Beautiful Animals

Shall I try posting this again/again/again? Why not?

Thanks, dj, for the lovely bird photos. I'm especially enamoured of the yellow warbler. That little guy looks like he's singing his heart out. (Love dem boids.) Thanks also for the great link. I went and returned with a photo of a spotted northura.





Littlek, A wild bird ate out of your hand? What a treat.

I used to see these guys when commuting (wild turkeys) on Route 128 in Burlington:

Roberta, they will do that with enough patience. I grew up in the burbs and once I stood out on our deck for a couple of hours with seed in my hands. I was near a birdfeeder, where local birds came to feed. Eventually they landed on my hand. The bird in the picture above is wild, it lives near provincetown at the tip of cape cod. The birds there have been fed by hand for years now, by many different people. It's become a 'thing'. So, you only have to wait a few minutes. Then you have to hold still when the light, scratchy little twiggy feet grasp hold of your pinky.

Thanks, Jes. Don't recall ever seeing a wild turkey in the wild.

littlek, When I was in London, Hyde Park I think, pigeons came and ate out of my hand. First one and then several. They got kind of heavy, but I loved playing the part of a statue with pigeons all over me (no poop, I'm happy to report).

Following are photos of the world's three biggest boids.

Ostrich








Emu








Rhea

Wonderful photo of an elephant in the forest.

I was watching a David Attenborough (love dat man) nature show. At one point a raccoon dog was shown and discussed. Never heard of this animal. Never saw one before. It looks like a cross between a raccoon and a dog (duh). Great-looking and interesting. I found a photo. Wish I could have found a better one.

Just finished watching a show about polar bears. They are magnificent.

Rosborne, I have a feeling (could be wrong) that what got posted is not what you intended.

Here's a narwhal:





And a saltie




HOW doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

Lewis Carroll

I posted an albino peacock. Is that not what you see?

This one is from Africa.


The rest from Antarctica.

Rosborne, I see a little label that says, "Image hosted by tripod." No feathers or nuttin'.

C.I., That first photo could be my cousin Herbie. It is! It is! Hey, Hoibie. How you doin'?

C.i., Did you get to see him run? I used to be annoyed when I would watch tv shows about cheetahs, and they would show the cheetah running in slow motion. I finally got to see one at full speed. My reaction? What happened? Where'd he go? Too fast for the camera. So did you see a cheetah run in person?

Love the penguins and the seal. Thanks for posting them.


Winner at Westminster. A springer spaniel.




Gorgeous dog. Lots of spirit.

Roberta, I've been following this thread closely.
It's seems to me that there is no such thing as an ugly animal. Unlike some humans. Interesting, that!

You noticed that too, have you, msolga? You're absolutely positively right. No such thing as an ugly animal. Even those that don't conform to our normal standards of beauty have something wonderful and special about them.

Let's face it. We're never gonna run out. I'm limited only by finding or looking for what I know.

BTW, glad you've been following along.

We've got black bears not far from NYC. In New Jersey and upstate.





Another sea slug (nudibranh). These things are amazing in their variety.

Australian Black Swan.
My family had one once, she was a sweetie and very tame. There is a story that one cold winter, my Dad went into the garage and found the dog, the cat and the swan all laying together. (the garage is heated)

These are stunning, Caribou. Thanks for posting. I'm glad your swan was a sweetie. Somewhere I've got a photo of me being chased by a swan through a park in Norway. These boids can be mighty fussy.

oh, no, not all swans are nice. My family has had several swans over my lifetime. The black Australian was the nicest and the prettiest. We mourned her death for many years and still miss her.

The Whooper Swan they had is a perfect example of plain evil. And he had a long and ugly reign. As horrible as it sounds, when he died there was a great celebration. Of course, none of their personality traits had to do with a particular breed, some were just born bad.

We also had a Mute Swan, about 8 years ago, that we raised from a small baby, he turned mean and started attacking. This time instead of living with another nightmare, we found him another home, where we heard he fell in love, and lived happily ever after...

I got attacked by a swan once. Scared the crap out of me. I was just lying on the beach and all I had to defend myself with was a towel and sand.