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Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) with remains of wildebeest, which their clan hunted and killed - Mara North Conservancy, Maasai Mara, Kenya.
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Spotted Hyenas are capable of eating every part of a prey animal. Bones present no problem for them, they can even crunch through the leg bones of large mammals, such a giraffe. Their bite force has been measured as 1,100 psi, by comparison a lion's is 600 psi.
In this image, these low status, ever-watchful males are eating the scraps left by high ranking females and their offspring who have eaten their fill.
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Thank you all for visiting and maybe putting a comment and/or a fav. much appreciated.
this lion couple was pretty aware of what was going on at the nearby water hole but nothing worth getting up, KTP, South Africa
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/marshside/index.aspx
www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/marshside/about.aspx
There's something for everyone all year round at this delightful coastal reserve. In the spring you can see brown hares boxing in the fields, while in the early summer you'll spot nesting birds like avocets and lapwings. During the winter months the skies fill with visiting waterfowl such as pink-footed geese and wigeons, not to mention birds of prey that can set flocks wheeling over the marshes.
There are two hides, a viewing platform and three viewing screens. If you're new to birdwatching, why not come on one of our special event days?
Opening times
8.30 am to 5 pm every day.
Entrance charges
Free, but donations to help us continue our work here are welcome.
If you are new to birdwatching...
Extensive events programme and ABB events take place - all aimed at beginners. Birds all-year and plenty of them.
Information for dog owners
Some access for dogs - please contact reserve for details
Star species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Avocet
Watch elegant avocets 'scooping up' microscopic, aquatic life in their amazing, sickle-shaped beaks. They nest in mini colonies on the islands.
Black-tailed godwit
Flocks of black-tailed godwits can be seen on in spring - when they rest and feed here before heading north to Iceland to breed - they are resplendent in their 'tomato soup-red' breeding attire. On their return in autumn, you can pick out the scaly-backed juvenile birds if you look closely. Some birds also spend summer here.
Lapwing
Watch the nesting lapwings here chasing predators that may come too close to their nests or show too much of an interest in their chicks. The protective parents regularly give chase to crows and do not stop their 'mobbing' attacks until the danger has passed.
Pink-footed goose
Many pink-footed geese assemble here from late September through to March. They roost on the mudflats and fly inland at dawn to feed in nearby fields.
Wigeon
During winter, flocks of wigeons are a daily sight, with several thousand often on the reserve. Wintering birds arrive from early September and numbers build up to a peak, usually in January.
Seasonal highlights
Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.
Spring
Lapwings tumble in excitable displays over the nesting areas. Early morning is the best time to see the hares 'boxing'. Watch out for the first wheatears and swallows to arrive from Africa. The flood-waters are retreating, leaving muddy edges - look out for migrating waders like common sandpipers and ruffs. There are still large numbers of wigeons, teals, black-tailed godwits and other water birds biding their time or passing through on their way north.
Summer
Redshanks and avocets scold you from a distance as they watch over their chicks. The grass is peppered with the colours of wildflowers. Wall brown and common blue butterflies are found along the paths on warm, sunny days. Grey herons stalk the ditches. Summering black-tailed godwits can be found in the wetter spots.
Autumn
A dashing falcon at this time of year could be a merlin just in from Iceland. Look for skeins of pink-footed geese flying to and from their roost out on the mudflats at dusk and dawn. Migrant hawker dragonflies patrol the ditches on sunny days. Wigeon and teal numbers begin to build up.
Winter
You will be sure to see huge flocks of wigeons, teals, lapwings and golden plovers wheeling and turning over the marshes. Look out for the bird of prey that has caused the panic. It could be a kestrel, merlin, peregrine or sparrowhawk or perhaps one of the voracious great black-backed gulls that patrol these marshes.
Facilities
Facilities
•Information centre
•Car park : Free car park (local authority). Bicycle rack at Sandgrounders Hide.
•Toilets
•Disabled toilets
•Group bookings accepted
•Guided walks available
•Good for walking
•Pushchair friendly
Viewing points
Two hides - both glazed, one heated. One viewing platform and three viewing screens.
Nature trails
Trail to Sandgrounders Hide from car park 200 m, wheelchair/pushchair-suitable. Trail from Nel's Hide to car park 550 m wheelchair/pushchair-suitable. Footpaths along old sea-wall and coast road make round trips of 1.8 miles (3 km), 2.5 miles (4 km) and 4.3 miles (7 km) possible for able-bodied.
Accessibility
This is a natural site with unimproved paths and trails - the access around this site may not be suitable for all visitors. If you have concerns, please contact the reserve or regional office before your visit to discuss your requirements.
How to get here
By train
Southport (Chapel Street Station) - follow London Street till it joins Lord Street and then go straight across Lord Street and on down Nevill Street to the Promenade; turn right to follow Marine Lake to its northern end; turn left onto Fairway and then right on to Marine Drive. Reserve begins at Hesketh Road after 0.6 mile (1 km; first turning on right). Total distance 1.8 miles (3 km).
By bus
Southport (War Memorial, Lord Street) to Crossens via Marshside Road. No.44 every 15 minutes. Get off at Elswick Road junction. Walk north 200 m along Marshside Road to start of reserve.
By road
From Southport, follow coast road north (1.5 miles or 2.5 km from Southport Pier) to small car park by sand works.
Our work here
Marshside protects 94 ha of coastal grassland and pools on the shores of the Ribble estuary.
The RSPB is managing the reserve to protect important populations of breeding waders and wintering wildfowl, plus other wildlife such as brown hares and wintering birds of prey. We are also developing the reserve as a popular visitor attraction.
Top targets
We are working towards five-year mean targets for key breeding birds. These include 80 pairs of lapwings, 10 pairs of avocets and 30 pairs of redshanks. We will also ensure that black-tailed godwits remain present through the breeding season and that breeding wildfowl numbers are stable.
Meanwhile, our October-March targets for non-breeding birds include at least 900 black-tailed godwits, 300 pink-footed geese, 6,000 wigeons, 1,500 teals, 100 shovelers and 750 golden plovers.
Grassland gains
We are improving our grassland for breeding waders, using summer grazing with cattle and topping, where necessary, to create suitable sward heights. We will retain a tussocky structure, and will ensure that up to 33 ha of grassland holds permanent surface water in winter. We will also increase our small area of ungrazed grassland and preserve the extent of our ‘dune-slack’ grassland, which is rich in wildlife.
Water and swamp
We will ensure that all permanent water bodies are at least 10 cm deep from the start of June. We will also increase the extent of open water in pools and ditches, by rotationally cleaning and re-profiling ditches. We will dig new ditches and create small pools to break up waterless ‘plain’ areas, and will excavate to create 1 ha of open water and an additional 1 ha of swamp.
Keeping tabs
Constant monitoring helps us to manage the site and contribute to research projects elsewhere. We focus on breeding waders, lapwing nest productivity and wintering wildfowl, as well as water voles, natterjack toads and butterflies. We also monitor sward height, cattle numbers, the levels and quality of water, and the extent and quality of grassland.
People
We are continuing to improve visitor facilities, making our hides, nature trails and footpaths accessible to all. We also run a varied events programme and will keep developing our volunteer scheme.
Contact us
•Tel: 01704 226190
Where is it?
•Lat/lng: 53.67694,-2.98096
•Grid reference: SD353205
•Nearest town: Southport, Merseyside
•County: Merseyside
•Country: England
Going through some old shots, teaching my assistant how to edit. We edited this photo from the McLaren shoot from last year.
Please do not use/post elsewhere without my prior consent. Please leave a comment/fave if you like it.
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This was taken in my back garden in Kent.
I think the prey looks like it could be a wasp I don't know to species of spider this is but it looks pretty menacing!
All spiders are predatory eight-legged creatures that have organs to spin silk at the back ends of their bodies. They are the largest part of the Arachnid family, a group that also includes scorpions and ticks. Spiders all have the ability to bite with venom-injecting fangs to kill prey and nearly all of them are poisonous (even if it's just a little).
There are about 40,000 types of spiders in the world, living on every continent except Antarctica. And they're not newbies: fossilized spiders have been found in Carboniferous rocks dating back 318 million years.
Spider anatomy
Spiders have two body segments, the abdomen and the cephalothorax. The first, or front part, is the cephalothorax, which is formed by the fusing of the head and thorax, according to Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal, an arachnologist at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. The cephalothorax contains the eyes, mouth and legs.
The mouth has several parts. The spider's jaws, called the chelicerae, are tipped with fangs, according to entomologists at the University of Kentucky. These appendages are used to hold prey while the spider injects venom. Behind the jaws are the labium and labrum, which work together to direct food into the spider's mouth.
Between the chelicerae and the first pair of legs are the pedipalps, which look like tiny legs but are actually similar to antennae, and are used to sense objects the spider encounters, Sewlal said. However, "they are used by some species in prey capture and feeding as well as in shaping their webs."
Pedipalps are also used in mating and are a good way to tell males and females apart. "The tips in males are enlarged as they are used to transfer sperm to the female, while in the female, the tips of the pedipalps remain undifferentiated," Sewlal said.
Most spiders have six or eight eyes, according to the University of Kentucky. Some spiders can only see the difference between light and shadow. Their eyes are considered "simple," as they don't have compound lenses as some insects do.
A spider's abdomen is where most of its important internal organs are located, such as the reproductive system, lungs and digestive tract. Also on the abdomen are the spinnerets, through which a spider produces its silken web.
Spider webs
Spider silk is made of strong strands of protein. It is the strongest-known natural fiber, according to the San Diego Zoo. Its tensile strength — the greatest stress a material will tolerate before breaking — is greater than bone and half the strength of steel.
According to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, individual species can produce up to seven distinct types of silk, each with a specialized function. Some spiders use their webs to trap prey; others line their burrows with it.
Spiders are grouped according to the type of web they make, according to the San Diego Zoo. Groups include tangle-web spiders, orb-web spiders, funnel-web spiders and nursery-web spiders.
According to the Australian Museum, spiders capture prey using a variety of methods. They can trap small insects in sticky webs, lasso them with sticky bolas, or use their vibration-sensing skills to chase prey down. Spider guts are too narrow to take solids, so they liquidize their food by flooding it with digestive enzymes and grinding it up with short appendages.
Spider Bites
Even though all spiders can bite, most of them do no more harm to a human than a bee sting or a mosquito bite. Most spiders with a life-threatening bite are quite shy and attack only when they feel threatened. According to Spider Physiology and Behaviour, Volume 41 (Advances in Insect Physiology), there were only about 100 deaths from spider bites during the 20th century.
According to Sewlal, spider venoms work on one of two fundamental principles: they either attack the nervous system with neurotoxic venom or attack tissues around the bite with necrotic venom. Sewlal explained that neurotoxic venom works in two ways: by overstimulating "the production of the neurotransmitters ... which can cause the entire nervous system to become paralyzed," and by blocking "nerve impulses to the muscles. This has the result of causing the muscles to cramp and become rigid. It also has the effect of disrupting many bodily functions." Necrotic venom works by causing "the tissue around the bite to die."
Researchers are investigating novel uses for spider venom, from an eco-friendly (and bee-friendly) alternative to pesticides to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, cardiac arrhythmia, and strokes. In addition, spider silk has lots of engineering uses, from body armor to optical communications.
Arachnophobia
Humans have long had a tumultuous relationship with the eight-legged critters. Arachnophobia, or fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias. Some statistics show that 50 percent of women and 16 percent of men have this phobia, according to The Wall Street Journal.
According to Mentally Healthy, evolutionary biologists surmise that a modern fear of spiders may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive response that helped early humans to survive. Other scholars think that fear of spiders began in the Middle Ages, when spiders became a cultural scapegoat for inexplicable epidemics of the time, like the plague.
Classification/taxonomy
According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), the taxonomy of spiders is:
Can you imagine yourself holding this tarantula?
Can you imagine yourself holding this tarantula?
Credit: Shane Wilson Link Shutterstock
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Bilateria
Infrakingdom: Protostomia
Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Suborders
According to Sewlal, spiders can be divided into two suborders: Mesotelae and Opisthothelae, which contains the infra-orders Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae.
Mesothelae: "The suborder Mesothelae contains only one family, Liphistiidae," Sewell said. "The members of this family are quite distinctive from all other spiders." She explained that the Mesothelae suborder is so named because its members have their spinnerets located in the middle of the abdomen, on their underside. According to the Australian Museum, these are "primitive spiders"; "modern" spiders have spinnerets toward the back of their abdomens. They also have abdomens segmented similarly to Scorpions, Sewlal said.
These small, light spiders reside in Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Though scientists previously thought they lacked venom glands, new research has shown that they do have them.
Opisthothelae: These spiders have spinnerets at the posterior of their abdomens, Sewlal said. She offered some advice on how to distinguish between the infra-orders Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae: Look at the position of the chelicerae. "Araneomorphs have chelicerae where the tips crisscross each other, while mygalomorphs have chelicerae that point downwards like that of the typical vampire and move in the vertical plane." Their book lungs — respiratory organs so named because their thin membranes resemble pages in a book — are also different. "Mygalomorph spiders also have two pairs of book lungs while araneomorph spiders have one pair of book lungs or no book lungs at all."
Here are some other features of the two infra-orders.
Mygalomorphae: According to Arachne.org, these spiders are generally heavily built and hairy, like tarantulas. They live in burrows and can prey on creatures as large as frogs, lizards, and snails. A few species build webs, but it is not very common. Although most spiders live for at most two years, many mygalomorph ae spiders can live up to 25 years in captivity. This type of spider includes the huge goliath bird eater, which can grow up to 1 foot in body length, according to the Conservation Institute.
Araneomorphae: These are the most common of spiders, making up more than 90 percent of all the species, according to Biology of Spiders. Some of the most interesting species include the only known vegetarian spider, the Bagheera Kipling, as well as the most venomous spider, the Brazilian wandering spider. Scientists have found that the spider needs to inject only 6 micrograms of its venom to kill a 20-gram (0.7 ounces) mouse, and a full venom load is more than 10 times that.
Katherine Gammon contributed to this article.
Link-
The red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. Red-shouldered hawks are permanent residents throughout most of their range, though northern birds do migrate, mostly to central Mexico. The main conservation threat to the widespread species is deforestation.
Males are 38 to 58 cm (15 to 23 in) long and weigh on average 550 g (1.21 lb). Females are slightly larger at 47 to 61 cm (19 to 24 in) in length and a mean weight of 700 g (1.5 lb). The wingspan can range from 90 to 127 cm (35 to 50 in). Adult birds can vary in mass from 460 to 930 g (1.01 to 2.05 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing bone is 28–35 cm (11–14 in) long, the tail is 16–24 cm (6.3–9.4 in) long and the tarsus is 7.5–9 cm (3.0–3.5 in).[6] Adults have brownish heads, reddish chests, and pale bellies with reddish bars. Their tails, which are quite long by Buteo standards, are marked with narrow white bars. Red "shoulders" are visible when the birds are perched. These hawks' upper parts are dark with pale spots and they have long yellow legs. Western birds may appear more red, while Florida birds are generally paler. The wings of adults are more heavily barred on the upper side. Juvenile red-shouldered hawks are most likely to be confused with juvenile broad-winged hawks, but can be distinguished by their long tails, crescent-like wing markings, and a more flapping, Accipiter-like flight style. In direct comparison, it is typically larger and longer proportioned than the Broad-wing, though is slightly smaller and more slender than most other common North American Buteos. This bird is sometimes also confused with the widespread red-tailed hawk. That species is larger and bulkier, with more even-sized, broad wings and is paler underneath, with a reddish tail often apparent. The Red-tail is also more likely to soar steadily, with wings in a slight dihedral.
California.
This little, female Blue-tailed Skink (also called Five lined Skink) Has the amazing ability to pop a major portion of her tail off at will. If a predator threatens her or grabs her tail, she simply releases it and darts off, leaving the bright, blue, wriggling, twitching tail to distract the aggressor. Her tail will gradually grow back.
i got bored and wanted to use my predator figure for something so this happened
let me know what you think in the comments
An interesting scene...the lacewing larva eating the dead spider. Maybe a bark lice larva under the spider?
When I moved to shot her bottom, she fled higher into her web, hence the small photo despite its a macro lense. Very uncooperative, with strange marking that brought to mind my favorite horror alien, Predator.
Every cell alive, aflame, the World's Coolest Bear rushes to the water's edge in search of an elusive salmon meal. Incredible to see how quickly she transforms from docile and sleepy to alert and predatory - in a split second! I don't know whether she caught a scent or spotted movement beneath the surface, but she was down from her rocky perch in a flash.
Photographed along the wild coast of British Columbia (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2018 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
This was an image taken while out walking back to camp at Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. Dusk was rapidly setting in. We saw this lioness keenly watching us warily walking past. Much against my better judgement, I lay prone on the ground to get this shot....
I have reworked this image and I'm hoping it is looking better than my original post in 2014.