Beautiful Animals

Guyana red-tailed boa:





Clown triggerfish:

My own local living dinosaur:




They eat these:




..as do these guys..

Tigershark, Thanks for the contribution. The tuatara could be a star in the next Jurassic Park movie. Well, maybe not a star--too small. But it definitely looks prehistoric.

This is a picture I took in Cancun of a white tailed deer

Thanks for the wonderful photo, TTH. The angle makes it look like you were hanging from a tree when you took that picture. My guess is it was more likely a high porch or window.


Sea feather duster (a kind of worm):





Day gecko:

Pukeko

Roberta,
The deer was in an enclosure surrounded by rock. I was on the path above it when it walked over and looked up. I also took this picture while I was in Cancun.

Male & female Peacocks

TTH, Thanks for the explanation. Appreciate seeing that peacock. They are something else, aren't they?


Tigershark, Like that boid. Thanks. Is the following a relative of yours?

Liked that Pukeko...

It's nesting time in Tucson and this Curve-billed thrasher has picked out a comfy spot in a cholla cactus, aka jumping cactus, read ouch. Photos by Marcia W. 2 days ago.

Relative of mine? ..Could be my Uncle Bert

They are the dumbest birds when it comes to road sense - sadly you see nearly as many flat ones as live ones.

mesquite, Amazing shots. I concur with the ouch. Perfect safe place for a nest. How many animals would risk going after the eggs or the babies in that cactus?

Tigershark, Big sigh on the road kill. Your uncle Bert is a fine figure of a fish. My best to the rest of the family.


Monarch caterpillar:





Monarch cocoon:





Monarch butterfly:

Four-horned ram:





Venus sea fan:

I often wonder (and I've been following along, all along, just lurking for quite a while now) how you choose the animals. Sometimes it's more obvious, like a zebra and a zebra mussel. But what made you choose this combo, if I may ask? Or is that a deep, dark secret?

No deep dark secret. In fact, jes, I'm glad you asked. My methods are many.

Today, I had nothing specific in mind, which is often the case. I have a variety of ways for dealing with "nothing in mind." Today, I entered "mammals" in google. I could have looked at the photos provided for mammals, but I didn't. I looked at some of the Web sites that give info about mammals. I found a site that gave an alphabetical list of mammals. I clicked on addax, a mammal I never heard of. I entered "addax photos" on google, and looked at the photos. I looked at a bunch of pictures, many were of addaxes in zoos or dead addaxes with their heads being held by the hunters who shot them. I'm disinclined to show animals in zoos, and I'm even more disinclined to show pics of dead animals. I kept going from page to page looking for the right addax photo. The photos got farther and farther afield from addaxes. I stumbled upon a very strange looking mammal with a lot of horns. I checked what it was and entered "four-horned ram" in google. Found one I liked. Voila.

This kind of accident is not uncommon in my searches. Looking for one thing; find another.

I wanted something completely different for the second photo. Don't know why. I just did. Went to google and entered "sea." Then I paused. Sea what? Star? Slug? Let's try "fan." Liked what I saw.

Here's one of my addax rejects:





Sometimes I'll enter something like "snakes madagascar" or "birds fiji" and see what I get. Sometimes I'm looking for something specific.

Suppose I find something with the word tiger in it. On a whim, I'll then enter, "tiger butterfly" or "tigerfish" without knowing whether such things exist. Sometimes they do, and the end up here.

I could go on, but I think you get the general idea.

This is my new friend. He showed up yesterday. It is a Northern Flicker woodpecker.(colaptes auratus) The most beautiful bird I have ever seen.

A Gouldian Finch:

Two avian beauties. Thanks, guys.

I don't think I could pick the most beautiful, Alex. Too many ways birds can be beautiful. Form, color, flight.

Yesterday I was walking down a street that had some major construction going on. Jackhammers, loud machine engines, NOISE. There was a brief lull, and I heard the chirp of a sparrow. I looked around, but couldn't see it. Heard another chirp before the jackhammers resumed. Loved dat boid. It made me smile.

Red kangaroo