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The silver-haired bat is a migratory tree bat, which means that it generally uses trees as habitat and isn't found in caves (much) in the winter but heads south. With black fur and silver frosting it looks quite different from the little brown and big brown bats most people have seen. Beautiful animal.  Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans) from the Monongahela National Forest
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These two eastern garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) were found together in the Monongahela National Forest near Durbin, WV. Note the color difference. The lower one is darker and has what appear to be blue eyes. This is an indication that this snake will soon shed its skin and then once again look more like the upper one.  Pair of eastern garter snakes from near Durbin, WV 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 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 Wonderful white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) crossing the old road in West Virginia9/11/2015  White-tailed deer are super-abundant in West Virginia As some bat species across the eastern US continue their declines due to White Nose Syndrome, I am posting a pic I took in 2005 in the Monongahela National Forest (West Virginia). At the time, this bat was known as the Eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus). DNA work showed that this bat is not really a pipistrelle bat, so it was renamed as the Perimyotis subflavus. Taxonomy is always on the move. That said, this bat seems to be declining in numbers due to White Nose Syndrome infections during hibernation and it may be considered for endangered species status. These are beautiful little bats, and we can only hope they survive this plague. 
A tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) from the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.
I can't find much historical information on this park, but it is a nice bit of green space with a mostly mature forest (a lot of tulip poplar as with so many parks in this area) and a small pond. I went out there today and found a single hiking trail through the park, which is mostly surrounded by subdivisions with nice houses on reasonable sized lots. And just as I was finding a parking space, saw... 
White-tailed deer! There are, of course, lots of these in the urban parks, but nice to get a good look at one in the sunlight.
This one was just off the park property in a backyard. It didn't take long before the tail went up and it went off into the park and disappeared. Next I saw two red-shouldered hawks, and grabbed a shot of one flying in a kinda quarter view, which is pretty good for showing the ID marks for the hawk. 
Red-shouldered hawk showing tail bands, ruffy forarms, and wing banding with that sorta white spot out near the wing tips.
And then there was the pond. All ponds are interesting for wildlife, and this one was no different. As spring is late here, it was nice to finally see some dragonflies at the pond. And I took this pic of... 
Green darners (Anax junius) laying eggs.
Here the male is in front and has the blue abdomen, and is clinging to the female with the reddish abdomen. After mating, they fly around together like this and land now and again so the female can lay eggs under the surface on vegetation. This is the egg laying. There is a good website on this species if you want more details at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Anax_junius/#reproduction And finally, back to frogs. As previously noted, the wood frog is the first to breed in northern Virginia. Now, they are tadpoles, and the egg masses are just off-white blobs, as seen here... 
Wood frog tadpole next to it's original egg mass.
A bunch of wood frog tadpoles
And it has been brought to my attention that I mentioned the end of the breeding season for the spring peepers, without showing a photo of such. Well, this spring has been awful cold and all things are not on schedule and thus hard to predict when and where to find things. I heard spring peepers a couple of times, but not in anyplace I could get to. So here is a photo of one from a few years back taken in West Virginia, just to cover that photographic ground, so to speak. 
A spring peeper (pseudacris crucifer) from West Virginia. And note that this is a very small frog, maybe 3/4 inch long.
A misty morning on the Cherry River, West Virginia, from a few summers ago.
My work takes me to some interesting places. But getting there can take some interesting effort. Here are two pics showing my driving that was needed to get to a bat netting site in West Virginia. The pics are of a 2004 Chevy Blazer, no longer a type made, which was an awesome machine that I find it remarkable that they chose to stop making such. 
On the way to a bat mist netting site. Hitting the creek part of the drive. This is me driving, giving my camera to a technician after setting up the photo. My 2004 Chevy Blazer would go anywhere.
Driving the blazer up the creek. All good, although would have kinda been bad if it rained.
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September 2021
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