Raccoons

Visiting friends' house and a masked bandit came to visit.

Whoa, you caught me!  The raccoon didn't mind the flash at all.

My friends feed feral cats (all spayed and neutered except a recent new one) and occasionally this fellow invites himself over.  Those dexterous front paws efficiently cleaned up the spilled cat food.  Didn't leave a single piece.

Evil look and slight glimpse of teeth.  Almost looks more like a werewolf than a werewolf.  Or is that more like a vampire than a vampire?

Athens Animals

Wildlife is everywhere.  My occasional catbirding blog. 

Pigeon candid.  

Nesting structure.  (A stat reference for those who know.)

I'm guessing this is a flycatcher, but I'm not a birder.  I can barely identify cats from dogs from birds, and that maybe half the time.  

What would birding be without a parallel interest in birdhousing?  

Every cat I saw was out of the bag.  And all appeared well fed.  

Lisbon: Animals and Plants

Those funky Portuguese animals and plants, these from around Lisbon.  The first two pictures are at the Jeronimos Monastery and the third is a shot nearby into the Tagus river.  The remainder were pictures from the Lisbon aquarium, advertised as the second largest in the world. 

Odd tree.  See how the base narrows then splits into many trunks. 

Pigeon resting on the monastery.  

River fish swarming near what must be a food source into the river, perhaps sewage. 

These creatures received a big lift from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo.  The aquarium had a number of turtles that had been hurt and rescued and who were being rehabilitated for a hoped for return to the wild.  There are actually a number of giant turtles, and they can look quite different from each other. 

Penguins. 

And puffins

and water fowl, perhaps a duck?

Sea anemones and reflections. 

Blue Man Grouper? 

Flat fish make for tasty eating, especially for those on a diet. 

Another rotation courtesy blogger.  Tree roots from one of the many parks along the Expo park up from the aquarium. 

Animals at the LA Zoo

Going to the Los Angeles zoo.  How about you?  These are a few of my favorite animals. 

Meerkat. A distinguished gentleman keeping look out for predators.  He looks a bit like my brother-in-law.  That's a compliment. 

Komodo dragon checking out the visitors. 

My favorite on this visit.  The double-wattled cassowary.  Not every animal has wattles much less two.  We spent the rest of the visit comparing animal wattles to this cassowary.  The single-wattled turkey vulture, the zero-wattled rhinoceros.  And the multi-jowled R. M. Nixon.  Beautifully large bird. 

This gorilla was sitting a few feet from the window where people were streaming by. 

Grevy's Zebra lying down on the job.  Note the connection between the left side of the zebra suit and the right side there along the belly matter.  And the suit appears to be stretching there along the belly.  

Gerenuk's.  Cute little gazelle-like creatures. I could watch these guys all day. 

People and chimps all watching in the same direction.  What's not shown: two docents (?) tossing apples to the chimps.  You can see two chimps with their remaining apple bits.   

Concerned giraffe searching for like minded member of the opposite sex for fun and recreation and ... necking.  

One-humped Aldabra Tortoise.  They used to allow us to ride the slightly larger Galapagos tortoise at Como Zoo in St. Paul when I was a child. 

Indian Rhinoceros.  If I read correctly, this guy has cancer which has affected the horn. 

Animals with Their Backs to US

Generally to make an emotional connection to an animal photo, you need the face as part of the photo.  These photos had interesting features, but had no frontal picture of the face.  Still, I found them interesting -- the light on the skin/pelt/fur/muscles, the texture of the fur, the pose, the surrounding environment.

Gorillas can be gorgeous animals.  Here we see one walking at an angle away from us in the gorilla enclosure. 

Desert Big-Horn Sheep.  Beautiful back end. 

Beautiful giraffe.  See the light on the skin and the muscles under the skin. 

François’s Langur.  The back thereof. 


Hippo languidly underwater.  What I really like here is the sun on the rocks.  And a bit of the shadow.  I also worry about the hippo getting sunburn on its back that is out of water. 

Pink flamingos all a-gaggle.  The birds appear to all have a number.  Number 13 is particularly visible.  Perhaps those are genetic features.  The flamingo version of fingerprints.