She’s a beauty don’t you think?
There is just something special, call it perfection if yo will, about how pronghorn fit in so well with the dry fall grasses in their habitat. A beauty that is laid bare and obvious. A beauty in nature’s design. A beauty we could perhaps call truth.
A monochrome afternoon on monochrome late November day. The air had a bit of chill and the sky full of cloud yet not threatening in any way.
Peeking between trees for a wonderful views.
A few inches of snow still on the ground from a recent storm letting you know real winter is only a storm away.
Big views across terraces where the earth demonstrates it is indeed alive.
A beautiful afternoon despite the flatness of the sky.
One of our frequent winter visitors is the Townsends Solitaire. Usually sitting high up on a tree or on top of a juniper bush singing either a wonderful melodious song or calling out a high pitched tew-tew-tew.
I have always found mushrooms fascinating life forms. Not plant, not animal yet vitally important for the health of both plants and animals. However, they are a bugger to photograph yet I never stop trying.
Paul Stamets wrote a great book on Fungus call “Mycellium Running” and delivered a very interesting TED talk several years ago:
We usually do not see Grebes on the local pond during winter in our neck of the woods. However, last week, this Western Grebe was swimming in a small section of a local pond that remained unfrozen. Perhaps she if off course in migration and landed here to rest and refuel. Although it was a pleasure to see her, I hope she takes advantage of this weeks thaw to get back on track and is gone the next time I visit this pond.
A white tailed buck slowly moves slowly through the fields of dried grass foraging on a few green shoots and the remains of a rocky mountain bee plant.
A regal fellow with head held high.
And a wonderful sight that brought some light to a cloudy gray afternoon.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
Giving thanks this day for simple things like landscapes open and wide. For food on the table and family and friends the things that bring it all to life.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Enjoying a bit of afternoon sunlight a Bull Elk wandered slowly by.
First sighted by birders in the lowland forests of Borneo over a decade ago the Spectacled Flowerpecker has now been studied and classified as a new species. The species was studied by Chris Milensky and Jacob Saucier from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History while conducting a bird diversity survey. A specimen was captured in the groups mistnet enabling the scientists to collect a DNA sample and confirm that the bird is genetically distant from other known species of flowerpeckers. It is the first new bird species to be found in Borneo for 100 years and a reminder that there are still discoveries to be made.
A quote from Milensky is also a reminder that while there are indeed innumerable scientific discoveries to be made what enables these discoveries is intact habitat for species to exist.
“the discovery of the Spectacled Flowerpecker reflects the boundless biodiversity of the Bornean forests. “Birds are pretty well-studied compared to other organisms, so whenever you find a new bird, you realize just how little you know. Who knows how many insects and invertebrates and other things are still left to be discovered in these forests?” he says. “There are so many other organisms out there that we certainly don’t even know about, that really do require habitat preservation.”
References:
1. Jacob R. Saucier, Christopher M. Milensky, Marcos A. Caraballo-Ortiz, Roslina Ragai, N. Faridah Dahlan, David P. Edwards. A distinctive new species of flowerpecker (Passeriformes: Dicaeidae) from Borneo. Zootaxa, 2019; 4686 (4): 451 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4686.4.1
3.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191017141049.htm
What seems like 5 is only 3 as the sun sets earlier day by day.
No longer Autumn by any means yet winter has yet to fully show it’s face.
Ahhhh…. those Late November Days.
nature has no boss 
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