gatorhawk's Favorites

Note bronze dorsal coloration and distinctive four toes on the forefoot (last image). This species is native to Papua New Guinea and was likely introduced to the Marianas sometime between the end of World War II and the early 1960s. It was first collected on Saipan in 1964.

Mobbing an Osprey.
Disney’s Pop Century Resort; Orange County, Florida

• Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 2pm.
• Sunrise 6:30 am; Sunset 8:27 pm
• Daylight Hours: 13 hours, 56 minutes (-17s)

While hiking back from plant monitoring in Restoration Area 2019 of the Hole-in-the-Donut (Everglades National Park), we saw movement and heard squealing in the grasses about three feet from us. It was a corn snake grabbing a hispid cotton rat! Such a crazy thing to see although we were only able to see the rustling and didn't see the actually hit. The rat stopped squealing pretty quick, maybe after 5-10 seconds.

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park; Richmond County, Georgia. January 1, 2022.

• Clouds and sun, high near 81. Southwest wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
• Sunrise 7:32 am; Sunset 5:31 pm
• Daylight Hours: 9 hours, 59 minutes (+31s)
• Moon: 1.8% Waning Crescent

I am not sure of the sub-species on this crane, Any help would be appreciated. It showed up with the Whooping Crane (not pictured) Image 2 shows the Florida Sandhill Crane on the right (it has the same coloration as the 100+ Sandhill Cranes roosting at this location).

Can't believe this bird was here... I'm wondering if it has been here all winter or moved into the area due to a cold front. In any case, it's a small thicket of Brazilian pepper and not much that it was hiding out in. I usually check this spot for wintering catbirds and common yellowthroats

Undoubtedly an escaped bird. Might've belonged to a caged-bird club that meets in the park. This is the second grassquit species I've found this week, makes you wonder if the hurricane had to do with the releases or if these are birds that escaped during an exotic bird smuggling bust Shane Runyon found out about. Video of it singing here: https://youtu.be/aKHNINkKZvA

Spotted near Grand Prairie on the eastern side of the Okefenokee. Satellite tracker attached to its back. https://okefenokee.photography/2021/12/11/techno-gators/

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.

• Sunny, with a high near 66F.
• Sunrise 6:56 AM; Sunset 5:31 PM
• Daylight hours: 10 hours, 35 minutes (-1m 23s)
• Moon 80% Waxing Gibbous

I found this snake back in 2008. If I only knew then how awesome this find was. My memory of location was foggy but I think I have it narrowed down pretty good. I am 100% certain of location within 15 miles or so and 75% to location within a mile or so.

This owl managed to get inside what we thought was a fully enclosed chicken coop where it helped itself to a hen. When we found it in the morning we opened the pen and let it fly away. It was a bit larger than the rooster who did have a go at it.

American Alligator
Alligator mississippiensis

Alexander Springs Recreation Area
Ocala National Forest
Lake County Florida
Olympus OM-D E-M5
14-42mm II Lens
PT-EP08 Underwater Housing,
PPO-EP01 Lens Port
& 14-42mm Zoom Gear

Phil's 1stPix on 500px

This dove literally landed in my lap during offshore sailing passage from Bahamas to Beaufort North Carolina. It was very tired and wet, dried and preened its feathers while catching a ride for about 24 hours before it flew away.

1st molecular confirmation of Massospora diceroproctae made from individuals I collected from this location.

See pink fungus in genital area.

Matt Kasson from the University of West Virginia alerted me to this possibility from my iNat post of this cicada and undertook DNA barcoding using my samples.

Please excuse the long-winded comments here, but this was just too special not to share with my iNat friends.

I was on the back deck of my house a while ago, adding sunflower seeds to a feeder that the siskins and goldfinches had about depleted. I saw some movement in one of the live oaks which hangs over my deck and saw that it was a Nashville Warbler. This is a common migrant in central Texas, but I had never gotten any shots of one in my yard. I went back in the house, grabbed a camera with a 100-400 mm lens and came back out on the deck to try to get some identifiable shots of the Nashville. I saw it occasionally popping in and out of view, but it would never give me enough time to get an identifiable shot. So, I'm standing there getting frustrated at the Nashville when suddenly...a Golden-cheeked Warbler started singing about 8 feet from me!

Golden-cheeked Warbler is an endangered species which nests nowhere but Texas. I have heard them from my property two or three times in the past years and seen a male nearby a few years ago, but the habitat in my neighborhood is certainly not prime for the species, but I do know they are around this immediate area in small numbers, but can be very difficult to find. Normally I have to go 30 or so miles from here to see this species, and then it is always iffy whether such a trip is successful. So, now this Golden-cheeked cranks up in song at 4 PM on an overcast and windy day right at my back door...AND I'm holding a camera! Long story short, I took 150+ images from as close as 6 feet as this mature male GCWA foraged in my live oaks! The bird seemed totally unconcerned about me blasting away with the camera and was busy grabbing small worms, etc. It was terrifically exciting. The bird spent at least 10 minutes above my deck, and sang 5 or 6 times, then flew off toward the more wooded property west of me. Golden-cheeks are quick to abandon locations where human habitation is too dense, but hopefully a place like my neighborhood where all the houses are on 2-3 acre sized properties, is more conducive to the bird sticking around. Anyway, first time I have photographed the species in this area or even in Hays County. And I never did get any shots of the Nashville. Somehow that is just O.K. :-)

By the way, the "out of range" designation which usually pops up on the iNat maps of any report of this species near Austin, is incorrect. The area of the Edwards Plateau just west of Austin is, and always has been, part of the normal range of this species.