Reno, Nevado

[khiemtran]

I've just arrived in Reno. Can anyone help me identify these locals?


Suspect #1: some sort of heron or bittern? [Edited: Black-crowned Night Heron]



With a telescopic neck...



Turtle with a red stripe on the back of its head and yellow stripes on the side. [Edited: Red-eared Pond Slider?]



Some sort of mustelid. An otter? [Edited: North American River Otter (or possibly a muskrat?)]



It was quite small, its head was just the size of a rabbits. The otters I've seen in Malaysia were much larger.



Some sort of blue bird. [Edited: Stellers Jay]



Medium-sized raptor with brown head and wings and white underparts.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I believe the jay is a stellar's jay. The mustelid definitely looks like a river otter!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! The otter looked very cute. Once it saw me, it sat on the bank and watched me, as you can see in the second photo, then swam off.

The heron-like bird seems to be a black-crowned night heron. Strangely, it wasn't shy at all, and I was standing within 3 metres of it. And it wasn't night, of course.

[wendigomountain.livejournal.com]

It could be a muskrat. I haven't seen one in years though, so it's hard to tell.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I didn't think of a muskrat. Looking at some pictures, I think the tail looks a bit too furry, but it's a bit hard to tell...

[wendigomountain.livejournal.com]

I googled some pics myself. totally an otter of some kind! :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks! It's pretty cool to find a city where you can see otters in the downtown area...

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

You saw so much. wow!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It looks like Reno is a nice city for that sort of thing - all these were spotted just while walking to try to recover from jetlag. There is a very nice riverwalk that goes right next to the downtown area, and they even have kayaks and rafts for hire.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Blackcrowned night heron, I think.

And I'm suspecting northern harrier.

Nice sightings!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Yes, northern harrier looks promising. The only negative is I saw it flying and I didn't see fingers, but it might just have been because it was flying quickly.

Reno seems like a great place for this sort of thing. I can't imagine there are too many cities where you can see otters (or possibly muskrats) in the CBD.