המועדפים של fynkynd

Unfortunately the chick disappeared after a few weeks. Birders were speculating that it was having respiratory problems, as leading up to the day it went missing, it had been seen panting and unable to feed normally.

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis)

14 June 2015: This past summer we experienced one of many encounters we’ve had over the years here at the Avondale Park and Cooper Creek area of northeast Denton, Texas, and which we’ve been able to document mainly by taking pics of this most interesting creature with which we coexist. Usually we see Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) in our plants, the flower pots or near to blossoms or in the leaf litter when the weather gets to freezing in winter and plants must be brought inside temporarily. If there’s any rustling in the leaf litter that’s managed to fall in the potted plant, count on it being Green Anole. In such cases we manage to let Green Anole outside where it can then fend for itself. Green Anole loves flies and little things that fly and thus it will perch itself in opportune places where it can have encounters with the same. Sometimes you will see Green Anole upside down on the outside walls of the home or trees and this usually means it is scavenging as well. To be sure there’s a successful if not healthy breeding population of Green Anole in our immediate area of Avondale Park and Cooper Creek because encounters with it occur annually. But on one of our most recent encounters this past summer Green Anole was taking the long walk on the top edge of our fence going from Point A to Point B and only it knew the purpose of this long hike. It was there that these digital images of Green Anole were captured and they are some of our favorite images to date of the many we’ve managed to generate over the past so many years. We hope you enjoy these as much as we did taking them. Because of its extensive native range throughout the Southeast of the United States including Texas (and other areas where it's been introduced) and North America by extension, Green Anole is an authentic resident of the Western Hemisphere.

Green Anole first appeared some 2.59 million years ago, so says the Encyclopedia of Life.
Here’s an extended quote from the entry for Green Anole in the Encyclopedia of Life regarding its possible declining numbers in the United States despite calling its population “stable” for the time being and the interest scientists have in studying it: “The green anole has been a particularly important organism for study in the scientific community, and has been successfully used as a model system for studying neurological disorders and for studying drug delivery systems and biochemical pathways relevant to human illnesses. They have also been essential for scientific progress in understanding other aspects of physiology and behavior in animals. The Genus Anolis, which includes over 350 recognized species, also serves as a group of major interest for exploring the evolutionary diversification; of particular interest is the repeated convergent pattern of adaptive radiation on islands of the Greater Antilles, producing on each island essentially the same set of habitat specialists adapted to use different parts of the environment. As a result, in 2005, the scientific community overwhelmingly chose the green anole lizard as its first target species for reptilian genome sequencing. In recent years, populations of A. carolinensis have apparently become less common, although no data are available. This decline is correlated with massive habitat alteration and the introduction of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) from Cuba. Anolis carolinensis is derived from A. porcatus on Cuba, which coexists with A. sagrei. One possibility is that the presence of A. sagrei in Florida has caused A. carolinensis to return to the more arboreal ecological niche occupied by A. porcatus.“

Sources:

“Anolis carolinensis,” Encyclopedia of Life, description, images, distribution discussed, accessed 11.8.15, http://eol.org/pages/795869/overview

“Green Anole,” Reptiles and Amphibians, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, photograph and description, accessed 11.8.15, http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/reptilesamphibians/facts/factsheets/anole.cfm

“Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis),” Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Herpetology Program, photographs, description, and range map, accessed 11.8.15, http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/anocar.htm

See:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2091917
for yesterday's obs in this same area and for context.

This was a day we observed one of the amazing phenomena of nature regarding bird migration, and specifically, Ross’s Gull migration. Weather conditions for humans was very tough with temps of 22-24 degrees F and a very stiff NE wind ranging from 20 to 30 mph all day long. Isaac and I arrived at the base of the point at Barrow about 9:45 AM just after there was enough light to see. We started seeing Ross’s Gulls heading NE along the coast, typically from 100-300 meters offshore. They were mainly in loose groups of 5 to 25 individuals with a few minutes between groups. We took many photos, but it was dark and overcast and conditions for photos difficult. Most of out shots were taken at 3200 ISO in order to have any decent shutter speed, and with the birds 100 to 300 meters away it made photo ops challenging at best…..but we got shots. The conditions for humans was such that we could stand about 5 minutes outside before we had to seek shelter in the car. We were bundled in long underwear, many layers of warm clothing and parkas, but it was COLD! To make a long story short, we tallied 600-800 Ross’s Gulls between 9:45 AM and noon when the movement slowed down considerably. Can you believe 600-800 Ross’s Gulls! We were not using a scope, just binocs. I have no idea how many Ross's Gulls were moving NE along the coast beyond our vision but I am satisfied that multiple thousands of Ross's Gulls migrated past Barrow on this day. The birds were not stopping to feed, but simply moving against the strong wind with ease. Two other small groups of observers independently tallied over 1000 Ross’s Gulls this day in nearby spots along this same area of shoreline. The shoreline where you can view these birds is probably 7-10 miles long so just wherever you happen to plant yourself is where you can look from. It was an amazing spectacle, but we still have not had any of these birds very close so we are still hoping for that really close encounter that can happen. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this species is likely the most seldom seen of North American gulls (and certainly one of the most beautiful) and most U.S. observers will never see one. To see 600+ in one day is just unbelievable. I will post several images of adult and immature birds to give an idea of the scope of the migration and what we saw. We have one more morning to try again, then back to Texas.

Image 1 shows an immature Ross's Gull leading an adult bird.

Image 2 shows 11 Ross's at a distance. This is a typical binocular view.

Image 3 shows 10 Ross's Gulls. The lead bird is immature.

Image 4 shows 2 immature Ross's Gulls

Image 5 shows 4 birds

Image 6 shows a nice adult, still quite pink.

Image 7 shows an adult not showing much pink

Image 8 shows two pink adults

Sand Wasp carrying drone fly...this fly was eventually abandoned. The fly in the burrow is a different fly, captured and brought into the burrow twenty minutes earlier.

McKnight Prairie
Randolph, Minnesota

Close views within 4 feet...not sure I've had such a confiding anything for a long time. Nice that the one confiding bird is probably the rarest bird I've seen in months too.

But always with the sticks and rubbish blocking some part of the bird...ah well ;)

A nice series of different sized Common Green Darner nymphs all collected at the same location at the same time. The full-grown nymph is about 45mm in length. The rest are about half that size and smaller, ranging from 22mm down to just under 10mm. The bands and pattern vary quite remarkably.

St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota