Favoritos de tcooley

Blacklighting for a couple hours in the Royal Palm area. I had three sheets set up from around 7:30-10PM, the first was about 30 meters into the old Ingraham Highway between the Gumbo Limbo Trail entrances, the second facing the Taylor Slough near the entrance of the Anhinga Trail and the third facing the open area near the parking lot.

All sheets were lit by UV "DJ" blacklights (395-400 nm LED) hooked up to USB battery packs. Video showing the blacklights in action at the Pinecrest campground (Big Cypress) from Summer 2019: https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

This observation is from the 1st sheet described above.

Big thank you Natalie Mudd for organizing a great bioblitz here at Everglades National Park! I spent several hours volunteering with Tonya and Jesse and it was a lot of fun talking to park visitors about iNaturalist. I am looking forward to participating and helping out with more of these :-)

Here is a link to the project that collected everyone's observations from today: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/everglades-national-public-lands-day-bioblitz

My blacklighting observations from tonight:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-09-24&order=asc&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&user_id=joemdo

Info about the cheapy DJ blacklights, great for getting started with blacklighting: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/damontighe/11836-diy-moth-light

Blacklighting project for Florida on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida

Competition
The female closest to me did all the work. She used her sensitive antennae to locate a sawfly larva inside the tree trunk. She carefully calculated the exact location to drill into the wood to reach the larva, paralyze it and deliver an egg to it. She is in the drilling stage here. The 2nd female behind her is hoping to harass her enough for her to give up & leave. That way the 2nd female can use the existing hole and deliver her own egg. I read the females will duel with their antennae sometimes when competing for the same egg host. This explains why there were several females on the same tree trunk. Some were drilling into the wood and others were harassing the drilling ones.

Hawk pursuing an eagle (observation is for the hawk). Eagle's observation is https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129226212

Park City mountain trails, Utah.

• Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
• Sunrise 6:19 am; Sunset 8:45 pm
• Daylight Hours: 14 hours, 26 minutes (-1m 53s)
• Moon: 0.2% Waxing Crescent

On August 16, we witnessed what has to rank with one of the most incredible wildlife experiences I’ve ever had. Cheryl and I were on a trip with 6 other nature photographers and our leader. We had been in the Pantanal area of Brazil for about a week with 5 days along the Cuiaba River near Porto Jofre, looking for Jaguars and other photo ops. Our daily routine was breakfast at 5:30 AM and we took off on boats from 6 till about 11AM, lunch at noon at the lodge, then on the boats again 3PM till dark. Our group has 3 boats so just 3 people per boat so plenty of room for photo gear, etc. Over several days we had seen 10-12 Jaguars. Some were very good photo ops, some poor photo ops, some just glimpsed.

There are several lodges in the area and it is a popular place to visit for folks hoping to see Jaguars, so much like Yellowstone National Park, a crowd can gather when some significant wildlife is seen, but instead of car jams to see a Grizzly such as Yellowstone, this can be boat jams for a jaguar. I have seen as many as 22 boats, 70-100 feet off shore with lots of people in each boat taking photos of a sleeping Jaguar. BUT…that is not the end of the story! We were often in more remote areas of the rivers and inlets and streams more or less on our own looking for birds, etc., so lots of times there are no other boats around. The boat drivers all have radios, so if a Jaguar is seen, other boats are informed. We move 20-25 miles up and down the river to explore, so many times other boats are not close enough to arrive while a Jaguar is in view.

My limited Jaguar experience is that some are just sleeping and/or resting and mostly ignore the boats in the river. Others are walking though the edge of the forest near the river and when a boat becomes visible, the animal just vanishes back into the forest. This morning at about 7:30 AM our three boats were in an out-of-the way location, a mile or so apart. The boat I was in was photographing a Great Black Hawk when one of our other boats called us on the radio to say they had a Jaguar swimming in the river, apparently hunting, so we headed to that area. Apparently the Jaguar, with just its head visible, swam up to loafing Yacare Caimans and pounced onto a caiman which was about 6 or so feet long. The Jaguar and the caiman thrashed in the water with the Jaguar biting into the skull of the caiman. That is about the time our boat arrived, after the Jaguar had mostly subdued the caiman, but the caiman was still thrashing about. The Jaguar was up against a high dirt bank, still mostly in the water with a firm grip on the skull of the caiman and the Jaguar was not letting go. It was very dark and under heavy foliage and vines so I was shooting at 4000 and 6400 ISO but that was my only choice. Eventually the Jaguar was able to work itself and its prize away from the vines and it drug the caiman out of the water and up the dirt bank and eventually back into the forest to enjoy its catch beyond the curious and amazed eyes of the human observers. The caiman was as large or larger than the Jaguar. All I have to say is that a mature Jaguar is an incredibly powerful predator and watching this whole 15 minute episode is something I’ll not forget. What a beast!

This entire series was shot from a boat, perhaps 40 feet off the bank with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II and a Canon 100-400 IS lens in case anyone is interested.

Cuiaba River,
near Porto Jofre,
Pantanal,
Brazil
16 August 2017

White Rock lake, Reinhart branch
Casual Glance
I was on the banks of the creek when I saw the wood duck swimming down the creek towards me. I stood very still and he swam right in front of me. He never got nervous, just casually glanced my direction as he passed by.

Female Cordulegaster erronea (Tiger Spiketail). Photographed at Norfolk County, Ontario on 4 July 2022. After striking out in the past it was a thrill to finally catch up with this magnificent dragonfly...

Clarke County, Georgia backyard birding journal. There are definitely babies in the bluebird nest box over my koi pond! Mother and father are both now very busy making repeated food runs.

• Sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph.
• Sunrise Today:7:13; sunset Today:7:58 pm
• Daylight Hours:12 hours, 45 minutes (+2m 4s)
  

~ William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

White Rock lake, Reinhart Branch
My first time to see a green heron in full breeding colors. Those legs were so bright orange/pink that they positively glowed. Normally they are yellow. During this time you can see why they are called green herons. The eyes were amazing too. They were very bright yellow with a red rim around them and purplish/blue color in front of the eye. Right across the creek from me & it kept striking poses. Don't know about the female green herons but I was sure impressed.