|
The Dusky Arion (Arion subfuscus) is native to the Old World, but is now common in many places in the US. A nice little page about it can be read at: http://www.mlbs.virginia.edu/organism/arion_subfuscus This example is from the Monongahela National Forest east of Durbin, West Virginia  The Dusky Arion (Arion subfuscus) from near Durbin, WV
1 Comment
Okay, birders, help me out here. This little duck was sitting on a log that went from the shore into the water at Lake Buffalo near Durbin, West Virginia. It was the only duck on the lake, just sitting by itself, and never flew so no other field marks beyond what you can see in the photo. Any guesses?  An as yet unidentified duck from Lake Buffalo near Durbin, WV. The photo was shot at +1 F-stop to help show details on the duck. I probably will put up a few more photos from Costa Rica, but mostly moving to some West Virginia shots from in and around the Monongahela National Forest. First up...  I spotted this ruffed grouse on the edge of the road Usually they are way harder to get a good look at, such as...  Ruffed grouse eyeing me up from the ferns The Hacienda Baru is an eco-resort with property that abuts the Firestone Reserve. We went over there for dinner one evening which is always a treat. Inside their butterfly garden I found these two...  Giant Owl butterflies (Caliga Memnon) mating at night in the Hacienda Baru butterfly garden In a fig tree outside the garden, I found a pretty caterpillar (fig tree is host plant).  Caterpillar of the Ruddy Dangerwing butterfly (Mapesia petreus)  Head shot of the Ruddy Dangerwing caterpillar (Mapesia petreus) What I have been trying to figure out, unsuccessfully, is what is going on here.  The planthopper Enchophora stillifera with unidentified black planthoppers This is curious. First, there were two or three of the green planthoppers and about a dozen of the black ones on the tree trunk (a natural habitat for such things). But what are the black ones? The only other citations of these black ones I can find list them as "unidentified." And, since these types of insects can secrete a wax from their rears, is the black one attempting to acquire some wax or is this just an accidental position. I once read something about cockroaches stealing wax this way, but can't find that reference right now either. So just an interesting mystery photo for now.
I am still looking into this most beautiful bug. Yes, bug. It is a Hemipteran (true bugs) and more specifically a Homopteran (wax bugs). They are called wax bugs because they pretty much all can secrete some kind of wax for various purposes. It was found on the Firestone Reverse in conjunction with some other planthoppers that I have not yet been able to identify, so I will post more photos once I figure more out. For now, enjoy a very striking insect.  The Planthopper Enchophora stillifera from the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology in Baru, Costa Rica The Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary is located about 7km south of Dominical, Costa Rica. That is not far from the Firestone Reserve, so we headed over there one afternoon to see some animals, hear some stories about how animals end up there, and learn what the Sanctuary does to prepare the animals for a return to the wild. Of note, most of the animals photographed for this blog are ones that can not be released for one reason or another. Amazing place. Their website is: https://alturaswildlifesanctuary.org/ And you can link to their Facebook page and all that from the website. First up is a most beautiful spider monkey  One of two Geoffroy's spider monkeys at the Sanctuary  Mike Graeber (the Sanctuary manager on left) tells the story of a white-faced capuchin monkey to Star and Warren Roberts Mike has an incredible and affectionate relationship with all the animals, with the end intent always to find a way to integrate them back into the wild.  Mike in the enclosure with two baby two-toed sloths It was time for the sloths to be moved to a different enclosure, so they had to be woken up. A slow process indeed, but they did wake up.  A pair of baby two-toed sloths  A white-nosed coati And finally, not all the cool animals are there for rehab. The local wildlife was quite impressive on its own.  A wild white-faced capuchin monkey eating a mango on top of one of the enclosures. If a couple thousand pounds of bamboo falls right next to the student dorm, does it make a noise?  A really big cluster of really big bamboo came down last night. Some of us were hanging out watching. And yes, it makes a noise. A big, booming, cracking noise as those trunks break. But on another note, just across the pond from this Warren was doing his high-end GPS work this morning.  Warren Roberts, calculating his position to an extreme accuracy, while wearing the baseball cap of most extreme length This year one of the student science projects is to determine how far various species of butterflies travel on the Firestone Reserve. Cool project. Today they set up some of the butterfly traps.  Naomi and Chanchanok doing the final adjustments on a butterfly trap on the Upper Loop Trail  unidentified (probably) blue moth As this is tropicalbats.com, really have to post another pic of such. And normally I do an ID easily and all is good, but... The pic of these two bats I want to look at a bit more later as not all the species markers are clear. For now, pending more thought, I am posting...  A pair of pygmy fruit-eating bats (Dermanura phaeotis) bats under a partial tent in a coconut palm |
AuthorKeith Christenson - Wildlife Biologist Categories
All
Author
Keith Christenson Wildlife Biologist Archives
September 2021
|
RSS Feed