In the wild: Animals edition

[ZackB]

@endo those are so cool, used to love watching the giant salamanders at the zoo

[sabergirl]

Saw another hawk, up close. This one was eating a kill beside the road, and when I rolled up in the car it perched in a nearby tree. I rolled to a stop and we just looked at each other for a little while. I’m sure when I drove away it probably went back for its snack.

[Tago Mago]

Saw loads of these guys around Lake Como. Wall lizards, i think

[Oaktavia]

@sabergirl looks like a red tailed hawk, which are larger than the coopers and red shouldered hawks we have around the east coast.

[SKT]

@Oaktavia we have a ton of Cooper’s hawks in our neighborhood. They’re beautiful but an absolute menace to feeder birds. I can always tell when one is around because our feeders go really quiet.

[Oaktavia]

@SKT I have seen upwards of three individual coopers hawks circling in the sky above my house. They are cool looking but like you said, definitely predators.

[sabergirl]

We’ve got all three types around in WNC, and have a hard time telling the difference!

[Oaktavia]

@sabergirl the Merlin bird ID app is the only reason I really know. Red tails are biggest with rusty orange tail feathers. Red shouldered have same(ish) coloring on the sides of their breasts (shoulders) and coopers are smallest of the three, with tails that have dark and light markings.

[SKT]

@Oaktavia speaking of Cooper’s…saw this guy take a dive at a small squirrel this morning! He missed but was cool to see

[Oaktavia]

@SKT awesome

[SKT]

Little toad

[Oaktavia]

@SKT gray tree frog methinks

[SKT]

@Oaktavia ahh thanks for the heads up. Such a cool natural camo.

[Oaktavia]

@SKT yeah I remember the first time I saw one it was really cool. I love their roundness. They have yellow coloration on the inside of their legs.

[mclaincausey]

Howdy, Bullwinkle!

[Bridger]

Amazing @mclaincausey - where was that?

[Oaktavia]

@mclaincausey wow what a magical creature just chillin there

[mclaincausey]

@Bridger Gilpin County Colorado, near Black Hawk

@Oaktavia exactly. Majestic and totally unimpressed with us in our big ass pickup.

It’s elk season up there, but didn’t see elk or elk sign. Moose tags, especially for bulls, are quite rare so he had little to fear even in that cougar country with his size.

[Bridger]

All this cougar and bull talk has me confused. What happens in Colorado I guess...

[mclaincausey]

@Bridger Tags are allocated to hunters to give them rights to harvest animals in certain regions during certain seasons. This was in a big game hunting region. You only get one bull moose tag in Colorado for your whole life.

so, the likelihood of a hunter going after this guy is very slim. Cougars are the only predator who could threaten a moose, aside from a pack of wolves, but the latter are only recently reintroduced here and to my knowledge aren't in this region at all. With this guy's size, he won't be the first choice for cougars.

We did see a fresh deer carcass on this outing that had been killed by a cougar.