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Showing posts from September, 2016

Herping with Dylan and Pete

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This July I went to visit my friend Dylan Alfrey from the Balkan Ecology Project in Shipka. He's a herper like me, so the main goal of the visit was to go snake hunting together. His uncle Peter Alfrey, who is a birder, was with us on every trip. I was there for a week or so and for this much time we caught amazing stuff. I really wanted to see an Aesculapian Snake (Elaphe longissima), which I didn't have a chance to do, but I'm okay with that. Anyways, here are the photos. Me and Dylan looking for skinks. The first snake we caught together. In the evening on the same day I got there me, Dylan and Pete went on a little herping/birding expedition. We where just talking about how Dylan had never seen a Smooth Snake up close, and the minute we got out of the car, under the first rock I lifted, there was a juvenile female Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca). Dylan was very excited, and so was I. Spurge Hawk Moth caterpillar (Hyles euphorbiae). Loads of those on

Adventures in Malta

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Hey, guys! This April we went on a 5 day vacation to Malta. It was very exciting - every day we got to a different interesting destination on the island - and I also got a chance to meet some fascinating animals. Our apartment was right next to the beach and there was a very cool bay with loads of crabs, sea snails, tube worms and even squids (I managed to catch one and the result I got was pitch-black clothes)! But my main goal was to catch one special snake (of 4 species total in Malta) - the Black Whip Snake. Veined Rapa Whelks (Rapana venosa). Found those two in the bay alongside some crabs, shrimp and other cool critters. My brother Fifo's crab buddy I managed to meet this beauty face to face at the terrarium department of the Malta National Aquarium.  European Chameleon (Chamaleo chamaleon). I was chasing an Ocellated Skink when I accidentally pushed this guy off the leaf he was standing on. At first he was green, but quickly changed to gray and the

Man vs Reptile

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 Found this beautiful Grass Snake near my house. It wasn't something incredible, but it sure was gorgeous! Trying to give an "One with nature" feeling to this photo. :P Gotta love those shiny little jewels! And here is another one, though this one is special. It's a mix between two subspecies (cetti x helvetica). It's not super rare, but definitely a cool find!  And then there's me. With the snake on my back. Making weird faces again... :D

New record for fastest snake-finding! :P

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Juvenile Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca). Sorry for the crappy photo, that's the only one that I managed to get. Found this cutie-pie under a piece of wood just 10 SECONDS after leaving the yard! I probably broke the previous world record for finding a snake that fast! :D

Pregnant lizard

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A pregnant female Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis). Me and my little friend Toma, who came on a visit, found it under a piece of wood in the fields in front of my house. Looks like it's tail has been bitten off in the past. And no, they don't give birth to live babies, this beauty is just filled with eggs.

Herping around in the village

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So, me and my siblings decided to take our mom on a walk around the village, because she works a lot and though living here for like 5 years she still didn't get a good chance to look around and we decided it was 'bout time. Shrew (Sorex araneus). Pretty common here, in the fields. White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) footprint (with me for scale). :P Female Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis)... ...and the rug we found it under. Juvenile Green Lizard (Lacerta viridis) and me making weird faces. Some sort of very injured beetle (probably a Green Lizard tried to eat it) that I assume it's some kind of dung beetle. I would very much appreciate if someone could give me an ID on it... Agile Frog (Rana dalmatina). Very common in Bulgaria. Underside of the same individual. Usually their underside colors are brighter. A nest, probably belongs to a female Common Blackbird (Turdus merula). It still had chicks in it and momma got real angry when sh