Man, I have a lot. Lunch on the terrace in the Panorama Restaurant in Sirince where swallows had built a nest not five meters from our table. Watching them feed the chicks. A beer in the square in Selcuk, where the remaining pillars of a Roman aqueduct are used for nesting by storks. Bouncing around in a dolmus (minibus) on the way back to Kusadasi, past the wetlands - woah! - flamingos! I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve grovelled around some wetland in the south of France, failing to see flamingos. Lifetime first.
I have stork photos which I’ll share when I can (technical issues). But for the flamingos we were really being thrown around in a dolmus and desperately peering out of the window. Not birding at its finest.
Update: in Ephesus, we were sitting on a bench (as you do) and a tortoise walked past. Well, that’s a first.
This thread started with a small lizard. Well let me tell you, the lizards round here are huge! (Well, compared to what I’m used to). Photos and tentative ID to follow.
And the Mediterranean. Jeez, I had forgotten how blue and clear and beautiful it is. You can stand by the sea wall and watch shoals of fish do what shoals of fish do. I feel at peace.
I always rather enjoy watching egrets/herons hunting, even if it can take some patience. They’re surprisingly clever and adaptable. Green herons have learned to actually use bait by dropping bread or bugs in the water and picking off the fish that come to feed on them. Snowy egrets like to wiggle their bright yellow feet in the water to startle prey to emerge and I’ve seen them actively hunt small fish by gliding just a few feet off the surface of a pond. Great egrets and great blue herons of course will actively hunt terrestrial prey. I watched this great egret for about 10-15 minutes patiently stalking the overgrown edges of a park trail - it had a couple misses until it hit paydirt:
Last week I went for a walk after a fairly intense afternoon storm. I briefly saw a fox, which was cool, as I haven’t seen one for a few years. I also saw an orangish-brown snake about a meter long swimming in a shallow pond. It went into some weeds as soon as soon as it saw me.
Last Sat. we spotted a herd of pronghorn in our area. This time there was a bit of snow on the ground so they looked particularly nice by contrast. Just a couple hundred yards where new houses are going up. Enjoy it while you can, gang.
The remains of the Roman aqueduct which supplied Ephesus run straight through the town center of Selcuk. There are nesting storks in the town center, as described earlier; but if you follow the route of the aqueduct towards the castle, there’s an elevation change which gives you a better view of the nests.
Grr - google photos, click for the full image.
We expected young chicks at this time of year, but we didn’t see any. What we did see was a single crow “mobbing” a stork - a remarkable thing given the disparity in size.
Huge lizards (well, huge to me): I think this may be a roughtail rock agama - but if you know better, feel free to correct me.
Wow! on those feet. I’ve never seen them before. That’s pretty amazing, @romansperson.
So, I’m not sure I’d call this actual nature, but the local electric utility (Xcel) had rented a herd of goats to help clean up the ground around at a local electric generation station along one of our rivers. Those critters were hard at work, eating up the brush and new weeds showing up. This is a great thing because many of the plants sending out shoots first thing in spring are not native to the plains. Putting the goats in to feast on them now and removing them before the native plants get going gives more room for the native plants to thrive. Finally, some corporations are understanding the importance of native plants and green technology.
That’s good news @carnut and those are superb pics @romansperson OMG those feeeet!
'Round here the grape hyacinths, daffodils, and other early-spring bloomers are in full display. I haven’t seen the rabbits in a while (sad!) but oh, boy are the robins, finches, jays, cardinals et al going nuts.
Today, I came upon a controlled-burn going on at a small, local nature area. The weather was perfect for it with very little breeze. The spot they were working on is very hilly, has vernal ponds, and is surrounded by housing on three sides. When I returned from the opposite direction, they were done with the burn but keeping an eye on the area to be sure that another fire didn’t break out.
I must have spent a good twenty minutes that seemed like an hour one very gray day watching this great blue heron:
It was in an estuary teeming with wildlife. Terns diving for fish, pelicans, sea otters and cormorants busy hunting. I was sure it would soon catch something and give me a nicely posed bird-with-fish photo. Nothing. Nada. Finally I got bored of taking static shots of him watching the water and wandered twenty feet away on the other side of some bushes to shoot sea otters. Literally 90 seconds later I heard a splashing commotion behind me and I turned to see that damn heron striding into the bushes with something large and flopping:
Goddamnit!
That steelhead is the largest fish I’ve ever seen a heron catch with my own eyes. Twenty minutes of nothing and then 90 bloody seconds of inattention and I miss the shot. Incredibly frustrating. Still very cool to see of course. I did get to watch it somehow manage to horse that big thing down its gullet. But, damn - missed opportunities.
Ever since that day I’ve advised people not to let their little lap dogs get too close to a great blue heron . The degree to which they can inflate that usually skinny neck is startling.
!
. The degree to which they can inflate that usually skinny neck is startling.