Wild and Not So Wild World

TikiRootsRocka, Yellowstone is definitely on my Bucket List. Thanks!

MDM - I bet that would've been delicious :) Catch and release in that part of Yellowstone, the fishing rules are pretty strict there.

Station - It almost didn't get away. Out of all things, a pelican, yes, a pelican in Yellowstone, spotted my dad realing it in and tried to make a go for it when we released it.

JT - Definitely on my "to-do-again" list.

Found this guy laying on a trail at my local park. He was crispy almost a complete skeleton.

if you ever are planning a trip to southern western australia,
autumn would be my choice.
anyhow, i was just outside in the cool and heard the familiar call
of a mopoke or southern boobook owl in our lemon gum, you can see its
eyes as a pair of bright dots about a half inch to the left of centre in picture.

here you can hear its call
http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ninox-novaeseelandiae

Another close encounter - this time it was worse than ever - it happened to my wife and daughters (I had to hear them scream and squeel for hours after). We are redoing our flower beds in the front yard and while I was at the store buying mulch. My wife and daughters encountered one of the Cuban Anoles. While these guys are very timid they have quite an intimidating presence. This guy climbed out of a tree and was making his way to another location when my family saw him. Of course my wife immediatley grabs her phone and gets closer to take a picture. The problem was that she got too close! The lizard must have thought she was tree and jumped right on her. I can only imagine the reaction (once again I missed the good stuff). When I got home all three were huddled together inside the house with all the doors locked and they had a broom ready to fend off any rabid lizards. I had to go outside and make sure the coast was clear before they would come outside. It took most of the day to convince them to help with garden project.

Tom, you got any American Anoles (the little green ones)? Pack them up and send them to me, I want to start a colony of them in my tiki garden :D

On 2012-04-02 07:45, AlohaStation wrote:

  missed the good stuff

:lol:

On 2012-04-02 13:52, MadDogMike wrote:
you got any American Anoles (the little green ones)?

There are lizards everywhere down here. Come to Hukilau and you can take a suitcase full back. Some people probably take them home without knowing.

HOGS!!!!

Well, hedgehogs anyway, spotted on my drive the other night.

Hog 1:

I used the camera flash on this little guy, but decided it was too alarming, so I used a flashlight to illuminate his pal.

Hog 2:

Hedgehogs were introduced to New Zealand, and are one of the few welcome species introduced by the Acclimatisation Society back in Victorian times. They do a wonderful job of eating slugs and snails around the garden, and sometimes I gather snails from my garden and give them a free feast.

Unlike in Europe, hedgehogs in New Zealand do not hibernate, as it is not cold enough in winter, so you see them all year round.

Cute little farts!

i'm wondering what the least welcome species introduced by the "Acclimatisation Society" is?

there is a thriving export industry to france involving snails - from western australia of
all places.

Just yesterday my wife asked me if frogs eat snails. No. We have frogs. We have no critters that eat snails except perhaps possum that might wander thru once ina while. She told me to do research and find out what animal eats snails. I found my answer on TC without any "research". Hedgehogs. Now to get one.

On 2012-04-12 06:51, komohana wrote:
i'm wondering what the least welcome species introduced by the "Acclimatisation Society" is?

It's hard to say - deer and rabbits were a bad idea. Australian opossums are also considered pests here - they destroy native flora and fauna (including kiwi nests) and are a general nuisance. If they get into your roof you have real problems. A large percentage of them also carry TB, because they can't handle the wetter climate in New Zealand.

In terms of plants; gorse, thistle and South African box thorn were a very bad idea. It took me 2 1/2 years to clear my property of box thorn. It is tenacious, and has poisoned thorns which break off and go septic under your skin. Some idiot in Taranaki in the 1880s decided it would be great for hedges, but because of the milder climate here it grows like crazy.

Someone told me that the snails that eat my lettuces are the edible variety - I haven't put it to the test though.

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

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2012-04-12 19:27 ]

yes, we have huge problems with introduced pests as well, rabbits were in plague
proportions (not so bad now after the release of calicivirus), foxes are common
around here etc... not to mention cane toads, that are already in the n.t. and making
in-roads to w.a...i believe a few have been found hitching a ride on trucks across the
nullarbor also.

anyhow, yep, the common old brown garden snails are being sent to france for escargot,
theirs are too polluted it seems, never cooked any at home but have tried them twice at
restaurants... only slightly more palatable than they look, in my opinion.

No foxes here, but they did introduce stoats, weasels and ferrets to control the rabbits they introduced. Unfortunately, the stoats, weasels and ferrets did more harm to native bird life here than to the rabbits.

My barn owl is back ~ keeping me awake all night with his infernal hooting! :lol:

Looks like crawdads are one of his favorite foods

That damned gopher ate my fig tree off just below the ground AGAIN!

Bet that dirty rat-bastard won't do it again!

I have been having a similar problem with opossums climbing up onto my fruit trees (mere saplings that aren't fruiting yet) and breaking off trunks and branches....

Here is a visitor that I snapped the other day - a New Zealand kingfisher:

It's a shame he decided to sit in the ugliest part of my garden just when I was clearing the bank behind him - never mind...

More info:

http://www.wildaboutnz.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69:kotare&catid=31:birds&Itemid=76

One of our cats has become our official wildlife greeter this year, he'll invite anyone into our yard!

aloha, tikicoma

Will, what's new on the promiscuous lizard front? Any news on Studly Skink and his horny harlot?

I thought I saw them here on the Anvil of the Sun but my contacts were melting to my eyeballs so I wasn't sure.

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music" Friedrich Nietzsche

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-06-07 20:19 ]

so, after spending a little time at Will's house, I have given him a new nickname....

"THE LIZARD KING"....

So I'm sitting out there watching Will do his thing, carving it up, and all of a sudden I hear this weird noise, and Will sits up and says "Good mornin' fella, you ready for some breakfast?"...

and I'm thinking "who the hell is talking to??? He knows I've already had coffee and donuts???"

And then I look up to see a big-ass wild lizard on one the base of one of his massive yard tikis, and I'm thinking to myself "ok seriously have I lost my friggin' mind? did that lizard just come up and ACTUALLY TALK TO WILL??? did that really happen???"

The night before, over some pork chops & rice, I noticed a bowl of wood chips on the table & asked him what that was all about, and he explained that it was where he kept the worms that he feeds the lizards. I didn't think much of it.

So anyway, he goes inside & grabs a few of these worms, and the damned lizard comes right up and eats the worm right out of his hand!!!

So I grabbed my cell & snapped this shot....because I'm thinking to myself "he's actually domesticated a reptile??? no one is gonna f'n believe this!!!"

So here's the proof....he is the lizard king, he can do anything!

Dos Equis's "most interesting man in the world" ain't got shit on Will Anders...

I've got more pic in my actual camera of the EPIC LIZARD SMACK-DOWN that transpired about 30 minutes later...I'm trying to find the damned cable so I can download them onto the laptop, and I'll share those too...

"Dos Equis's "most interesting man in the world" ain't got shit on Will Anders... "

I have no doubt! :lol:

Here's my lil buddys.
It's Mom & Jr.
Big daddy chased Jr. away when he woke up from his winter snooze. Kicked his butt.
Big daddy may have been eaten by something bigger than him. He vanished 2 weeks ago. Then Jr. showed up. Never a dull moment.

A while back there were a few comments about removing one
species and I'd thought about what might take their place...

I'll try to keep this ramble as short as...
Regardless of the style in which the interior was decorated

• in the end I was utterly compelled to make it Tiki -
  the entire structure adjoining my shed needed to be torn down
  and rebuilt, in sections when time permitted, as it was all built in
  the 50's and falling apart/damaged by termites and rot etc.
  Prior to this we had quite a few paper-wasps around the place, which
  I didn't mind, if you leave them alone they don't bother you...
  anyhow, while I was about the work mentioned I was forced to kill most
  of the wasps to protect myself.
  Australia is well known for venomous spiders and I had theorised that the
  wasps had kept many of them away as I'd never found any around the place,
  which is highly unusual for these parts. Sure we had Orb spiders, Daddy
  Long Legs, Black house spiders and Huntsman etc. which are all largely
  harmless but I'd never seen a Redback anywhere on the property before.
  Since the wasps have been gone however, I've found several in the shed and
  the wife spotted this small female in the bathroom...

These have a very painfull bite and 'though there haven't been any recorded deaths
since antivenin was introduced in 1956 my mother told me once that when she was
a little girl, which would have been in the late 1930's, one of her equally young
cousins had died as a result of a bite.

Not such a good picture through a tinted dirty window, but these swallows had built a nest on the window of our 4th story hotel room in Guadalajara Mx.

EDIT - I replaced my crappy pic with some better ones my niece took.

I'm getting better at barely getting by

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-07-31 20:39 ]

Redback!!!! This is my cue to introduce non-Antipodeans to Slim Newton's immortal "Redback On The Toilet Seat":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDAiq2-xeU

Had a nice kingsnake swimming in the canal next to my house, about 2 1/2 feet long. I went back with the camera and he was gone :( It's been 115+ this week, I don't know if they eat little fish or if he was just cooling off?

I don't know what's in the water at the 417 1/2 club,
but,
I've been passing out cigars left & right lately.

Look how much this bird grew in 3 days.

Will, you seem to be in a particularly fertile area ~ you planning to have any children soon? :D

This is no match for your Florida snakes but I found this 6 foot gopher snake skin in my front yard, I haven't seen the snake itself (yet). Wikipedia says they grow to 7 feet but I've never seen one more than about 5.

That's a 4 foot ruler next to it. One on my co-workers is from India and they believe shed snakeskins bring good luck, she'll be very happy to get this.

I first posted this Dove chick 6 days ago.
[last page]
6 days later check out Baby Huey now.

ManCard ALERT!!

While riding my local bike trails, I came to stop to catch my breath along the banks of a lake. When I looked up I was astonished to see several white herons passing by. Behind them the sky was partly cloudy with some sunshine peeking through the sporatic showers. A gentle breeze blew through my helmet and then it happened - a rainbow formed and then another. A Double Rainbow!! More birds flew passed and landed in a tree that was in the middle of the lake. A tear started to form when I remembered the guy in that viral video. So I sucked it up, adjusted my sack and continued on my bike ride. Damn that was close!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

From Will Carve

baby lizard fresh from the egg. Yes, he's that small.

Very cool, American Anole?

Yesterday while riding my bike I saw a rainbow form. Big and beautiful it was actually a double rainbow that was also a full arch. As I progressd home I noticed that the left side ended at a familiar location. My house was litterally the end (or beginning) of the rainbow!

Tom, did you find that pot of gold?

Turkey Vultures are very common here, I see them almost daily. From the distribution map they are seen everywhere from the Canada-US border to the tip of South America. A large bird with about a 6 foot wing span. This one was sitting close enough to get a good picture and the horizontal morning sun helped highlight his bald red head.

The rainbow ended at my house, so the fact that I love my family could be interpreted as my treasure worth more than a pot of gold. However the money would have been nice$$

Last week my brother got married in Pensacola (on 10/11/12), that meant a mid-week road trip from South Florida (9 hours). My oldest daughter and I left on Wed after school, drove all night and crashed when we got there. Great wedding, I got to spend time with all of the relatives, and have some fun too. We started back on Saturday. Along the way there are numerous roadside attractions that I like to stop at (its Florida). Perhaps some of my favorites are the Springs and rivers.

North of Panama City on Hwy.20 is Pitts Springs. This is my old stomping grounds. Many intoxicated canoe and tube rides down the Econfina. At one point a few years ago Pitts Springs had a collapse and it cut the flow of water dramtically and what came out was muddy. The state has recently gone in and tranformed the spring into a beautiful roadside attraction. Free, with toilets and elevated nature trails that connect several springs. I like to walk up the trails and swim down the river back to Park. This is Pitts Spring...

My daughter and I spent the rest of the day in Tallahassee. I took her to her first real college football experience. She's 13. She was very into the Marching Band. We stayed with a buddy of mine's daughter that is going to FSU. Her neighbors were having a party that had to be several hundred people. It was Parent's Weekend so there were few older folks too. She got to see some real wildlife.

Sunday we woke up early and hit the road. Next stop was Fanning Springs on the Suwanee River. I love this place - it is right in the middle of my drive and right off a main highway. It has an elevated platform that you can jump off into the spring well. Its probably 20+' deep and crystal clear. So I dive off the platform and continue to swim to where you can stand. As I'm swimming I almost swam right into a Manatee that had set up shop - I only saw it at the last second as it stuck its nose out of the water for a breath. He hung out the whole time. You can see him in the middle of the picture.

Last but not least. As I sit here and type this up. There is a huge flock of Parakeets outside my window. They are about to drive me nuts. They are extremely noisy! This is only a small number of them.

I took this picture at work. The things on the back of the butterfly moved like another insect was attached. Probably a decoy to scare off hungry birds.

A roaming gang of Ibis in my neighbnorhood.

Egrets wondering where the party is

About 2/3 of the flew off when I drove up, this was the brave remnant

Wait? - what? - where's my gun?

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/24/3112045/hunting-a-man-eating-croc-in-south.html

Whiting ranch is basically on the outskirts of Tustin and Irvine, california. I used to hike there, often alone. The trail head is right next to a strip mall, and their are plenty of houses all around....but still, things like this can happen.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt1HAKxfnoY

Might as well have been in Africa!

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2013-01-01 21:33 ]

What happened to this thread. Did everyone lock themselves in their basement bars and don't go outside anymore.

I had a close encounter with 3 snakes this weekend but I didn't have my communicator with me!

The most recent sightings for GROG:

Saw a couple of deer on the side of the road about a 1/4 mile from the house about a month ago. Driving home one night 2 weeks ago in a neighborhood a couple of miles from GROG' house, a cat or small dog blasts across the road running like a bat out of hell. A couple off seconds later a coyote comes loping along behind it, and when it sees GROG' car approaching, does a looping circle and heads back the way it came from. Saw a hawk the other day flying low to the ground near us when my roommate and I were hiking the fire road near GROG' house, and then a couple more hawks a few days ago circling around just behind GROG' house. As long as it's not buzzards circling above GROG' house, then that's fine with GROG. A few cotton tail bunnies and some ground squirrels always cross the road in an area about a mile from GROG house.Ooo! Almost forgot. GROG was trimming bushes in front yard several weeks ago, and there was a baby bird in a nest in one of the bushes, so GROG quit trimming that bush and left it as undisturbed as possible. And, a couple of lizards hang out in the front yard near the mailbox. See bats in the evening all the time, and hear an owl or two in the neigborhood some nights, and coyotes howling in the distance. Plenty of wildife around when the Angeles Crest is your backyard.

GROG miss Tiki-Kate

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-07-17 11:29 ]

[ Edited by: GROG 2013-07-17 11:31 ]

Also, smelled a skunk a few nights ago, but thankfully didn't run into him.

I ran over a skunk in the middle of Lone Pine CA one night. I'm thinking the natives were not to happy with me in the morning.

This Northern Leopard frog has taken up residence in my little pond. I have seen lots of toads and bullfrogs here in the desert but I didn't know these guys lived here too.