tigger's mango Posted August 19, 2006 Posted August 19, 2006 Yes, I know...Not "just a hat" or "juste un chapeau" (pour les francophiles!!!!) That was one creepy snake!!! Sumrall and I went out to replace [url=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=07979ff7-The thing that gets me about the first snake...is...I walked above him banging my stick on the ground...and walked within 3 feet of him and he never made a rattle or moved. I was picking up trash above him when Sumrall noticed him. We checked him out...got the camera...took his pic...still he did not care. I went around the other side and used my stick to pull the rocks from the cache hiding spot...while keeping an eye on him...he slowly moved into the hole one over from the cache. I have never seen a rattle snake care so little about what was going on around him. He never rattled or even entered a defensive posture....even though we had banged and stomped before finding him and after finding him. I worked around him replacing the cache and cleaning up the trash/old cache litter around him. I guess this is a good and a bad thing...good because no one likes a pissed off snake and bad because some one could step on, grab or ??? and this guy would probable never rattle just bite. Back in the spring of 1972 while doing a 10-day, 100-mile solo trip throughout the Los Padres/San Rafael Wilderness area behind Santa Barbara, I encountered a similarly mellow Western Rattlesnake, sharing my campsite in the Sespe River gorge. I ended up watching it off and on for the better part of an afternoon. A sizable bulge in its body (anyone ever read Le Petite Prince in French class?) indicated it had recently caught a rodent of some type and was using its energy to digest that meal. Not sure if a similar post-mealtime situation helps explain the behavior you experienced. The hint of "racoon tail" in the photo suggests you were dealing with a Red Diamond. In my experience, Red Diamonds tend to go the other way if given an option but any inidividual snake can behave unexpectedly. Treating rattlesnake encounters with caution is always the prudent recourse. -GD Quote
+Snake & Rooster Posted August 19, 2006 Posted August 19, 2006 Seen on the way to "IHO: Slartibartfast". We have no idea what type of spider this is, but it had a web that was a good 12 inches across. You know, as Snake & Rooster you should just post your own photos on this critter thread. As you wish, Harmon . . . Quote
+Alice Band Posted August 19, 2006 Posted August 19, 2006 Cool pics guys, thanks for sharing them. Never cached with the worry about rattlers Here in the UK our critters seem tame in comparison, but I thought to post this pic of a Swan which was guarding a cache locally to me. What attracted me to it was the fact that its beak has suffered fish hook damage, but it didn't put it off trying to peck my camera moments after I took the photo Quote
+Miragee Posted August 19, 2006 Posted August 19, 2006 Great picture! Thanks for sharing it with us way over here! Quote
+Alice Band Posted August 20, 2006 Posted August 20, 2006 Thank you I'm glad we dont have rattle snakes and black widows to contend with over here - our nastiest snake is a small Adder which can hospitalise people after a bite if untreated. They seem quite happy to live in the UK climate. Quote
+Miragee Posted August 28, 2006 Posted August 28, 2006 Yesterday, while caching with duganrm, we encountered a variety of critters. This well-cammoed horned lizard was skittering around on a trail in Rancho San Diego. Later, we saw this very long, very big rattlesnake crossing the road in front of the vehicle After I took that picture, and the snake was safely coiled in the bushes, he rattled very loudly to warn me from trying to take any more pictures. Finally, we encountered a very mad, menacing, drooling opossum hanging out near "Race the Truck Dale." Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 6, 2006 Author Posted September 6, 2006 Ovr the next few days, I hope to catch up on postings for a few recent cache critter sightings ... Saturday, 8/12/2006 An obliging Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis) spotted at the Centennial Tree while completing the multiple stages of California Hoax. Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 6, 2006 Author Posted September 6, 2006 Sunday, 8/13/2006 Enjoyed seeing a number of Yellow-bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris) on a day hike with Groovy to Little Baldy. We spent nearly all day enjoying the scenery, the wildlife, and some incredible photo ops. -GD One of a pair of marmots spotted in and around this downed tree on our hike up the mountain A Long-eared Chipmunk (Tamius quadrimaculatus) that paused only momentarily before a typical dash to safety Marmot-in-a-hole checking us out toward the end of our hike. This photo was taken from less than 3 feet away, timed to coincide with one of its periodic popups. Quote
+Team Geogeeks Posted September 6, 2006 Posted September 6, 2006 (edited) Sunday, 8/13/2006 Enjoyed seeing a number of Yellow-bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris) on a day hike with Groovy to Little Baldy. We spent nearly all day enjoying the scenery, the wildlife, and some incredible photo ops. -GD One of a pair of marmots spotted in and around this downed tree on our hike up the mountain A Long-eared Chipmunk (Tamius quadrimaculatus) that paused only momentarily before a typical dash to safety Marmot-in-a-hole checking us out toward the end of our hike. This photo was taken from less than 3 feet away, timed to coincide with one of its periodic popups. Love the last photo there where you're getting checked out. He's (or she) is cute! Edited September 6, 2006 by Team Geogeeks Quote
+SD Rowdies Posted September 7, 2006 Posted September 7, 2006 (edited) Spotted during north-county Geobabe outing of September 6, 2006. Rat in repose. Edited September 7, 2006 by SD Rowdies Quote
+TrailGators Posted September 10, 2006 Posted September 10, 2006 Saw this unusual sea creature while doing Black Beard's Grotto today. Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 11, 2006 Author Posted September 11, 2006 Sunday, 9/3/2006 Western Whiptail (Cnemidophorus tigris) spotted within a few feet of Power Plant Experimental Forest. This individual happened to be about half way through shedding fore-to-aft. -GD Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 11, 2006 Author Posted September 11, 2006 Sunday, 9/3/2006 I was blessed with an opportunity to observe a group of five Bighorn ewes shortly after beginning a descent from The Bald Italian 10064', otherwise known as Mount San Antonio aka Mount Baldy. After spotting the first ewe near the height of nearby thunderstorm activity, I sat down to finish my lunch and watch her behavior. Over the course of a half hour she grazed within 100 yards of her starting point, then plopped down right at the edge of a ridge. About ten minutes later, a head popped up. Then another. Eventually all five were on display. They ambled slowly eastward and upward along a very barren ridge, providing some fine viewing and photography opportunities. I ended up watching them for a total of 90 minutes when I realized I needed to hit the trail. -GD Thundercloud Skyline Two heads End-to-end Three of five Pose for the camera Calling the stragglers Last look Quote
+Cornerstone4 Posted September 17, 2006 Posted September 17, 2006 Ok, so, this wasn't really a San Diego critter, and this park didn't even have a virtual in it, but it was still a big critter! Quote
+Cornerstone4 Posted September 17, 2006 Posted September 17, 2006 Now this one I was hoping for some ID help on? I'm not sure what it was, but it was moving! Quote
+Snake & Rooster Posted September 17, 2006 Posted September 17, 2006 Now this one I was hoping for some ID help on? I'm not sure what it was, but it was moving! Unless I'm mistaken, it is a tribble. They are considered quite rare in this part of the galaxy, and importing them is a serious crime! Quote
+Toby's Gang Posted September 17, 2006 Posted September 17, 2006 Now this one I was hoping for some ID help on? I'm not sure what it was, but it was moving! Unless I'm mistaken, it is a tribble. They are considered quite rare in this part of the galaxy, and importing them is a serious crime! Quote
+TrailGators Posted September 17, 2006 Posted September 17, 2006 Now this one I was hoping for some ID help on? I'm not sure what it was, but it was moving! Unless I'm mistaken, it is a tribble. They are considered quite rare in this part of the galaxy, and importing them is a serious crime! Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 26, 2006 Author Posted September 26, 2006 Sunday, 9/3/2006 Catching up on some postings following a couple of weeks out of country. More to follow when I get around to editing photos from UK. In the meantime, here's a sequence of a Western Fence Lizard finishing up a grasshopper meal at Ice House (take II). Going, going ... Gone! -GD Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 26, 2006 Author Posted September 26, 2006 Saturday, 9/16/2006 Not exactly San Diego but it was on the walk to a cache called A Sign of the Times in Winchester, Hampshire (England). -GD One of several swans near City Bridge on the River Itchen Holding steady in the current White and black abstract Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted September 26, 2006 Posted September 26, 2006 Saturday, 9/16/2006 Not exactly San Diego but it was on the walk to a cache called A Sign of the Times in Winchester, Hampshire (England). Interesting coincidence... As soon as I get my camera downloaded, I was going upload some pictures of swans taken while searching for a cache along a canal in England. Mine were taken in Oxfordshire, though... Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 28, 2006 Author Posted September 28, 2006 Sunday, 9/17/2006 On Saturday I photographed some of England's Freshwater Swans near Winchester. Today I spotted a beautiful specimen of the much rarer Saltwater Swan on my multicache hiking trek in the Portsmouth area. This one was seen shortly before I reached the coordinates for Guiding Stars & Fair Winds. -GD Saltwater Swan Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted September 28, 2006 Posted September 28, 2006 (edited) As promised... 13Sep2006 - Swan and Cygnet at the beginning of the hunt for Never at Sea - Wharf (GCN5GR) in Oxfordshire 14Sep2006 - Two swans seen while walking along the towpath between Never at Sea - Two Boats (GCN5JB) and Never at Sea - Cuttle Inn (GCN5HQ) in Warwickshire 18Sep2006 - Two pheasants walking on a wall near Staward Gorge (GCN152) in Northumberland 21Sep2006 - Ducks and Geese near Racecourse View (GCRJAE) in Cambridgeshire Edited September 28, 2006 by Let's Look Over Thayer Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted September 28, 2006 Posted September 28, 2006 Switching to animals without feathers... 15Sep2006 -- A slug at the cache location for Rainbow Forge Dam (GCPYAV) near Sheffield. (The cache also had slugs in it. Bleah!) 17Sep2006 -- This horse is at Rivaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. The nearby cache was Rest a While (GCTBH4). 24Sep2006 -- Ponies near Stargate P51000 (GCVE7W) in Hertfordshire 13Sep2006 -- And last, but certainly not least, a very rare unicorn that we saw while hunting for Dirty Drunken Deddington (GCHWVF). Quote
+SD Rowdies Posted September 28, 2006 Posted September 28, 2006 (edited) This horse is at Rivaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. Sandy and I have been to that wonderful old abbey. Loved that place but the horse was facing the other way when we were there. Edited September 28, 2006 by SD Rowdies Quote
+Team Gecko Posted September 29, 2006 Author Posted September 29, 2006 Sunday, 9/17/2006 Great English settings, LLOT. Hard to mistake that scenery for anywhere else. Speaking of British slugs, here's a handsome one in formal attire I saw along a country footpath on my way to Itchen to get back to the pub. -GD This way ... or that way? Quote
+John&Jess Posted September 30, 2006 Posted September 30, 2006 Here are some pics of a hawk being chased by two crows near KEANA. They were really giving that hawk what-for! Here are some dearly departed cache critters near Off Tour in Avalon J&J Quote
+TrailGators Posted September 30, 2006 Posted September 30, 2006 (edited) Here are some dearly departed cache critters near Off Tour in Avalon J&J You two are lucky that you got away from the Pet Sematary before dark!!! Edited September 30, 2006 by TrailGators Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 1, 2006 Posted October 1, 2006 You two are lucky that you got away from the Pet Sematary before dark!!! Ms. LLOT and I found this cache one evening last summer. It was just getting dark as we found it... Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 1, 2006 Posted October 1, 2006 Technically, this is not a Cache Critter since we weren't caching at the time. We did stop to log Duncan!'s Run Away! cache on the way home, though, so maybe it kind of, sort of, counts... Heerman's Gull (non-breeding plumage). The photo was taken in San Diego Harbor from the flying bridge of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty ship that supported the Allied Invasion of Normandy. Quote
+TrailGators Posted October 2, 2006 Posted October 2, 2006 You two are lucky that you got away from the Pet Sematary before dark!!! Ms. LLOT and I found this cache one evening last summer. It was just getting dark as we found it... Did you notice the subtle addition to the photo? When I showed it to Rocketman he didn't notice... Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 2, 2006 Posted October 2, 2006 You two are lucky that you got away from the Pet Sematary before dark!!! Ms. LLOT and I found this cache one evening last summer. It was just getting dark as we found it... Did you notice the subtle addition to the photo? When I showed it to Rocketman he didn't notice... Missed it completely! Good thing it was getting dark or we might have had to change our shorts! Quote
+Team Gecko Posted October 2, 2006 Author Posted October 2, 2006 Here are some pics of a hawk being chased by two crows near KEANA. They were really giving that hawk what-for! J&J Those photos remind me of an owl-hawk aerial combat Steve Dillon (The Dillon Gang) and I observed in the among the palms near Pushawalla Power Path #17 back on 4 June 2005. At first one owl was hassling the hawk, then another joined in. It was very early light and too fast to keep up with my camera so the attached shot is very blurry. One of the owls hit the hawk so hard that we both heard a loud "thunk". That was the last we saw of the hawk or the owls. -GD Contact! Quote
+Team Gecko Posted October 2, 2006 Author Posted October 2, 2006 Sunday, 9/17/2006 This little English warbler(?) was guarding Kings Horses, part of the Seagulls Ships & Sites Multi-cache in Portsmouth, England. This intermediate cache was a large ammo box hidden between an old stone wall and some protective bushes and only a few yards off a walkway to a popular beach area. This shot was taken while I was kneeling down over the cache container to open it up. Only the bird and I knew what was transpiring back here out of sight of the occassional Sunday afternoon strollers. -GD And what are YOU up to back there? Quote
+PassingWind Posted October 6, 2006 Posted October 6, 2006 (edited) Now this one I was hoping for some ID help on? I'm not sure what it was, but it was moving! Looks like a resting Nighthawk? Edited October 6, 2006 by PassingWind Quote
+Team Gecko Posted October 8, 2006 Author Posted October 8, 2006 Friday, 9/29/2006 I enjoyed watching a Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) cruising just above the chapparel from my lunch spot adjacent to Champagne Summit Redux. A Harrier's narrow banded tail is similar to that of a Cooper's Hawk but the conspicuous white rump patch is distinctive to Harriers. They have owl-like disk-shaped face masks that helps focus the sounds of field mice to their very sensitive ears. Harriers hunt small birds and mammals. Older bird books refer to them as Marsh Hawks. Their natural range includes much of the U.S. as well as Eurasia. -GD Northern Harrier Quote
+PassingWind Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 10/13/06 Near a cache , 1 of about twenty of so spotted today. Quote
+TrailGators Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 10/13/06 Near a cache , 1 of about twenty of so spotted today. Great shot! It looks like he wanted to bang heads with you.... Quote
+PassingWind Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 Great shot! It looks like he wanted to bang heads with you.... She! Quote
+TrailGators Posted October 14, 2006 Posted October 14, 2006 (edited) Great shot! It looks like he wanted to bang heads with you.... She! Is that some kind of tracking device on her neck? Edited October 15, 2006 by TrailGators Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 15, 2006 Posted October 15, 2006 Great shot! It looks like he wanted to bang heads with you.... She! Is that some kind of tracking device on her neck? Looks like a cache to me... Quote
+Snake & Rooster Posted October 15, 2006 Posted October 15, 2006 (edited) Nice shot. Edited October 16, 2006 by Snake & Rooster Quote
+TrailGators Posted October 15, 2006 Posted October 15, 2006 (edited) Looks like a cache to me... She's a TB. If you find her, and catch her, you can log her. Funny comments but Don really wants to keep this thread on the more serious side. So we should move this to the Banter thread. Edited October 15, 2006 by TrailGators Quote
+D-Jollymon Posted October 16, 2006 Posted October 16, 2006 Saw this little guy slither across the trail 10 feet from the picnic bench on top of Iron Mt. Warned the other hikers coming up the trail to keep their dogs (and kids) on a leash!!! Rattle, Rattle Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 This Red-Tail was south of "Tanks for the Cache" (GCYH05) on my abortive attempt to reach Airplane Grave Yard (GCVJJD). It was a snap shot (better to get a bad shot than no shot I always say). I had lined up for another shot only to find that my CF was full. By the time I changed my "film", it had flown off. I had much better luck with this Red-Tail, who was sitting a pole between the aptly named Poleline Cache (GCR2PT) and the equally aptly named POLE LINE ROAD (GCR2G8) There are a couple of other shots of this same bird attached to my log entry for Poleline Cache Quote
+TrailGators Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 RocketMan and I saw this deceased owl in a slot canyon near Thread the Needle last Friday. We were wondered how it died because it was in fairly good conditon.....We saw another owl soaring overhead but couldn't get a photo of it. Quote
+Team Gecko Posted October 24, 2006 Author Posted October 24, 2006 Monday, 10/9/2006 Saw this accomplished rock climber among the summit rocks while looking for a good place to hide Sombrero Peak. -GD Vertically inclined Enlarged view Quote
+Let's Look Over Thayer Posted October 30, 2006 Posted October 30, 2006 I saw this feather fella while I was walking out to Cottonwood Creek Park (GCJPWQ) up in Encinitas today. It's times like this that make me wish that I lugged my SLR everywhere but all I had today was my little pocket camera... Quote
+Team Gecko Posted November 1, 2006 Author Posted November 1, 2006 Saturday, 10/28/2006 Bighorns seen in Borrego Palm Canyon between First Grove and Second Grove on a climb of Indianhead. You can reach this area via the Alternate Trail near our Just Frogs cache. This morning, Ruscal and I started from the campground trailhead around 7:50 am following a very nice sunrise. Immediately above First Grove, we encountered a pair of bighorn rams, one an old-timer and the other a younger protégé just coming into his prime. Since we were not in a particular hurry, we walked along at an easy pace as they moved along slowly while browsing, grazing, and occasionally drinking from the creek. About 1/2 mile upstream, they started watching the opposite slope and soon, with a clatter, a ewe and two sub-yearlings could be seen bounding from rock to rock on a descent to the creek bed. This threesome crossed over to the rams but their seemed to be a game of hide-and-seek and they never actually got together as a group. Eventually the ewe and youngsters crossed back over, the rams wandered into the open to give them a long, long look, and then both groups went their separate ways. In addition to photographing these magnificent animals in unbelievably nice lighting, I took some Quicktime clips of them on the move, including the large ram head butting a barrel cactus in a half-hearted attempt to overturn it. -GD The younger ram Browsing and drinking Ewe and sub-yearlings The big guy Borrego Buds Quote
+RocketMan Posted November 1, 2006 Posted November 1, 2006 Borrego Buds Great shots Don, particularly this one. Thanks for sharing. Dave Quote
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