The amphibians are re-emerging. I haven't seen any Northwestern salamanders or any spawn yet so I decided to take a fresh look at editing some pictures from the summer of 2024. Here, a salamander had swum up to the surface and snatched (most of) an insect, making ripples. #herps 🌿 #salamander

Macro photo of an entire tree! A very small Douglas fir (probably, given what was all around) growing from a nursery log in a splash of sunlight. Malcolm Knapp forest, BC #macro #macrophotography 🌿

Possibly Wolf's Milk (Genus Lycogala), a kind of slime mold. Still waiting for confirmation on iNaturalist but checking with the brain trust here too. A few mm in size. Belcarra, BC. #fungifriends #slimemold 🌿 #macrophotography

Cladonia lichen competing for space on a tree trunk at Belcarra, BC. TIL a new word: 𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎, the red tips. 🌿 #lichen #fungifriends #macrophotography

It’s a sign! Sadly I did not see any amphibians today. Still too early in the season. Belcarra, BC #herps 🌿

I was looking for something in my archives and came across this shot that I had somehow never edited. An old pharmacy in Florence, Italy. 2019. #travelphotography #urban #street #architecture

A family of northern flickers. From an evening in late June 2024. Every year I watch this old wooden piling to see who has taken up residence. No new tenants this morning. Still too early in the season. #BlueSkyArtShow #wood #birds 🌿

Today’s hike in Coquitlam: totally not-scary and perfectly normal electricity stuff (under some pylons) and a naturally-occurring selfie mirror.

I'm at the end of editing my pics from my time in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Here's me (left) and Eddy (right) my amazing guide. We saw 49 species of bird in a single morning around Chunyaxché and Sian Ka'an. Photo kindly taken by Tyler Huestis, a fellow Canadian with a keen eye. #birdwatching #birds

A boat-billed flycatcher. Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). #birds 🌿 #birdwatching #birdlovers

One more of the downy woodpecker that landed right beside me on the dyke at Addington Pitt Marsh, British Columbia yesterday. #birds #birdwatching 🌿 #birdlovers

Clearly the work of a beaver with grand ambitions. Addington Pitt Marsh, BC. #mammals 🌿

A downy woodpecker landed right beside me on the dyke at Addington Pitt Marsh, British Columbia yesterday. Camera data says it was 2.41m away from me. It kept an eye on me but was more focused on getting the seeds out of these stems. #birds #birdwatching 🌿

A beaver swimming through the reflections of marsh plants in a channel at the Addington-Pitt Marsh. It is carrying some building material in its mouth. #mammals 🌿

A ruddy woodcreeper creeping around to the sunny side of a tree trunk. Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

A white-bellied emerald hummingbird. Dark and rainy and hidden in the trees. Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

Red-throated ant-tanager. Walking around the neighborhood of Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum) and the Laguna de Muyil reserve we saw so 49 different species of bird. #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

Playing peekaboo with a rather wet hooded oriole. Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

One more shot of the rose-throated becard from yesterday, right after it had eaten a huge moth. You can see the scales of the moth on the beak and on the power line. Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

Rose-throated becard with a moth in the side streets of Chunyaxché, QR, Mexico (south of Tulum). Shooting against a completely overcast sky, but what can you do? It landed right above me like it wanted me to take its pic. It would be rude not to. #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

Looking down from an observation tower on a black spiny-tailed iguana lying on a park bench. Check out that spiny tail! Jardín Botánico Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin, Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. #herps 🌿 🦎

A black spiny-tailed iguana at the Jardín Botánico Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin, Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. It was lying in the sun on a park bench but then when it decided to climb the tree it was surprisingly quick. #herps 🌿 🦎

The ultimate lazy birdwatching catch. I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel at the end of the day sipping a beer when I noticed this golden-fronted woodpecker on a palm tree. #birds 🌿 #birdwatching

While standing outside a convenience store in Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico I noticed a dead bat on the side of the road. It's a little morbid, but also fascinating to see the ants at work. Where would we be without all those little critters recycling things? #mammals 🦇 🌿 🐜 #insects

Enough with the monkeys. Now for birds. A pair of macaws at the Xaman Ha open-air aviary, Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. #birds 🦜 🌿

An agouti, a kind of large rodent. Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. Called 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒 in Spanish in Quintana Roo. #mammals 🌿

An anole in Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. #herps 🦎 🌿

A yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona oratrix), which I learned from iNaturalist is classified as endangered. AFAIK it's just the quiet and the food that keeps the birds there. At the Xaman Ha open-air aviary, Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. #birds 🦜 🌿

A wood stork walks past two agoutis (a kind of rodent) at the Xaman Ha Aviary at Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico. All but one small area was completely open so I suppose the birds and agoutis could come and go. #birds #mammals 🌿

Look ma, no hands (or feet)! Opposable digits on the hands and feet AND a tail that is strong enough to support the body weight. I was surprised at how much time the monkeys spent upside down. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico. #mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒

I was observing a troupe of howler monkeys but they were observing me right back. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico. #mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒

An adult howler monkey resting. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico. #mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒

A young howler monkey. Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatan, Mexico. #mammals #monkey 🌿 🐒

A baby spider monkey at Punta Laguna reserve, Yuacatan, Mexico. My guide, Francisco, reckoned it was ~2 months old. It was foraging independently but sometimes hitching a ride on an adult. #mammals #monkey 🐒 🌿

Another spider monkey in Yucatan, Mexico. Hanging by its tail, scratching an itch and looking intently in the distance. #mammals 🌿 🐒 #monkey

I was observing this spider monkey in the trees at Punta Laguna reserve, Yucatán, Mexico with a guide when it decided to come down to the ground right in front of us to gather some fruit. Metadata says 2.83-3.3m away. #mammals 🌿 🐒 #monkey

A jogger on the Burnaby Lake trail yesterday morning. We've been having frosty, foggy mornings but sunny at the same time. #telephotolandscape

Chestnut-backed chickadee at Burnaby Lake, BC yesterday. Canon R5+RF100-500, 1/320, f7.1, ISO 32000 (!) #birds #birdphotography 🌿

An American pygmy kingfisher in the swamp at the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, Quintana Roo, Mexico. #birds #birdphotography 🌿

A group of mushrooms growing in the hollow of a rotting stump. Sasamat Lake to Diez Vistas trail, British Columbia today. #fungifriends #fungus 🌿 🍄

Why did the tarantula cross the road at night? Surely it was so we'd spot it and take a photo. Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. #spider 🕷️ 🌿

I asked José Gill, my guide in the jungle near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico, "what are those green lights I see when we shine our flashlights?" They were wolf spiders, looking back in the darkness. #spider 🌿 🕷️

A ma'kech (or maquechs) beetle (Zopherus chilensis) about to go into its burrow. Traditionally people glue jewels and a little leash to the beetles and wear them as living broaches as love charms. Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. More in 🧵 #beetle #insect 🌿

Leafcutter ants working through the night on the jungle floor. Near Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. #insect #ant 🌿

An bug in the jungle at night. Perhaps Savius jurgiosus, from my iNaturalist searching. Quintana Roo, Mexico. #insect 🌿 #macrophotography

Another shot from the night hunting in the jungle west of Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico. A Yucatán banded gecko (Coleonyx elegans), although admittedly not looking very banded. #herps #gecko 🌿 🦎

Hunting for amphibians and reptiles in the jungle at night west of Puerto Morelos, QR, Mexico with José "Gill" of Gills Bioexperiences last week. We came across this Central American Gulf Coast toad (Incilius valliceps) within minutes. #herps #toad

Escape room at the New West sky train. Fun blend of writing systems. #linguistics

More coping with a Vancouver winter by looking at old Hawai'i photos that I never got around to editing. 27 Dec 2019. Driving across Maui at dusk when I spotted this golf course(?) surrounded by mountains, all bathed in the last rays. #travelphotography #landscape #landscapephotography

Fungus growing on a sawed log. Not sure of ID -- perhaps Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)? Yesterday at Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, Maple Ridge, BC. #fungifriends #fungus 🌿