Work Safe Random Image thread
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bocadillo
Water Gypsy
It's something to do with the combination of your 'editing interface' (changeable in Settings) and your choice of browser. Perhaps Jeff can clarify. The standard interface with Chrome seems to work OK.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
So, more crappy wildlife photos then! The previous ones have been Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl and Ferruginous Hawk, plus Black Bears in the last photo.
Female Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Blue-throated Hummingbird.
Broad-billed Hummingbird.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird.
Female Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Male Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Blue-throated Hummingbird.
Broad-billed Hummingbird.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
These are Pronghorns, often called Pronghorn Antelope but they're not actually antelope, or deer, they're their own thing, the only member of the pronghorn family. They're extremely interesting animals and I love giving my birding tour clients my pronghorn facts! I get people to guess what their nearest living relative is - not many people say the correct answer, which is giraffe. They're the fastest mammal in North America by miles, reaching speeds of 60mph+ and being able to cruise at 45mph over long distances. But they can't jump (their legs work in a similar way to a giraffe) so all the barbed wire fences in their preferred grassland habitat have either no bottom wire, or an unbarbed bottom wire, so the pronghorns can scoot underneath. And the ones in the photos are the endangered Mexican subspecies, most of which are found in the grasslands of SE Arizona. There are only about 250 of this subspecies left, but they are increasing due to improved conservation efforts. Here endeth the pronghorn lesson.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
Talking of my job, I spend a lot of time looking for these two birds for people. They are two of our 'specialty' birds, which can't be found in the USA anywhere other than here.
Black-capped Gnatcatcher (a female without a black cap). Only a few pairs of these breed in the USA, in a few select SE Arizona canyons. This one was coming to a nest that I found, the only known nest of this species in the country last year.
The splendid Rufous-capped Warbler. There are just two regular sites for this one in the USA, again both down here.
Black-capped Gnatcatcher (a female without a black cap). Only a few pairs of these breed in the USA, in a few select SE Arizona canyons. This one was coming to a nest that I found, the only known nest of this species in the country last year.
The splendid Rufous-capped Warbler. There are just two regular sites for this one in the USA, again both down here.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
More of our 'specialty' birds. I am aware that I'm not saying speciality, and I'm a bit embarrassed about how American I'm forced to be for my work.
Bendire's Thrasher.
Dusky-capped Flycactcher.
Elegant Trogon, the most sought-after bird in Arizona. Not as rare in the US as the gnatcatcher or warbler above, there are about 80 pairs in the country, but they're odd and pretty and people really want to see one. This is one of the birds I show to people that is sometimes greeted with punching the air, swearing or crying, depending on the client.
Least Grebes. I found these last summer, the first time this species has been confirmed breeding in Arizona away from their one traditional site. You can see these in southern Texas as well, so not one of our 'specialty' birds per se.
After Elegant trogon, this is the next most popular, Montezuma Quail. They usually don't confide like this pair in the photo, but are extremely skulking and difficult to find. For this bird, us guides will often have to use the line "well, you've got to leave something to come back for" after we inevitably don't see them.
Bendire's Thrasher.
Dusky-capped Flycactcher.
Elegant Trogon, the most sought-after bird in Arizona. Not as rare in the US as the gnatcatcher or warbler above, there are about 80 pairs in the country, but they're odd and pretty and people really want to see one. This is one of the birds I show to people that is sometimes greeted with punching the air, swearing or crying, depending on the client.
Least Grebes. I found these last summer, the first time this species has been confirmed breeding in Arizona away from their one traditional site. You can see these in southern Texas as well, so not one of our 'specialty' birds per se.
After Elegant trogon, this is the next most popular, Montezuma Quail. They usually don't confide like this pair in the photo, but are extremely skulking and difficult to find. For this bird, us guides will often have to use the line "well, you've got to leave something to come back for" after we inevitably don't see them.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
Time for some scary stuff... if you find harmless snakes scary.
Brown Vine snake is one of our specialty snakes! These can only be found in two mountain ranges in the US, both of which I can see from my house.
Sonoran Gophersnake, found by my little dog, who was very excited. The snake was less thrilled.
Sonoran Spotted Whiptail Lizard.
Yarrow's Spiny Lizard.
Another endangered species, the Chiricahua Leopard Frog. Big conservation success story this one. They were down to around 40 individuals in the mid 90s, but a captive breeding program and reintroduction scheme, combined with taking out the non-native, invasive America Bullfrog, has seen them recover well, and they can now be found in many ponds in the area.
Brown Vine snake is one of our specialty snakes! These can only be found in two mountain ranges in the US, both of which I can see from my house.
Sonoran Gophersnake, found by my little dog, who was very excited. The snake was less thrilled.
Sonoran Spotted Whiptail Lizard.
Yarrow's Spiny Lizard.
Another endangered species, the Chiricahua Leopard Frog. Big conservation success story this one. They were down to around 40 individuals in the mid 90s, but a captive breeding program and reintroduction scheme, combined with taking out the non-native, invasive America Bullfrog, has seen them recover well, and they can now be found in many ponds in the area.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
Tarantulas are cool! This chap was in the road, and we had to give him a little poke to get him to move for us. For anyone keeping count, I think this is Aphonopelma behlei, but I'm not a big spider expert.
Back to nice, friendly birds then.
Male Bullock's Oriole.
Marsh Wren, a hard bird to see.
One of the world's worst-named birds, the Olive Warbler, which is neither olive, nor a warbler.
Another popular one down here, the Red-faced Warbler.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
Black-throated Sparrow.
Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
The brilliantly-named Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Surprisingly, this one is a sensible name - they're a small 'Tyrant Flycatcher' hence Tyrannulet, it's the northernmost of the tyrannulet species, and it lacks the rictal bristles (hairs around the base of the bill) that other flycatchers possess, so it's beardless.
Pine Siskin tower block.
Another popular specialty bird, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
Nearly done.
Another specialty bird, the Lucifer Hummingbird (female). Nothing to do with the devil, the name refers to the word lucifer, which means light-bearer.
I've posted a not-so-magnificent Magnificent Hummingbird photo previously. This one shows you why it has its name.
I spent many hours watching a set of hummingbird feeders last summer trying to find his fella for my clients, the mega-rare Plain-capped Starthroat. On one occasion I was there with two ladies who'd flown in from Alabama just to see this bird. We'd sat there for seven hours without the bird showing, so I was extremely surprised when it did finally appear all of a sudden at the feeder right in front of us. I rather unprofessionally blurted out "PLAIN-CAPPED STARTHROAT" which scared it off, with neither of my clients seeing it! Luckily, it came back about ten minutes later, but that ten minutes seemed longer to me than the previous seven hours.
Swainson's Hawk.
Western Meadowlark.
Another specialty bird, the Lucifer Hummingbird (female). Nothing to do with the devil, the name refers to the word lucifer, which means light-bearer.
I've posted a not-so-magnificent Magnificent Hummingbird photo previously. This one shows you why it has its name.
I spent many hours watching a set of hummingbird feeders last summer trying to find his fella for my clients, the mega-rare Plain-capped Starthroat. On one occasion I was there with two ladies who'd flown in from Alabama just to see this bird. We'd sat there for seven hours without the bird showing, so I was extremely surprised when it did finally appear all of a sudden at the feeder right in front of us. I rather unprofessionally blurted out "PLAIN-CAPPED STARTHROAT" which scared it off, with neither of my clients seeing it! Luckily, it came back about ten minutes later, but that ten minutes seemed longer to me than the previous seven hours.
Swainson's Hawk.
Western Meadowlark.
DesertFox
Well-Known Member
A big part of my job at this time of year is taking people to see our wintering flock of Sandhill Cranes. Numbers are down (due to a change in agricultural use in their favoured valley) from over 40,000 a few years ago to about 19,000 this winter, but it's still a hugely impressive sight.
I get paid to point these out. Errrr.... there they are! Old rope...
Finally, a couple of scenic shots taken with my phone.
The Chiricahua Mountains at Portal, Arizona.
California Gulch, near where I live right down on the Mexican border in Santa Cruz county. One of my very favourite places in the world, and somewhere I get to go often in the summer for a couple of specialty birds that can't be found anywhere else.
Very last note, my photos have been pretty shitty for the last year or so, ever since my camera magically started working again having sat broken for two years. I'm not really a photographer - I just get lucky because I put myself in front of great wildlife every day - so I barely know how to work the camera, to be honest. But I finally got around to sitting down with the manual and figuring out all my settings, getting it back to where it used to be, hence the last few photos (cranes, turkey) being much better. Hopefully, the next lot that I post will be of this quality rather than the fuzzy shit before it, but that's dependent on my 'broken' eight-year-old Canon 30D continuing to work.
Right, I've got it all out of my system, you'll be safe from this for a good while now.
I get paid to point these out. Errrr.... there they are! Old rope...
Finally, a couple of scenic shots taken with my phone.
The Chiricahua Mountains at Portal, Arizona.
California Gulch, near where I live right down on the Mexican border in Santa Cruz county. One of my very favourite places in the world, and somewhere I get to go often in the summer for a couple of specialty birds that can't be found anywhere else.
Very last note, my photos have been pretty shitty for the last year or so, ever since my camera magically started working again having sat broken for two years. I'm not really a photographer - I just get lucky because I put myself in front of great wildlife every day - so I barely know how to work the camera, to be honest. But I finally got around to sitting down with the manual and figuring out all my settings, getting it back to where it used to be, hence the last few photos (cranes, turkey) being much better. Hopefully, the next lot that I post will be of this quality rather than the fuzzy shit before it, but that's dependent on my 'broken' eight-year-old Canon 30D continuing to work.
Right, I've got it all out of my system, you'll be safe from this for a good while now.
Real Sharapova
Well-Known Member
:icon_bigg Ditto!
homer
Well-Known Member
Just pick some off the internet, post them, and pretend they're yours
I think we all know that's what Dessie does.....
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