[noelcmn]

Terrapins

[aslyfox]

not a " legal " separation but the Yellowstone River is dividing the sexes in the Hayden Valley of Yellowstone National Park

Bull Elk in the distance across the river while the cow elk is on the camera side.

K 3 + HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW + HD Pentax-DA 1.4x AW AF Rear Converter

[paulh]

[noelcmn]

The latest addition to my bird list-yes I am a twitcher as they are called. Capped Wheatear

[WPRESTO]

The latest addition to my bird list-yes I am a twitcher as they are called. Capped Wheatear

Noel, have you got the bird below checked on your life list as yet? We have friends who now live in a wonderful home in Escalante, Utah, who planned their travels around birding opportunities. Don't know how many they have checked over the decades of globe-trotting, but it's probably into the multiple thousands.

[aslyfox]

Osprey

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW + HD Pentax-DA 1.4x AW AF Rear Converter

[WPRESTO]

Puffer fish. Even in captivity, no fish is ever "tame," so they must always be "wild" but confined.

Attached Images

 

[aslyfox]

prong horn antelope Antilocapra americana on the move east of Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park

but what is it really ??

" Its Latin name, Antilocapra americana, means "American goat-antelope," but it is not a member of the goat or the antelope family and it is not related to the antelopes found in Africa . The pronghorn is the only surviving member of the Antilocapridae family and it has been in North America for over a million years! . . . The pronghorn is the fastest animal in the Western Hemisphere. It can run at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and it can run long distances at speeds of 30-40 miles per hour. It can make bounds of up to 20 feet when it is running. . . . " - Pronghorn - Antilocapra americana - NatureWorks

[noelcmn]

Noel, have you got the bird below checked on your life list as yet? We have friends who now live in a wonderful home in Escalante, Utah, who planned their travels around birding opportunities. Don't know how many they have checked over the decades of globe-trotting, but it's probably into the multiple thousands.

Yes I do, but only a captive specimen, but still that counts. Avitourism (Avian tourism) is a fast growing sector, and a significant contributor to tourism worldwide. I had an interesting experience a few years ago, when it was reported that a very rare Grey Wagtail had been spotted at a local Botanical Gardens. Well, that was enough to ensure a horde of twitchers were there several days in a row (Including me ). It was real interesting to see so many people with Binocs everywhere scanning the bushes and hoping!

A herd of Bontebok

[WPRESTO]

FYI: The family Antilocapridae, endemic to NA, goes back into the Miocene (= up to a bit over 20 million years). Some of the fossil species have four horns, some have six. A trivial reason why these are neither antelope nor deer: 1) deer (Cervidae) have bony antlers that drop off annually; 2) antelope (a subgroup within the Bovidae) have permanent horns that have a keratin (fingernail protein) sheath over top of a bony core; 3) pronghorns (Antilocapridae) have horns with a bony core and a keratin outer sheath that is shed annually. If you'd like to see some unusual antelope-like creatures, GOOGLE Protoceratidae, an extinct group of artiodactyls that like the pronghorns is found only in North America.

And a giraffe in a zoo, the horns are bone with a skin-and-hair covering, no keratin sheath.

[WPRESTO]

Yes I do, but only a captive specimen, but still that counts. Avitourism (Avian tourism) is a fast growing sector, and a significant contributor to tourism worldwide. I had an interesting experience a few years ago, when it was reported that a very rare Grey Wagtail had been spotted at a local Botanical Gardens. Well, that was enough to ensure a horde of twitchers were there several days in a row (Including me ). It was real interesting to see so many people with Binocs everywhere scanning the bushes and hoping!

A herd of Bontebok

When our friends visited here, he took a day to travel as I remember to Mt. Monadnock to try to spot a particularly rare warbler. He had only a "maybe" sighting so he did not check it off his life list. Warblers are one of the challenging bird types here - many species, males mostly distinctive when in breeding plumage but exasperatingly similar in appearance the rest of the year, and some only reliably distinguishable by song (warblers are noted for their distinctive songs).

Some have no interest whatever in birds.

[noelcmn]

Same problem here, most common with the weavers that lose their breeding plumage come autumn and winter. Warblers here too are difficult to ID. On another Forum I belong to, they are simply known as LBJ- Little Brown Jobbies. Still I try to ID as accurately as possible, though it does not help to be corrected, on one occasion when I changed the ID three times, only to be corrected that it was not one of my chosen ID's. Here's one that does not present too much of difficulty IDing. White Fronted Bee Eater from Rietvlei Nature Reserve.

[WPRESTO]

tree kangaroo making an effort to wake up. It failed.
I must stash "LBJ" as an alternative to "CFW" (= confusing Fall warbler) and GDYC for too many yellow flowers.

[noelcmn]

A young Crested Guinea Fowl doiing some preening

[WPRESTO]

A red eft from yesterday's walk with Tralee