Thursday, October 16, 2008

Critterpalooza!

For lack of thoughtful or insightful things to post right now, I will try to pacify you with a roundup of various animal pictures, some of which have been on my camera since late winter.


"Fat Cat" has an appropriately descriptive name. He belongs to some of my friends who pitch a tent in my yard occasionally and they often bring him with them when visiting.


I told my friend Jen the other day that I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those people who talks about my dog way too much... and that promise has been shattered. I feel like the stereotypical proud father who bores everyone to tears with endless pictures and conversations about his new-born child.

Pepper hiked all the way up Mount Mansfield with me in Northern VT recently.


The endearing, maudlin "beggar boy" look refined to an art


This is what happens when we get too curious about porcupines!


Schmoozing with my friend Jeanette at work


Jen's two dogs: Kindred & Addie


"Stella", a white umbrella cockatoo


Spending time with "Kayden" (scarlet macaw) at work. He used to routinely draw blood on me but after establishing that he would not get his way by biting (and by repeatedly plying him with treats & toys) I have become one of his buddies.


A most unusual hand-raised baby sun conure who actually likes to sleep on his back. Countless times we had customers dutifully reporting to us that they thought one of our birds was dead. We eventually posted a sign to let everyone know that this behavior was normal for this particular bird. Side note: in the wild, this behavior would most likely cause this little guy to become another statistic to explain natural selection.


A jade goby who has taken on the habit of lighthouse-perching, might this be the piscine version of pole-sitting?


"Duchess" is a very beautiful and spoiled bearded dragon who visits us frequently when her family comes in to buy food for her.


My friend Josh has recently raised a breeding pair of angelfish, the two white dashes in the lower left corner are some of their babies.


Leaf Turtle: she is the most athletic turtle I've ever seen, frequently climbing in and out from among the rocks and scaling the side of her enclosure. I had to put extra weight on top of her cage because she kept escaping.


A "blue lobster" (actually just a selectively-bred species of crayfish) right after molting with his old shell visible directly above him. We leave the shells in the tank because they eat them and recycle the minerals.

I am normally not crazy about rabbits, but this little fella is admittedly cute and the most docile bunny I've ever met.








He will even fall asleep in your lap!


A young fox who hangs out behind my workplace


Chipmunk at my birdfeeder

2 comments:

McPolack said...

These are fantastic pictures. I love critters! I think my favorite though is the "dead" bird. It reminds me of fainting goats. Thanks for sharing!

Nonsequitur said...

I almost forgot about fainting goats. There are fish which do that as well.