Favoritos de aleescott

At times I’m taken into a different world in close encounters with this species.. a very prehistoric look. One can easily get lost in the depths of its turquoise blue iris... these birds definitely the most prominent figure of El Estero waters in my opinion. Breeding tufts on the sides of head were visible on this bird. Another cormorant was also seen foraging nearby. I can imagine there will be a nesting site somewhere near in the surrounding tree growth here soon.

My second encounter with an axanthic morph (lacking of any red/yellow pigmentation). This snake could easily be mistaken for the very similar L. getula, but when taking a closer look you will notice the black face/black nostril of this snake, something unique to L. zonata, whereas L. getula has a white face/white nostril. Spotted this snake not even 5ft off trail. Made for quite the easy handle, after only a few seconds of trying to slither away the snake got quite relaxed, laying still for minutes, allowing me to handle it for about 15 minutes in total before putting it back onto the granite boulder in which it was found. I’d say this was quite the healthy adult. About 2 1/2 to 3 ft in length, and seeming to have recently shed (the dorsal and ventral scales of the snake glistened dramatically in direct sunlight). So blessed to have come across yet another one of these more uncommon morphs for the species here in the Sierra.

Day Five: Spent over 2hrs w/ the Pygmy family this Sunday morning. Lots of activity to be witnessed. Shortly after arriving at the Pygmy’s home I got a visit from one of the adults on the branches of a Canyon Live Oak maybe 15-20 feet to my left (this was now the third time witnessing the owl land on this exact branch). The adult had yet another fence lizard in its talons, and some pestering female Anna’s Hummingbird company as well. Got to witness the adult drop off the fence lizard into the cavity for its owlets. Not long after one of the owlets came up to the entry hole to give me a brief stare. Within the next hours time I witnessed a pair of Cassin’s Vireo swarm one of the adult Pygmy, along with a stand off between an adult female Hairy Woodpecker and one of the adult Pygmy owls. The both puffed out their breast feathers, and even head feathers for the female Hairy, as if putting on some sort of territorial display. The female Hairy seemed to impose her dominance though, leaving the Pygmy on branches below as she displayed her feathers from directly above the owl.