# Today in nature I saw **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854 "2020-07-20T18:22:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 195
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3884 "2025-09-17T03:39:03Z")
So this one isn’t going to win any awards, but I was honestly soooo lucky to even get this very heavily cropped shot. It’s a [harbour porpoise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_porpoise) deep in the central San Francisco Bay! I’ve never, ever seen one from shore before this deep into the bay - they didn’t even occur here all that many years ago. They disappeared from the bay in the 1940’s and didn’t start to recolonize until the mid-2000’s. The first sighting wasn’t until ~2008, they weren’t officially documented until 2011 and then mostly near the mouth below the Golden Gate Bridge where they established a breeding and birthing site. They seem to have done quite well since then and have spread out into the central bay and beyond, even venturing up the delta. [![](https://i.imgur.com/vcBwcoq.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/vcBwcoq.jpeg) Just to even out the mammal, a female white-breasted nuthatch I spent twenty minutes stalking. They’re having an irruptive year here in the lowlands - it’s pretty uncommon to see them this near the bay, but suddenly they’re being sighted all over the place. [![](https://i.imgur.com/fnsFcDT.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/fnsFcDT.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3885 "2025-09-18T01:48:41Z")
I love nuthatches! Great shot, too, of both critters. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3886 "2025-09-18T03:14:36Z")
I went out to Lemon lake to try to get the Milky Way reflected in the lake. It was too breezy to get a good reflection, and I was getting cold (and a little freaked out being out there in Bear and Mountain Lion country by myself), so I left before it got really dark. Another hour would have been better, but I’ll plan on doing this agin in early summer next year (with some company). [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/Zp779RE.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/Zp779RE) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3887 "2025-09-18T03:29:58Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > It was too breezy to get a good reflection Still pretty nice IMO 🙂. I do admire your astral shots. Makes me want to give it a try some day, but the disincentives of the inconvenience/discomfort so far has won out. Also I just don’t enjoy camping much anymore (can’t really sleep comfortably), so it is a little harder to dodge light pollution. One of these days - maybe a spring desert trip. > [@romansperson](#): > > I love nuthatches! Yeah, I don’t usually see all that many out my way and then usually red-bellied. So this one near eye-level was a happy find. I was actually following a Nuttall’s woodpecker - it disappeared around one side of a tree trunk and then much too my surprise instead of the woodpecker I was expecting this is what popped up around the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3888 "2025-09-19T00:00:42Z")
I didn’t see this directly myself, but one of my aunts has some old disco balls hanging from a tree in her yard, and she caught a video of a passing bear pausing to play with them. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3889 "2025-09-19T20:25:42Z")
Saw another Hawk Moth today, and tried to get a nice slo-mo video, but boy, do their wings beat fast! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3890 "2025-09-19T20:40:30Z")
Yeah, that’s pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3891 "2025-09-19T20:41:01Z")
Is it ever - how big are those things? j ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3892 "2025-09-19T21:48:10Z")
They are pretty big - bigger than some small Hummingbirds. Maybe 3” wingspan, and a body that’s 1.5” long. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3893 "2025-09-21T01:53:45Z")
I personally didn’t see this, but today in Santa Cruz a [deer decided to go for a walk on the main beach](https://www.reddit.com/r/santacruz/comments/1nmfdu5/oh_dear_on_main_beach/). [![](https://preview.redd.it/oh-dear-on-main-beach-v0-v56c6fts8fqf1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f5dbdde8585228e083f382f1a6bccc6dab15d920) ](https://preview.redd.it/oh-dear-on-main-beach-v0-v56c6fts8fqf1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=f5dbdde8585228e083f382f1a6bccc6dab15d920) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3894 "2025-09-21T02:33:31Z")
Well…looks like a nice day for it 🙂. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3895 "2025-09-21T13:45:15Z")
Wow! I hope he made it somewhere safe. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3896 "2025-09-21T22:09:41Z")
I decided to play around with my 1/100,000 (16 stop) Neutral Density filter. This was a 16 minute exposure. I could have gone as long as an hour, but I didn’t have the patience. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/9QAFrBE.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/9QAFrBE) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3897 "2025-09-22T13:27:46Z")
Gorgeous. That should be hanging on a wall somewhere. Saw this blue-tailed skink yesterday: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54804648968_781e96a8f3_b.jpg "Skinkk") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/45215582@N06/54804648968/) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3898 "2025-09-22T13:31:48Z")
Very nice, it feels like the clouds are moving. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3899 "2025-09-22T14:26:21Z")
I think sixteen minutes was the perfect exposure. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3900 "2025-09-22T14:35:55Z")
Thanks, everyone. I like playing with long exposures - it’s always a surprise. In this case, about halfway through, some guys fly fishing in a raft paddled into the frame. They were there at least 5 minutes, but I can’t find a trace of them. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3901 "2025-09-23T19:02:33Z")
This was kinda cheerful. Simple enough. Someone had left a piece of bread lying on the ground in a parking lot (in an aire on the autoroute just north of Dijon in France), and these little guys were all over it. I guess it’s a common occurrence because they basically ignored me - the photo was taken from about a metre away from the ruck. I was genuinely scared that I was going to step on one of them. Sparrows, BTW. Not sure if they are an introduced species in the US. [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNaITdeTNlQWsz6dWD4h9T5cWnA1a-25KPmy4clL_hsQtVKXshTrjnRrFbQA0fpk35YYPyKoGaOtHImF1_iJuAKqBykuQMJndtUJ8ybCtFvU5UJAhE=w600-h315-p-k "New photo · Tuesday, Sep 23 📸") ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOVkZUBy4MCRT_0tV_yAIHczXqJLDdZUXom8xZ-cmei6_L74o8iIM7VseFMsXlInA?key=NUxQMVdrTUNfX190VlNwRV9DczYtYkx3UE0wTUtn) j ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3902 "2025-09-23T19:10:39Z")
Cuties! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854/3903 "2025-09-23T19:45:15Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Not sure if they are an introduced species in the US. Oh, God yes. They are [everywhere in the Americas outside of the Amazon Basin, the Andes, the boreal north and some of those tropical garden spots in Central America.](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow/maps-range) However they are overwhelmingly pretty urban/suburban, at least in the United States. You don’t tend to find them away from people in park lands. For example I live in a city, but my property backs up against a regional park and I never see them outside my door, just natives. Though few people bother, locally it’s perfectly legal to kill them without a permit as non-native pests (unlike virtually every native bird in the US, where you could conceivably be heavily fined) and most wildlife rehabbers automatically euthanize any fallen chicks that are brought to them. But they’re doing just fine for all of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=194) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-nature-i-saw/915854.md?page=196)