RHH's photos with the keyword: ater

The Brown-headed Cowbird is a kind of blackbird that does not build nests or raise its own young. Instead it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, abandoning its young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. It lays as many as thirty eggs in a season and has spread due to its preference for open areas which have grown through the human activity of building towns and clearing woodlands.

This is the Black Arion or European Black Slug, an invasive species here in the Pacific Northwest. It was photographed at Goose Rock in Deception Pass State Park at the base of a tree. It was nearly six inches (15 cm) long. The hole on the side is the breathing hole and the "horns" are actually eye stalks. Though a pest I left it to go its way.

Photographed on a Memorial Day hike in the Chuckanuts.