Whaddaya mean ‘leave her alone, she’s sleeping?’
Mum? Mum!? Wake up, I’m bored.
Luna can now sleep through practically anything.
Whaddaya mean ‘leave her alone, she’s sleeping?’
Mum? Mum!? Wake up, I’m bored.
Luna can now sleep through practically anything.
This poor Blotched blue-tongued skink was fished out of the bushes by Lily. By the time I got there Lily had dropped it and it was standing in the grass with it’s mouth agape, blue tongue out, and hissing at both Lily and Luna standing over it. I brought it inside to check for damage (none) and kept it in the house until Imogen got home so we could de-tick it’s ears (they get horrible tick infestation in their ears.
Having been thoroughly abused, we then turned it out in the front, far away from pesky puppy snouts.
Those skinks are just amazingly huge. I wish we had something like that around here. Indiana does have the very large (and very rare) hellbender salamander but I’ve never seen one.
I love the Luna and Lily/Lilly pictures.
Lily’s muppet hairdo still makes me smile. She really does pester Luna endlessly, but they play a lot too, so I don’t think Luna’s too upset with the arrangement.
Blue-tongues, of which there are several versions, including one called a shingleback – which looks like a pine cone with legs, are impressively sized. And fortunately for us, easily handled. Goannas, which live only on the mainland, otoh, are scarily sized and mean tempered. I’ve only seen one, when we were in WA.
I’ve seen lots of salamanders, but never a hellbender.
From our trip to Western Australia.
As you can see, it’s one of those critters whose back end evolved to look like it’s front end – so that both ends seemingly have the potential to bite you.
It’s apparently been a bumper year for buggies in Western Australia.
Also, here, and here.
Cloudy Bay beach, South Bruny Island, Tasmania.
More Cloudy Bay
On the above beach.
They breed in the dunes. And are very shy, so dogs are restricted from beaches during their breeding season.
I can’t wait to retire so I can come add to the vast crowds. 😉
Summer or winter, we’re waiting.
Wow. What a stunning, fascinating place, keres!
I do believe I can die happy now.
🙂
We had some guests drop by our place yesterday, though sadly not as cool as your skink and fortunately not as scary as a swarm of buggies.
click for larger
But still, an impressive bird. We had a flock of over 40 that frequented our place in N. Cal., and some of the males were at least four feet tall.
Mmm, where are the mashed potatoes and gravy?
Mmm, where are the mashed potatoes and gravy?
They’re nocturnal, and therefore much harder to photograph.
LOL 🙂
How could you say such a horrible thing?!?
Everybody knows that stuffing is the only reason turkeys even exist.
I agree…stuffing actually improves their appearance.
Lucky you! Turkey visits are actually very auspicious, according to some Native beliefs. They remind us of the bounty of the land, gifts to come.
I’ve actually had the opportunity to gut, clean & cook one of these wild turkeys. You haven’t tasted turkey ’til you’ve tasted one. It’s like essence of turkey — comparatively, the farmed variety have little flavor.
I’ve never shot one, however. Don’t think I would, at this point. Too lame.
And here I thought they showed up because there’s never a shortage of turkeys at our house. 🙂
Maybe this is why they were the original national bird ..
“Luna can now sleep through practically anything.”
I wish i could say the same. 🙂
I think we’d all like to have a dog’s resolve – especially when it comes to the dogged pursuit of life’s pleasures.
Scary number of Buggies up there….
Some of our local bird life:
Central Park (Harlem Meer):
Garden next to St. John the Divine:
Speaking of fearsome fowl – I’ve seen far too many people, and other water fowl as we, attacked by white swans to ever find them “romantic”.
Ah, the urban peacock.
I think that swan is giving you the evil eye.
The stone wall makes a great backdrop for the peacock.
These are beautiful shots, ask.
Your peacock shot reminds me of a visit we received here at the farmhouse a few years ago. I looked up from the garden & saw a flashing, bright blue light. It was the neighbors’ pet peacock, Percy, pecking at the seed around the bird feeders.
I chased him around the house for a while, trying to catch a photo — but he’s very fast. He finally flew up into a tree. Left me nary a feather.