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enziarro
Sep 4, 2004

I'm not an angel - I'm a Galactic Pioneer.

MrGreenShirt posted:

I bet you'd get a kick out of the Gray Catbird!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MreTlO5avZw#t=0m57s

Aw, now I assume I just saw a mockingbird doing a catbird, not a mockingbird doing a cat.

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Chorocojo
Sep 25, 2005

Legendary Creature -- Bird Advisor
-Envoy to the Ghost Dad-


I'm wondering if someone can help me identify a fish.

It's basic body shape is like this:


I'm in southern Florida, in the Biscayne Bay specifically. I usually see it around pilings and seawalls picking at growth. It's about 12" long.

EDIT: It reminds me of a triggerfish in the head area, but I've never really seen a triggerfish with an elongated body.

EDIT EDIT: It is very thin.

Chorocojo fucked around with this message at Apr 12, 2012 around 01:30

Saturniid19
Aug 1, 2006
brought to you by North Central Positronics

enziarro posted:

I've seen the Attenborough lyre bird doing the camera, car alarm, and chainsaw - I've even heard a couple mockingbirds (maybe starlings, they can do it too from what I understand) do what I'm pretty sure were car alarms and phones. Yesterday was the first time I saw & heard a mockingbird do a kitten mewing though.

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8QkNWWs

Chorocojo posted:

I'm wondering if someone can help me identify a fish.

It's basic body shape is like this:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h...mysteryfish.jpg

I'm in southern Florida, in the Biscayne Bay specifically. I usually see it around pilings and seawalls picking at growth. It's about 12" long.

EDIT: It reminds me of a triggerfish in the head area, but I've never really seen a triggerfish with an elongated body.

Looks like a puffer fish of some sort.

Chorocojo
Sep 25, 2005

Legendary Creature -- Bird Advisor
-Envoy to the Ghost Dad-


Saturniid19 posted:

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8QkNWWs


Looks like a puffer fish of some sort.

This thing is far too thin to be a puffer. I forgot to mention that. It's a very thin fish.

MrGreenShirt
Mar 14, 2005

Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!


Sounds like a triggerfish to me. Can you decribe the coloration at all?

What do you mean by elongated body? Would you consider this an elongated body?


Grey Triggerfish from the Gulf of Mexico.

Chorocojo
Sep 25, 2005

Legendary Creature -- Bird Advisor
-Envoy to the Ghost Dad-


MrGreenShirt posted:

Sounds like a triggerfish to me. Can you decribe the coloration at all?

What do you mean by elongated body? Would you consider this an elongated body?


Grey Triggerfish from the Gulf of Mexico.

It's definitely not a grey trigger, it's got a longer body and a more subdued caudal fin. It's got a sort of muted color like my scribble.

Cichlidae
Aug 12, 2005

ME LOVE
MAKE RED LIGHT


It's been eleven days since I found these:



And thanks to this thread, I took two clumps from two egg masses home.

Day 1:


Day 8:

I thought this one had hatched prematurely. No visible gills, still fetus-looking, and not even a centimeter long.


The other egg mass didn't have any hatchlings until 2 days later.

Day 11:

These are from the cloudy egg mass. About 9 in total. They have dark brown spots.


And this is from the clear egg mass. 3 of those survived. They seem larger and darker than the other ones.

So I've got a dozen baby salamanders, and I'm cultivating pond water for early food. Once they've grown a bit (they're still barely 15mm), I'll give them ants as well. I have a 29-gallon tank ready for when they grow up. If I end up with more than I can handle, I'll release the fittest ones back into the wild.

MrGreenShirt
Mar 14, 2005

Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!


Chorocojo posted:

It's definitely not a grey trigger, it's got a longer body and a more subdued caudal fin. It's got a sort of muted color like my scribble.

Maybe it's a filefish,



or possibly a trunk fish?

Chorocojo
Sep 25, 2005

Legendary Creature -- Bird Advisor
-Envoy to the Ghost Dad-


Ah! That's it! The scrawled filefish! They're even listed in the Biscayne registry. Mystery solved, thank you!

I'll try to get some photos I've taken of things at the docks up here in the future.

T1g4h
Aug 6, 2008

BURRITO EXPRESS

So I absolutely, positively hate wasps. Little suckers terrify me, mainly due to the whole "Getting stung multiple times in the face as a child" incident. But...



I managed to overcome that fear long enough to snag a quick shot of one buzzing around at my parents' place.



Also, pictures do not do this little guy/girl justice. That blue color on the wings looked amazing when the sunlight hit it just right.

Strongylocentrotus
Jan 24, 2007

Nab him, jab him, tab him, grab him - stop that pigeon NOW!


JD posted:

So it got pretty windy here the last few hours, I came home from the store and found this little girl huddling from the wind in my door jam. She must've fell from the tree next right by the walkway. I brought her in because there's a cat prowling and I'm also afraid she'd get blown from the walkway (second floor.)

I was thinking I'd put her back out when the wind dies or in the morning. Any advice? Should I give her water or some seeds? I have some raw sunflower seeds and rolled oats.

Edit: She chirped at me



Like others said, you've got yourself a fledgling House Sparrow.

You're correct in thinking the best thing to do is put it back outside so the parents can find it. She's old enough to be down from the nest, but it will take her a few days of being on the ground (under the watchful eyes of mom and dad) to build up her muscles enough to fly. Once the wind dies down, you can try placing her in a bush or tree near where you found her.

In the meantime, the best you can do for her is keep her in a warm, quiet spot. You can try offering her some sunflower seeds, but you'll want to hull them first and even break up the seed meat into small pieces; she's probably too young/inexperienced to break the shells herself. If you offer her any water, put it in a shallow dish. A jar lid or wide bottle cap could work.

I keep meaning to make a wildlife rehab thread in Pet Island. Ought to get around to doing that someday.

Knormal posted:

TURKEY FIGHT


Do you live in my neighborhood or something? That looks just like an apartment complex down the street from me where I've seen a flock of wild turkeys hanging out. Weird.

the kawaiiest posted:

I know squirrels are really common and not all that interesting but I can't get over how cute these little guys are





Not all that interesting? Lies! I always welcome squirrel photos.

Johnny Walker posted:

I met this one on the National Mall in DC. I gave him a piece of my cookie.



Oh geeze, the Eastern Gray Squirrels on the National Mall. They're among the most obese squirrels I've ever seen. Also the boldest. Seriously, those animals have balls of steel and absolutely no shame. You've got food? Well, guess what, they want it and they will be sure to let you know.

Die Laughing
Sep 18, 2009

You engage the Mad Duck

SMAAAAASH!

When my dad was still delivering mail, he had a squirrel that would race over to his truck when he pulled up because he fed him nuts. And if he missed my dad when he pulled up, he'd wait around the truck until he came back. I never knew they had enough intelligence to recognize a vehicle.

RustedChrome
Jun 10, 2007

"do not hold the camera obliquely, or the world will seem to be on an inclined plane."

When food is involved, the gray squirrel is the smartest animal on the planet.

Knormal
Nov 11, 2001



Strongylocentrotus posted:



Do you live in my neighborhood or something? That looks just like an apartment complex down the street from me where I've seen a flock of wild turkeys hanging out. Weird.
Sacramento suburbs? Not that there's a lot of variety in apartment complexes. Or turkeys.

RazorBunny
May 23, 2007

Sometimes I feel like this.



Strongylocentrotus posted:


Oh geeze, the Eastern Gray Squirrels on the National Mall. They're among the most obese squirrels I've ever seen. Also the boldest. Seriously, those animals have balls of steel and absolutely no shame. You've got food? Well, guess what, they want it and they will be sure to let you know.

I thought the ones in Boston Common were fatter, but it was late fall so they were probably all bloated up for the winter.

I should see if I can get a picture of Ole Stumpy, our resident half-tailed squirrel. He doesn't take poo poo from anybody.

The one species I haven't seen in our neighborhood that I really miss is chipmunks. My grandmother had one that she basically kept as an outdoor pet - this woman has no love of animals whatsoever, and is kind of afraid of them, and yet she would deliver food to this little critter's burrow every day. He stuck around for at least two years, probably most of his life.

There may be some around here that I just haven't spotted, they're fairly shy and quite a bit smaller than squirrels. We used to see a ton of them in the large animal enclosures at the National Zoo, like in with the giraffes, who I guess didn't mind them hanging out in there.

Strongylocentrotus
Jan 24, 2007

Nab him, jab him, tab him, grab him - stop that pigeon NOW!


Knormal posted:

Sacramento suburbs? Not that there's a lot of variety in apartment complexes. Or turkeys.

Haha, actually yes. More specifically, I live in a certain city near Sacramento that recently hit the national news for an incident involving pepper spray and seated protesters. I guess all the apartment complexes out here look the same. And this city definitely has a few flocks of wild turkeys that march around like they own the place.

Die Laughing posted:

When my dad was still delivering mail, he had a squirrel that would race over to his truck when he pulled up because he fed him nuts. And if he missed my dad when he pulled up, he'd wait around the truck until he came back. I never knew they had enough intelligence to recognize a vehicle.

I believe it. When I was a kid, my family fed the neighborhood squirrels and we had a bunch of tame squirrel buddies who would hit us up for peanuts every day. At least two of the squirrels learned to recognize the family car and would come running to it whenever it pulled up in front of the house. Never saw them do that to anyone else's car, just ours.

RazorBunny posted:

There may be some around here that I just haven't spotted, they're fairly shy and quite a bit smaller than squirrels. We used to see a ton of them in the large animal enclosures at the National Zoo, like in with the giraffes, who I guess didn't mind them hanging out in there.

Back when I lived in DC, I only ever saw chipmunks hanging out in the National Zoo and the surrounding Rock Creek Park area. Never saw them elsewhere in the city, which was unfortunate for child me... I wanted chipmunk buddies in addition to my squirrel buddies. Chipmunks may want more variety in the tree cover and groundcover than most of the rest of DC can provide.

genesplicer
Oct 19, 2002

FORUMS SENIOR CITIZEN Ask me about:
joining the AARP; Social Security; prostate exams; why rock music is too loud; wearing orthopedic shoes and prescription pant

A few years back Mrs. Genesplicer and I were walking along the path in Hyde Park in London. A squirrel ran up to us and began the cutest/most pathetic dancing/begging routine I have ever seen. The sad part was, it was the only time we were without food in our dozen trips to London. We always have a little something in case I get hypoglycemic, but no, we had no food and a begging squirrel. So sad...

Zorak
Nov 7, 2005


Look who I saw today!

























God I love Sandhill Cranes. They're beautiful. These babies grow up quick, too. These ones, if you're curious, are the Florida population/morph, Grus canadensis pratensis. They're endangered, though

BONUS MOORHENS



RazorBunny
May 23, 2007

Sometimes I feel like this.



Strongylocentrotus posted:


Back when I lived in DC, I only ever saw chipmunks hanging out in the National Zoo and the surrounding Rock Creek Park area. Never saw them elsewhere in the city, which was unfortunate for child me... I wanted chipmunk buddies in addition to my squirrel buddies. Chipmunks may want more variety in the tree cover and groundcover than most of the rest of DC can provide.

I live out in Manassas actually, but this part may be just a little too suburban for them. My grandmother lives in Fairfax but her neighborhood is still heavily treed, and there aren't a lot of dogs and cats on her street, so that's probably why they show up near her and not out here.

Charlie72
Apr 21, 2010


On the subject of cranes, anyone know what type of crane this is? I saw it one my way home , around Johnson county, NC. It was closer when I first saw it, but flew to the over side of the lake when a stopped to take a pic. Sorry for the poor quality, only had a smartphone on hand.

Zorak
Nov 7, 2005


Charlie72 posted:

On the subject of cranes, anyone know what type of crane this is? I saw it one my way home , around Johnson county, NC. It was closer when I first saw it, but flew to the over side of the lake when a stopped to take a pic. Sorry for the poor quality, only had a smartphone on hand.



That's no crane. That's most definitely a Heron, though it's kind of hard to tell due to the distance. Great Blue or Grey, possibly.

MrGreenShirt
Mar 14, 2005

Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!


Considering it's North Carolina I'm going to say Great Blue Heron.

Charlie72
Apr 21, 2010


Thanks. Now I know the not too uncommon around these parts, so next time I see one I'll try to get a closer picture.

the yeti
Mar 29, 2008

I FUCKING LOVE COCAINE


Charlie72 posted:

Thanks. Now I know the not too uncommon around these parts, so next time I see one I'll try to get a closer picture.

Belly crawl. They're wary suckers.

7thBatallion
Apr 14, 2007

You remind me of the boss
What boss?
The boss with the power
What power?
The power of voodoo
Who-doo?
You do.
Do what?
Remind me of the Boss.



the yeti posted:

Belly crawl. They're wary suckers.

With the Great Blues, I'd go a step further and say wear a ghille suit. drat birds are smart, aware, and jumpy as all hell.

RabbitMage
Nov 20, 2008




Hey Rabbitmage, what's that?



Oh, just a worm crawling up the side of the house.

RazorBunny
May 23, 2007

Sometimes I feel like this.



7thBatallion posted:

With the Great Blues, I'd go a step further and say wear a ghille suit. drat birds are smart, aware, and jumpy as all hell.

Really? We had one that used to land in our fish pond and eat his fill, and you could walk up pretty close before he spooked.

Beeswax
Dec 29, 2005



Now compared to almost everything in this thread, this is mundane as gently caress. But just out of curiosity: These guys can be found every now and then hanging out in a corner of my bathroom. I have no idea what they feed off of, unless they're waging a covert war on the silverfish. So what are they?




Oh, and I live in southern Sweden.

The Red Queen
Jan 20, 2007

You tricked me!

You said dis place was fun, but it ain't!

Looks like a "daddy longlegs," this one in particular:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae

And they very well might be eating silverfish. We usually had dozens of them in my house growing up that we left alone because they are completely harmless and because it did seem like our moth problem diminished when they were around. They love to build lovely looking webs in ceiling corners.

axolotl farmer
May 17, 2007

Yeah, hello? I lost my frog.



Beeswax posted:

Now compared to almost everything in this thread, this is mundane as gently caress. But just out of curiosity: These guys can be found every now and then hanging out in a corner of my bathroom. I have no idea what they feed off of, unless they're waging a covert war on the silverfish. So what are they?




Oh, and I live in southern Sweden.

These are Pholcids, and they're actually true spiders. They look a lot like Opiliones (lockespindlar på svenska), but have eight eyes and spin webs.

They are most likely eating your silverfish and those psychodid midges that always seems to be around in bathrooms.

Lady Charlemagne
Apr 23, 2008

GOD I'M TIRED


RabbitMage posted:



Hey Rabbitmage, what's that?



Oh, just a worm crawling up the side of the house.

Poor confused worm. There's no dirt out there!

I saw a peacock... peacocking today. No pictures, because it was at a farm, but it was still a pretty interesting sight. His display looked sort of sad and not very colorful. None of the peahens were interested.

Jesus Christ
Jun 1, 2000

fully restored


Weeee! Just got a camera (Canon PowerShot 300HS, nothing fancy) and finally got around to taking some pictures.

I saw a bluebird in my backyard harassing some pigeons and hoppers (sparrows I guess?) but didn't have it on me at the time. Shortly after I retrieved my camera I saw this cardinal hanging out on the fence.



I unfortunately couldn't get much closer before he flew away.

This butterfly somehow managed to get stuck inside, so I snapped a picture then let it out. Anybody know what type it is?



This is central Texas, by the way. It's cloudy as hell today but when it's sunnier I'm going to go on a hike around the greenbelt and see what I can find.

(Linked because of huge. How do you do the small snapshot that links to the big picture with imgur?)

[edit] fixed, thanks

Jesus Christ fucked around with this message at Apr 14, 2012 around 20:53

axolotl farmer
May 17, 2007

Yeah, hello? I lost my frog.



The butterfly is a comma butterfly, genus Polygonia. Maybe an Eastern comma?

http://bugguide.net/node/view/5509/bgpage

And please embed pictures with [img] tags rather than just linking them.

Mr. Despair
Nov 4, 2009


39 perfect posts with each roll.


Jesus Christ posted:

Weeee! Just got a camera (Canon PowerShot 300HS, nothing fancy) and finally got around to taking some pictures.

I saw a bluebird in my backyard harassing some pigeons and hoppers (sparrows I guess?) but didn't have it on me at the time. Shortly after I retrieved my camera I saw this cardinal hanging out on the fence.

http://i.imgur.com/EOlph.jpg

I unfortunately couldn't get much closer before he flew away.

This butterfly somehow managed to get stuck inside, so I snapped a picture then let it out. Anybody know what type it is?

http://i.imgur.com/Lb1zS.jpg

This is central Texas, by the way. It's cloudy as hell today but when it's sunnier I'm going to go on a hike around the greenbelt and see what I can find.

(Linked because of huge. How do you do the small snapshot that links to the big picture with imgur?)

When you're on the imgur page with all the link options, below the links there will be several size options. Click on one of them(large thumbnail works great), and then you can just copy/paste the linked bbcode option into the post. Works better than just using TIMG tags too.

e. like so

Dalax
Oct 27, 2007



Hello, Mr Green Caterpillar. I get the feeling you will turn into something quite mundane. I like your face though.



Andrias Scheuchzeri
Mar 6, 2010

They're very good and intelligent, these tapa-boys...

No pictures, sorry, but digging some holes in my yard yesterday for planting trees turned up zillions of those white grubs and one of them was crawling with some kind of tiny white...parasite things. Mites? I spotted it this morning, so they could have come along after it was exposed by the digging.

Really pretty gross, but interesting. Bugs on bugs.

Mak0rz
Aug 2, 2008

THE WHIPPED CREAM GENOCIDE BROUHAHA


Dalax posted:

Hello, Mr Green Caterpillar. I get the feeling you will turn into something quite mundane. I like your face though.





Question for axolotl farmer: Do caterpillars have functional compound eyes, or are the globes on their head just placeholders for the adult eyes? I never really thought about this before, but the bright-green face on this caterpillar has no pseudopupil...

Slo-Tek
Jun 8, 2001



Mak0rz posted:

Question for axolotl farmer: Do caterpillars have functional compound eyes, or are the globes on their head just placeholders for the adult eyes? I never really thought about this before, but the bright-green face on this caterpillar has no pseudopupil...

Pretty sure they don't. Just the little ocelli (simple eyes) clustered around the jaw. Think the part that looks like eyes is just armor/anchor for chewing muscle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ce_close_up.jpg

Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Apr 15, 2012 around 00:57

Chido
Dec 7, 2003

Butterflies fluttering on my face!

Erm, these are obviously native of this continent, but these bird have been free roaming my neighborhood for years now.



And there's a lot of them

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MrGreenShirt
Mar 14, 2005

Hell of a book. It's about bunnies!


Slo-Tek posted:

Pretty sure they don't. Just the little ocelli (simple eyes) clustered around the jaw. Think the part that looks like eyes is just armor/anchor for chewing muscle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ce_close_up.jpg

Yep, caterpillars usually have 6 pairs of ocelli near their jaws that can only detect changes in light intensity. A caterpillar couldn't see your hand waving in front of its face unless you happened to cast a shadow onto it!

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