About 15 of these birds in this tree with a few in the water.
This guy perched on this leaf for at least 15 minutes.
This guy perched on this leaf for at least 15 minutes.
Even though this was one of my target species for the Mojave, I literally stepped over this snake while it was basking on the trail. It rattled a few times then hid under some nearby brush.
Photo by Danielle Doyle.
Male Northern Shoveler
This guy perched on this leaf for at least 15 minutes.
Saw it scampering across the road. When we approached it started digging furiously and ended up underground in some very hard earth. Cool.
Thank you to @robberfly for alerting me to this beetle's existence. He and @danielled83 also spotted them. I believe she spotted the second beetle pictured here. They are absolute speed demons so I got lucky with a few OK shots.
So cool to have seen them!
UPDATE 1/18/24 - I removed the second photo from this observation and made a separate observation for it: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197039554
Kinda " find-of-the-day" This Endangered beetle ( a.k.a. Delta Green Ground Beetle )lives only in the small area of the preserve. Thank you @tiwane & @danielled83 my shots are craptastic cuz the tiny creature sped about...
My oldest nemesis. Been stung soooo many times going to the beaches of the east shore. Still, what a cool animal.
Photo by @danielled83.
My oldest nemesis. Been stung soooo many times going to the beaches of the east shore. Still, what a cool animal.
Photo by @danielled83.
Thank you, @danielled83 for finding this frog for me! Been wanting to see one ever since I was a kid.