Favoritos de jeroenandries

Следуя за тревожным треском какой-то птицы, я стал подниматься по горному склону и метров через 50 увидел беспокойную певчую славку, сразу улетевшую от меня подальше, а за кустом, слившись с лишайниками, притаилась гюрза.

Гюрза, или левантская гадюка - ядовитая змея из рода гигантских гадюк. Голова очень крупная и широкая, с резким шейным перехватом, морда круглая, зрачок вертикальный.

Гюрза — одна из самых опасных змей для домашних животных и человека. В критической ситуации она способна совершать броски на длину тела в сторону противника. Яд гюрзы обладает резко выраженным гемолитическим действием и по токсичности уступает только яду кобры. При укусе эта змея вводит 50 мг яда, и без своевременного и правильного лечения нередки случаи гибели.

На снимке нуратинская гюрза – самая маленькая из всех гюрз, достигающая в длину до 90 см, но при этом самая красивая, с ярко выраженным рисунком в виде зигзага оранжевого или кирпичного цвета или цепочки пятен.

Нуратинские гюрзы питаются в основном птицами. На Нуратинском хребте придерживаются лессовых обрывов, где систематически обходят норы золотистых щурок, сизоворонок и ласточек. А весной и осенью на пролете перелетных птиц забираются на верхушки деревьев и кустов, где ловят скворцов, дроздов и мелких воробьиных. Кроме того, рыщут по земле в поисках гнезд наземногнездящихся птиц.

Following the disturbing crackle of a bird, I began to climb the mountainside and 50 meters later saw the restless Western Orphean warbler, immediately flew away from me, and behind a Bush, lurked blunt-nosed viper, merging with lichens.

The GURZA, or the Levantine Viper, is a poisonous snake of the genus giant vipers. Head very large and broad, with a sharp cervical interception, the face is round, the pupil is vertical.

GURZA — one of the most dangerous snakes for Pets and humans. In a critical situation she is able to make throws on the length of the body in the direction of the enemy. GURZA poison has a pronounced hemolytic effect and toxicity is second only to Cobra venom. When bitten, this snake introduces 50 mg of poison, and without timely and proper treatment, there are cases of death.

In the picture Nurata GURZA – the smallest of all the gurz, reaching a length of up to 90 cm, but the most beautiful, with a pronounced pattern in the form of a zigzag orange or brick color or a chain of spots.

Nurata GURZA feed mainly on birds. On the Nurata ridge adhere to loess cliffs, where p is systematically burrows of bee-eaters, rollers and swallows. And in the spring and autumn on migration of migratory birds climb on tops of trees and bushes where catch starlings, thrushes and small sparrows. In addition, scouring the ground in search of nests of terrestrial birds.

When I was spotting birds in Keoladeo NP I heard someone spotted a leopard. I went to the area hoping to get a glimpse of it. Ofcourse leopards are hard to spot and I did not see anything.

Defeated I left the area when suddenly I saw a canine flee. I grabbed my old camara with a 300mm lens and started the pursuit. everytime I got just close enough to take a picture they noticed me and left.

After 3 or 4 times I decided to change tactics and circled them so I would be downwind. It worked and I found them staring in the direction of my previous spot. I was able to take this picture but soon they noticed me again. The alpha male urinated at a bush and then they left.

After hiking the Arctic Circle Trail in the vast wilderniss of Greenland for 9 days we took the ferry to Ilulissat.
We set up camp next to the worldfamous icefjord. We started to explore a little and found a place where the ice and the land formed a natural bay. The ice is full of nutrients and attracts a lot of small fish and krill and these attract the whales again. We just enjoyed sitting there watching 6 whales in the bay for the rest of the day!

I saw this viper when I was guiding a group in Cyprus. We were hiking a trail in the Turkish part when suddenly we saw this Macrovipera lebetina lebetina. It lay in a small stream caused by a leaking waterpipe next to the rocky path. It was probably cooling itself and waiting for prey to approach.

The snake was +/- 1,5 meters and seemed to me that it just ate something. It did not move at all so some people thought it was dead. I recognised it was some sort of viper and remembered from an expo about venom in the Natural History Museum in Brussels that vipers had a mean venom that causes cell damage. I also learned there venom is something hard to make for animals and they do not like to waste it.

I was extremely euphoric by seeing such an amazing and endangered animal up close. When we wanted to take some pictures I told the group we should not circle the snake but give it some space so it could flee. When it would feel cornered it would certainly strike and in the poor Turkish Part of Cyprus you can not find antivenom. When I was taking these amazing pictures (probably a little bit too close) with my cellphone the snake suddenly jumped lightning fast through the free space we left it. In a split second he was gone. It was so fast it would have been impossible to withdraw if the snake decided to attack.

After our hike we told some locals our story. First they were laughing because 9 of the 10 snake species in Cyprus are harmless for people and they tought we were some exaggerating tourists. When we showed them the pictures they were really shocked. We never gave the location because we were afraid they would try to kill the snake.