waterclover's Favorites

!!!
Unfortunately the only shot I could get of its tail is what's juuuust barely visible in photo #1. Please do not use coloration alone as an identifying characteristic, as some populations of short-tailed weasels and some populations of long-tailed weasels may have very similar underbelly hues. That, and this fellow's chest is wet, perhaps a little stained, and it is difficult to tell objectively what the color would be in dry, full-light conditions.

I think this is a long-tailed weasel, partly based on how long the tail would have to be to resemble that of a tree squirrel (admittedly, only at a brief glance), and partly because the facial features seem to resemble those of a long-tailed weasel more than a short-tailed weasel, to my untrained eyes. I look forward to reading what more experienced identifiers have to say.

I thought this was a very red squirrel with a skinny, black-tipped tail when it first ran across the path. Then I was like: "Wait a minute...a very red 'squirrel' with a scrawny tail that's black at the end...I know of something that looks like that!" I "followed" it (it was at the edge of the bank, I was walking parallel on the trail, trying to see it through the vegetation). It came up the bank a ways (maybe by a den?) and looked at me while I tried to snap some decent shots. It sort of walked towards me a little, I'm not sure if it was intrigued by the camera sounds, or just cautiously optimistic that I wasn't going to try to eat it.

I was astounded by the striking blue! I'm afraid in my persistent curiosity, I aggravated her a bit at the end of this sequence - she started opening and closing her jaws menacingly at me after I manipulated her with a bit of twig to get some different angles.

Seen shortly after passing three DOR individuals in short succession. Snake moved off of road after photos were taken.
GIF of movement included.

I was taking photos and scared it. It ran into to me and bit me on the nipple and wouldn’t let go. Here’s the news article https://www.the-sun.com/news/2169452/snorkeler-attacked-nurse-shark-nipple/

Big shoutout to Rich, Chris, and Billy at Caloosa Marina for getting it off of me.

Hurt a lot.

Say Hello to 'Bubba.' This magnificent, adult, male Mohave ground squirrel (MGS; Xerospermophilus mohavensis) was captured and released near Coso Junction, California, on June 6, 2019. It was a bit late in the year to capture an adult MGS, especially one so obviously well fed, above ground. That is because this species not only hibernates through the winter months, but it estivates through the hottest months of the summer; they hibernate or estivate for ~7 months of the year. Sadly, because of the pandemic, I could not return to my field site in 2020 and it does not look very promising either for 2021.