taek-guen-im's Favorites

We (Karin, Nils, Anja and I) were hiking up Nahal David towards the waterfall when we noticed that 2 people (warden/researcher) were shouting at us 'namer/leopard!" and motioned us to turn back on the trail, we did, but I managed to to look over my shoulder and took this picture. This is a scan of the original slide.

The last leopard in Israel was seen in 2010/11 in the northern Arava. (Granit, B. 2016; https://www.birds.org.il/en/article/id/844)

This ferret popped out of a hole that the prairie dog seemed to be trying to cover up. The two animals seemed to be aware of each other, but they did not interact. Eventually the prairie dog wandered off.

I was lucky to observe this owl for about 20 minutes. When I first found it, it was actively looking around from a relatively open perch. It flushed to a more concealed perch after I attempted to approach it more closely. I heard it (or another individual) calling the following night in the same general area. (I'm about a year behind on my photos, but I had to expedite this one...)

Indus blind dolphins (Platanista minor) are almost unmissable during a visit to Sukkur, the city built along the Indus itself.
It is the species' stronghold (Guddu to Sukkur) throughout its population in Pakistan and India (Beas).
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A park named 'Lab-e-Mehran' is on the banks of the Indus where one can easily sit down on its earthen banks and watch dolphins in the river right next to it. If there are less visitors in the Park and thus, less noise, you can even hear these Cetaceans taking a gulp of air through their blowhole and coming as close as 15 feet to the bank.

Most no larger than the bottlenose dolphins observed with them. Profile of the head of a calf visible in the second image.

Large mixed pod of these smaller animals, bottlenose dolphins and false killers observed foraging over a large area southeast of Kawau Island. Several cows with calves. SST 18.3 oC.

The last image shows false killers (ID confirmed from review of the drone footage - UoA permit) and bottlenose feeding together.

Sea birds associated with them included Buller's shearwaters, flesh-footed shearwaters, white-faced storm petrels and gannets. One group of Buller's shearwaters and a gannet observed feeding on the remains of a squid after the pod passed.