Observations by billyverde

This newt next to the dining commons casually looked my way when I came by to photograph him, but otherwise didn't move a muscle. Thinking it's a red-bellied newt, but if someone could confirm, that would be great!

This bird showed up in my neighborhood in early January, and I've been stalking it ever since. It spends a lot of time on the very top of one of the taller neighborhood trees, and I wouldn't have given it a second glance were it not being divebombed by a pair of crows one afternoon. Twice now I've seen this bird dining on a mouse or small bird such as a sparrow, and whenever it flies near any of the other neighborhood trees, every bird in the tree scatters.

The missile-like trajectory of its flight, its size (smaller than a crow, bigger than a kestrel), its diet, and its banded tail lead me to believe it might be a merlin, but if anyone else could back me up on that, it would be much appreciated.

Heading to breakfast one morning, I spotted this creature right in front of the door leading to the dining commons. I'd seen plenty of skinks in pet stores, but this remains my one and only time spotting one in the wild.

The striking bright blue tail looked as though it could've been dipped in a bucket of paint, it was so bright. It appeared very skittish, it's tail flicking back and forth as though it belonged to a nervous snake. I was lucky to have been able to snap this single shot, as within ten seconds of being spotted, it scrambled quickly off the walkway and disappeared through a crack between the cement and the earth.

Spotted this bird on the way back from lunch. It was standing by the side of the pond, and whenever anyone would get too close to it, it would go into "freeze-frame" mode staring straight upward. I learned after some Googling that this is its method of hiding from potential threats; to make itself blend in with the tall, reedy surroundings as much as possible. Very much delighted to have encountered one of these. It stuck around for a week or two before flying off to reedier pastures.

Ring necked ducks and Buffleheads are frequent winter visitors to Big Rock, but this year I've spotted a new migratory friend: a Common Goldeneye.

Far more skittish and shy than any of the other ducks here, the Goldeneye has been eluding me ever since I started spotting him out of the corner of my eye earlier this week. At first I thought he might've been an extra shy female bufflehead, due to the similar head markings, but yesterday we made eye contact and I got a view of the brilliant gold before he hurriedly paddled off around the corner of the building.

I snapped a few shots with my iPhone later in the afternoon when I spied him again near the bridge.

On a June afternoon walk with one of my co-workers, I was doing my usual scouting around for gopher and garter snakes when this medium-sized greenish snake came zooming past us, seemingly oblivious to our presence. It would occasionally come to a stop, its head raised above the trimmed yellow grass like a periscope. Then it would resume its journey, zipping through the grass like wet lightning.

I noticed the tip of its tail was gone and had healed over into a nub - maybe the result of a battle with a small mammal or bird of prey. The picture shown is from a video I shot which is a bit grainy and jittery, but it gives you a pretty good idea of how fast these critters move. Wow! I wish they would let me post videos here.

Amidst the coots, mallards, and winter visitors such as ring-necked ducks and buffleheads, there is always one lone pied-billed grebe that cruises around the Big Rock reservoir. Mostly minding his own business, but if he spies me peering at him from a nearby window he quickly disappears under the water. It's funny, he just drops - not a dive like when he's foraging for food. He simply disappears, and then makes his escape after surfacing several yards away.