several small rafts of penguins were seen in the outer part of the reserve over the course of the day - these images are of one of these
Omaha Beach visible in the background
the technician came round to tune the solar panel
Six individuals seen total
Bird preening itself on a branch alongside the gannet colony at Muriwai. Is this perhaps a booby? I could not see its feet to determine what colour they were
This tui has been hanging around this area for about a month making all sorts of weird calls. At the very start of this recording you can hear it's imitation of a karearea!
my #1 best and favourite photo from the 10/11 day trip.
collected by Leigh the ranger only hours before from a wild kakapo nest. unfortunately the candling process shows it is infertile.
One at the extreme pale end of the spectrum and the other at the dark end
Flying above terns working 20m off beach
Sitting on the bulbous bulb of the ship
Gregarious flock of sparrows at the South Piha car park. Immediate behaviour was to perch on any car with an occupant, especially on the side mirrors, bonnet or roof.
juvenile King Penguin at sea
Well away from private properties, seems to have paired up and stays closely with the weka in the pic. Appears quite used to getting fed/begging.
This obs if for the caspian terns that are surrounded by the white-fronted terns.
This is a tricky one, maybe some sort of Rail?
scanned from slide and I am not certain of exact date slide labeled September 2004. I might have it in an old notebook. It was so hot and calm this day the shearwaters could barely fly! I recall this day vividly, as I had never seen the ocean out here so ridiculously still. We took the Boston Whaler out to the shearwater raft and soaked up Farallon beauty
Bizarre dark juvenile. Associated with nearby colony. Certain of ID.
Right bird. Greenish bill tip diagnostic
Juvenil de Albatros de cabeza gris en nido de barro turboso de Poa flabellata. En isla Gonzalo
Prints heading from the dunes to the shoreline.
Very bold, let me take the photo from about 10cm away
This selection of photos is part of a larger series I took today of a sunning silvereye which was joined by another bird that proceeded to preen the sunning bird.much to the evident pleasure of the bird being preened. The preening exercise lasted nearly 15 minutes with the bird doing the preening being meticulous in its attention to the fluffed up sunning bird.
Egretta novaehollandiae - White faced heron.
I was lucky enough to have this fellow fly over my head and land in a tree, then having got my attention, fly to a pond and begin wading about. Most of the surface was dull at this hour, but there was a sweet spot, so I waited as he did his rounds skulking through the murk and waited for him to pass through the pools of color from the (just turning) autumnal foliage.
This proved an interesting behavioural observation. In a small flock there was a mix of adults (males and females in non-breeding plumage) and juveniles. Interestingly one of the juveniles was behaving like a territorial male toward a mature male, constantly harassing it and at times actually flying at it and attacking it as pictured in one of these photos.
Little Blue Penguin prey upon by a New Zealand Fur Seal
See more photos on facebook https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.825657967533284.1073741843.812199628879118&type=3
Adult male, eating vines at the seaward base of the dunes.
Hatchling moving toward beach
thought this guy would be easy to ID but am never sure of herps...it was just along the path between the visitor center and the beach
This pair came flying down the beach
Just a sand crab eating an almond... Dropped an almond I was eating in the sand, and this little guy managed to find it. He hung out for a while in camp and chowed down on it while I took a couple photos.
distant Northern Harrier trying to catch prey...some interesting shots, but too distant to get the shots I was hoping for...these are cropped a lot.
This penguin has leucism, a condition in which blond feathers replace the usual black.
I photographed this rare penguin at Waterboat Point, Antarctica.
King Penguins
Gold Harbour,
South Georgia
3 Feb 2000
The bird on the left is a partial leucistic bird, which just means it is missing some black pigment. Some folks refer to these as "dalmatians", but in any event, this sort of thing is seen occasionally. The other birds in the image are normal-looking King Penguins.
In the Amphibian room of the Vasco da Gama Aquarium, Lisboa, Portugal. An exceptionally fat albino individual.
There are also a few naturalised populations in some creeks nearby.
Discovered the melanistic flamingo in a salt pond north of Eilat, Israel slightly west of the Aqaba, Jordan airport.
Leucistic adult, chicks seem to have normal coloration
A yearling albino Green Sea Turtle on Hon Cau, Vietnam. Hatched on the beach and kept as a pet by the park rangers on the island.
Yellow-eyed Penguin
Enderby Island,
Auckland Islands,
New Zealand
16 December 2001
The center bird is leucistic or partially albino. These images scanned from slides.
Leucistic alligator
Another oddity for this species - the last cerrata is forked.
Scorpions with two metasomae (tails) are extremely rare, with one estimate I saw as one in every 5,000 specimens. This specimen is approximately 3cm long head to stinger and is being maintained in captivity to study its behavior.
I found this using a black light flashlight with BJ Stacey (@finatic) at the Carrie Nation Trailhead parking lot at Madera Canyon, Arizona.
Read a detailed account of this specimen's discovery and observation updates at the journal post linked below:
http://www.inaturalist.org/journal/jaykeller/7020-rare-arizona-bark-scorpion-with-two-metasomas-tails-and-stingers
Leucistic individual. No, really.
I have found a wild population of albino bullfrog tadpoles. Dozens of them, mixed with hundreds of normal specimens. Richmond county, Ga. I will continue to monitor the population over the year. And look for reasons of their success. I believe environmental factors play a role more than DNA. I.e. , natural selection...
This serval is melanistic, meaning that it produces an excessive amount of melanin. This is why it is black instead of its usual coat color.
Light beige colored preying mantis. About 2" long. Blends in with the undersides of our oak tree leaves.
Caught via otter trawling w/ Marine Science Institute. Caught juvenile Bat Rays in high densities (28 individuals in one net) including this one.
Eyes not shown, but iris' are red making for a true albino.
Is this an albino Raccoon?
I thought this was a FEHA at first, but I believe it is a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk. Other thoughts?