Wild and Not So Wild World

Poor creatures...I hope they aren't in pain!!!

we call these parrots 28's because part of their song sounds like they're saying 28.

taken at a mates place today after work, a few miles from my house.

From this weekend's paper. 16' Boa caught digesting an adult deer, West of Miami.

That snake was probably so fat after swallowing that deer that it couldn't move! My grandfather used to go fishing down in Baja. He would tell the story that a truck carrying onyx eggs turned over in one of the washes, spilling the eggs. They picked up most, but not all of the eggs when they righted the truck but the remained eggs ended up being snake traps. Snakes (which naturally eat eggs) would swallow those rock eggs and would die because they were too heavy to crawl. He said that you would find snake skeletons with onyx eggs inside them.

I can't swear the story was true but sometimes fact is stranger than fiction :D

a grey kangaroo, with her little joey further out.

I dont have anything as exotic as kangaroos in my backyard, but I did spot this very rare Red Bellied Pond Thrasher;

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:lol: :lol: :lol: Isn't he handsome? Just like his Poppi! :D

a fine lookin' lad MDM.....call him madpup? :)

Hey komohana...was that parrot a Kea?

The dangerous toddler...lol.

With the cold weather starting to hit us, I have been killing a few of these guys that sneak in when a door is opened.

hi Vamp, the 28?, no they range from Western Australia to South Australia where they're
called Port Lincoln Ringneck.

The Kea are New Zealand parrots, south island i think, Club Noumea might know more about them.
Aren't they the birds that destroy cars up in the snow fields?

OK...ring neck....gotcha. I saw many Kea when I visited NZ....funny little creatures. I used to have a miniature parrot called a Caique. He used to make a sound like my phone ringing...tricked me every time. He had feathers on his legs that looked like bloomers and he walked like a sailor so I called him Popeye. He never was too happy in captivity so I gave him to a gal that raised Caiques.

Was down in Puertecitos, Baja California a few weeks ago and saw this

Funny thing was it was on a hill overlooking the beach, was probably 50 feet above sea level. The story is that the whale died on the beach and they carried the bones up and put them on the hill

On 2011-10-31 13:07, AlohaStation wrote:
From this weekend's paper. 16' Boa caught digesting an adult deer, West of Miami.

I love this thread, and that "Boa" is a python.

Anole, Maui.

Green Sea Turtle, Oahu.

Mongoose, Oahu.

[ Edited by: Gavin 2011-11-09 17:59 ]

[ Edited by: Gavin 2011-11-11 08:19 ]

OK, I deleted picture of Komodo Dragon at Honolulu Zoo. Also deleted my Falconry Goshawk with jesses. Tried to delete whole post but apparently that is not possible?
Anything else I can do for you?
I left the non indigenous wildlife however, hope that's ok. Even though they are technically invasive species they are in fact established and wild populations.

[ Edited by: Gavin 2011-11-11 08:19 ]

[ Edited by: Gavin 2011-11-11 09:03 ]

As much as I like animals - its a shame to see anything in captivity. Pets are great, I just don't want this thread to turn into pictures of exotic pets (there's already a thread for that) - they are not "wild". I like zoos too - but this thread is about the "WILD", and nature that is all around us. Lets keep this thread on track.

Thanks - Most of my posts deal with invasive species. Even the smallest (and mundane) encounter with wild critters/nature is welcome! :)

I've killed 3 of these wolf spiders in the house in the past few weeks, time to set off some bug bombs or call in the National Guard! My son swears that they are baby Camel Spiders. He thought a shotgun would be the appropriate tool of choice to kill the one that was watching him sleep from across the room :lol:

No picture, but I witnesses something yesterday that's pretty common here but probably not so much where most of you live. They winter sheep in my area because of the mild climate and they just move them down the roads in flocks of several hundred. A goat on a leash in front, a couple of frantically nipping Australian Shepherd dogs in the back, and a sea of sheep moving down the road. If they are coming towards you down the road, you just stop and the sea parts around you in a matter of a couple of minutes. If you come up on them from behind, you have to follow at 5 MPH until you reach an intersection where you can turn a different direction.

While doing my monthly trail maintenance at Quiet Waters park, I found this guy trying to cross the access road. I moved him out of the way and took a few pictures.

As I was putting my tools away this large bird flew over and started eating something. I managed to get close not too close. This is a big Osprey.

On 2011-11-05 19:37, komohana wrote:

The Kea are New Zealand parrots, south island i think, Club Noumea might know more about them.
Aren't they the birds that destroy cars up in the snow fields?

Whoops! Missed this one - yes, that's right, and keas are clever, evil birds with a malicious sense of humour. They like doing stuff like chewing the rubber bits off car windscreen wipers, or ripping out the rubber insulation strips holding car windows in place. They are quite large birds too. When I was a kid and my family was at Arthur's Pass once, dad had just parked the car when a big one landed on the bonnet, squatted, and made an enormous mess all over the hood. Dad was NOT impressed!

Incidentally, here's a hunter spider I caught in the bathroom. She is longer than she looks: she just wouldn't stay still while I was trying to take a photo - kept rearing up:

Her abdomen alone was just over an inch long, which is large for spiders here. Somewhat blurry side view:

These things aren't poisonous, but they're not the sort of thing you accidentally want to tread on (very messy...), and they are fearless. Most spiders here either freeze or run away from humans; these ones advance towards you.

CN

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-19 23:10 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-19 23:13 ]

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-11-19 23:13 ]

Spiders!

was just up the shed and noticed the dog acting wierd outside,
went to have a look and she'd bailed up a bob tail goanna...

very common here, especially this time of year when all the reptiles
are more active, non-venomous but do bite.

was not harmed by the dog and went on its way when i let it go after
the photo shoot.

Super Cool Skink.
Thanks. Nice way to start my morning.

Wow...he looks like a very sturdy little guy....CUTE!!!!

He's big enough to eat - I hear they taste like chicken :D

yup, a favourite snack amongst the aboriginals, though largely
superceded by the cheeseburger nowadays.

never eaten one myself, but can attest to the delicacy of the
local snakes.

On 2011-11-17 20:11, MadDogMike wrote:
No picture, but I witnesses something yesterday that's pretty common here but probably not so much where most of you live. They winter sheep in my area because of the mild climate and they just move them down the roads in flocks of several hundred. A goat on a leash in front, a couple of frantically nipping Australian Shepherd dogs in the back, and a sea of sheep moving down the road. If they are coming towards you down the road, you just stop and the sea parts around you in a matter of a couple of minutes. If you come up on them from behind, you have to follow at 5 MPH until you reach an intersection where you can turn a different direction.

Happened again today on my way to work. This pic was taken after most of the flock had passed, they are getting ready to cross the 4 lane state highway (behind me)

standing in the shed thinking about something that was probably really important,
i noticed this tiny spider, no more than a couple millimetres in size, catch three
flying insects much larger than itself in its web in just a few moments.

directly below the R and to the left of the top insect...

When I got in to my office this morning this is what I saw!

No photoshop.

I know you've been waiting for the winter
up date of my curly tail lizards.
Here's Jr. just chillin.
It's 75 today. I'm good but this cold blooded
reptile has all he can do to suck the warmth
out of his favorite log.

Mom & dad are hibernating.
It's way too cold for them.
The 3 legged daughter, She's gone.
I guess a bird or rat got her.
She was cute, but not so smart.

I took the family to a place called Butterfly World (they have butterflies). While approaching the entrance I noticed this little fellow chillin out in the sun. Tip to tail he was over a foot long. Not sure what he is.

Check this out!!!

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21006256741579/python-captured-at-south-florida-home/

Makes me glad I don't have a pool!

"...took it to a farm in ..." That's what we used to tell the kids when their dog/cat got run over on the road - "Oh honey, we took Fluffy to a farm in Brawley where he'll have room to run free!"

On 2011-12-23 15:02, AlohaStation wrote:
Not sure what he is.

(immature) Basilisk.

At first I thought you were refering to the Harry Potter character (2 kids in the house - I've seen that movie dozens of times). After a quick searchg you were correct!
http://www.wildflorida.com/wildlife/lizards/Brown_Basilisk.php

Looks like he was rockin' out on an outdoor speaker. Since he's a "Jesus Lizard" he was probably listening to some contemporary Christian music

On 2011-12-27 11:22, MadDogMike wrote:
Looks like he was rockin' out on an outdoor speaker. Since he's a "Jesus Lizard" he was probably listening to some contemporary Christian music

Or maybe the latest release from The Jesus Lizard:

Very early this morning (4:47am to be precise) I was awakened by,....the sound of,.........something. Twas not the train blowing it's horn 2 miles away, twas not a barking dog. Puzzled and befuddled as I was, I grabbed my cell and walked out to the front window to see what was amiss. Nothing. Walk to the back of the house, listening listening. Sure enough there it was the sound of WHO WHO WHO about every 15 seconds. I have seen the silhouette of a very large bird flying low across the carport. This time I heard the bird. Opened the sliding glass door so slowly, stuck my head out to listen, there it was again WHO WHO WHO. Mister owl you can hang out anytime.

I finally got some decent photos of some local pukekos recently.

Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukeko

(I didn't know that these birds also live in Australia, PNG and Indonesia...)

A colony of these birds live along the stream across the road from my place. Back in March, one got hit by a passing car and it took shelter in my garden. I called in Bird Rescue to take it to the vet, but unfortunately it did not survive:

CN

When I first saw your bird it reminded me of our mudhen

When I read that the common name is the Purple Swamphen, the connection made sense

On 2012-01-16 17:23, MadDogMike wrote:
When I first saw your bird it reminded me of our mudhen

When I read that the common name is the Purple Swamphen, the connection made sense

These are also called coots round these parts. It's feet look diseased.

They're usually in the water and you don't see their funky feet :D

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-01-16 22:14 ]

Yes, they look sort of similar - they must live in quite similar environments.

CN

just got back from doing some work in that fishing town i mentioned earlier,
named Cervantes by the way, after an American whaling ship that was wrecked
there in 1844, i believe there was no loss of life but the poor buggers had
to walk all the way to Fremantle - our port city - a distance of about 250
kilometres, there not being any other settlements along the coast in those days.

anyway, on the way to buy some hardware, i spotted two emus on the football
field.

unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me so could only use my phone, i've
re-sized the photo but still not so clear, sorry.

these two birds were adults and stood over six feet tall.

on the way back down to Perth, there were another two - an adult and a chick -
on the side of the road, i had to brake when the adult ran out in front of me but
luckily the chick - about 4ft tall - stayed put or i probably would have hit it.

saw plenty of fresh snake tracks while there but no actual snakes.

lots of kangaroos though, there are four in this photo, again from my phone.

the sky looks overcast but was mostly smoke from a bush fire south of Perth.

Last night while riding my bike on some MTB trails, I cam eacross a racoon lazily following the trail. Once he became aware that I was approaching him he kicked it into high gear. Surprising to me, was that he stayed on the trail for at least 100 yards. I slowed down and allowed him a slight cushion till he finally saw a dead tree and flew to the top. That was fun!

Spring is in the air.
My first Reptilian Encounter of 2012. A pair of San Diego Alligator Lizards mating on my front porch yesterday.
Yup, Lizard Porn...

From a trip to Yellowstone about 5 years ago. Beautiful place.
Elk, moose, bison, otter, and golden-hybrid? trout, that was released.
Sorry for the lack of quality on some as they're pretty zoomed in.

I actually got to watch an alpha grizzly chowdown on a bison carcass and defend it against smaller grizzlies. I was about 300 yards away and got to watch it through a professional telescope that was focused in perfectly. Probably the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Also got to see some wolves but they were too far away for photos.

If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

Did you do "filet and release" on the trout? :D

On 2012-03-08 08:54, MadDogMike wrote:
Did you do "filet and release" on the trout? :D

Once caught an filet'ed it becomes a Finless Brown Trout. They tend to swin in circles till finally escaping into small holes in the rocks.