t want to bite her, she had a minor scratch but it was just enough to be super painful. Posting went away after a couple of hours.
I wintersow a lot of plants. I just moved and need a ballilion plants to replace all the invasive ones with, so I have lots of potted plants on the side of the house.
One day went to look through my stash when the soil started to move and all of a sudden this American toad popped out from under the soil and jumped off from then on I kept finding that same toad in my potted plants, always completely buried.
Had a random nature encounter last night. I was about to brush my teeth before bedtime when I discovered a spider on the bathroom counter. It had just captured a cockroach. I went to get my phone and reading glasses to see about making an observation, but by the time I got back, the spider was in the act of transporting its prey to the space behind the counter that I can’t access.
Most of the cockroach population is in the kitchen, but occasional dispersers wander into other rooms. I don’t expect them to survive there because there is nothing there for them. The poison baits are also in the kitchen. I wasn’t too worried about the spider’s safety because I don’t think a poisoned cockroach could make it all the way to the bathroom and get to the top of the counter.
I already know what species the cockroaches are: they are the little “German” ones. It would have been nice to know the spider’s species, though.
I’ve got a couple from the last month while I was staying in Corvallis (working for OSU (OSAC)), now all I’ve got to do is remember them.
First one that comes to mind:
A couple of weeks ago a friend and occasional iNatter and I were driving around Marys Peak for a few specific things and we made some stops at creeks, small seeps, and falls. He (Matt) mentioned how he recalled seeing fotos of this spot during one of David (Maddison)'s courses, being the type locality of Lionepha tuluukwa…
A short while later, while sifting through crumbled stone at the base of a seep, I found a small silvery carabid, and in my head went * no *, then out loud went “FUCK! MATT! LIONEPHA!”. Very suble fieldwork indeed. Later I found out that it was in fact not Lionepha tuluukwa, but instead smaller sister species casta. Still a new genus for me, and a gorgeous find out of sheer luck.
Even better, I returned alone the next day to the same spot, no luck. (And no, that wasn’t the better part). I moved up the road a short ways to the actual type location of tuulukwa attempting to collect a series of Anchomenus quadratus. As I took steps, the occasional small beetle would scitter away from where my foot had been. TO be more specific, Lionepha tuluukwa. Caught five, then saw (but did not collect) a number more a week later!
I did this with this owl, only it was about 15 minutes out, but I still had to do some convincing. This also happened, with the distance being about 30 minutes, with this tanager.
I made everyone turn the car around once because I saw a wolf! No regrets on that one. I think I peaked there - it’s been downhill ever since.
A close second would be watching coyotes play with each other on the Great Salt Lake. They at least half a mile away and unconcerned by us, so we got a great view.
thankfully she had socks on and the spider really didn’t want to bite her, she had a minor scratch but it was just enough to be super painful. Posting went away after a couple of hours.
from then on I kept finding that same toad in my potted plants, always completely buried.