Hints at the surface

Of course, seabirds hunt on or near the surface and fly above the waves but so much of the ocean’s life lies below the surface. I always consider myself extremely lucky to catch a glimpse of these fascinating animals when they come to the surface, usually briefly. This trip was remarkable in the number of excellent views we had of marine mammals, reptile and fish.

Always one of the most intriguing hints at the surface is the spout of a whale. We were all excited when we saw a large pod of Fin Whales and got to watch their spouts....


Fin Whale is the second largest cetacean (Blue Whale being the largest) and they have a distinctive shape with the small dorsal fin set well back and usually not visible when they first surface, but then appearing behind them a second or two later as in this photo.


and then as they go down the back arches forward and the fin is briefly exposed...

The smaller Minke Whale break the surface in a different manner, coming up snout first and then rolling the back up and forward as the head goes down in a beautiful arching movement.

Their back has a prominant arch when they do this...

The small Pilot Whale is actually a type of dolphin that behaves like a whale. When they breach the surface you can see their dolphin-like shape...

The head however has a large "melon" whose adjustable shape is used in echolocation

When it protrudes from the surface you can see how larger the melon can be...

Common Dolphins are fast and smooth and a real treat to watch. They like to ride the bow waves of boats and so come close. The first image shows an adult and calf - note the two-toned pattern.

This dorsal fin and tail reveal a Hammerhewad Shark just below the surface

I was amazed how close this incredible animal came (with binoculars you could see the shape of the head well)

A fish out of water? This flying fish leaps above the surface. Their specially modified fins permit them to glide considerable distances above the surface, which helps in avoiding predators below the surface.

A rare sea creature, the Leatherback Seaturtle is easily identified by the ridge on their back. Leatherback Seaturtle are the largest reptile in the world and unique among turtles in their leathery carapace, as opposed to hard scales. Unfortunately, they are ciritcally endangered.

This one is munching on a jellyfish (note the tentacle trailing from the corner of the mouth)

Not seen on the pelagic trip but on the coast was another rare marine reptile - the beautiful Diamondback Terrapin, with their distincitve bluish skin.

That completes this series from the Atlantic Ocean...

Blue-spotted salamander

Nopiming Provincial Park (or “Noopiming” as I prefer to spell it because this is an Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) word meaning “in the bush” and the first vowel is long – indicated in some orthographies by doubling the “o”) is one of my favourite places for watching wildlife in Manitoba. I do a breeding bird survey here every year, on which I have encountered many wonderful sights including Canada lynx and nesting Trumpeter Swans. Situated in southeastern Manitoba, Canada and straddling the Ontario border (just north of Whiteshell Provincial Park), Noopiming is a wonderful example of the boreal forest of the Canadian shield. Normally, when I talk about Noopiming I go on for hours about owls or boreal birds or some exciting mammals but this post is about a smaller resident of Noopiming – the beautiful blue-spotted salamander.

Since I am more typically looking up in the trees I don’t often see salamanders but when I accompanied Shauna Hewson on an amphibian survey a few days ago I learnt a trick or two about looking on the ground. Blue-spotted salamanders are quite small (<14cm) and not easy to find. The first photo shows two salamanders from above. You can see the extensive blue spotting on the tail with less on the body, although there is considerable variation in individual markings.


These next shots show them from various angles on moss. In some of these shots you can see the grooves on the side of the body that are characteristic of the North American Ambystoma salamanders, sometimes called “mole salamanders”.




And here is a close up to show the features of the head such as the protruding eyes


The Ambystoma have some fascinating tricks. Maybe the most famous is the Axolotl, in which adults develop from aquatic larvae without the usual metamorphosis by developing lungs but retaining gills (actually the Axolotl is not alone in this). The blue-spotted salamander exhibits another fascinating phenomenon – they can hybridise with their sister species, the Jefferson’s Salamander, but this amazingly has resulted in two completely female hybrid populations, which lay eggs that contain cloned material, i.e. asexual reproduction. Genetically speaking the whole population is one hybrid cloned many times. Females in these all female populations still go through mating rituals with males of the parent species even though they don’t actually breed with them. These hybrids don't occur in Manitoba though - we are on the westernmost edge of the range of blue-spotted salamander and far from any populations of Jefferson's salamander.


Another highlight of the day was seeing two common snapping turtles – here is one of them. These enormous turtles have a formidable bite and can pluck unsuspecting prey from the surface with a dazzling speed that belies the turtle/tortoise reputation.

a smooth green experience

At the end of a long but very successful morning surveying for Golden-winged Warblers in the Whitemud Watershed Wildlife Management Area in western Manitoba, I decided to change out of my wet socks before hiking back out to the car. In order to put down my gear, I went to pick up a piece of dead wood to make a cradle so my stuff wouldn't get wet. Being tired, and a bit of a clutz, I accidently broke off the top of the dead wood but, to my joy and amazement, this revealed a smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis). Having never seen this species before, I could not resist a few quick snap shots before placing the dead wood gently back on top of the disturbed reptile. This shot shows the tongue (the second is cropped in). Sorry snake, but you sure are beautiful!

just beautiful!

A visit to the Narcisse snake dens

I had a journey to make up to Lake Manitoba on the weekend and my good friend Bear joined me for the ride to the res. On the way home we went my Narcisse and were pleasantly surprised to see that the snake dens were open to the public. The red-sided garter snakes in the north spent our long brutal winters underground in limestone caves and many hundreds, even thousands, gather at these denning sites each fall in preparation for their winter sleep. At this time of the year they are emerging from the rocks…


When they emerge the snakes have breeding on their mind and you will see many mating balls where large numbers of the smaller males slither over a female (much larger) in an attempt to be the one who gets to mate. This is just a small mating ball!


Here you can see the males following the larger females as she slides away (she is the one with her head furthest to the right)


Even without a female present they don’t mind a little company it seems!

You can see the size differences well in this image

A couple of close-ups - the second shot shows the forked and bicoloured tongue.

There was other wildlife to see on the day of course – a few shots from the drive include this muskrat on the ice

An adult Bald Eagle on the ice

Marbled Godwits feeding in frosted fields

And Double-crested Cormorant and Great Egret taking off. The Great Egret is near their northernmost breeding colony in North America at Dog Lake…

Mexico - mangroves

The coastal mangroves are a remarkable ecosystem – a story of triumph over environmental difficulties, the mangroves grow where no other trees can thanks to a series of extraordinary adaptations that allow them to cope with flooding and salt. Where the mangroves thrive there is an extraordinary diversity of life like this American Crocodile


Two of the highlights of a boat ride through the mangroves in San Blas (west coast) were nesting herons – first the magnificent Bare-throated Tiger-Heron – just look at that gorgeous cryptic plumage, so different from the white youngster on the nest


And then the bizarre Boat-billed Heron – what a bill! The large eyes betray this species’ nocturnal habits. Previously I had only seen this species flying out at dusk or at night with a spotlight so it was fascinating to see them at their nesting colony by day.


These female Anhingas stuck an attractive pose – male inserted to show difference. Anhingas, called darters in the “old world”, are a peculiar family comprising only 4 species (one each in the Australasian Realm, the Oriental Realm, the Afrotropical Realm, and the Neotropical Realm (although the Neotropical representative, the Anhinga, makes it up a little way into the Nearctic realm, i.e. above the Tropic of Cancer). Like the similar cormorants they don’t have the preen oil to provide waterproofing found in many other water bird families and so spend hours sunning themselves, wings outstretched. Their ability to swim with their body submerged and just their long neck protruding has earned them the nickname “snake birds”.

This juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-heron stayed perfectly still as we drifted by

And this beautiful Amazon Kingfisher stayed still just long enough for a photo

A real bonus in an area of aquaculture (shrimp farming?) was this juvenile King Rail who walked within a few feet of us. These “kings” are just huge – they would dwarf a Virginia Rail!

Rufous-bellied Chachalaca stayed high in the tall trees above the water and I was always looking up at them and trying to photograph them in difficult light.

Staying in the mangroves at dusk also has rewards, like seeing several Northern Potoos. The potoo has the most insane eyeshine ever - you can spot them several hundred meters away!

On the other coast – a mangrove ride at Lago Catemaco found us several great birds including a female Great Currasow high in a tree at dusk and several Grey-necked Wood Rails like this one.

Of course everyone at the conference in Veracruz wanted to see Sungrebe and so many traveled down to Lago Catemaco… but the time of year was not right and this species was nowhere to be seen… but here’s a female Adam and I saw at Lago Catemaco some years before (yes, I’m cheating I know). The Sungrebe belongs to the fascinating pan-tropical finfoot family which comprises just three species: one in the Oriental Realm (Masked Finfoot), one in the Afrotropical Realm (African Finfoot), and one in the Neotropical Realm (Sungrebe). This family gets their name from the lobed webbing on their toes.

You can view these photos in larger format at: http://artusophotos.com/