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Put your local species in the spotlight!
Topic Started: Oct 9 2016, 05:40 PM (936 Views)
Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

There are a few unique freshwater fish, but I doubt any of them live in the wastelands of Brandenburg, where only the strongest and toughest survive.


I've never seen any of the UK's endemic animal species but I suppose that is to be expected vOv
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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Flisch
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Holben
Oct 11 2016, 05:10 AM
wastelands of Brandenburg
Well, first of all we're apparently treating our environment a little bit better than the UK and second of all I'm not living in Brandenburg.

Good day, sir! *grabs hat and storms off*
Edited by Flisch, Oct 11 2016, 05:30 AM.
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Dr Nitwhite
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(I think he might not be talking about endemics specifically, just species in your area that other parts of the world are unfamiliar with. Nothing he or I listed is native to just our states or even regions.)
Edited by Dr Nitwhite, Oct 11 2016, 05:48 AM.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Not in Brandenburg? That's unfortunate, it's the only good part ;)

Quote:
 
a little bit better than the UK
We both have around 70,000 species of animals and plants, though that might not last so long. It's hard to find a good list of what species in the UK are critically endangered (IUCN) but it does look like more than 17, which is the number of species considered critically endangered (at the European level) in your country. Your molluscs seem to be doing really badly.
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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HangingThief
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Dr Nitwhite
Oct 11 2016, 05:46 AM
(I think he might not be talking about endemics specifically, just species in your area that other parts of the world are unfamiliar with. Nothing he or I listed is native to just our states or even regions.)
Exactly. Anything that isn't a brown rat or a barn owl or something like that goes.
Hey.


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Monster
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OK. Here's a few. I'm in Manchester, UK, which is a large city bordering the Peak District National Park.




Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus). They make silly noises, occasionally fly into your face out on the moors, and people shoot them and cause problems 'managing' the moors to breed more of them. But I still like them. Here's a short informative video XD



And there are mountain hares (Lepus timidus) out on the hills too. One of my favourite animals to see out and about. Here's another short video :P



And now for a few more local critters that I like. And more videos of them doing Stuff. Not terribly exotic but always nice to see.Sorry, charismatic megafauna only!

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus).



Tawny Owl (Strix aluco). I've seen owl prints on the windows of some of the houses in my road recently. :/ Poor owl!



Longtailed tits aka mumruffins or bumbarrels XD (Aegithalos caudatus



Green woodpecker/yaffle Picus viridis and Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major can be found in many of the local parks and I've seen a green in the cemetary a few times.

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Niedfaru
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Ok, so I'm not in the UK any more, and my knowledge of the local wildlife is abysmal. I keep seeing stuff I want to identify, and only being able to get as far as a rough type i.e. finch, thrush, toad etc. And then forgetting by the time I have the net. And people here are useless. If they don't eat it, they don't know it. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.




But I still recall a huge number of the things I saw in the UK. I grew up right next door to RSPB Minsmere, which is considered one of their best reserves nationwide. The surrounding marsh, heath and woodland,which goes well beyond the reserve itself, with the sea literally next outside the gates, make for a wide range of habitats, and a lot of wildlife. You may recognise it from several seasons of the BBC's Springwatch/Autumnwatch

Among the most common critters to see there are:

All your normal UK garden birds:
Robin, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove etc.

Normal UK coastal birds:
Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Common Gull,

Great Crested Grebe
Long Tailed Tit
Tawny Owl
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Barn Owl

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
Posted Image

Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus),shown here fighting
Posted Image
These guys are amazing to watch flying about the place, scouring for prey. Pairs will pass food to one another in mid flight as a bonding/courtship ritual. It's amazing to see.

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)
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Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca)
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Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
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Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
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Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
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Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)
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Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
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Ok, no exactly unique, but I love these guys so much. They have an otherworldly quality that I find so enchanting. And seeing them come down to your garden pond looking for fish is nothing compared to seeing them stalking about a clearing in a vast reedbed snatching up anything they can find.

Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
Posted Image

Other things that are fairly common and/or have stable populations, but are not easy to see are:

Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
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Bearded Tit/Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus)
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European Nigthjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)
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Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra)
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European Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius)
Posted Image

There are also a ton of seasonal migrants, and regular oddballs that get blown in every few years by a storm over the North Sea or something: spoonbills, divers, rare gulls and such. But this post is already long enough.
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Ànraich
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HangingThief
Oct 9 2016, 06:56 PM
Parasky
Oct 9 2016, 06:25 PM
Kansas, USA. We have grass and cottonwood trees.
You also have spadefoot toads and glass lizards, lubber grasshoppers and prairie orchids. And thousands of other species.
There used to be grasshoppers, there were literally none this year. Not one. No toads either, since there were no grasshoppers. I have never seen a single lizard here in my entire life. As far as I can tell my region has suffered total ecological collapse over the past decade. Even the birds have gone now, and the grass is starting to die off.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

Tree That Owns Itself
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HangingThief
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Parasky
Oct 11 2016, 05:40 PM
HangingThief
Oct 9 2016, 06:56 PM
Parasky
Oct 9 2016, 06:25 PM
Kansas, USA. We have grass and cottonwood trees.
You also have spadefoot toads and glass lizards, lubber grasshoppers and prairie orchids. And thousands of other species.
There used to be grasshoppers, there were literally none this year. Not one. No toads either, since there were no grasshoppers. I have never seen a single lizard here in my entire life. As far as I can tell my region has suffered total ecological collapse over the past decade. Even the birds have gone now, and the grass is starting to die off.
Ah. Well I suppose living in such an ecologically desolate area doesn't lend itself to many wildlife observation opportunities, but when I say "local" I'm referring to a much larger geographic region. (Like entire states/counties/provinces.)
Hey.


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Tartarus
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I live in tropical far north Queensland.
My garden is regularly visited by various local birds including sulphur-crested cockatoos.
sulphur-crested cockatoo


There is also occasionally an amethystine python that comes into the garden. Needless to say, the birds are not too fond of this.
amethystine python


Also, every night I've heard a bird in the garden that I've never seen, but which I think is most likely a white-throated nightjar.
white-throated nightjar
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Flisch
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>living in a place where wild cuckatoos regularly visit people's gardens

Goddamn you australians.
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HangingThief
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Flisch
Oct 11 2016, 07:01 PM
>living in a place where wild cuckatoos regularly visit people's gardens

Goddamn you australians.
Well, the rest of nature is constantly trying to murder them. So it evens out.
Hey.


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Minespec223
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Tartarus
Oct 11 2016, 06:57 PM

There is also occasionally an amethystine python that comes into the garden. Needless to say, the birds are not too fond of this.
amethystine python


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