Gravid female basking. Observed during a brutal bushwack to near the top of Iron Mountain. Note the flattop buckwheat vegetation. I don't normally assign imprecise coordinates but this cismontane population appears to be sufficiently valuable to warrant it.
Shell about 10 mm long. Found two on sand under a low intertidal boulder. Very extensible, active, blade-shaped foot and tentaculate mantle covering most of the shell. I don't recall ever seeing this species before, and with that active, white-striped foot, it was eye-catching. The last image shows one of the specimens as found, at the entrance to a burrow of unknown origin, but possibly constructed by Neotrypaea biffari, which are frequent in the boulder field at Naples Point.
The long foot, long tentacles, and mantle covering most of the shell place this little cutie in the Galeommatoidea.
Robin Agarwal (@anudibranchmom) was with me in the field when I spotted these and got a great video clip of one using its foot to move step-wise: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30314434@N06/31128212317
The ground was fully soaked. Light rain came and went through the night.
featuring thetidepooler's flashlight lighting
12 were seen tonight, 1 hatchling and 11 adults and subadults. One of the subadults was flipped under a log, but the rest were found inside or at the entrances of rock crevices. One of the adults had a fresh gash on its head from a recent fight (not shown) and two individuals were seen fighting in a crevice (poorly photographed in photo 4), with the individual that had a fresh gash on its tail trying to bite a nearby individual. It rained recently, the ground was moist, and there was partial cloud cover overhead.
Multiple heard, one seen.
On Los Coyotes tribal land - $10 fee to hike. I heard a few individuals about 3.5mi up the trail, above 6000ft in elevation, in at least two different spots. There were 3 calling where I photographed this individual. I believe I also heard one further down the trail, a little above the intersection between Sukat and Hot Springs Mountain Rd, still above 6000ft. All seemed to be calling from the pine needle/leaf litter on the ground.
Mixed coniferous forest with incense-cedar and Coulter's, Jeffrey's, and Sugar Pine based on nearby iNat observations.
Sunny, high 40s/low 50s, windy.
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) (in foreground of 2nd photo). 1 Common Greenshank (with the greenish legs) and 6 Greater Yellowlegs were foraging together in Twin Ponds (a vernal pool) at corner of Border Rd. and Addington Rd. in Fort Ord National Monument (no car access). Link to Greater Yellowlegs observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/188944663
Irene's Ebird Checklist # S153118843 that includes this Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) : https://ebird.org/checklist/S153118843
Write-up about this Common Greenshank sighting in Don Roberson's quarterly Monterey County Highlights: 2023 (Rare Bird Sightings in Monterey County) Fall-Winter (October-December) newletter, 2023: (link pending)
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) is large shorebird that is "common in Europe and Asia. There, it seems to fill the same niche as the Greater Yellowlegs in the U.S.; it is not too different in appearance, and it even sounds similar. Common Greenshanks show up in small numbers on the Alaskan islands, mostly during spring migration. It is a fairly large sandpiper, 30.5 cm (12 inches) long, similar to Greater Yellowlegs in size and shape, but tends to be grayer and less sharply marked, with green legs. In flight, it shows white triangle extending up back. "
Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/common-greenshank
Common Greenshank is a "large wader with a slightly upturned bill. Note overall grayish plumage with white belly and greenish legs. In flight, appears dark above with a broad white stripe up the middle of the back. Slightly larger and lankier than Common Redshank. Usually seen as singles or small groups. Listen for mellow “tewtewtew.” Feeds mainly by striding in water, picking and sweeping with its bill. Breeds across northern Europe and Asia; migrants and wintering birds in Africa, southern Asia and Australia occur in varied wetland habitats."
Ebird with species description, range map and sound recordings: https://ebird.org/species/comgre/
Xeno-canto Bird songs, sound recordings, and species range map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Tringa-nebularia
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017 (species not listed)
Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society (species not listed)
Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/
Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php
The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ (enter common name)(this species not listed)
19 seen tonight at two concrete ponds. Private property accessed with permission from the owner. San Luis Obispo County, CA
One of the most beautiful rattlesnakes I have ever seen!
Was resting on the shoulder of the road amongst some weedy vegetation. Had just emerged from the holes under the rocky boulders of the canyon wall just off to the side of the road. I only saw it because of the shine in the headlights and the head which was lifted up. Didn't bite until near the end of my time photographing it. Three nights in the Chiricahuas, with the first being too wet and the third being not humid enough. The second day, the day I found this snake, was warm and humid with dry ground, the perfect Green Rat weather. I was really hoping to get lucky enough to see one of these beautiful and elusive snakes and was super excited when it actually happened. This is by far one of the coolest creatures I have ever seen in the wild and I am so fortunate to have seen this species in the wild on my second attempt!
My first desert tortoise and something that I was not expecting at all! It was a younger individual, only about 7-8 inches in length. There was a monsoon storm raging several miles away and it had rained in the area just a few days prior.
Lifer!! Very pretty individual and cool find, can confirm they smell like onions
Seeing this bioluminescence has always been a dream of mine. So cool.
Found by another group of field herpers who were kind enough to let me photograph it. It was originally seen crossing the road from a rocky hillside about 2-3 minutes before the time stamp shown. It was huge, both in length and width, and was probably a gravid female. The cloud remnants of tropical storm Eugene were overhead during the observation.
Found by Jeff nordland
One of six seen. Snakes were slowly approached and left as found.
One of six seen. Snakes were slowly approached and left as found.
1 of several seen that date.
With dudleya brevifolia
One of the two found today.
Curled up on the sand shoulder of the road, completely still. Not seen until the leaf-nosed snake I was photographing feet away slithered up to it.
82 F
Yawning in the first image
Wow. First picked up this bird more or less in the dark at about 6:15 swimming directly below me just off the south edge of the pier. Was unsure of ID for a few minutes thanks to the birds fairly tattered appearance, poor top down view, and lack of light. As the minutes wore on typical features for this species became apparent such as the gray mantle and back, scalloped gray flanks, distinctive dark collar and mask, and pale bill became apparent. I was able to alert the listserv at about 6:30. I watched the bird for some time as it swam around the pier. It preened, sometimes flapped it's wings, and also dived on occasion (a very cool thing to see from a top down perspective). I watched the bird slowly drift out to the south to a distance of a couple hundred feet before slowly floating back towards the end of the pier. The first other birders to arrive were Loren Wright and Cynthia Case, who showed up at about 7:25. They just got on the bird as it dove and rather unfortunately went after a baited hook that one of the fisherman had let down. The fisherman pulled the bird out of the water and I rushed over to help remove the hook. We could see that the hook was stuck into the top third of the upper mandible, but thankfully not that far, not even making it to the barb. We were able to remove it more or less without incident. It was only after this scramble that I had realized I suddenly ended up with an Ancient Murrelet in my hands. Certainly not something I could have predicted when I woke up in the morning... Thankfully the bird seemed to be in good condition as it was squawking and struggling to get free. After a bit of debate of what to do next (and a few quick pictures) we decided to just release the bird further down the pier away from the fisherman as to hopefully avoid a repeat incident. We released it off the side of the pier thinking it was going to book it and get as far away from us as possible. To our surprise the bird decided to just sit and preen for a little while. It eventually dove a couple of times and began to swim and forage as if nothing had happened. As more people began to show up the bird began to swim towards shore just north of the pier. We watched it swim within just feet of some surfers and swimmers seemingly without a care. As the bird went into the surf the group that had gathered relocated to the sandy beach to get closer eye-level views of it. My photography instincts kicked in and I waded out into the surf and was able to get some pretty stunning views as it dove and foraged around within 10-15 feet of me at times. After a little while of foraging in the surf the bird then began to float back out towards the end of the pier, so the group relocated once more. While watching it back up on the pier we watched it go down for a particularly long dive and come back up with a fish probably at least half it's body length. Although we were all a bit skeptical he managed to get it down and continued foraging. The bird eventually floated out beyond the pier where it eventually grew quite distant. We left about 9AM, with our final views of this spectacular individual a couple hundred yards out off the end of the pier looking into the sun. So great to get such "soul satisfying" views of such a rare (especially seasonally and this close to shore) bird.