🐢 European pond terrapin - this one goes in to the category of a real-life Pokemon 😂 They are really beautiful when we find one that is not all covered with mud. Wild and free, in situ photo.

🐍🦎 European glass lizard, Pseudopus apodus - they grow up to 140 cm, this one was about 120 cm. Archive photo from Croatia, 2024

Bluesky can always have one more 🐍 🤩 Asp viper, Vipera aspis

🪶 Wood pidgeon, Columba palumbus. Normaly they fly when you're this near, but this one built the nest just over a dust trail, and he is used to having lots of people passing by. A trustfull fellow...

🐍 A western whip snake heating up in the shrubs. Hierophis viridiflavus Western Switzerland

🪶 A Red kite came close enough to take some nice shots, it was curious to inspect my camera. Doubs, France

🦎🐍🐸Common toads come to the water in spring to breed. These are most likely males waiting for females. A Slow worm, Anguis fragilis, was swimming and sunbathing among the reeds, an uncommon sigting as they are largely nocturnal and I was not aware they appreciated swimming. Doubs, france Avril 2026

🐍 First sand lizard for me this year, a juvenile, sunbathing on a rock. Lacerta agilis Doubs, France

🐍 Four-lined snake, Elaphe quatorlineata Photo from archive, Croatia, May 2024. Photo isn't awesome, but shows well how big these guys can grow. I estimate this individual around 1.8m.

Mating ritual of asp viper, the male advances over the female with jerky movements and tongue flicking. Filmed in Western Switzerland

🐍 Male fights of asp vipers over a female. They interlace and push each other to the sides or to the ground, the stronger male gets to mate the female. No bites ever occur. Photos taken today in western Switzerland.

🦎 Several photos of the same individual of a Common wall lizard, Podarcis muralis, taken with different light angles. The colour of the flanks changes from light to dark brown to blackish and the back from sandy to greyish, light green and dark green. Amazing little creatures !!

Subadult male green lizard just out of hibernation.

🐍 season's greetings 🐍 Herp season is starting and asp vipers and other herps are active again. Wild and free. Today in western Switzerland.

🦎 The amazing Moroccan spiny-tailed lizard, Uromastyx nigriventris. Colours are very variable, this was one of the cuttest I came across. They eat mainly vegetables, but also some invertebrates when they have the opportunity. I include a photo of the habitat, I wonder how can they thrive ?

🐸 Brongersma's toad Barbarophryne brongersmai Morocco You have some beautiful eyes, you know? I love the green spots that look like lichens or algae.

Why didn't anyone tell me there was legless gecko DLC available on Earth ver 5.0 (I know we're technically on version 6.0 cause of our current extinction event but we can skip formalities cause holy shit there's sneckos!!) #reptile #🦎 #leglessgeckos #lizards #snecko

Frogs have regional accents, apparently. Who knew? 😜 #herps

🪶 Black-crowned chagra Chagra senegalus

🪶Trumpeter finch Bucanetes githagineus South of Assa, Morocco These birds are called like this because their call is exactly the sound of a party trumpet (see photo). They inhabit desert and semi desert, but need water in their flying range. It was a new species for me, I had never seen one before.

In a 200m lake full of tree frog tadpoles (cf last post), there are often others looking for the easy meal... in this case, Viperine snakes, Natrix maura. I saw more than 12 coming to the surface to breathe. Viperine 🐍 are called like this because their pattern and behaviour often mimicks vipers

🐸 Mediterranean tree frog Hyla meridionalis Tiny baby, just out of water! About 1 cm long, maybe less Photographed in Southern France in August 2024.

🪶 Spotless starling Sturnus unicolor

🪶 Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia

🦊 Souvenir from Assa, Morocco. Dromadaires in a pick-up truck. In Morocco, they call them "our 4x4" (and they mean the dromedaires 😂)

🦎 Tiny little salamander, just about 6 cm long

🦎 It took some searching 👀 but I found them. Fire salamander S. salamandra terrestris According to the legend, fire salamanders would be able to resist and extinguish fire. It would be cool if it were true, but it's just a myth 😂. Photographed in Western Switzerland.

🐍🐍 The (not so) Common Adder... at least in western Europe, adder populations have been declining for the last 30 years. I photographed it the month of May some years ago in eastern France. I think it was a pregnant female. Unlike most snakes, vipers do not lay eggs, they bear live young.

🪶 The beautiful greenfinch Carduelis chloris

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🪶 A black woodpecker doing his thing. This is the biggest woodpecker in Europe, reaching 46 cm length and 73 cm wingspan, nearly the size of a carrion crow. The sound of its drumming is described as a "machine gun salvo" in my field guide 😂 and it is audible up to 4 Km. Dryocopus martius

🪶 I just love Squacco herons, they look all brown on the ground and then nearly all white when they take flight. Ardeola ralloides

🪶 Little egret, Bubulcus ibus Flying before sunset in the Camargue, France

🐍 Asp viper, Vipera aspis Always a pleasure to see them! Photo from my archive, I don't think they're still active around here.

🪶 Grey heron closeups Ardea cinerea

🐍 Asp viper, Vipera aspis

#AddOcean 🐙🪶 A couple of Audouin's gulls in the mediterranean sea coast. Larus audouinii

#addMam 🦊 Red deer Cervus elaphus

🪶 I love terns. Here is a common tern bringing a fish to the chicks back at the nest. Sterna hirundo

🦎 a hungry baby western green lizard with a bug. Lacerta bilineata I don't know what bug is

A male Teal, the smallest European duck, about 2/3 the size of a Mallard. Always a beauty to my eyes!! Anas crecca

Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words. The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.

🐍 Meet the Slow worm, Anguis fragilis. Actually not a worm... and faster than a worm! It's a limbless lizard that feeds on slugs and other invertebrates. You can tell them from snakes because they can close their eyelids and have visible ear openings. They don't need so much heat as most lizards.

🐍 Asp viper, Vipera aspis

🪶 Bittern, Botaurus stellaris With its perfect camouflage in reed beds. I've seen two explanations for the name stelaris, one that it has specked plumage, other that it looks at the stars (like in photo) I like very much the male call, which goes like BOOM, and is called Booming. Photo croped :(

🪶 White-tailed eagles Haliaeetus albicilla It is the biggest eagle in Europe, its wingspan can reach 2,4m. As in all big raptors, you can see clearly the 'fingers' at the wingtips. When they arrived, all the ducks took flight. Must have been a coïncidence 😂

🐸 After suggestion of @theonetruecat, I present you the magnificent Green Toad, Bufotes viridis. Photographed in the Peloponese, Greece. #toadalytuesday #Bufotesviridis

🪶 The avocet, with it's black and white plumage and upturned bill

The Midwife toad, Alytes obstetricans - a small toad that owes it's name to the fact that males take care of the eggs until they hatch. They transport them on their backs keeping them humid and defending them from predators.

Of all the best and kindest humans to ever live, Jane Goodall is near the top of my list. Rest in Peace, you beautiful soul. On behalf of the earth, I thank you www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...