What was your last lifer?

Warm-blooded air breathing content.

Moderator: Scott Waters

User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by jonathan »

Antonsrkn wrote:Then some night hiking in the Black forest in Germany produced a pair of edible dormice (Glis glis).
:lol:
User avatar
BillMcGighan
Posts: 2362
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by BillMcGighan »

I also saw some sort of aquatic shrew running along the edge of a stream in the alps,
I thought that was neat.
I've seen Asian tree shrews, up close and personal, but never a water shrew. :thumb:
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

BillMcGighan wrote:
I also saw some sort of aquatic shrew running along the edge of a stream in the alps,
I thought that was neat.
I've seen Asian tree shrews, up close and personal, but never a water shrew. :thumb:
Shrews are an underrated group of critters in my opinion, I haven't seen so many but I have really liked the ones I have seen. Tree shrews are an awesome group, I was fortunate enough to see them from time to time when working in Borneo. This was the first aquatic shrew I have seen and it was quite a pleasure, fascinating little creature.
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by jonathan »

Just posted my Bangladesh trip, of which the following species were all lifers this time around:

Orange-bellied Himalayan Squirrel
Particolored Flying Squirrel
Chinese Pangolin
Brush-tailed Porcupine
Indian Crested Porcupine
Common Palm Civet
Small Indian Civet
Large Indian Civet
Hog Badger
Smooth-coated Otter (probably)
Leopard Cat
Bengal Slow Loris
User avatar
krismunk
Posts: 395
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:17 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by krismunk »

Antonsrkn wrote:Just picked up a few more mammal lifers, nothing too impressive but did a bit of hiking in the Alps and saw my first Alpine Marmots (Marmota marmota). I also saw some sort of aquatic shrew running along the edge of a stream in the alps, very brief encounter lasting only about 10 seconds but I saw it run in and out of the water several times and then disappear along with the current. Seemed very at home both in the water and on the rocks.

Then some night hiking in the Black forest in Germany produced a pair of edible dormice (Glis glis). Also a good number of small rodents perhaps voles which I have not IDed.
The shrew would be either Neomys fodiens or Neomys anomalus, the former being the more likely candidate.

Btw. how did you do herping in Europe?
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

krismunk wrote:
The shrew would be either Neomys fodiens or Neomys anomalus, the former being the more likely candidate.

Btw. how did you do herping in Europe?
Thanks for the ID! I did decent in terms of herping but had some notable misses. No Vipera berus despite what I thought was good habitat. I found lots of Salamandra salamandra larvae in 2 different spots but it was very dry so unfortunately I was unable to turn up an adult. On the other hand I was very happy to see my first Anguis fragilis, my first species of legless lizard ever! A few different frog species and some sort of newts which I haven't IDed yet. In the end the herpetological highlight came during my birthday weekend when we spontaneously decided to head to the Austrian alps for some hiking, I was able to find a few Alpine salamanders. They weren't even on my radar until right before we left to the Alps, I did a quick bit of reading about them and made them my top goal. Within 20 min of beginning our multi-day hike I found the first one! I'll sneak a photo of the last individual in...
ImageAlpine Salamandra by Anton, on Flickr
Then cause this is the mammal thread, I'll toss in a photo of my latest mammalian lifer the Alpine marmot as well to stay on topic...
ImageChunky Marmot by Anton, on Flickr

I had a great time in Europe and would love to get back for a bit longer and dedicate more time to herping, I think with a bit more time I could turn up quite a lot more. I really appreciate your info and advice from earlier, it was certainly helpful! Thank you again.
User avatar
krismunk
Posts: 395
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:17 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by krismunk »

Love the atra photo - and the marmot :)

I don't have any pics of alpine marmots myself, only seen them (lots & lots of them, though) on a hiking trip from Matterhorn to Mont Blanc way back in the pre-digital days. Back then I was even less of a photographer than I am today and I pretty much thought photographing animals was inpossible, limiting myself to immobile landscapes. The one time a marmot finally did sit still long enough and close enough for me to try for a shot with my simple camera it malfunctioned (or I had simply forgotten to open the shutter, can't remember which, the other happened to me when a chamois came charging down the mountainside and stopped 5 meters in front of me :( )

Newt ID's should be simple - as should non-ranid anuran ID's.

...& I won't bother you with any of my slew of berus photos from various Danish localities over the course of the summer ;)
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

That experience with the chamois sounds great, of course those things only ever happen when the camera battery is dead or its malfunctioning. I swear animals must have some sort of sixth sense as far as that is concerned.

I was really hoping to see both Chamois and Ibex but no luck with either.

I look forward to seeing your V. berus photos, it'll give me more motivation for my next trip!
User avatar
krismunk
Posts: 395
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:17 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by krismunk »

I don't know about ibex in Austria but in Valais in Switzerland I've seen plenty up high - about 3000 m.

... & I don't have my summer pics in order yet, don't even know if I'll get around to posting anything but here's at least a token July berus.

Image

& - because it's the mammal forum - an ibex. Seeing as I only have slides of the alpine ones, this is a nubian.

Image
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by jonathan »

I was hoping for some pine martens when visiting my friend in the Himalayan foothills, but all I got was this lifer. Sorry about the cell phone pic - my camera's battery had just died.

Himalayan Shrew (Soriculus nigrescens)

Image

Image




Then, back in Lucknow I got the first mammal lifer I've ever picked up in my home city:

Indian Hare (Lepus nigricollis) - my first Lagomorph ever in Asia

Image
User avatar
krismunk
Posts: 395
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:17 am
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by krismunk »

My recent herping trip to Spain didn't provide many mammals but I did get two lifers in ten minutes, the Medterranean water shrew and Spanish ibex.

Image
User avatar
Curtis Hart
Posts: 595
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Curtis Hart »

This fall was the best run of new mammals in the US that I've had in years. Basically two factors contributed to this, working in new places and having friends that were trapping or netting. In addition to these, I was able to ID to the species 3 additional bats from my time in Africa this previous winter.

Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat, Awash, Ethiopia
Egyptian Slit-faced Bat, Sof Omar, Ethiopia
Noack's Leaf-nosed Bat, Bioko, Equatorial Guinea


Evening Bat, Iowa
Hopi Chipmunk, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, CO
Pinon Mouse, Canyonlands NP, UT
Northern Baja Deermouse, Anza Borrego SP, CA
Desert Woodrat, Death Valley NP, CA
Alpine Chipmunk, John Muir Wilderness, CA
Palmer's Chipmunk, Spring Mountains, NZ
Arizona Cotton Rat, Santa Ritas, AZ
Yellow-nosed Cotton Rat, Santa Ritas, AZ
Brush Mouse, Santa Ritas, AZ
Rock Pocket Mouse, Santa Ritas, AZ
Western Small-footed Myotis, Santa Ritas, AZ
Mexican Long-tongued Bat, Santa Ritas, AZ
Fringed Myotis, Santa Ritas, AZ
Long-eared Chipmunk, Yosemite NP, CA
Fisher, CA
Western Spotted Skunk, CA

The Western Spotted Skunk, Fisher, and AZ rodents were live trapped. I hope to see the two carnivores free roaming in the future.


Mexican Long-tongued Bat
Image20151009_192447
User avatar
BillMcGighan
Posts: 2362
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by BillMcGighan »

Thanks for this one, Curtis.
I especially was happy to see a good closeup of the Mex Long-tongued.

These would be a great addition to Antonsrkn's 2012 bat post!

http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... ng+tongued
User avatar
Curtis Hart
Posts: 595
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Curtis Hart »

Thanks, I have some more bat pictures from last year, but as I am leaving for SE Asia tomorrow, I probably won't get around to posting them until at least late March. They are in the trip reports I did for mammalwatching.com

Ethiopia
http://www.mammalwatching.com/Afrotropi ... 202015.pdf

Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea
http://www.mammalwatching.com/Afrotropi ... 014-15.pdf

Curtis
User avatar
JAMAUGHN
Posts: 1131
Joined: May 15th, 2011, 12:16 am
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by JAMAUGHN »

Finally managed to see my first American Badger yesterday:

ImageAmerican Badger, Taxidea taxus by J. Maughn, on Flickr
User avatar
jonathan
Posts: 3689
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:39 am
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by jonathan »

Awesome! A badger was one my most memorable lifers ever. So cool.
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

Finally got to see my first group of wild collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), seen a lot of tracks before but never actually seen them in person until about a week ago.

Also 2 species of bat. Carollia perspicillata & a Glossophaga sp. Been a while now since my last mammalian lifer so definitely good to get 3 more species!
User avatar
Curtis Hart
Posts: 595
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Curtis Hart »

I just returned from 3.5 months in SE Asia. We visited Brunei, Malaysia(Peninsular and Sabah), and Indonesia(Sulawesia, Togeans, Komodo, and Raja Ampat). Highlights were Sun Bear, Binturong, Smooth-coated Otter, Moor Macaque, Striped Possum, and Waigeo Cuscus.

Of the 70+ species observed, around 30 were lifers. There are still a few bats that I have yet to ID.

Gray-bellied Squirrel
Fawn Leaf-nosed Bat
Pygmy Treeshrew
Indomalayan Leopoldamys
Mountain Treeshrew
Borne Black-banded Squirrel
Jentink's Squirrel
Red-bellied Sculptor Squirrel
Indomalayan Maxomys
Borneo Mountain Ground Squirrel
Slender Treeshrew
Binturong
Margaret's Haeromys
Smooth-coated Otter
Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel
Sunda Fruit Bat
Whitish Dwarf Squirrel
Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat
Sulawesi Naked-backed Fruit Bat
Spectacled Flying Fox
Waigeo Cuscus
Northern Common Cuscus
Raffray's Sheath-tail
Sugar Glider
Beaufort's Naked-backed Fruit Bat
Striped Possum
Moor Macaque
Sulawesi Fruit Bat


Striped Possum
[url=https://flic.kr/p/FoJ571]Image

Waigeo Cuscus
[url=https://flic.kr/p/F7QWeN]Image


Beaufort's Naked-backed Fruit Bat
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Fr1TQx]Image
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

Wow thats a good list, I'm particularly jealous of the cuscus species! And the sun bear as well! I'd love to hear how you encountered the bear.
User avatar
Curtis Hart
Posts: 595
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Curtis Hart »

Antonsrkn wrote:Wow thats a good list, I'm particularly jealous of the cuscus species! And the sun bear as well! I'd love to hear how you encountered the bear.
We were spotlighting in Deramakot Forest Reserve in Sabah, it was in the crown of a tree. It started down the tree when it saw us and was gone in less than a minute. We had good full body views.

We also saw 6 Bear Cuscus in Tangkoko. The Waigeo Cuscus was basically a gimme, we saw 3 in the wild and 3 or 4 that were fed at a homestay. The Northern Common Cuscus apparently comes to scavenge at a homestay we were at, and we were still awake when it started down the roof.
User avatar
Antonsrkn
Posts: 971
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 2:38 pm
Contact:

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Antonsrkn »

Thanks for the extra info! In something like 8 months in Sabah (Danum valley and nearby) not far from where you were never saw a bear, we'd get them on our camera traps fairly consistently though. In both the field seasons I was there only 2 people saw bears, one was walking along the road during the day and the other walked up on someone who was crouched down working silently counting seedlings or something for hours out in the jungle. A 3rd person said she saw bear cubs but based on her description i'm almost entirely convinced she saw a pair of stink badgers.

Wow, so many cuscus! One of these days I'll get into their range!
User avatar
Curtis Hart
Posts: 595
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:07 pm
Location: Hillsdale County, Michigan

Re: What was your last lifer?

Post by Curtis Hart »

I was able to get out netting in Arizona this spring and saw some new bats, as well as a great sighting of a Yellow-faced Pocket Gopher.

Yellow-faced Pocket Gopher
Lesser Long-nosed Bat
Long-legged Myotis
Yuma Myotis
Cave Myotis
Southwestern Myotis
Pocketed Freetail
Western Red Bat
Western Yellow Bat

Image
Post Reply