Little Scavenger
Pics of things I picked up at school, and some stuff that I've simply not shared before. The first section is from my college pickings.
I go to school in Pensacola -- is anyone here from there? I called a local Petland to ask about what they did with their dead stock (there was a very big Merrell's chameleon that was obviously on his way out). They wouldn't let me have the chameleon, but I found out that somebody else had called the day before asking about their dead things and so I've been wondering if there's another FHBer running around there. :D
The one thing that I couldn't bring home - the squirrel mummy. He is wedged in a hole in an oak tree behind the church at school, about twelve feet up or so. I do my rounds of the area about once a week, and he showed up after I missed my Saturday walks for two weeks. I can't climb trees and I couldn't find a ladder to reach him. So. Hopefully he'll still be there when I get back. Because it's a friggin' squirrel mummy!
A bird wing. I found it in front of the church. There are a lot (a LOT) of hawks around, and this is probably crumbs from one of their kills. Any idea who it could belong to? It's got yellow feathers on the 'wrist'.
I kept up my bug collection, and I figured out how to make boxes to bring them home more or less intact.
Any idea what this guy is? I found him flopping around on a sidewalk so I bagged him and waited an hour or so 'til he croaked. I can't swallow killing butterflies yet for my collection, but I've no qualms with taking them if they're already on their way out. I'm patient. :>
One of two very large carpenter bees. The second one has a strangely long, angular face and is super fuzzy. He was rolling around like he was being attacked by ants before he died, and then he wouldn't dry. No pics of that one at the moment. This one I found freshly dead.
A mole cricket being pinned. These guys are so cool. I love mole crickets.
My only real roadkill find. There was a flat possum on a little side road and all that was left intact were the jaws and teeth. So I took them. They're going in my maceration jar real soon.
A young Cooper's hawk chowing down on one of the local squirrels. I was able to get within four feet or so of him. I didn't find the rest of the carcass later to collect the bones, but! the family that the squirrel came from had a litter this spring that included an albino squirrel. The albino was so cute.
I also saw (live) Cooper's, red-tails, osprey, and red-shouldered Hawks, and probably a little kestrel; also egrets, a green heron, and a funny plover-type bird. There was a little black-tipped shark and a ghost crab when we went to the beach, but no jellyfish. I also saw hooded mergansers (so pretty!!!), cedar waxwings and starlings for the first time - we don't have those back home.
Here are some things that I got before I went off to school.
Frog mummy. I found him on vacation last spring, stuck to my grandma's shed clock. There had been a cold snap and we think he was killed by it, and beautifully preserved. When I got him, he had fine white grains on him - sand or salt, maybe?
A goose. There were lots of little boney rings that were in my maceration jar when he was done cooking. Anyone know what those could be?
My friend, Mr P, did an internship-type-thing on an island last fall and he brought this deer and the boar below for me. The buck skull is huge and heavy, and I love the brown coloring. I've a much smaller deer skull and the size difference between the two is astounding.
Boar. Also big, but not nearly as heavy as the buck.
Paw and hoof casts. There is a n old baseball field down the road from my place, where the deer like to dance and where I'll dump carcasses every now and then. These are all from there. The print on the bottom is either from my puppy or a fox, I think. (snowcoma, these are from the same place where I got your dirt) I made some more casts of raccoon and cat prints at another site, but the dirt there was too soft and the plaster ended up breaking up. a
Not shown are a fox and rabbit (or squirrel, can't remember) skulls that are currently degreasing, as well as two new beaver pelts, deer ears and tail, a full gray fox pelt in my freezer, and some bugs.
I go to school in Pensacola -- is anyone here from there? I called a local Petland to ask about what they did with their dead stock (there was a very big Merrell's chameleon that was obviously on his way out). They wouldn't let me have the chameleon, but I found out that somebody else had called the day before asking about their dead things and so I've been wondering if there's another FHBer running around there. :D
The one thing that I couldn't bring home - the squirrel mummy. He is wedged in a hole in an oak tree behind the church at school, about twelve feet up or so. I do my rounds of the area about once a week, and he showed up after I missed my Saturday walks for two weeks. I can't climb trees and I couldn't find a ladder to reach him. So. Hopefully he'll still be there when I get back. Because it's a friggin' squirrel mummy!
A bird wing. I found it in front of the church. There are a lot (a LOT) of hawks around, and this is probably crumbs from one of their kills. Any idea who it could belong to? It's got yellow feathers on the 'wrist'.
I kept up my bug collection, and I figured out how to make boxes to bring them home more or less intact.
Any idea what this guy is? I found him flopping around on a sidewalk so I bagged him and waited an hour or so 'til he croaked. I can't swallow killing butterflies yet for my collection, but I've no qualms with taking them if they're already on their way out. I'm patient. :>
One of two very large carpenter bees. The second one has a strangely long, angular face and is super fuzzy. He was rolling around like he was being attacked by ants before he died, and then he wouldn't dry. No pics of that one at the moment. This one I found freshly dead.
A mole cricket being pinned. These guys are so cool. I love mole crickets.
My only real roadkill find. There was a flat possum on a little side road and all that was left intact were the jaws and teeth. So I took them. They're going in my maceration jar real soon.
A young Cooper's hawk chowing down on one of the local squirrels. I was able to get within four feet or so of him. I didn't find the rest of the carcass later to collect the bones, but! the family that the squirrel came from had a litter this spring that included an albino squirrel. The albino was so cute.
I also saw (live) Cooper's, red-tails, osprey, and red-shouldered Hawks, and probably a little kestrel; also egrets, a green heron, and a funny plover-type bird. There was a little black-tipped shark and a ghost crab when we went to the beach, but no jellyfish. I also saw hooded mergansers (so pretty!!!), cedar waxwings and starlings for the first time - we don't have those back home.
Here are some things that I got before I went off to school.
Frog mummy. I found him on vacation last spring, stuck to my grandma's shed clock. There had been a cold snap and we think he was killed by it, and beautifully preserved. When I got him, he had fine white grains on him - sand or salt, maybe?
A goose. There were lots of little boney rings that were in my maceration jar when he was done cooking. Anyone know what those could be?
My friend, Mr P, did an internship-type-thing on an island last fall and he brought this deer and the boar below for me. The buck skull is huge and heavy, and I love the brown coloring. I've a much smaller deer skull and the size difference between the two is astounding.
Boar. Also big, but not nearly as heavy as the buck.
Paw and hoof casts. There is a n old baseball field down the road from my place, where the deer like to dance and where I'll dump carcasses every now and then. These are all from there. The print on the bottom is either from my puppy or a fox, I think. (snowcoma, these are from the same place where I got your dirt) I made some more casts of raccoon and cat prints at another site, but the dirt there was too soft and the plaster ended up breaking up. a
Not shown are a fox and rabbit (or squirrel, can't remember) skulls that are currently degreasing, as well as two new beaver pelts, deer ears and tail, a full gray fox pelt in my freezer, and some bugs.