animals

I’m Not Perfect But My Eyeliner Is

March 17, 2023 — 10 Comments

F/10.0,1/400, ISO 320.

Green-Winged Teal

Why is Basketball such a messy sport?

Because you dribble on the floor!

Interesting Fact: Green-winged Teal sometimes switch wintering sites from year to year. One banding study found that individuals wintering in Texas one year went as far away as California in subsequent years. This lack of philopatry, or “faithfulness” to a particular site, may reflect the tendency of males that did not breed the year before to try to find mates among a different set of wintering females. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green-winged_Teal/lifehistory )

I Claim This Rock!

March 16, 2023 — 13 Comments

F/5.6, 1/250, ISO 800.

Muskrat

Why did the cookie go to the hospital?

He felt crummy!

Interesting Fact: Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattails and other aquatic vegetation. They do not store food for the winter, but sometimes eat the insides of their push-ups. While they may appear to steal food beavers have stored, more seemingly cooperative partnerships with beavers exist, as featured in the BBC David Attenborough wildlife documentary The Life of Mammals.[22][23] Plant materials compose about 95% of their diets, but they also eat small animals, such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles.[5][6] Muskrats follow trails they make in swamps and ponds. When the water freezes, they continue to follow their trails under the ice. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat#Behavior )

Giggity, Giggity, Quack!

March 14, 2023 — 14 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 500.

Ruddy Duck

What did the calculator say to the cashier?

You can count on me.

Interesting Fact:  Most males pair up with one female each for the duration of the breeding season, but some take multiple mates. Their eggs are proportionally the largest of all waterfowl. The ducklings hatch well-developed and active, receiving minimal care from the mother and none from the father. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruddy_Duck/lifehistory )

Hi I Exist!

March 13, 2023 — 21 Comments

F/6.3, 1/80, ISO400.

White-Tailed Deer

Who won the skeleton beauty contest?

Nobody.

Interesting Fact: The conversion of land adjacent to the Canadian Rockies into agriculture use and partial clear-cutting of coniferous trees (resulting in widespread deciduous vegetation) has been favorable to the white-tailed deer and has pushed its distribution to as far north as Yukon. Populations of deer around the Great Lakes have also expanded their range northwards, due to conversion of land to agricultural uses favoring more deciduous vegetation, and local caribou and moose populations. The westernmost population of the species, known as the Columbian white-tailed deer, once was widespread in the mixed forests along the Willamette and Cowlitz River valleys of western Oregon and southwestern Washington, but today its numbers have been considerably reduced, and it is classified as near-threatened. This population is separated from other white-tailed deer populations. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer )

 

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

March 11, 2023 — 6 Comments

ring-billed-gulls

F/5.6, 1/320, ISO 400.

Ring-billed Gull             

What do you call a man with seagull on his head?

Cliff

Interesting Fact: Migrating Ring-billed Gulls apparently use a built-in compass to navigate. When tested at only two days of age, chicks showed a preference for magnetic bearings that would take them in the appropriate direction for their fall migration. The gulls also rely on landmarks and high-altitude winds to provide directional cues.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-billed_Gull/lifehistory )

You Give Me Goosebumps!

March 10, 2023 — 20 Comments

F/6.3, 1/640, ISO 160.

Greylag goose

What concert costs 45 cents?

50 Cent featuring Nickleback.

Interesting Fact: Greylag geese are gregarious birds and form flocks. This has the advantage for the birds that the vigilance of some individuals in the group allows the rest to feed without having to constantly be alert to the approach of predators. After the eggs hatch, some grouping of families occur, enabling the geese to defend their young by their joint actions, such as mobbing or attacking predators.[17] After driving off a predator, a gander will return to its mate and give a “triumph call”, a resonant honk followed by a low-pitched cackle, uttered with neck extended forward parallel with the ground. The mate and even unfledged young reciprocate in kind. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greylag_goose#Behaviour   )

Always Stretch Before Swimming!

March 7, 2023 — 2 Comments

F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 500.

Ruddy Duck

What is crazy and walks along the sides of buildings?

A walnut.

Interesting Fact: Ruddy Ducks are very aggressive toward each other and toward other species, especially during the breeding season. Unlike most ducks, they form pairs only after arriving on the breeding grounds each year. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruddy_Duck/lifehistory )

This Water Is Freezing!!!

March 5, 2023 — 4 Comments

F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 100.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron ( Juvenile )

Why did the boy eat his homework?

Because his teacher said it was a piece of cake!

Interesting Fact: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons forage both during the day and at night—in coastal areas the tide can trump the time of day: most foraging occurs from 3 hours before high tide to 3 hours after. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-crowned_Night-Heron/lifehistory )

 

Be Like A Duck And QUACK!

March 4, 2023 — 6 Comments

F/6.3, 1/400, ISO 400.

Green-Winged Teal

How do you make a tissue dance?

Put a little boogie in it.

Interesting Fact: The Aleutian Islands of Alaska support their own race of Green-winged Teal, Anas crecca nimia. Unlike other Green-winged Teal populations, this race doesn’t migrate. In winter the birds move from summering sites on ponds and lakes to the islands’ beaches, where they forage in tide pools and on shallow-water reefs. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Green-winged_Teal/lifehistory )

I Quack You Quack We Quack Together

March 3, 2023 — 6 Comments

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 320.

Ring-necked Ducks

Why did the old woman put roller skates on her rocking chair?

Because she wanted to rock and roll.

Interesting Fact: This bird’s common name (and its scientific name “collaris,” too) refer to the Ring-necked Duck’s hard-to-see chestnut collar on its black neck. It’s not a good field mark to use for identifying the bird, but it jumped out to the nineteenth century biologists that described the species using dead specimens.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Duck/lifehistory )