Favoritos de gary290

Melanistic juvenile (likely male based on size relative to the Great-tailed Grackle it was feeding upon). Verified by William Clark, and Lance and Jill Morrow. First observed by M. Silvas with me, and I shouted "melanistic Cooper's Hawk, OMG" as I identified the bird preliminarily, before submitting it to experts for review.
N31.070728 W-97.369269
JPK-2925

This was an extremely rare sighting for Squamish first spotted by Wally Fletcher during the Squamish Estuary Monthly Bird Census. This seal was first sighted in Puget Sound near Seattle Washington earlier in the year then later in Steveston British Columbia where it was tagged on its flipper ( B310 ). It was observed swimming and sunning itself on a wharf at the end of Cattermole Slough near downtown Squamish only for only one day then disappeared. Judging by its normal habitat it was a long way out of range which is the Bering Sea. I have good video of the seal ( You-Tube video https://youtu.be/QO8osHlLzh0 ) if that will help with identification.

A movement on the road caught my eye and on approaching was thinking of either something had caught a chameleon or it was injured and thrashing about in death throes. They were absolutely still after this flurry of movement, just eyes moving. One brief flurry again, followed by another long period of almost absolute motionless, another brief flurry and they parted. Never seen one as pitch black as the female, marking around the eyes standing out almost as clearly as under UV light. Both returned to more normal colours rapidly after parting, both removed by hand to the relative safety of near by shrubs. Total time actually witnessed 1 hour and 5 minutes, but I believe from others that they started mating some time before that.
Comments of selling price of a breeding pair shocking at R12 000 or there abouts!

A scrappy expanse of silky refuges and capture webs littered with body parts of previous victims. When preferred prey is entangled, the female spiders emerge from their 'nests' and overpower it by grabbing its extremities. In this case, a wasp https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319446.
Presumably they inject venom because after a minute or so the prey stops struggling. Then they snip it out of the web and carry it into one of several 'nests' or refuges.
Unwanted prey, often beetles (see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319435 ) are also killed but sometimes left in the web, uneaten. Ants, in this case, Maranoplus ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9319390 )scavenge around the periphery of the webs, feasting on unwanted beetles or other left-overs.

Genus: Batrachostomus
Species :mixtus Sharpe, 1892.
Common name : Bornean Frogmouth.
It is fomerly considered conspecific with B.poliolophus but lacks extensive white on underparts, male has a much darker crown and female more contrastingly rich rufous. Vocalizations yet to be analysed in depth. It is considered to be monotypic.

As an attraction, the local fishermen take photographers out to the sea ice where they throw thawing fish to attract the eagle (Steller's and white-tailed). And, attract they do... the eagles were out in large numbers!

The Steller's Sea-Eagle is known from its white-capped wings; they're stunning!

The Philippine Eagle inhabits the mountain area around Mount Apo on Mindanao. A long time ago, the Philippine Eagle inhabited the mountain forests or clearings of lowland forest on Luzon, Leyte, Mindanao and Samar. Now, the mount Apo region on Mindanao is the last remaining environment in the Philippines where the eagles live. Most of the time the eagles hide in the forest. Because of the deforestation (the logging), the area to hide became rather small.

For further information of the observation see: Langner, Christian Georg 2017. Hidden in the Heart of Borneo-shedding light on Some Mysteries of an Enigmatic Lizard: First Records of Habitat Use, Behavior, and Food Items of Lanthanotus borneensis Steindachner, 1878 in Its Natural Habitat. Russ. J. Herpetol. 24 (1): 1-10