Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

The golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis), is a fascinating species found across most of the western United States and north into Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. With a distinctive striped appearance and several unique behaviors, this small mammal is a joy to see and watch in person.

The Black Turnstone: A Charismatic Shorebird

The Black Turnstone: A Charismatic Shorebird

The black turnstone feeds mostly on small crustaceans and marine worms, which it can find on rocky shorelines or mudflats. It is also known to eat small insects, mollusks, and occasionally plant material.

Female Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Female Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

The last time I passed through Montana, I stopped by some duck ponds in Anaconda at a place called Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area and there were dragonflies and damselflies everywhere! I was familiar with some of the species, but this one olive-golden...

Spanish Dagger

Spanish Dagger

The Spanish dagger is one of those plants that brings a bit of nostalgia to me. It was a very common non-native landscaping plant in my childhood in Manatee County, Florida that always had these amazing displays of flowers in the spring at the very top of the plant....

Texas Tan Tarantula

Texas Tan Tarantula

Recently, while I was out in a very rural tract of public land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley looking for Texas horned toads (not a toad – it’s a lizard) my wife yelled, “Watch out! You almost stepped on a tarantula!” Sure enough, this beautiful subadult Texas tan tarantula almost got squished.

Texas Mountain Laurel

Texas Mountain Laurel

As with so much in the wild and in life, sometimes the most beautiful things can also be dangerous, such as this Texas mountain laurel I found in Harlingen, Texas a couple of months ago. The seeds that will eventually be produced after these incredibly beautiful...

Green Anole

Green Anole

Sometimes you are just walking along admiring the wildflowers like I was on this day in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, when from inside a a thicket of shrimp plants, I saw this green anole watching me carefully. I just love the turquoise color around its eye!...

Cactus Wren!

Cactus Wren!

About four or five years ago I was in Big Bend National Park in West Texas and I just missed the perfect shot of a cactus wren and it bothered me for years. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Mission, Texas looking for reptiles and while looking quietly under an enormous...

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

I've been trying to get a decent shot of a northern cardinal (I grew up calling them red cardinals in Florida) on camera for decades!  Last week I was in near Weslaco, Texas and this handsome male dropped out the trees and landed right in front of me and stayed there...

Spiny Softshell Turtle

Spiny Softshell Turtle

Very recently I was looking for the somewhat rare and mostly unheard of American alligators found in South Texas just north of the Mexican border in Hidalgo County when I suddenly surprised this spiny softshell turtle that I didn't even see until I was about 4 feet...

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