gonsaro's Favorites

I feel like I should post one of those warnings you see on some TV shows...."Viewer Discretion is Advised; some images may be disturbing to some viewers". After some of the road kill images that are posted on iNat perhaps this is not too bad. At least it was completely natural, unlike the slaughter caused by vehicles on our wildlife.

Between 1996-2005, I was a bird guide on 13 trips to Antarctica. During those trips I saw lots of Leopard Seal attacks on penguins, but none stands out in my mind more than this one. This adult Chinstrap Penguin had somehow escaped from the jaws of a Leopard Seal, but was mortally injured. The penguin was virtually "de-gloved" whereby its skin was almost removed from its body. The penguin struggled ashore where it stood still for 10 or 15 minutes, much to the distress of several tour participants I had with me. As the penguin stood there, several Brown Skuas began to gather about, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Slowly the penguin walked farther away and out of immediate view, with 4 or 5 skuas walking along behind it. I did not follow, but rather decided to allow the scene to unfold without my observation and intrusion. It was a reminder that nature can be tough and brutal.

Image 4 shows a small portion of the Chinstrap Penguin colony at this location.

image scanned from 35 mm slides
Bailey Head,
Deception Island,
Antarctica
29 January 2002

This animal had been killed by dogs and brought back to the police at this border station. It had been dead for 2-3 days, and unfortunately, was very fly-blown.
When I returned to the area the next year, a policeman said that the dogs had killed a second animal, during July of 2012.
They are completely subterranean, living inside of a small cavity. They move forward by digging away the dirt in front with their enormous claws (pictures 8-19), and passing it under their belly to behind them, where, with their blunted rump and armored tail (pictures 6-7), they compact this fresh dirt into a new "plug" of compacted dirt.
The soil of the Larrea desert immediately surrounding the station is too hard a substrate for this species to live in. I think that the animals live in the damp sand that fills in the meanders in the adjacent Río Colorado. This soil would be the kind that they could burrow in and probably has many more arthropods for them to feed on.
An expert in this species told me that this animal represents the most southwestern locality for the "pichi ciego".

Gato montés cazando un coipo, casi de su mismo tamaño.
Observado el 19 / 9 / 21
( no puedo poner la fecha de observación )
https://avesdeloberia.blogspot.com/2021/09/sabias-que-el-gato-montes-puede-cazar.html

Albino individual of black vulture (Coragyps atratus) next to two other vultures with normal coloration. Note the radical contrast in coloration and the absence of melanin in the retina.

Address: Nosara beach, Nicoya, provincia de Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Recorded date: 2019/03/25

Credits: José Venegas