The obligatory trip to Carinthia (and Slovenia), May 2024
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Right next to the accommodation is a population of introduced Podarcis muralis, with an incredible density of individuals. |
And boy, did we! On the next day we found in a quite short amount of time two juvenile and one adult male V. ammodytes, as well as a juvenile Zamenis longissimus/Äskulapnatter/Aesculapian snake, which are usually not that easy to find. And of course several lizards were out too.
And here a short video of Iberolacerta horvathi, I promise to make it less shaky and zoomy the next time 😬 |
But the real highlight there was having both Zootoca species (Z. vivipara/Bergeidechse/viviparous lizard and Z. carniolica/Kärntner Bergeidechse/Carniolan lizard) on one mountain and finding both. Z. carniolica in the lower altitudes, syntop with I. horvathi (even sitting on the same stone and interacting) and Z. vivipara on the higher altitudes. And thanks to this publication (Rodriguez-Prieto, A. et al., 2017) we were even able to distinguish them in the field. 😀Somehow it's very exciting, after counting scales and femoral pores, to know which species you were actually seeing!
Later that day I also earned a free beer for finding the car keys Christoph lost somewhere in the middle of a big meadow, potentially leaving us locked out at 1.500 m.a.s.l., with very dark clouds approaching. Actually, the way how they were found was fun – by the pictures he took we reconstructed his path on the meadow which finally led to finding the keys. So, V. ammodytes: check, I. horvathi: check, both Zootoca species: check aaaand free beer: check!
On the last day we just had a short look for V. ammodytes in the Schütt region because we didn’t want to go back to Vienna too late, on a well-known spot, which just unfortunately has pretty difficult terrain. After staggering over the stones for quite some time and already close to giving up, Günther found a juvenile V. ammodytes basking some dozen centimetres above the ground on a branch of a pine tree, in the shades.
Left: The obligatory Podarcis muralis and right Günther clicking V. ammodytes. |
Vipera ammodytes, exactly as found. |
And here a short video of Vipera ammodytes basking in the habitat, also here I promise to make it less shaky and zoomy the next time 😬 |
So, day saved, and we could leave Carinthia with the feeling of actually having made many nice observations. Ah, and concerning shade, half of the V. ammodytes specimens we found were in shade or half-shade, even though it was not that warm and in the middle of May.
On the way back we then had the obligatory stop at the Hirter brewery, having beer and Kärntner Kasnudeln, devouring them for a third time within four days 😋.
To sum it up, a really nice and relaxing field trip, but still with a score to settle (because it was the reason we actually went on field trip): Vipera aspis.
Oh and not to forget: The obligatory music tip! This time: Käptn Peng & die Tentakel von Delphi with "Sockosophie".
Polar lights!!!111eleven
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For the first time in my life, I could witness polar lights – right in front and shortly also above my home 🥳
So after seeing Halos (regularly) and once also NLCs, with the polar lights my collection of atmospheric phenomena I wanted to see in real is now complete!
A huge thanks to by brother who pointed out to me on the telephone that “the sky is weirdly red”, whereupon I packed my camera equipment in record time and ran to the danube river. There I clicked, completely without an idea which settings I should actually use, the following images.
Note: Those are long time exposures. The real impression was by far fainter. Most of the time the colours were barely visible, only for a short period the red and purple were clear and bright. The green was always on the edge of visibility and more like a brighter region.
Anyhow I’m absolutely happy to finally witness polar lights🥳
From here on 15 sec, ISO 1250, F 5.0
For a short period they were even directly above my observation point.
Canary Islands: La Gomera and Tenerife, March 2023
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Another cool thing existing on La Gomera is the whistling language "El silbo", one of the most developed whistling languages on earth -- you can really "talk" with it and it's taught on schools! The first time I heard it, I was wondering which weird type of bird is calling like that...
After some 5 or 6 days of hiking on La Gomera we went back by ferry to Tenerife. It's approximately one hour of ride, and everything, including taking the rental car, went smoothly. On Tenerife we were situated in the Casa Rural Arona, a wonderful place where you get an amazing and extensive, freshly prepared vegetarian or vegan breakfast every morning.
Tenerife is the biggest of the Canary Islands, and a main part of it is the volcano Teide -- with 3.715 m the actually highest mountain of "Spain". Funfact: geologists think, that it might have been even over 7.000 m, before the top of the volcano broke off and slid into the sea.
The diversity of volcanic landscapes is amazing, and there are also several smaller extinct volcanoes to visit on the island. So we were also mainly hiking. My personal goals on Tenerife were: clicking and feeding lizards and finding Gallotia intermedia, one of the rare "giant" lizard species of the Canaries. And we luckily succeeded with both 🥳
Photographing the on Tenerife very common Gallotia galloti (Tenerife Lizard, Westkanaren Eidechse) is luckily easy, meaning I could use my 180mm/2.8 macro lens without problems. These lizards are not shy, and can, with a bit of patience, even be fed with fruits or bread, especially in regions with many tourists. The north of Tenerife is inhabited by the more colourful subspecies Gallotia galloti eisentrauti. We were, at least I think so, just before the mating season, so the males were not in full bright mating colouration.
Anyhow, they are still very pretty animals, the top two pictures are males of Gallotia galloti eisentrauti, the bottom picture a is female of the same subspecies, all from the very north of Tenerife.
Regarding the plants, there are soo many different things to see. Two of the species which especially catch your eye in the drier southern parts of Tenerife are Euphorbia canariensis (Kanaren-Wolfsmilch, Canary Island spurge) and Lavandula sp. (lavander, Lavendel). Of the latter there are 3 Canary-endemics on Tenerife (one of them being a canariensis, how else could it be :-P). Stupid me realised too late, that there are three species, so I couldn't determine them. The Euphorbia canariensis are huuuge, several meter high plants and an imposing appearance (upper picture). And the lavander gave you an impression of spring in the otherwise arid landscape (lower three pictures).
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