Beautiful Animals

Breathtaking photos, dj. Absolutely spectacular. (Reminder: You're dealing with an asthmatic. There's only so much breath I can afford to have taken. But these pics are worth a little gasping. And I'm quick on the draw with the inhaler.) Just gorgeous. Thanks big time.

A startled hippotomus dashes from his hiding place, Shire River, Liwonde national park, Malawi
Photograph: David Hobcote/ Rex Features

spectacular

olga, Talk about being in the right place at the right time! What are the chances that you've got your camera out and pointed in the right direction when this guy pops his head out. Amazing photo. Thanks, kid.

Cardinal beetle:

Two Matschie's tree kangaroos (Dendrolagus matschiei), which are an endangered species, peer from a perch in the newly created YUS Conservation Area of Papua New Guinea
Photograph: HO/REUTERS

Oh goddess! Those bloody things are so damn cute they should be outlawed!

lady bug, lady bug, fly away home,
Your house is on fire and your children are gone.

Gotta agree with deb, olga. Dem guys are illegally cute.

Letty, Love dem ladybugs. Thanks.

Black rhino and calf:

That looks like a bald monster from Where the Wild Things Are! I would have taken it for a CGI inserted character!

It does, too! You're right.

I love that picture, you guys.

Mockingbird:

kind of a crappy photo, but i didn't want to step outside and scare them off



couple of blue jays and a cardinal at the feeder

I never see a rhino that I don't think of the rhinovirus. Have the sniffles right now, y'all.

Not Florence but the one that sang in Berkely Square.

Get better from the sniffles fast, fast, fast, Letty!

Some Adelie penguins (great NYer article on them and their travails, by the way, back on Deceember 21, 2009 - this article has audio -
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2009/12/21/091221on_audio_montaigne

dj, I see one jay and a cardinal. Good enough for me.

Letty, Feel better, and thanks for the nightingale.

osso, Great pic. Thanks mucho.

Black thoroughbred:

the second jay is sort of hiding behind the roof support of the feeder
here's two clearly visible jays from the front feeders this morning

looking for some information on, Coll, a scottish island, i stumbled across these pics

Wildlife


Brown Hare, Lepus europaeus, Isle of Coll


Otter tracks in the sand, Isle of Coll


Otter, Lutra lutra, Isle of Coll

Farming


Ewe with lamb, Hogh Bay


Hebridean ewe with lambs


Highland bull, Isle of Coll

Sea Life


Common Seal, Phoca vitulina


Goose Barnacles, Lepas anatifera. This odd-looking crustacean is normally found in quite deep water but occasionally they can be found on debris that has become dislodged from the sea bed and has washed up on the shore.

i'll post some birds and insects from the island in a bit

more pics from Coll

Butterflies and Moths


Emperor Moth, Saturnia pavonia. Female. The males, which have bright orange hindwings, fly during the daytime in search of the greyer females, which fly at night .


Emperor Moth, Saturnia pavonia. Male. The males, which have bright orange hindwings, fly during the daytime in search of the greyer females, which fly at night.


Green-veined white, Pieris napi, on voilet, Druim Dearg, Isle of Coll


Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta, on chives


Small Blue butterfly, Cupido minimus


Small Heath butterfly, Coenonympha pamphilus

Insects


Common Blue Damselfly, Enallagma cyathigerum, (male) on water lobelia, Isle of Coll.


Pond skater, common water-strider Gerris lacustris

next up Birds

Birds of Coll


Corncrake, Crex crex, male calling


Greylag Goose, Anser anser


Heron, Ardea cinerea, amongst Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata


Heron, Ardea cinerea, in Arinagour Bay, Isle of Coll


Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, on the machiar


Little Tern, Sterna albifrons, feeding chick with sand eel.


Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus chicks


Raven chicks, Corvus corax, in nest, Isle of Coll


Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata, Isle of Coll


Ringer Plover chick, Charadrius hiaticula

more birds from Coll


Sanderling, Calidris alba, in flight, Gallanach, Isle of Coll


Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus


Snow Goose, Anser caerulescens, Isle of Coll airstrip.


Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, in flight


Tern, Little Sterna albifrons on nest


Waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, in Arinagour, isle of Coll


White Fronted Geese, Anser albifrons, Isle of Coll.


Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, garden, Isle of Coll