Came upon a Red-shouldered Hawk while out for a walk today. I was struck by the look of determination in its eyes. The Hawk flew-out and hit the ground off in the distance, then flew to a nearby tree. Probably enjoyed a bit of breakfast… can’t say what it ate, but I don’t think it was a vegan meal : )

Whether wheeling over a swamp forest or whistling plaintively from a riverine park, a Red-shouldered Hawk is typically a sign of tall woods and water.

It’s one of our most distinctively marked common hawks, with barred reddish-peachy underparts and a strongly banded tail. In flight, translucent crescents near the wingtips help to identify the species at a distance. These forest hawks hunt prey ranging from mice to frogs and snakes.

Red-shouldered Hawks return to the same nesting territory year after year. One Red-shouldered Hawk occupied a territory in southern California for 16 consecutive years.

By the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest.

The oldest-known Red-shouldered hawk was a female, and at least 25 years, 10 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2000. She had been banded in the same state in 1974.

(600 mm, 1/1600 @ f/8, ISO 640, processed to taste)

Mounds of the Cathedral termites on the dry plains of the Northwest Territory dominate the landscape and often tower more than 15 feet in height. Constructed from mud, plant parts, and termite saliva and feces, the columns of the mound are extraordinarily tough and able to withstand the rigors of wind, rain, heat, and hungry predators. Construction of the hollow columns allows for internal circulation of air from the cooler soil at the base of the mound to the warmer top. This clever ventilation provides a central air-conditioning system that enables the colony to remain relatively cool even when the external temperatures are incredibly hot. (BugOfTheWeek.com)

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While little termite mounds are seen all over the Northern Territory, Litchfield National Park has an over-abundance of these massive mounds. This one was at least fifteen feet tall! They are like mini-mountains dotting the savanna-like habitat.

Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory, Australia. October 2022.

Eagle-Eye Tours - Tropical Australia.

White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) are semi-tropical doves whose native range extends from the southwestern U.S. through Mexico and Central America, into parts of western South America, and to some Caribbean islands. They are also residents in Florida, where they were introduced. The majority of White-winged Doves are seasonally migratory. They overwinter in Mexico and Central America and come to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico in April to breed, departing again in September. Some will overwinter in their breeding range, especially in residential areas where food remains available. In the southern parts of their range, they are year-round residents. There are twelve subspecies of White-winged Doves. Western or Desert White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica mearnsii) and Eastern White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica asiatica) are the most numerous and widely distributed subspecies.

White-winged Doves feed on a variety of seeds, grain, and fruit that vary depending on their range and seasonal availability. They consume seeds and fruits of wild trees, grasses, and herbaceous plants, as well as those of ornamental cultivars. Domestic grain crops including sunflower, barley, sesame, sorghum, wheat, corn, and safflower are also an important food source in many parts of White-winged Dove’s range. To supplement their seed-based diet, White-winged Doves will also ingest shells of small snails and other gastropods, or bits of bone extracted from raptor pellets or mammal feces. The bones and shell are an important source of calcium for the doves, necessary for eggshell and crop milk production.

I found this one in my backyard in Polk County, Florida.

Mutitjulu is one of the natural wonders that Uluru harbours – one that very few people actually know about. Situated on the eastern side of Uluru, Mutitjulu waterhole is an unusually shaped water-filled hole at the base of the rock.

But Mutitjulu is so much more than just a hole filled with water. As well as providing a thirst-quenching hotspot for animals and humans for many, many years, it’s also a tight Indigenous Australian community that is home to almost 300 Aboriginal peoples.

The people that live there have a major stake in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park which is home to Uluru and all its natural adornments – including Mutitjulu waterhole - as well as the fascinating rock art. The vast majority of these people are Pitjantjatjara, but there are also a fair few Yankunytjatjara, Luritia, and Ngaanvatiarra people who speak a collection of languages, including Pitjantjatjara, Luritja, and Yangkunytjatjara. (ulurutoursaustralia.com.au)

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A short walk along the base of Uluru brought us to this tranquil waterhole. Although it is one of the few waterholes in the national park, it no longer teems with bird and animal life, due to human-caused contamination. People were once allowed to climb to the top of Uluru, where, after a four-hour climb, they discovered there were no washrooms, so they did what they had to do in the open. The results were washed down the rock and into this waterhole which is now contaminated with human feces, zinc from sunscreen and other other chemicals. Climbing is now prohibited and the water is regularly tested, but it will likely take many years for the water to return to its pristine state. In the meantime, people can still visit and take in the peace and the history of this sacred place.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territories, Australia. September 2022.

AATKings Tours.

Otter - Lutra Lutra

Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the weasel family Mustelidae, which also includes badgers, honey badgers, martens, minks, polecats, and wolverines.

The word otter derives from the Old English word otor or oter.

An otter's den is called a holt or couch. Male otters are called dogs or boars, females are called bitches or sows, and their offspring are called pups. The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge, romp (being descriptive of their often playful nature) or, when in water, raft.

The feces of otters are typically identified by their distinctive aroma, the smell of which has been described as ranging from freshly mown hay to putrefied fish; these are known as spraints.

The gestation period in otters is about 60 to 86 days. The newborn pup is cared for by the bitch, dog and older offspring. Bitch otters reach sexual maturity at approximately two years of age and males at approximately three years. The holt is built under tree roots or a rocky cairn, more common in Scotland. It is lined with moss and grass.

After one month, the pup can leave the holt and after two months, it is able to swim. The pup lives with its family for approximately one year. Otters live up to 16 years; they are by nature playful, and frolic in the water with their pups. Its usual source of food is fish, and further downriver, eels, but it may sample frogs and birds.

The Eurasian otter is the most widely distributed otter species, its range including parts of Asia and Africa, as well as being spread across Europe, south to Israel. Though currently believed to be extinct in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, they are now very common in Latvia, along the coast of Norway, in the western regions of Spain and Portugal and across Great Britain, especially Shetland, where 12% of the UK breeding population exists.

Clytra laeviuscula is a beetle of the family Chrysomelidae and has a length of 7 - 11 mm. They occur almost throughout Europe and can be found in various habitats like forest edges, grassland, dry slopes and wet meadows. Adults can be found from May through August. These beetles mate near ant hills. Females coat each egg with particles of feces and drop them in the vicinity of the ant hill. The ants eventually carry them to their nest where the beetle larvae feed on the food of the ant brood as well as waste and sometimes on the brood. They build a shell of feces around themselves which protects them from the ants.The young imagines do not leave the nest before their chitin shell has hardened.

By the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest.

A fresh specimen in pristine condition. This species has the ability to hibernate as an adult even through our very cold winter. They are not migratory. It is possible that this individual might survive for 12 more months here and live to produce its own eggs. It is one of the longest living Butterflies.

I have never seen a Mourning Cloak nectaring on a flower. The adults live on tree sap, ripe and fallen fruit, the sugary exudes of Aphids, animal feces, and minerals found in mud puddles.

Wagner Natural Area. Parkland County, Alberta.

White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica) are semi-tropical doves whose native range extends from the southwestern U.S. through Mexico and Central America, into parts of western South America, and to some Caribbean islands. They are also residents in Florida, where they were introduced. The majority of White-winged Doves are seasonally migratory. They overwinter in Mexico and Central America and come to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico in April to breed, departing again in September. Some will overwinter in their breeding range, especially in residential areas where food remains available. In the southern parts of their range, they are year-round residents. There are twelve subspecies of White-winged Doves. Western or Desert White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica mearnsii) and Eastern White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica asiatica) are the most numerous and widely distributed subspecies.

White-winged Doves feed on a variety of seeds, grain, and fruit that vary depending on their range and seasonal availability. They consume seeds and fruits of wild trees, grasses, and herbaceous plants, as well as those of ornamental cultivars. Domestic grain crops including sunflower, barley, sesame, sorghum, wheat, corn, and safflower are also an important food source in many parts of White-winged Dove’s range. To supplement their seed-based diet, White-winged Doves will also ingest shells of small snails and other gastropods, or bits of bone extracted from raptor pellets or mammal feces. The bones and shell are an important source of calcium for the doves, necessary for eggshell and crop milk production.

I found this one in my backyard in Polk County, Florida.

The Indian pangolin, thick-tailed pangolin, or scaly anteater (Manis crassicaudata) is a pangolin found on the Indian subcontinent. It is not common anywhere in its range. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. It can also curl itself into a ball as self-defence against predators such as the tiger. The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings.

It is an insectivore, feeding on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its fore limbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the day.

The Indian pangolin is threatened by hunting for its meat and for various body parts used in traditional medicine.

The Indian pangolin is a solitary, shy, slow-moving, nocturnal mammal. It is about 84–122 centimetres (33–48 in) long from head to tail, the tail usually being 33–47 cm long, and weighs 10–16 kg. Females are generally smaller than the males and have one pair of mammae. The pangolin possesses a cone-shaped head with small, dark eyes, and a long muzzle with a nose pad similar in color, or darker than, its pinkish-brown skin. It has powerful limbs, tipped with sharp, clawed digits. It is an almost exclusive insectivore and principally subsists on ants and termites, which it catches with a specially adapted long, sticky tongue.The pangolin has no teeth, but has strong stomach muscles to aid in digestion. The most noticeable characteristic of the pangolin is its massive, scaled armour, which covers its upper face and its whole body with the exception of the belly and the inside of the legs. These protective scales are rigid and made of keratin. It has 160–200 scales in total, about 40–46% of which are located on the tail. Scales can be 6.5–7 cm long, 8.5 cm wide, and weigh 7–10 grams. The skin and scales make up about one-fourth to one-third of the total body mass of this species.

The Indian pangolin has been recorded from various forest types, including Sri Lankan rainforest and plains to middle hill levels. The animal can be found in grasslands and secondary forests, and is well adapted to desert regions as it is believed to have a tolerance to dry areas, but prefers more barren, hilly regions. This pangolin species may also sometimes reach high elevations, and has been sighted in Sri Lanka at 1100 meters and in the Nilgiri mountains in India at 2300 meters. It prefers soft and semi-sandy soil conditions suitable for digging burrows.

Pangolin burrows fall into one of two categories: feeding and living burrows. Feeding burrows are smaller than living burrows (though their sizes vary depending on the abundance of prey) and are created more frequently during the spring, when there is a greater availability of prey. Living burrows are wider, deeper, and more circular, and are occupied for a longer time than feeding burrows, as they are mainly used to sleep and rest during the day. After a few months, the pangolin abandons the burrow and digs a new one close to a food source. However, it is not uncommon for the pangolin to shift back to an old burrow.

Unlike its African counterpart, the Indian pangolin does not climb trees, but it does value the presence of trees, herbs, and shrubs in its habitat because it is easier to dig burrows around them. Features that promote an abundance of ants and termites (grasses, bare grounds, bases of trees, shrubs, roots, leaf litter, fallen logs and elephant feces) are often present in pangolin habitats.

Few details are known about the breeding behaviour of the Indian pangolin. During the animal's mating period, females and males may share the same burrow and show some diurnal activities. Males have testes in a fold of the skin located in their groin areas. The female's embryo develops in one of the uterine horns. The gestation period lasts 65–70 days; the placenta is diffuse and not deciduate. Usually, a single young is born, but twins have been reported in this species. The young weigh 235–400 g at birth and measure roughly 30 cm. The newborn animals have open eyes, and soft scales with protruding hairs between them. The mother pangolin carries her young on her tail. When the mother and young are disturbed, the young pangolin is held against its mother's belly and protected by the mother's tail.

The iconic line "Here's looking at you, kid" was said by Humphrey Bogart as his character Rick Blaine to Ilsa Lund (played by Ingrid Bergman) in the classic 1942 film Casablanca.

It's one of the most famous movie quotes of all time!

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The Knobbed Hornbill:

Meet the Knobbed Hornbill: A Colorful Indonesian Native

The Knobbed Hornbill (Rhyticeros cassidix), also known as the Wrinkled Hornbill, is a strikingly colorful bird native to Indonesia.

This large hornbill has a predominantly black body, accented by a bright yellow bill, white tail feathers, and pale blue skin around its eyes. Its feet are blackish, and it has a bare, dark blue throat. Males and females are quite distinct:

Males feature a rufous/buff face and neck, vibrant orange-red eyes, and a tall, prominent red casque (helmet-like growth) on top of their bill.

Females have a black face and neck, brownish eyes, and a yellow casque.

Like other hornbill species, the Knobbed Hornbill is thought to be monogamous.

Their diet mainly consists of fruits, although they will also supplement it with insects and small vertebrates.

Their breeding season is remarkably long, lasting about 30 weeks, and appears to begin with a significant drop in rainfall. During this period, the female seals herself inside a tree hollow using her own feces to lay eggs.

The male then diligently provides food for the female and their young through a narrow slit in this sealed nest.

(Nikon Z6II, Nikon 24-200/6.3, 1/200 @ f/6.3, ISO 1000, edited to taste)

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Scrub

Food : Seeds

Nesting : Ground

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

Ill omen? It is said that when you spot a tiny, spotted Rain Fly, it's going to rain. But after all the wetness of the past and today's azure skies, we hope that won't be true. These tiny flies in fact get their nutrients from a variety of feces and decompositions. Scientists apparently don't know (yet) whether they seek nectar. Anyway, here it is on a wonderful Evergreen - might one say: Everblue - Bugloss.

The Indian pangolin, thick-tailed pangolin, or scaly anteater (Manis crassicaudata) is a pangolin found on the Indian subcontinent. It is not common anywhere in its range. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. It can also curl itself into a ball as self-defence against predators such as the tiger. The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings.

It is an insectivore, feeding on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its fore limbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the day.

The Indian pangolin is threatened by hunting for its meat and for various body parts used in traditional medicine.

The Indian pangolin is a solitary, shy, slow-moving, nocturnal mammal. It is about 84–122 centimetres (33–48 in) long from head to tail, the tail usually being 33–47 cm long, and weighs 10–16 kg. Females are generally smaller than the males and have one pair of mammae. The pangolin possesses a cone-shaped head with small, dark eyes, and a long muzzle with a nose pad similar in color, or darker than, its pinkish-brown skin. It has powerful limbs, tipped with sharp, clawed digits. It is an almost exclusive insectivore and principally subsists on ants and termites, which it catches with a specially adapted long, sticky tongue.The pangolin has no teeth, but has strong stomach muscles to aid in digestion. The most noticeable characteristic of the pangolin is its massive, scaled armour, which covers its upper face and its whole body with the exception of the belly and the inside of the legs. These protective scales are rigid and made of keratin. It has 160–200 scales in total, about 40–46% of which are located on the tail. Scales can be 6.5–7 cm long, 8.5 cm wide, and weigh 7–10 grams. The skin and scales make up about one-fourth to one-third of the total body mass of this species.

The Indian pangolin has been recorded from various forest types, including Sri Lankan rainforest and plains to middle hill levels. The animal can be found in grasslands and secondary forests, and is well adapted to desert regions as it is believed to have a tolerance to dry areas, but prefers more barren, hilly regions. This pangolin species may also sometimes reach high elevations, and has been sighted in Sri Lanka at 1100 meters and in the Nilgiri mountains in India at 2300 meters. It prefers soft and semi-sandy soil conditions suitable for digging burrows.

Pangolin burrows fall into one of two categories: feeding and living burrows. Feeding burrows are smaller than living burrows (though their sizes vary depending on the abundance of prey) and are created more frequently during the spring, when there is a greater availability of prey. Living burrows are wider, deeper, and more circular, and are occupied for a longer time than feeding burrows, as they are mainly used to sleep and rest during the day. After a few months, the pangolin abandons the burrow and digs a new one close to a food source. However, it is not uncommon for the pangolin to shift back to an old burrow.

Unlike its African counterpart, the Indian pangolin does not climb trees, but it does value the presence of trees, herbs, and shrubs in its habitat because it is easier to dig burrows around them. Features that promote an abundance of ants and termites (grasses, bare grounds, bases of trees, shrubs, roots, leaf litter, fallen logs and elephant feces) are often present in pangolin habitats.

Few details are known about the breeding behaviour of the Indian pangolin. During the animal's mating period, females and males may share the same burrow and show some diurnal activities. Males have testes in a fold of the skin located in their groin areas. The female's embryo develops in one of the uterine horns. The gestation period lasts 65–70 days; the placenta is diffuse and not deciduate. Usually, a single young is born, but twins have been reported in this species. The young weigh 235–400 g at birth and measure roughly 30 cm. The newborn animals have open eyes, and soft scales with protruding hairs between them. The mother pangolin carries her young on her tail. When the mother and young are disturbed, the young pangolin is held against its mother's belly and protected by the mother's tail.

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Scrub

Food : Seeds

Nesting : Ground

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

I spotted this African Serval Cat in Tanzania as it was creeping through the bush looking for breakfast. The Cat was not in the mood for photographs or photographers, so it remained hidden behind thick brush except for a brief moment when I got off this quick shot.

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The African Serval Cat

The serval is a wild cat native to Africa. It is widespread in sub-Saharan countries, except rainforest regions. It is a slender, medium-sized cat that stands 54–62 cm (21–24 in) at the shoulder and weighs 9–18 kg (20–40 lb.). It is characterized by a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow to buff coat spotted and striped with black, and a short, black-tipped tail. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size.

The Serval is a solitary carnivore and active both by day and at night. It preys on rodents, particularly rats, small birds, frogs, insects, and reptiles, using its sense of hearing to locate prey. It leaps over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) above the ground to land on the prey on its forefeet, and finally kills it with a bite on the neck or the head.

Both sexes establish highly overlapping home ranges of 10 to 32 km2 (4 to 12 sq mi), and mark them with feces and saliva. Mating takes place at different times of the year in different parts of their range, but typically once or twice a year in an area. After a gestation period of two to three months, a litter of one to four is born. The kittens are weaned at the age of one month and begin hunting on their own at six months of age. They leave their mother at the age of around 12 months.-

(Nikon, 100-400/5.6 @ 400 mm, 1/1250 @ f/11, ISO 450, processed to taste)

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

These flies inhabit forest fringes or hedges, primarily on low herbaceous vegetation in shady places.

Platystoma seminationis can reach a body length of 5.5–6.5 millimetres (0.22–0.26 in). In these flies the interocular space and the epistomes are black and the eyes are reddish-brown. Thorax is greyish. The wings are translucent, greyish brown, with light spots. The abdomen is black, without punctuation. Tarsi are monochromatic black. The largest tarsal segments are reddish near the base, or show reddish hairs on lower side. Moreover halteres have a blackish brown club.

Adults can be found from May to October. They mainly feed on nectar and pollen of the cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias), green spurge (Euphorbia esula) and other Euphorbiaceae, as well as on feces. Larvae develop in and feed on decaying vegetable material, on mushrooms and on roots of mushroom-infected plants and are probably saprophages.

These flies have a highly developed ritual of courtship, during which after a dance of rapprochement the male and female "kiss" each other, touching together with their large proboscis for 5-15 seconds.

I can't believe this cool little picture-winged fly doesn't have a common name yet, as picture-winged fly denotes the family it belongs in and there are dozens of different species. This delightful-looking fly is one of my favorites even though it is very tiny and no bigger than a grain of rice. This male waves his front legs hypnotically back and forth in front of a female's face in hopes of winning her favor and it must work once in a while or else they'd be extinct. Maybe even more strange as a survival strategy is the fact the females lay their eggs on animal feces and that's what the larvae feed on.

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

Scathophaga stercoraria, commonly known as the yellow dung fly or the golden dung fly, is one of the most familiar and abundant flies in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. As its common name suggests, it is often found on the feces of large mammals, such as horses, cattle, sheep, deer, and wild boar, where it goes to breed. The distribution of S. stercoraria is likely influenced by human agriculture, especially in northern Europe and North America. The Scathophaga are integral in the animal kingdom due to their role in the natural decomposition of dung in fields. They are also very important in the scientific world due to their short life cycles and susceptibility to experimental manipulations; thus, they have contributed significant knowledge about animal behavior

...is what this Common Tern was Singing :-)

A graceful, black-and-white water bird, the Common Tern is the most widespread tern in North America. It can be seen plunging from the air into water to catch small fish along rivers, lakes, and oceans.

The Common Tern drinks mainly on the wing, gliding with its wings slightly raised and dipping its bill several times into the water.

Common Terns living along the coast drink salt water. They do not seek fresh water even when it is available nearby. Like many seabirds, they have nasal glands that excrete the excess salt.

The incubating adult Common Tern flies off its nest to defecate 5-50 m (16-160 ft.) away. It deposits its feces indiscriminately in nearby water or on the territories of other terns.

The oldest recorded Common Tern was at least 25 years, 1-month old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in New York.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Nikon - 500mm - 1/500 @ f5 - ISO 1600

While mules are interesting creatures and I am sure they are fun to ride, the "gifts" they scatter on the trail detract from the hiking experience. Mules are a feature of the Bright Angel Trail and the South Kaibob Trail and since we hiked both, we had the unpleasant experience of walking through their liquid and solid feces. The snow helped. I prefer trails that don't allow mules!

Cuiaba River

The Pantanal

Brazil

South America

Just found out today is Capybara Appreciation Day.

July 10th is Capybara Appreciation Day. It honors the largest rodent in the world, twice as big as a beaver! The capybara is known for its love for water and pig-shaped body adapted to live in water found in forests, flooded savannas, and wetlands. Fun fact about this herbivore mammal: this rodent eats its own feces in the morning when the poo is particularly rich in protein. To be more precise, it allows them to digest twice hard grasses. Commonly found in the Americas, capybaras populations are considered stable, even though they have been hunted down for their skin, resulting in wiping out some local populations.

One of the best ways to get involved with this special day is to improve your knowledge base about this interesting animal.

• Capybaras are most well-known for their friendly nature, relaxed demeanor and willingness to be social with many other species – including predators

• Capybaras typically weigh between 77 and 146 pounds

• These creatures are semi-aquatic and can hold their breath for up to five minutes underwater in the marshes, grasslands and bodies of water where they live

• Highly socials, capybaras live in groups, sometimes reaching numbers up to 100 during the dry season.

At Tangen in Kristiansand, a new district with 43,000 m2 of housing and 33,000 m2 of business / school is under development. The area is close to the center, surrounded by water, with Otra to the east and the sea to the south and west.

The stench from the construction pit on Tangen stings in the nose. The half-rotten, penetrating smell is a testimony to the sins of the past.

- "We pull it on Tangen", was the tone of the review in my childhood. Should one get rid of something, it was just a matter of pulling it on Tangen, says Harald Sødal (born 1938).

Many have slipped out after dark and thrown away old bicycles and refrigerators and things that were no longer usable. This is how the landfill grew imperceptibly on Tangen from year to year.

The seaweed quickly became the industrial area of ​​Kristiansand, and the filling started with the brickworks operation from 1783. The plant was built on a bulwark partly on land, partly on the skerries outside, which was so shallow that the hired workers from Flensburg in Germany could wade over. The area between the skerries and land was eventually filled with brick and sand.

Tangen housed many businesses, such as windmills and pottery, and has always been an area for military activities. In 1657, a block house with ten cannons was built, hence the name Blokkhusgata, and shipbuilding continued at "Kongens Værft" in the extension of Østre Strandgate. In more modern times, Sørlandet's first seaport with seaplanes was established on the marine site, where Aquarama is located today.

In 1855 came the biggest polluter of them all, the gas plant, which has left quantities of heavy metals in the ground where the KEV building was erected after the gas power plant was shut down in 1957.

Tangen was never intended as a residential area, even though it became the residence of the workers at the various workplaces. In the census from 1801, there were seven residential houses on Tangen, which accommodated a total of 60 people; potters, stonemasons, sawmills, sailors and bricklayers with wives, children, lodgers and servants. As a curiosity, we can mention that of the nine married women on Tangen in 1801, five were older than their husbands, two of them were 11 years older.

The name Lortetangen arose partly as a result of Kvadraturen literally swimming in feces. The "night man" was called the dot timber, the one who emptied the city's dowries and drove the trickling, smelly contents to piers along the sea by horse and leaky cart. One of the piers was on Tangen, where today's Tangen upper secondary school is located. From the pier, the urine was drained into the river, while the solid contents were left behind and sold as fertilizer to farmers on Tveit, who collected it in open shacks.

European Badger - Meles meles

Badgers are short, stout, powerful animals that live in underground 'setts' that can extend well over 50 metres long! Members of the mustelid family (which includes pine martens, otters, polecats, ferrets and the wolverine), the European badgers' range extends from Britain, across Europe and to the middle east.

The badger is one of the UK's most recognised and popular mammals, bringing pleasure to thousands of people and is a living symbol of the British countryside.

In the UK, badgers live in mixed-sex groups of between four and eight animals in underground 'setts'. A social group living together in the same sett is also known as a 'clan'. While badgers tend to live in groups, they do not always act cooperatively with their fellow clan members. Badgers are unique in this way as individuals in a clan will forage for food on their own, unlike other social groups of animals who might hunt together and reap the benefit as a group.

A badger’s sense of smell is a particularly important sense as it plays a vital role in communication. Badgers have several scent glands which produce a variety of odours, used for distributing information like warning signals and mating status.

Scents produced are also used to tighten bonds between social groups, with studies suggesting that clan members have similar scents. Badgers also deposit scents in their feces and will typically defecate in shallow dug pits known as latrines, which are found on territorial boundaries.

Badgers distribute their scent information through techniques known as squat marking (dipping their rear and lifting their tails) and allo-marking (marking each other). Can you identify this behaviour in our video library?

The diet of a badger is extremely varied, with badgers being described by expert Professor Tim Roper as "opportunistic omnivores". Earthworms are the core of the badger's diet, often by as much as 60 per cent. In a single night, an adult badger may eat well over 200 worms!

When conditions are harsh (hard frosts, dry or barren areas of habitat), worms can be scarce. Cleverly, badgers are able to shift to other food items, including snails, slugs and soft fruit like raspberries and fallen blackberries. Badgers will occasionally eat hedgehogs if normal prey items are not abundant - read more about badgers and hedgehogs below.

Badgers mate at almost any time of the year, but due to an unusual reproductive technique, known as delayed implantation, they have only one litter a year. Litter size ranges from one to five cubs, with two or three the more common number. Cubs are born in chambers lined with bedding material that the females (sows) gather and drag into the breeding chamber. Straw, hay, grass, fern are all commonly used, which keep the cubs warm. Most cubs are born in early to mid-February and will emerge above ground at around 12 weeks. At 16 weeks, cubs will be displaying most adult social behaviours, including grooming and scent marking.

I had a lucky find in the early evening: a new Goose family. The scene was backlit, which was a challenge. But as is often the case with new creatures (we have raised several litters of puppies, and there is one in every litter) one gosling had the drive and the confidence to step out. So I dropped down on the grass - sadly, some goose feces were involved - and did my best while the gosling pursued its business. Happily I was in a remote location and no one came to disrupt the moment. Physical distancing is something I practice in all birding and photography.

Though vultures resemble hawks and eagles, they are actually related to the storks. They have bare heads, and toes adapted for walking and standing rather than the grabbing toes of birds of prey. Vultures often appear to have white legs because they squirt feces onto their legs and feet to cool themselves.

Black vultures are the smaller of the two vultures found in Florida. Though the black vulture and the turkey vulture are both black, it is easy to remember which is which, because the black vulture has a bare black head. Turkey vultures have a bare red head. In flight the undersides of the wings of black vultures have a white area near the tip of the wing.

Black vultures are gregarious, often seen in flocks. They are quite common in campgrounds where they sometimes become quite bold and tame. They are scavengers - the clean-up crew at road kills – groups of them are often seen along the side of the road feeding on road-killed deer, raccoons and other animals. Black vultures dominate turkey vultures when feeding at carcasses.

Black vultures form monogamous pair bonds, and in Florida they nest in hollow trees, palmetto thickets and beneath the roots of tipped up trees. They do not carry food back to the nest in their beaks or feet, but regurgitate food to feed the young.

I found this Juvenile at Lake Marian in Osceola County, Florida.

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

Rogue Valley - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Scrub

Food : Seeds

Nesting : Ground

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

The grey-cowled wood rail or grey-necked wood rail (aramides cajaneus) is a species of bird in the family Rallidae, the rails. It lives primarily in the forests, mangroves, and swamps of Central and South America. This bird feeds at night, eating various invertebrates and small vertebrates. While in mangroves, it commonly feeds on crabs. Otherwise, it will generally feed on molluscs (such as snails), arthropods, frogs, seeds, grains, leaves, berries, palm fruits, and the occasional water snake. Maize, rice, and bananas are also viable food items for the grey-necked wood rail. It is also known to feed on the feces of giant otters at latrines.

Costa Rica, La Fortuna

Please don't use my images without my permission. All images © Aivar Mikko.

This photograph of a Red-Shouldered hawk flying past me with nesting material in his beak was a lucky find.

We did see several of these birds at Orlando Wetlands but this was the only one that wasn't perched in a tree.

One interesting fact about the red-shouldered hawks is that

by the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest.

We did not find any nests.

- Buteo lineatus

Chi-ca-go is the call of the California Quail. This fellow was belting it out for several minutes.

California Quail (Callipepla californica) Male

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Scrub

Food : Seeds

Nesting : Ground

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

1041

Botswana

Southern Africa

The leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) is a large and attractively marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape. It is the only member of the genus Stigmochelys, although in the past it was commonly placed in Geochelone.

This tortoise is a grazing species that favors semi-arid, thorny to grassland habitats. In both very hot and very cold weather they may dwell in abandoned fox, jackal, or aardvark holes. Leopard tortoises do not dig other than to make nests in which to lay eggs.

Given its propensity for grassland habitats, it grazes extensively upon mixed grasses. It also favors succulents and thistles.

Widely distributed across the arid and savanna regions of eastern and southern Africa, extending from South Sudan and Somalia, across East Africa to South Africa and Namibia. The species is generally absent from the humid forest regions of Central Africa.

Over this range, the leopard tortoise occupies the most varied habitats of any African tortoise including grasslands, thorn-scrub, mesic brushland, and savannas. They can be found at altitudes ranging from sea level to 2,900 meters (9,500 ft).

Leopard tortoises are herbivorous; their diet consists of a wide variety of plants including forbs, thistles, grasses, and succulents. They will sometimes gnaw on bones or even hyena feces to obtain calcium, necessary for bone development and their eggshells. Seeds will pass undigested through the gut, so the leopard tortoise plays a significant role in seed dispersal.

Normally active during the day, they are less active during hot weather or during the dry season. IUCN listed Least Concern. A very long-lived animal, the leopard tortoise reaches sexual maturity between the ages of 12 and 15 years. Wikipedia

großer Zufall und 100% natürlich, Star beim Koten.

big coincidence and 100% natural, star at feces.

Bitorta bistortoides, or bottlebrush, against a background of flowers of prairie smoke. Bistorta bistortoides means twice twisted, twice twisted, referring to the root, which is twisted like a rope -- edible to humans, bears, elks and rodents.

Another common name for this flower is miner's socks, referring to the smell of its nectar. Flowers that are pollinated by butterflies and bees have fragrant, sweet smells, while those pollinated by flies have an unappealing fragrance, like that of feces or rotting flesh, which is ideal for attracting flies.

This is Butterfly species # 47 for this season

ws 51 - 100 mm (2.24 - 4 in)

I caught this one in the forest today. They will fly until it gets cold, while sustaining themselves on tree sap, rotting fruit, and animal feces, until they prepare to overwinter.

Mourning Cloaks and other species such as Commas, have the ability to overwinter in cold climates. They enter a state called diapause. Butterflies produce antifreeze proteins to prevent ice crystallization within their cells during diapause. As in with the case in hibernation, metabolism also slows down.

More information below.

Nymphalis antiopa, known as the Mourning Cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny elm caterpillar. Other older names for this species include grand surprise and white petticoat. A powerful flier, this species is sometimes found in areas far from its usual range during migration.

These butterflies have a lifespan of 11 to 12 months, one of the longest lifespans for any butterfly. It is the state insect of the U.S. state of Montana, adopted in 2001.

(Wikipedia)

Black beetle on the stump, seen in the forest :)

Dor beetle (Anoplotrupes stercorosus) is a species of earth-boring dung beetles belonging to the family Geotrupidae. This beetle is present throughout Europe. The adults grow up to 12–19 mm long and can be seen from April to October. This dung beetle feeds on feces, rotting fungi and tree lymph of the host-plants. In spring they lay eggs in chambers at the end of a corridor that is approximately 70–80 centimetres long and built in the soil, where feces of herbivorous and omnivorous animals are placed in to feed the larvae. The larvae overwinter and pupate in spring, requiring a year to complete the whole process.

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Żuk leśny siedzący na pieńku, pstryknięty podczas spaceru :)

Żuk leśny (Anoplotrupes stercorosus) – gatunek chrząszcza z rodziny gnojarzowatych. Chrząszcz palearktyczny. Zamieszkuje prawie całą Europę, Syberię Zachodnią oraz Kaukaz. Żuk ten zasiedla wyłącznie lasy liściaste i mieszane. Dorosłe osobniki osiągają długość 12–19 mm. Żuk leśny preferuje starsze i bardziej zwarte drzewostany. Dorosłe odżywiają się butwiejącymi szczątkami roślin, odchodami roślinożerców oraz starymi owocnikami niektórych grzybów kapeluszowych. Obserwowano też ich żerowanie na padlinie. Dorosłe występują od kwietnia do października. Owad ten nawozi glebę oraz zwiększa jej przewiewność i przesiąkliwość przez co uznawany jest za pożytecznego z punktu widzenia gospodarki leśnej.

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

Habitat : Scrub

Food : Seeds

Nesting : Ground

Behavior : Ground Forager

Conservation : Low Concern

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

Parque, Playa de las Américas, Tenerife

What3Words

///fail.talents.occulted

The Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is an exotic-looking bird found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, best known for its "crown" of feathers and unique defense mechanisms.

Appearance and Identification

Distinctive Crest:

It possesses a tall, fan-like crest of cinnamon feathers tipped with black. This crest is typically held closed but is dramatically raised when the bird is excited or has just landed.

Coloration:

Its body is a pinkish-brown or cinnamon color, contrasting sharply with broad, rounded wings and a tail barred with black and white "zebra" stripes.

Long Bill:

It has a long, slender, down-curved bill used for probing soft soil and leaf litter for food.

Butterfly Flight:

Its flight is highly characteristic, featuring an erratic, undulating movement with deep wingbeats that make it resemble a giant butterfly.

Behavior and Diet

Diet:

Primarily insectivorous, it eats larvae, beetles, crickets, and mole crickets. It also occasionally takes small reptiles, frogs, and berries.

Unique Call:

Its name is onomatopoeic, derived from its soft, trisyllabic "oop-oop-oop" or "hoo-poo-poo" call.

Defense Mechanism:

To deter predators, nesting females and chicks produce a foul-smelling liquid from an oil gland that smells like rotting meat. Older chicks can also squirt feces at intruders to defend the nest.

Habitat and Conservation

Range:

It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Northern populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

Nesting:

Hoopoes are cavity nesters, using holes in trees, walls, cliffs, or abandoned buildings.

Status:

Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though populations are declining in Western Europe due to habitat loss and pesticide use.

Cultural Significance

National Symbol:

It is the National Bird of Israel (selected in 2008).

Religious & Mythological:

The hoopoe is mentioned in the Quran as a messenger for Prophet Solomon and appears in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Persian literature as a symbol of wisdom or virtue.

Botanical Gardens of Brasilia - DF, Brazil.

Feeding on feces of a maned wolf.

Note on this: the maned wolf uses scent markings (urine and feces) to delimit territory, which it patrols during the night to avoid invaders.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Superfamily: Papilionoidea

Family: Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Morphinae

Tribe: Brassolini

Subtribe: Brassolina

Genus: Opsiphanes Doubleday, [1849]

Species: O. invirae (Hübner, [1808])

Binomial name: Opsiphanes invirae

I've read that the head plume is not one feather, but a cluster of six overlapping feathers. This is the first time I've been able to see this.

Emigrant Lake - Jackson County - Oregon - USA

"The California Quail is a handsome, round soccer ball of a bird with a rich gray breast, intricately scaled underparts, and a curious, forward-drooping head plume. Its stiffly accented Chi-ca-go call is a common sound of the chaparral and other brushy areas of California and the Northwest. Often seen scratching at the ground in large groups or dashing forward on blurred legs, California Quail are common but unobtrusive. They flush to cover if scared, so approach them gently..... The California Quail digests vegetation with the help of protozoans in its intestine. Chicks acquire the protozoans by pecking at the feces of adults."

- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology

For a mammal that is often considered a pest, this one is probably the most accepted by humans. They are small, very lively, energetic and cute members of the squirrel family. Where they co-exist with humans they favor a diet of cultivated grains and vegetables but where they thrive in the wild they have a far more varied menu which includes nuts, seeds, buds, fruits, grass, shoots and even includes small frogs, worms, insects, fungi, worms and even bird eggs. The largest majority of their foraging is done on the ground but they do climb trees to harvest acorns and nuts.

Of the 25 species of chipmunks world wide we have all but one of them in North America with the eastern chipmunk being the largest of all species. The eastern member hibernates during the winter months but the western chipmunk does not. Starting early in autumn the eastern member starts gathering food for the winter and stock piles it in caches in the burrow which surprisingly can be more than eleven feet long and have several concealed entrances. Separate tunnels are used for storing feces and the bedroom is kept clean of shells and residue.

They mate in early spring and again in early summer with the babies being similar in size to a jelly bean.

This adult is keeping a wary eye on me as I walk a trail in his/her habitat.

At Tangen in Kristiansand, a new district with 43,000 m2 of housing and 33,000 m2 of business / school is under development. The area is close to the center, surrounded by water, with Otra to the east and the sea to the south and west.

The stench from the construction pit on Tangen stings in the nose. The half-rotten, penetrating smell is a testimony to the sins of the past.

- "We pull it on Tangen", was the tone of the review in my childhood. Should one get rid of something, it was just a matter of pulling it on Tangen, says Harald Sødal (born 1938).

Many have slipped out after dark and thrown away old bicycles and refrigerators and things that were no longer usable. This is how the landfill grew imperceptibly on Tangen from year to year.

The seaweed quickly became the industrial area of ​​Kristiansand, and the filling started with the brickworks operation from 1783. The plant was built on a bulwark partly on land, partly on the skerries outside, which was so shallow that the hired workers from Flensburg in Germany could wade over. The area between the skerries and land was eventually filled with brick and sand.

Tangen housed many businesses, such as windmills and pottery, and has always been an area for military activities. In 1657, a block house with ten cannons was built, hence the name Blokkhusgata, and shipbuilding continued at "Kongens Værft" in the extension of Østre Strandgate. In more modern times, Sørlandet's first seaport with seaplanes was established on the marine site, where Aquarama is located today.

In 1855 came the biggest polluter of them all, the gas plant, which has left quantities of heavy metals in the ground where the KEV building was erected after the gas power plant was shut down in 1957.

Tangen was never intended as a residential area, even though it became the residence of the workers at the various workplaces. In the census from 1801, there were seven residential houses on Tangen, which accommodated a total of 60 people; potters, stonemasons, sawmills, sailors and bricklayers with wives, children, lodgers and servants. As a curiosity, we can mention that of the nine married women on Tangen in 1801, five were older than their husbands, two of them were 11 years older.

The name Lortetangen arose partly as a result of Kvadraturen literally swimming in feces. The "night man" was called the dot timber, the one who emptied the city's dowries and drove the trickling, smelly contents to piers along the sea by horse and leaky cart. One of the piers was on Tangen, where today's Tangen upper secondary school is located. From the pier, the urine was drained into the river, while the solid contents were left behind and sold as fertilizer to farmers on Tveit, who collected it in open shacks.

Cowpat fly. (Scathophaga stercoraria)

You start by opening the door for them and you end up picking up their feces.

Parque, Playa de las Américas, Tenerife

What3Words

///fail.talents.occulted

The Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is an exotic-looking bird found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, best known for its "crown" of feathers and unique defense mechanisms.

Appearance and Identification

Distinctive Crest:

It possesses a tall, fan-like crest of cinnamon feathers tipped with black. This crest is typically held closed but is dramatically raised when the bird is excited or has just landed.

Coloration:

Its body is a pinkish-brown or cinnamon color, contrasting sharply with broad, rounded wings and a tail barred with black and white "zebra" stripes.

Long Bill:

It has a long, slender, down-curved bill used for probing soft soil and leaf litter for food.

Butterfly Flight:

Its flight is highly characteristic, featuring an erratic, undulating movement with deep wingbeats that make it resemble a giant butterfly.

Behavior and Diet

Diet:

Primarily insectivorous, it eats larvae, beetles, crickets, and mole crickets. It also occasionally takes small reptiles, frogs, and berries.

Unique Call:

Its name is onomatopoeic, derived from its soft, trisyllabic "oop-oop-oop" or "hoo-poo-poo" call.

Defense Mechanism:

To deter predators, nesting females and chicks produce a foul-smelling liquid from an oil gland that smells like rotting meat. Older chicks can also squirt feces at intruders to defend the nest.

Habitat and Conservation

Range:

It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Northern populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

Nesting:

Hoopoes are cavity nesters, using holes in trees, walls, cliffs, or abandoned buildings.

Status:

Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though populations are declining in Western Europe due to habitat loss and pesticide use.

Cultural Significance

National Symbol:

It is the National Bird of Israel (selected in 2008).

Religious & Mythological:

The hoopoe is mentioned in the Quran as a messenger for Prophet Solomon and appears in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Persian literature as a symbol of wisdom or virtue.

I was surprised to see an iguana crawling through the grass in Florida. When I returned home I found this information on a-z Animals. "Interestingly, every species of iguana are invasive. There are no iguana species that are actually native to Florida. Instead, the three main species currently living throughout the state are invasive species. Humans brought these lizards to Florida from nearby islands via cargo ships and independent releases throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually, their populations exploded. Florida just happens to be an ideal environment for iguanas, with its warm, humid weather and diverse plant and animal life for the massive lizards to feed on. However, over time, they’ve all become misunderstood yet highly invasive nuisances, wreaking havoc on the state’s plant and animal life and causing serious damage to both man-made and natural structures with their feces and elaborate burrows."

Parque, Playa de las Américas, Tenerife

What3Words

///fail.talents.occulted

The Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) is an exotic-looking bird found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, best known for its "crown" of feathers and unique defense mechanisms.

Appearance and Identification

Distinctive Crest:

It possesses a tall, fan-like crest of cinnamon feathers tipped with black. This crest is typically held closed but is dramatically raised when the bird is excited or has just landed.

Coloration:

Its body is a pinkish-brown or cinnamon color, contrasting sharply with broad, rounded wings and a tail barred with black and white "zebra" stripes.

Long Bill:

It has a long, slender, down-curved bill used for probing soft soil and leaf litter for food.

Butterfly Flight:

Its flight is highly characteristic, featuring an erratic, undulating movement with deep wingbeats that make it resemble a giant butterfly.

Behavior and Diet

Diet:

Primarily insectivorous, it eats larvae, beetles, crickets, and mole crickets. It also occasionally takes small reptiles, frogs, and berries.

Unique Call:

Its name is onomatopoeic, derived from its soft, trisyllabic "oop-oop-oop" or "hoo-poo-poo" call.

Defense Mechanism:

To deter predators, nesting females and chicks produce a foul-smelling liquid from an oil gland that smells like rotting meat. Older chicks can also squirt feces at intruders to defend the nest.

Habitat and Conservation

Range:

It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Northern populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

Nesting:

Hoopoes are cavity nesters, using holes in trees, walls, cliffs, or abandoned buildings.

Status:

Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though populations are declining in Western Europe due to habitat loss and pesticide use.

Cultural Significance

National Symbol:

It is the National Bird of Israel (selected in 2008).

Religious & Mythological:

The hoopoe is mentioned in the Quran as a messenger for Prophet Solomon and appears in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Persian literature as a symbol of wisdom or virtue.

Images of Australia: 42/100

Native to Australia, wombats are found in forests, mountains and heathlands. They live in burrows, coming out at night to eat plants, grasses, and roots.

Some unique features of the wombat are as follows:

The wombat gives birth in just thirty days to an underdeveloped joey. This joey then lives in its mother’s pouch as it continues to develop.

The wombat’s pouch faces towards their rear. This protects the joey from getting covered in dirt as the parent digs its burrows.

Wombats have square-shaped feces.

(Photographed at Australia Zoo)

Smile on Saturday

"TON SUR TON" A picture of a coloured object placed on a background of a different shade of the same colour."