The Nature Photography Thread

[ConcinusMan]

Small dove eggs hatch quickly. From the time the second one is laid, incubation begins and it can take as little as 9 days for them to hatch, but 10 or 12 is more common. Babies grow fast and leave the nest in about 2-3 weeks. At least, this is the case with mourning doves from San Diego, to Reno, to WA state.

[ConcinusMan]

OK, who's ready for some great pics I took today?

Salmon Creek @ interstate 5 in clark county, WA. Habitat for ordinoides, concinnus, western racers, rubber boas, northwestern alligator lizards, western pond turtles.


Endangered Western Pond Turtle. Re-introduced to this pond. One of the very few locations in clark county where they still exist.


Non-native turtle. They outnumber the natives and outcompete them. I'm not sure of the species, but I caught this one (they aren't very shy and will let you get close) and removed it. I will be releasing it into a man made pond near my home, where he can't hurt any native wildlife, 'cause there is none. There are other turtles of his kind in this man made pond in my neighborhood. Anyone know the ID of this turtle? I've seen them in pet stores but I can't remember what they are.

[ConcinusMan]

Underside of same turtle. I had the exposure time a little too low so it's actually quite a bit brighter than that.


Me, with the turtle:


3 small bullfrogs. I caught two, and my concinnus "chow hounded" them. Nice bulge in their bellies now.


Sadly, there were too many people running around today (sunday) and all the concinnus had already been disturbed and I saw none. They were all hiding.

[ConcinusMan]

Don't look at me. Hey man, those plants aren't mine.


Interestingly enough, I also found some rather old and drying psilocybe cyanescens growing under some blackberries too. No photos though. It was tempting, but they were in plain sight of other people, and I've been in enough trouble in my life so I left them alone. They look like this, but the ones I saw had blue stains on them.


Pacific Northwest Forest:

[ConcinusMan]

I figured it out. The non-native turtle I caught is an eastern painted turtle, native to Michigan.

I took plenty of video on herping trip too. I'll be posting soon on youtube.

[redspot]

Nice photography! You should probably let that turtle go where you found it, I'm 99% sure that's a Western Painted turtle Chrysemya Picta a native of Washington.

[ConcinusMan]

Oh crap. You're right. Somebody told me those striped one's weren't native. I absolutely will take it back today. He's pretty calm right now. Comfortably resting under a heat emitter but he's going back.

[redspot]

Red eared sliders are non-native, they do look similar but once you see a couple of each you can tell them apart. Western painteds are a good find.

This is a good site for Washington herp ID's http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/herp/herpmain.html

[ConcinusMan]

Maybe that's where the confusion happened. There are a few red-eared sliders in the pond. The painteds are the most numerous though. Anyway, no harm done. She's none the worse for wear and in couple of hours I'm taking her back to her log. Her, him, whatever.

[redspot]

They do kinda look like poop snakes but I think they're cool. Cool sunny days equals good Charina weather. In a couple hours we found 4 Boas, 2/3 Garters, 5 or 6 Scelops and a MONSTER of a Southern Alligator lizard. Raining off and on and only high 50's.
Got out of the car and one of the first rocks produced this little girl, I always love it when you find what your looking for right away. Everything after that is just bonus!

Right afterwards my friend flips another, 2 within 10 minutes! We left that area and went on to the next, up a pretty steep logging road we stop at a fallen 4x8 sign and find thee biggest Southern Alligator lizard I have ever seen. I was a little surprised to find a Southern here, Northerns are more common.
Its funny how much attitude these guys throw.

Size reference

The last snakes of the day were flipped together, two fatty female boas. These guys always throw their tails over their heads, no wonder they're so beat.

size reference

Going home...