המועדפים של featherenthusiast

Oh my...this was a find! Floating just off shore,(had to get the canoe out).
There was also a smaller feather with it...separate post for it,(for placement purposes). The Heron was still in the same bay.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/235163226

Red antlers in the morning sunrise. I believe this deer has recently sloughed its softer velvet antler covering and soon these lovely red antlers will turn to a warm tan color this fall. This is an eight point buck with just a little cud dripping from its mouth. Mt. Hebron Farm - Howard Conservancy, Howard County, Maryland.

Deer Animal Track. Portion of broken deer antler with attached cranial bone found at the bottom of a ravine after a snow and wind storm. The antler has a traumatic fracture, and the separations at the cranial-orbital sutures are non-traumatic, implying that the animal died some time ago, and that the cranium separated by weakening over time. There are no obvious predatory teeth marks to suggest scavenging on the specimen, however, the antler itself has an irregular break mark and may have been chewed off by a predator. Interestingly, the inner aspect of the cranium shows brain gyral ridge impressions. Judging by the size of the antler diameter, 3 cm., the deer must have been older than one year. To orient the reader, Photo 3 shows the specimen juxtaposed in anatomical orientation with another one of my collected and previously posted specimens.

This scops owl was unfortunately found partially mummified exactly under its roost.
A local told me that a cat caught a scops owl a week ago in the same area but it escaped, so i'm assuming this was the one that got attacked .

During the start of the eclipse neighbor hood dogs started to howl like crazy and then died down after about a minute. Birds still tweeted but it was less and sounded more panicked, two turkey vultures were flying near by and then immediately landed once the eclipse had started,

Reviewing old field notes and photos, I came across this tanager with what seems like a bit of a streak on its wing, which I wouldn't expect on a Summer or Scarlet. I'd appreciate others' opinions to verify it was not a Western Tanager.

Fresh roadkill I found this morning. Thought I would document it. Placed it in mosquito creek after I took some pictures and looked at it up-close. It was cool to see the skin like texture of the underside of its lower mandible. Rip little buddy.