המועדפים של ajamico

Nenes (9 seen) at cemetery in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii where a small flock is reportedly resident according to locals. The geese were browsing on flowers placed at the graves, as well as on lawn grass, and knocking over vases at grave sites. Saw one drinking out of a flower vase.

Yesterday I heard that a giant manta ray was washed up on Rarawa and today @clinton was coming up to see it and do an autopsy. We met on Rarawa and @indeynz was also there.

This is also the first recorded wash up of the Oceanic Manta Ray in NZ. All other records have been live sightings.

This female was about 4m across from wing tip to wing tip - the photo with the bucket one side and the spade the other side marks the ends of the wings.

The next three photos show the eye, the gills and the teeth on the bottom jaw, which are followed by some of the internal organs, and the good news is that plastic was not found inside!

The next part to be autopsied was the spine and finally the tail was removed.

This tiny baby got stuck on the other side of the road from its mother and sibling! The mom tried to get the baby to cross a couple times, but it wouldn't budge, and the mom started to walk away. I got out of the car and carried it across the road, and it joined its family :)

Such an amazing thing to see in person! Ever since I was little I'd wanted to watch the mating dance of a pair of slugs, and I was finally able to!

The last two pictures are of the slugs after they separated.

This tiny, striking Xylaria species, with its nearly naked perithecia, has become the poster child for Xylariaceae research in Los Cedros. Roo and I thought they looked a bit like these in cross section:

These are Kodama, the forest spirits of Japanese folklore, as portrayed by Hayao Miyazaki in his epic 1997 film, Princess Mononoke.

This is likely the first record of X. tucumanensis from anywhere outside Argentina, and as such, significantly extends the species’ known range.

Read more about this enigmatic Xylaria and check out an extensive key to the genus for northern Argentina in the following paper:

Hladki, A.I.; Romero, A.I. 2010. A preliminary account of Xylaria in the Tucuman province, Argentina, with a key to species from the Northern Provinces. Fungal Diversity. 42:79-96

Substrate: corticate standing dead wood (post), ~3 cm diam (same as Observation 264296)

Habitat: Northwest Andean montane forest (NT0145)

Collector(s): D. Newman & R. Vandegrift

Collection #: RLC1378

Photomicrography and molecular data forthcoming

Posing for a picture :)
They called these guys the most dangerous animal in the grand canyon, as the most amount of animal-related injuries come from these guys. They're completely desensitized to people and will take food out of your hand.

His name was Elmer! He wasn't planted there but the owner of the truck was very happy to have him, so she named him Elmer because "he's the only thing gluing the truck together" :)

(featuring her dog Po in the front seat)

We were asked by local guides not to share the precise location of any photos from the trip since we were going to some private/secret/sacred locations throughout the week that see trespassers often. I figured it would be better to be overprotective rather than accidentally share something I shouldn't have, so I have edited the accuracy to cover the entire island.

Snorkeling just off the coast. 5-10m deep.

We were asked by local guides not to share the precise location of any photos from the trip since we were going to some private/secret/sacred locations throughout the week that see trespassers often. I figured it would be better to be overprotective rather than accidentally share something I shouldn't have, so I have edited the accuracy to cover most of the island.

Snorkeling just off the coast. 5-10m deep.

We were asked by local guides not to share the precise location of any photos from the trip since we were going to some private/secret/sacred locations throughout the week that see trespassers often. I figured it would be better to be overprotective rather than accidentally share something I shouldn't have, so I have edited the accuracy to cover most of the island.

Catch and release fishing in the Banana river. Came after we chummed the water.
I can’t remember who hooked this monster but it was by far the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen hooked at the dock. Everyone wanted a picture of them holding it :)

See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/138654431

This fungi popped up in one of my Porcellio scaber cultures 3 months ago and has killed over half of the population (50 individuals). T

128 Days Later ↓
All individuals from the original 100 are deceased I have added more individuals to keep observing the effects of this fungi.

Was not moving.
Seemed to be filled with the same organisms featured in these observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112352855
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112352929
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112352993

Collected from fish tank rocks.
First two pics are 250x magnification, others are 1000x.

https://vimeo.com/701882288
https://vimeo.com/701882306
Videos show a lot of movement and eating midway through the first video.
Collected from fish tank rocks.
Last two pics are at 1000x magnification, the rest are at 250x.

Flinders Island cave-slater Echinodillo cavaticus. The world has only two known species of the very distinctive Echinodillo cave-slaters. One is found on the Marquesas Islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This other species is known only from a small cave in southern Flinders Island, where its entire global range is measurable in square metres. We found this one during our Bush Blitz on Flinders Island in March 2014.

Dia 82, un individuo.

Day 82, one individual.

Relacionado con // Related to:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667158
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667199
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2667420

We saw the snake eagle as it flew up from the ground. It flew in slow circles while it controlled and started to eat the snake. One minute from pic 1 to pic 8 where it started to eat the snake. Total time for this series, three minutes.

Snake at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14774517

just for fun; part of one of 12 quagga breeding programs aimed at bring back the quagga from extinction - not sure how many generations these guys are - prob 5th or 6th and looking pretty good, some have the orange tinge, lack of stripes on lower half, etc