I see lots of shots of animal tracks posted on iNat, but save for a raccoon or a few other simple ones, I claim no knowledge or expertise in tracks in the snow, mud, etc. But I thought tracks of Emperor Penguin in soft snow might add a different critter to the tracks repertoire! Image 3 shows the culprits making the tracks! We watched this daily for 8 or 10 days on that trip to the Ross Sea in 2001. The track in image 1 is made by a single individual. When there are multiple birds in a line (and they often travel 2 to 25 or more in single file in the same rut), those marks on the side of the rut where their flippers propel them along get very obscure from multiple flippers.
When on rocks and gravel or a thin snow cover, Emperors walk upright. But when in loose snow, or they want to speed up, they flop down on their bellies and "take off" propelling themselves along with their rear feet as well as their flippers. Under many circumstances they can move a good bit faster than a person is able to. Emperors are 3 feet tall and large ones can weigh 70+ pounds.
Emperor Penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri
Cape Washington,
Ross Sea
Antarctica
4 December 2001
these images scanned from 35mm slides
Location: Cape Washington, Ross Sea, ... (Google, OSM)
Places: AQ, AQ, Antarctica More...
Lat -74.5248, Lon 165.1697
Accuracy: 1000m
They have an unnatural relationship
Weird orange lichen. Cezar approved! Good for chewing
Man root on right, man on left. Found excavated by construction activity, took home to nurture, fed tea, then planted in native garden.
*2021 Update: the transplant didn't take and this sweet soul was lost to the world, buried dead as it had been buried alive.
Type of fungi found in LA National Forest. Pipeline-like, Pink and white
First observation of 2024. Birch trees under some amazing Aurora borealis !
While doing homework on a bench, this chipmunk jumped on to see what I was doing. I let her take a look but she only got to the search bar and gave up. So I put on some of my chipmunk pictures for her to see. Posed for observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129984459
On the trail to Switzer falls
Growing on dead wood below Laurel Sumac.
This area had many small mushrooms. Most were orange like four of the five in this picture. Some were brown like the top one in this picture. Others were light beige. I am not sure if they are three different species or variations of the same species. The second picture shows the underside of one orange example and one brown example. I also submitted each as a separate observation.
Location and time should be accurate, but a little fuzzy since they came from a camera with inconsistent logging, but metadata was noted at time of recording
Morels in a grill growing on charcoal
MORELS IN A GRILL MORELS IN A GRILL MORELS IN A GROLL MORMELSLAA IAN. AGERILLLL
manzanita, rhus, prunus, scrub oak, Eriodictyon, ribes
Unsure, growing out of rotting wood pile
In leaf litter at base of eucalyptus
Cap ~1cm
field notes:
heavy rainfall
oak, manzanita, cacti
growing on wood chip
specimen notes:
tiny!
cap olive green, white margin
cap planar to convex
gills free, white to cream
gills bladelike, forked (?)
stalk white to cream, equal, center
no ring
spore print brown
One, out of a flock of about 30, leucistic, with white wing patches.
no funereal duskywings were harmed in the making of this
Edge of Kentucky bluegrass and mock orange shrub