fieldherping.eu

Greetings to all in the forum.

With 46 years of age I'm probably a bit older than most of the other members, but from what I could see and read in the forum my interests are similar to most of you.
I grew up in an industrial town south of Lisbon in Portugal. I was used to see moorish gecko's and iberian wall lizards on my window sill and my parents greatlly helped me in my love for nature.
I spent 3 years in the Azores islands during my military service and later at the age of 22 I moved to the Netherlands and live there ever since.
I do a bit of bird waching and I've been in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines and in most countries in western Europe. For about 10 years I took is easy because of my two kids but in the last years we've been going herping in Portugal, Spain, France, the Benelux, Ceuta and Greece.
Costa Rica is in the planning for next year.... I would love te revisit some places I've been before with more time and this time with a good camera.

See you all in the field,

Greetings Luis Miguel

Welcome to the boards Miguel!
I think it would be interesting for us to see some sort of ''best of'' compilation of all your years in the field, and don`t be shy about posting rare birds.
Cheers!

That is a good idea Vlad,
I'll have a look what I have laying arround on paper and more recently on bits and bytes.
I will have to take some time on it to make a nice selection. Don' t expect too much from my early years, I did see a lot but I did not have a decent camera for quite some time.

All the best, Miguel

Welcome Miguel,
I already enjoyed our in-depth discussion about P. carbonelli in this forum - heading for more exchange of experience like this.
Cheers
Peter

Miguel,

Welcome! theres nothing wrong with being 46, I would say it is the optimum age for a field herper and as for not having a decent camera in the past.. Ive had a decent camera for years..and my pictures are still rubbish

Did you see Ischnura hastata on the Azores.. its one of my last ischnura ticks.

Kind regards

Paul

Hi Paul,

I had a quick look on wikipedia and if this species was described in 1990 as living in the Azores I would not have known then what it was... I left the Azores in 1989!
I realized back then that there were not many species about like in continental Portugal but I can not say that I saw it or not. I saw a few small ones flying arround.. perhaps they were the ones.
I found it fascinating to read that they reproduce by parthenogenesis. I did not know that damselflyies could reproduce in that way.
I saw that they also live it central america maybe I can see them in Costa Rica next year

Greetings,

Miguel

As I promissed here are some pictures I took in 1995 in Ecuador. I could not find all the names of the species. I apreciate tips on the thin snake, the gray lizard and the turtle. The turtle was found in a park in Guayaquil, the gray lizard to the west of Guayaquil in the dry forest. The rest was shoot to the east of Puyo in the amazon area.
Thanks

The snake is Oxybelis aeneus, I think. The turtle and lizard don't ring any bells... Lizards reminds me of Sceloporus, but that's most likely wrong.

Chelydra serpentina maybe?

Thanks for the replies so far, I'll try to research further on them. In the mean time I got a tip on the lizard from outside this forum. A friend of mine said he saw pictures of lizards from the Galagagos that resembeld it.
I went on to find a family of Lava lizards ( microlophus ) and a relative on the coastal areas of Ecuador and Peru.
I think it is a Knobbed Pacific Iguana ( Microlophus occipitalis ). Not a big Iguana but a small sized lizard. The spanish name : lagartija del arenal ( sand lizard ) seems more appropriate.