Gatorman Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Well thats odd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 tj told me that him and trcer seen an otter. i tole him he's from otter space but he swears. bet they ain't seen my friend robert. he's bigger than me. said he llives in the woods. weird tail, but i haven't said anything to him about it. tc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Looking at some of the great shots people have posted of mantises (mantisi?), snakes, etc., I thought it would be fun to see some of the pix people have taken in the field. Here are a couple of mine....a busy dung beetle, a cicada my son caught and a killdeer nest made right in the middle of an inoceramus clam. All from W. Kansas. I've always liked mantises. I saw one in Bakersfield, CA. I was driving out with Bob Ernst to his property and we stopped so he could drop off some carrots and melon for some jackrabbits. He used to do that a lot, especially in the summer. He would've gotten a kick out of the TX guys and their posts about fishing, hunting, and taxidermy. He used to hunt deer, but like those guys, he saved the meat, gave some away and ate some too. Yet, he had a soft spot for those rabbits. They would gather around a clearing near an abandoned car where he always stopped. He'd fill a big dish with water and throw some of the carrots and melon under the car so the coyotes could get at them. Anyway, while we stopped there a few minutes one time, I saw a mantis menace another friend who came along to dig. It reared up and raised its arms at him and we were all impressed at its bravery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) Here's a monster that Danwoehr wrestled with his bare hands last weekend... Edited September 9, 2009 by JohnJ The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 You might be able to see mimicry in insects, where something like wing numbers could tell differences. I wonder if a monarch butterfly and a viceroy were both fossilized in the same formation, if they would be classified as different species. I can only tell them apart from the color patterns, and somewhat by size. Yes, they're rare but a few amber collectors might have at least a juvenile walking stick in Dominican amber (photo of one in Poinar's "Life in Amber," Color Plate 4). There was mention of an identifiable fragment of a leaf-mimic mantis in "Evolution of Insects" by Grimaldi. I'll have to ask a friend about other fossil insect mimics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I like this thread! Keep it going, everyone! I don't have any photos but I've seen some interesting creatures in the Kettleman Hills (Kings County and part of Fresno County, CA). Chevron used to let people collect out on their oil property (sometimes they leased it out to another oil company who also let people collect) as long as you stayed away from the equipment, working or not. One January morning, we saw an adult tarantula just sitting on the ground. We realized it had frozen overnight. Was it just sleeping one off - still revivable when the sun warmed it up? I found a dead tarantula hawk wasp once. That's what I thought it was (about an inch long, steel blue). Another time, I found a big pile of owl pellets at the base of a rise (a bit short to call it a hill or cliff). I didn't see them but I think they were the offerings of burrowing owls. I gave the pellets to a teacher. While prospecting in the Santa Cruz Mountains (Felton area, Santa Cruz County, CA), I watched a Pacific newt cross my path and we saw at least one of those banana slugs around there as well. One time I was driving with a friend heading down through Mexico to buy minerals (towns in Chihuahua, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, etc.). We saw some people with butterfly nets wandering near the road. They were from the University of Kansas, collecting whatever they could catch. On the return trip as we were going through Chihuahua, I saw dark little bumps in the highway ahead, then noticing they were moving. It was one of those major tarantula migrations (chercher la femme, as they say). I saw hundreds on either side of the road. He'd done all kinds of stuff in his life but he hates spiders so he just wanted to get through there. I don't know how many never made it across the road. It was an unforgettable sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldcreation Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Hello all, Here is a specimen I happened upon last week in Guadalajara Spain: Vipera Latastei, snub-nosed viper (or subspecie). He was located next to a dropstone in a Silurian-Llandovery/Alexanderian formation. I was with my four year old son at the time. Much to his mother's dismay (she wasn't there) I showed my son how to handle this critter: immobilized it with a stick, picked it up by the back of his head, showed him the fangs with a smaller stick, placed it carefully into an empty soda bottle, put it in the trunk of the Citroen C5, then let it go in a nearby location about a half hour later. The other option (the wise option) would have been to leave it alone. I guess I needed the epinephrine (often referred to as adrenaline) fix. It was, after all the first time I handled a venomous snake, though my experience with other variety (a large reticulated and burmese pythons, +9 ft) is non- negligible. Note: I had a pet eastern diamond back rattle snake for a while back in 1984, but never touched it. The question is; what is the best approach when faced with a scenario of this kind? CC Coldcreation Something has only just begun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 call a moderator. that's what tj always says to tracer when's he's being a smarty pants. tracer's cat. p.s. - i knew another cat that tried to bite one of those things. it dint go wel. i would leave it alone from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Here is a specimen I happened upon last week in Guadalajara Spain: Vipera Latastei, snub-nosed viper (or subspecie)... The question is; what is the best approach when faced with a scenario of this kind? I would relocate it if such action was required to assure its safety; our absence is all they really need. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 You've entered its playground, so give it the right of way. relocating it is dangerous for the snake as you have placed it in a totally unfamiliar enviroment so it has no familiar place to hide. Nice pic. I recall seing one many years ago when I lived in Spain... Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundancer73 Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Here are a pair of young otters Worthy55 and I came upon in the Santa Fe River earlier in the year. NOT our beer bottle. ~Mike All your fossils are belong to us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 Too cool, Mike; too cool. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 It's not a real good shot But WHAT THE HILL it is a Turkey shoot so they say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eureka Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I saw this "beauty" while having a pleasure walk in north Spain,,,,some wasps!!!! Eureka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 This guy lives on the road to the boat ramp at Gardner on the Peace River. The kids call him the mutated cow. Soon I will be heading for the river to hunt. I think I will bring him some treats this year. Pentax Optio W60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Red Shouldered Hawk eating a snake. I didn't feel it was necessary to identify the type of snake as the hawk peeled it. Pentax Optio W60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Red Shouldered Hawk eating a snake. I didn't feel it was necessary to identify the type of snake as the hawk peeled it. That's one of those nice, pale Florida sub-species of the Red-shouldered Hawk. It's a treat to watch a northern birder try to ID the first one they see. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gimmer Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Good grief,---Don't envy you chaps, the most dangerous thing we have is a cliff falling on you or shrapnel wounds from whacking rocks. I live in northern England.----Also you are not allowed to carry any weapons knives, batons. ---possesing a gun is a jailable offense unless you own land when you can have a 12 bore shotgun. you can carry a big stick, which I do because some of the cattle are quite intinmadating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regg Cato Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 where I go, vultures and seagulls are typically the only wildlife of note...not really worth shooting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 oh god creek crawler i love that pic you got to post a larger file size- its going to be my new wallpaper rock on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Got passed on the Peace River today. Pentax Optio W60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 get those horses OUT of the river! they're breaking fossils! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 From July 24th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTeethCollecter Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Hawks, turtles, lizards, fish, and one smelly surprise in the form of a skunk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BOHUNTER Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Nice pictures. I cant tell you how many Softshelled turtles I ate as a kid, toss in truck loads of Gophers back in the late 70s early 80s absolutely the best meat you will ever eat.... Of course today 2010 better not event touch a gopher and I think there is a limit on Softshells now. It was a youth experience, there were plenty and we had some serious cook outs on the creeks, nothing was wasted! Today you would be in jail so fast, it would make Lindsey Lohans time seem like seconds! Turtle meat is awesomely delicious! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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