sirlarus's Favorites

I was driving S on Tx Hwy 35 when I notice a "road kill" on the side of the bridge over Artesian Creek at Hwy 35. I thought it might be a nutria, which are common in this area of TX, but something about it didn't look right. So I pulled off the road and went to look at the carcass. It was definitely not a nutria, so I took several photos of it. Looking at these later, and comparing them to photos of the N. American River Otter, I believe this is, in fact, a river otter. If so, the location of this road kill would probably be in an area which represents the expansion of their range in Texas.

Unfortunately, I am removing the exact pin due to unethical behavior observed at the location at a later date (people crowding rails and attempting to flush hiding birds in order to try and get better photos). Note to photographers, you will need to be extremely lucky to get a photo this clear. The rail in the photo was injured after being nearly eaten by a Great Blue Heron. A healthy rail will not be sitting still for your photo, they move very quickly and are in great danger of being food for a variety of marsh animals. Flushing rails is very stressful to the birds and will cause the bird to be vulnerable to predators.

This bittern, which has proven to be extremely difficult to view let alone photograph, came out of the reeds about 10-12 feet from me.

Unfortunately bad lighting combined with slow shutter speeds to compensate for a camera with poor iso performance turned what could have been some spectacular images into a dismal disappointment.

Some of the better pics for what it's worth.

Small juvenile olive (26cm straight carapace length) stranded near Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii. Stranding was obtained and necropsied by NOAA program staff. Very unusual to get an Lo observation in the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Witnessed the Alligator take and predate the Raccoon. There are separate observations for the two species. Gator was ~8 ft, and from start to when I left was ~25 minutes. The gator smashed the Raccoon several times, a swallowed sections, but even after 25 minutes was still carrying a portion in its mouth.

From the USGS: "These turtles were brought to Hawaii, U.S.A., and cultivated by Asian immigrants as a traditional source of food from the 1800s up till World War II (Brock, 1947; McKeown and Webb, 1982; McKeown, 1996)."

Second photo shows the turtle lurking like some Hawaiian mini-crocodile.