One of the most impressive Helleri I’ve seen in a while. Found at a horse farm in Bonsall CA. Safely relocated within a mile from capture site. Photo credit: Michael Svoboda
Severed head clinging to a hind leg of Aeshna eremita (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/32073979).
Black Caterpillar Hunter Beetle (Calosoma sayi)
6 August 2019
Avondale Park
Denton, Denton County, Texas
Observed this Black Caterpillar Hunter Beetle spend more than an hour's time eating another beetle, a large golden-brown May/June Beetle. Ants did not begin scavenging the remaining carcass of the May/June Beetle until this beetle was done having its meal. Had not previously observed one beetle eating another. The Black Caterpillar Hunter Beetle is large, over an inch in length. Its black sheen dorsally was symmetrically lined with pink/red spots. Our first time observing this beetle in the North Texas region.
See BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1596339/bgimage
Source: IMG_1137x, 1141x
(Puget Sound Garter Snake?)
The story of this encounter is available on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/CrazyAboutNature/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2942878802417181&tn=-UC-R
Caught a baby garter snake, under 6" in length, consuming a just-emerged Northern Pacific Tree Frog. The frog was not as wide as my small fingernail, and not as long as my trimmed thumbnail.
It was heart-wrenching for me to watch this... as a amphibian, and especially a frog lover, but it is nature.
Source: DSC01572x
This is a large feral hog, ca 400 pounds, that Mike Murphy caught in a hog trap. It was later dispatched.
Cochise County, Arizona, US
A great time with @psyllidhipster resulting in a bunch of Sphinx Moths on our sheet. There were actually even more than this but these are the ones that grouped together. 5 species: Carolina Sphinx (Manduca sexta), Five-spotted Hawk Moth (Manduca quinquemaculata), Manduca florestan, Typhon Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha typhon), White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata).
Individual observations will be made for each species.
BioBlitz organized by the Natural History Club at San Diego State University
Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve
Riverside County, California, US
Being eaten by a Genus Ammophila wasp.
Found this guy stuck in the wall at work today.
Sorry for the low-quality pictures of the carcass. Was found in a field right next to the road. Likely roadkill. It looked like the body had been there for a while. I collected the skull, took it home and cleaned it. The last two pictures are of the cleaned skull.
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Setophaga chrysoparia
singing male
This is likely a 2nd year bird since it shows some olive coloration on back and some olive in crown.
Gainer Tract,
Balcones Canyonlands N.W.R.,
Williamson Co., Texas
20 April 2007
California Sea Lion - 12/31/2016
Astoria Waterfront, Astoria, Clatsop Co., OR
I managed just a few quick shots from the car as an Osprey flew by with a fish over the Pedernales River in Johnson City, Texas. This was the only shot of the 4 or 5 that was in decent focus. This fish has been identified as:
American Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum)
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4870751
Caught the storm-petrel out over the ocean and brought it back to the flats.
I have a black light set up near the outside wall of my house to attract moths to a white sheet. This scorpion was taking advantage of the various small insects attracted to the light.
Captured as part of Rapid assessment trapping effort by Washington Sea Grant, WDFW, and Padilla Bay NERR.
This Red centipede (Scolopocryptops spinicaudus) was crawling in a garden. I think it has 22 pairs of legs.
open dunes with herbaceous cover
Mojave Rattlesnake
Crotalus scutulatus
This snake was captured in Graham Co., Arizona
Photo taken Pima Co., Arizona
11 March 2009
CAPTIVE ANIMAL
This snake is unusual in that it lacks black and
white bands at the base of tail.
I was out with several friends, one of them a retired USFW enforcement officer. He had this Mojave Rattlesnake which had been captured the previous fall in Graham Co., AZ, but I do not know the exact location. Anyway, we took some images of this captive snake and I thought I'd post them here just as reference material.