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Some waxwing thumbnails

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i wish u could hold out ur hand to pigeons and they’d come sniff it like cats would & they’d go ooo rooo rorooo oo and let u pet them. alas bird flu

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Me: casually standing on the back porch checking in my succulents.

This fucking robin: hey.

We're just... Chillin. She's just like three feet from me tops.

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Meet the Manefish, Caristius macropus

Named for their distinctive shape, macropus means large foot. This fish was observed in Monterey Bay 483 meters (1584 feet) deep in August of 2018. Manefish grow to be 35 centimeters (13 inches) long, but this individual was likely a juvenile measuring only about four centimeters (1.5 inches). They love to dine on siphonophores. Despite that, scientists think they may have a symbiotic relationship with the siphonophore Bathyphysa conifera, with the siphonophore providing shelter while the fish munches on their parasites.

Senior Research Technician in the video lab, Kyra Schlining selected this fascinating fish as one of her favorite moments because it’s so rare. MBARI has only filmed this animal twice, and Kyra was lucky enough to spot it on one of the many expeditions she’s participated in! “Spotting this little guy was particularly memorable because in over 20 years of watching deep-sea video I had never seen this animal before! We happened to be listening to “Who Can It Be Now” by Men at Work, and the fish was swimming perfectly in time to the beat. Everyone in the control room laughed until our faces hurt! We paused to watch the fish rock on until the song was over then continued on our research mission,” Kyra shared.

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no offense to newly hatched white-throated nightjars but

how do you expect me to trust that you are not simply a moldy fruit hastily discarded to the forest floor…

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May I offer you the tiniest baby Ogre in these trying times 🤎

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Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus). Family Tyrannidae, order Passeriformes.

Someone reminded me how top tier my state bird is. Take one look at this bird and tell me its not the best state bird in the US.

Stroud, Oklahoma, USA. May 2022.

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Bornean Crested Fireback (Lophura ignita), male, family Phasianidae, order Galliformes, Borneo

photograph by Subir Chatterjee

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Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata

11/18/2023 Los Angeles County, California

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I'm kind of obsessed with the way sheep are handled. So efficiently. It always looks kind of unpleasant at first and then you notice the sheep are fine with it. They're always being flipped upside down and rolled down a chute or some shit. A shepherd will be tossing that thang in the air and spinning it like pizza dough & the sheep just lets it happen

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LEUCISTIC SPARROW

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Baby pink iguanas start out green!

The Galápagos Islands are home to numerous animal species that can only be found there– and many of them are on the verge of extinction. So it's always a party when new babies are found, but these babies are extra special!

This little critter is a Conolophus marthae, or Galápagos pink land iguana. It can only be found in a remote, uninhabited around the Wolf Volcano on Northern Isabela Island, and it's estimated that there only about 200 adult members of the species. Their biggest threat is feral cats and rats, neither of which are native to the islands, and there's talk of developing a captive breeding program to help boost their numbers. So the discovery of surviving hatchlings is always a reason to celebrate, especially because the first recorded hatchling were only found in 2022 (and they only found one)! As recently as 2021, when the first big study of their habitat was conducted, there were no juveniles found, so finding more babies is really good news for this species.

Lots of baby reptiles look quite different from their parents, both in shape and in color. The change in pigmentation from infancy to adulthood is called an ontogenic change, which means it's related to aging and maturity. This is an advantageous trait in a lot of animals because it allows the juveniles to camouflage and take advantage of habitat space that the adults might not use. For lizards that start out green and change color, it's usually pretty reflective of the babies spending more time in vegetation and the adults spending more time on the ground or in open or rocky areas.

As you can see, this juvenile blends in really well with the leaves. Cryptic coloration helps protect these babies from predators.

But what will they look like when they grow up?

They really are That Pink! They keep their dark pigment, but the green turns into pink! Neato!

Like the other species of Galápagos land iguana, these iguanas play an important part in their ecosystem. They play a major role in seed dispersal for native plants, and their burrows are used by smaller species as shelter. All populations of land iguanas in the Galápagos are threatened, and some, like the original Santiago Island population, have gone extinct. But the future of pink iguana conservation looks promising, especially because the species is breeding on its own in the wild!

If you'd like to learn more about the Galápagos pink land iguana, you can read more about them at the Galápagos Conservancy's website:

And get the whole story about the newest hatchlings here:

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What's the Bird?

Location: Minnesota

Date: April

We ask that discussion under questions be limited to how you came to your conclusion, not what your conclusion was.

Happy Birding!

Keep the game alive! Submit a bird HERE

Bird-636 graciously submitted by @strawberrygiorno

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Tumblr's Favorite Charismatic Animal Round 1

*Antelope is a very broad term for many animals, included the Pronghorn (pictured, top), Wildebeest (Pictured, bottom), Eland, Waterbuck, Impala, Kudu, and Bongo.

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swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus), zoomed in in a desperate attempt to show at least one field marker . He is like 8 pixels across

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