rio rancho nm

Beep, Beep!

March 24, 2023 — 24 Comments

F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 250.

Greater Roadrunner

Why can you never trust atoms?

They make up everything!

Interesting Fact: Roadrunners have evolved a range of adaptations to deal with the extremes of desert living. Like seabirds, they secrete a solution of highly concentrated salt through a gland just in front of each eye, which uses less water than excreting it via their kidneys and urinary tract. Moisture-rich prey including mammals and reptiles supply them otherwise-scarce water in their diet. Both chicks and adults flutter the unfeathered area beneath the chin (gular fluttering) to dissipate heat. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/overview ) 

My New Year’s resolution Is To Stop Hanging Out With People Who Ask Me About My New Years’s Resolutions.

December 31, 2022 — 26 Comments

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 320.

Sandhill Crane

What’s the problem with jogging on New Years Eve?

The ice falls out of your drinks!

Interesting Fact: Sandhill Cranes are known for their dancing skills. Courting cranes stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow, and leap into the air in a graceful and energetic dance. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/lifehistory )

I Wonder If Earth Makes Fun Of Other Planets For Having No Life.

November 11, 2022 — 8 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

American Coot

Why was the broom late?

It over swept!

Interesting Fact: The ecological impact of common animals, like this ubiquitous waterbird, can be impressive when you add it all up. One estimate from Back Bay, Virginia, suggested that the local coot population ate 216 tons (in dry weight) of vegetation per winter. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot )

If Money Is Made Out Of Paper, Doesn’t That mean money Grows on Trees?

March 7, 2022 — 17 Comments

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 320.

Brown Creeper

What do you do when two snails have a fight?

Leave them to slug it out!

Interesting Fact: Sometimes creepers build nests in unusual places, such as behind window shutters, in or under roofs, inside fenceposts, or inside concrete blocks. One brought up a family in a specially constructed box made of pieces of Douglas-fir bark. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/lifehistory )

Work, Really? Agian? Didn’t I Just Do That Yesturday?!

March 2, 2022 — 9 Comments

F/9.0, 1/320, ISO 160.

Sandhill Crane

What do Snowmen call their offspring?

Chill-dren.

Interesting Fact: Sandhill Cranes mate for life, choosing their partners based on dancing displays. Displaying birds stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow, and leap into the air.  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/lifehistory )

Don’t Be A Creep!

February 21, 2022 — 10 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Brown Creeper

Past, present and future walk into a bar.

It was tense!

Interesting Fact: The Brown Creeper spends most of its time spiraling up tree trunks in search of insects. It holds its short legs on either side of its body, with the long, curved claws hooking into the bark, and braces itself with its long, stiff tail. Both feet hop at the same time, making the bird’s head duck after each hop. Because of its specialized anatomy, the Brown Creeper rarely climbs downward: once high in a tree, it flies down to begin a new ascent at the base of a nearby tree. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/lifehistory )

But I’m A Creep!

November 2, 2021 — 16 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Brown Creeper

Why was Cinderella thrown off the basketball team?

She ran away from the ball.

Interesting Fact: Brown Creepers burn an estimated 4–10 calories (technically, kilocalories) per day, a tiny fraction of a human’s daily intake of about 2,000 kilocalories. By eating a single spider, a creeper gains enough energy to climb nearly 200 feet vertically. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper )

Hey Bro! Want To Have A Staring Contest?!

March 12, 2021 — 19 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 200.

Sandhill Crane

What did the tie say to the hat?

You go on ahead and I’ll hang around.

Interesting Fact: The elegance of cranes has inspired people in cultures all over the world—including the great scientist, conservationist, and nature writer Aldo Leopold, who wrote of their “nobility, won in the march of aeons.”  ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/ )

Do You Want To Be Part Of My Pack?

March 5, 2021 — 17 Comments

F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 320.

Coyote

What do you say when you meet a talking Coyote?

Howl about that?

Interesting Fact: Coyotes are smaller than wolves and are sometimes called prairie wolves or brush wolves. They communicate with a distinctive call, which at night often develops into a raucous canine chorus. ( https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/c/coyote/ )

I Know You Are Jealous Of My Beak

January 30, 2021 — 7 Comments

F/8.0, 1/250, ISO 320.

Northern Shoveler ( Female ) 

How do you know if there’s a snowman in your bed?

You wake up wet!

Interesting Fact: Northern shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water. They use their highly specialized bill (from which their name is derived) to forage for aquatic invertebrates – a carnivorous diet. Their wide-flat bill is equipped with well-developed lamellae – small, comb-like structures on the edge of the bill that act like sieves, allowing the birds to skim crustaceans and plankton from the water’s surface. This adaptation, more specialized in shovelers, gives them an advantage over other puddle ducks, with which they do not have to compete for food resources during most of the year. Thus, mud-bottomed marshes rich in invertebrate life are their habitat of choices. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_shoveler#Behavior )