Dogofthedesert
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Dogofthedesert
@dogofthedesert.bsky.social
620 followers 19 following 390 posts
Retired archaeologist and museum curator who loves the planet he lives on, and worries about what is happening to it.
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dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) in the Rio Grande Bosque, Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 21, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A hawk sits on a thick branch, with flawless blue sky behind them. The photo mostly shows the back and folded right wing. The back is patchy brown and white, with the former color predominating. The wing feathers are barred, both dark brown and a lighter brown. The ends of the primaries are black. The pale reddish tail feathers are mostly covered by the wingtips. The hawk's brown head is turned over its right shoulder, to stare with one pale brown eye at the photographyer. The hooked beak is dull gray.
January 22, 2026 at 1:33 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) in lower Embudo Canyon, in the Sandia Mountains next to Albuquerque, on January 19, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
An image shot somewhat in the sun, in this case making the bird look more monochromatic than it is. The head is strikingly marked: gray forehead, white stripe, gray stripe, white stripe, large black chin patch. The black patch extends onto the breast, which is otherwise light gray. The belly is light gray, with a hint of brown at the undertail coverts. The visible folded wing is gray-brown. The tail is seen on edge so no details are obvious. In the foreground, in the lower right corner of the photo, is a confusing mess of bare gray twigs. The background is a blurry pattern suggestive of more twigs, plus a few leaves.
January 21, 2026 at 2:15 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) flying low overhead in Corrales, New Mexico on January 20, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
This large crane is soaring through a background of flawless turquoise. Its head is straight forward and its legs are straight back. The wings are outstretched and curved slightly downwards, as it goes through its downbeat. The overall color is lightly mottled gray, but the flight feathers are darker at their tips. On the left wing its easier to see how the wingtip feathers are spread, not unlike fingers. The forehead is red. The visible yellow eye is looking straight at the photographer. The beak is black and, compared to the bird as a whole, not that long.
January 20, 2026 at 10:42 PM
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A curve-billed thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) on a cholla in lower Embudo Canyon, in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque. Photo taken on January 19, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A bird seen in profile, with the head to the left. The bird is perched on a cholla cactus (where these thrashers love to hang out). The overall plumage color is gray-brown. The beak is black, strongly downcurved, and narrow, with a sharp tip. The eye is bright orange. The breast and belly look slightly freckled. The visible folded wing is brown. The long tail is drooping downward. The background is a highly uniform, blurred out tan color.
January 20, 2026 at 1:41 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in someone's front yard. At this time of the year, mule deer often drift down from the Sandia Mountains into adjacent neighborhoods, to browse on landscaping. Photo taken near the Embudo Trailhead on January 19, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #deer
A close-up of a mule deer's face. The nose is black and shiny. The upper lip is black and white, the lower lip white. Multiple sensory hairs extend forward from the lip area. The visible fur is a mix of gray, brown, and white, with more white around the eyes and under the chin. The deer's head is tilted slightly to the left of the image, so that the left eye is more visible. It's black, with a shiny reflection, and obviously spherical. The twitched-back ears extend above the top edge of the image. The background is pale pink, thanks to the blurred-out stucco wall of a house.
January 20, 2026 at 1:23 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A white-tailed antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus) stretching and yawning at the start of a busy day. Photo taken in lower Embudito Canyon, in the Sandia Mountains, on January 19, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #squirrel
A squirrel stretches out along the top of a granite boulder. It's in profile with its head to the right. The squirrel is yawning mightily, revealing its lower incisors. The head is gray, with a white partial eye ring. The ears are very small. The visible part of the back is dark gray, with a white stripe running from shoulder to hip. The belly is white. The outsides of the visible fore and hind legs are reddish. The tail looks dark; from this angle you can't see the white on the tail that gives this species its name. None of the colors are uniform; instead there are hairs of the other colors mixed on. The background is blurred out but includes indications of a winter bush, with bare branches and a few brown leaves. The granite in the image is a speckled mix of light and dark crystals, with just a hint of pink.
January 20, 2026 at 12:40 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) circling over Albuquerque's South Valley on January 16, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A hawk floats with wings extended, in a uniform turquoise sky. The primaries at the tips of the wings are splayed. The photo shows the underside of this bird; it's a light phase red-tail so the dominant color is white. There's some brown barring, not very pronounced, on the flight and tail feathers. At this angle versus the sun, there's no red showing through the tail. There's a band of dark brown spots across the belly, and more brown spots and splotches of brown on the underwing coverts. The head is dark brown but the chin is fairly light. One eye and the beak are visible, but they don't stand out.
January 17, 2026 at 3:44 AM
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A male vermilion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) displays his stunning colors in Albuquerque's South Valley on January 16, 2025. Not a bird we usually see around here.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A bird perched on a bare branch, against a blurred-out tan background. The bird's body faces right but the head is turned back over the right shoulder, so that the left eye is looking at the camera. Brilliant orange-red plumage extends from the dark beak down the neck, breast, and belly, to include the undertail coverts. A dull brown streak extends from the beak back past the dark eye. The back, visible folded wing, and tail are dark brown. The crown is as brightly colored as the undersides of the bird, but redder. The crest is raised, adding to the effect.
January 16, 2026 at 11:14 PM
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A northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) pair at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque, N.M. Photo taken on January 15, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds #ducks
The female is stealing the show in this picture! She's seen in profile with her beak to the left. In contrast, the male is swimming more or less toward the camera, so is less prominent, and is almost at the edge of the image. The female's body and wing plumage consists of brown feathers with pale edges, not unlike those on a female mallard. Her head and neck are a streaky mix of brown and white. Her eye is brown. What stands out (literally) is her seemingly too-large beak, which is orange with dark splotches. Given the light angle, the male's head and neck look black; those are covered with multiple drops of water. The image shows both orange eyes. The male's back is dark. The breast is white. The white extends onto the male's visible flank, with brown on the flank farther back. His black beak also looks much too large. The visual matrix for the ducks is rippling water, in shades of blue and brown.
January 16, 2026 at 2:03 AM
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A juvenile black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) in the late afternoon sun. Photo taken at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque, N.M. on January 15, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A pale brown bird against a brown background. It's more or less in profile, with the beak pointing left. The bird's half-closed eye is bright orange. The beak is blotchy, with pale yellow and pale gray. The breast and belly are mostly white, but with many indistinct pale brown streaks. The head is also streaky white and brown. The visible folded wing is light tan with small triangular white markings. The bird is standing on one pale yellow leg; the toes of the other leg are protruding slightly from the belly down. The background of the image is a brown mix of dirt and dead vegetation.
January 16, 2026 at 1:48 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
This afternoon in the Rio Grande Bosque, I saw a swarm of winged insects emerging from the ground, milling about, and leaving one by one. They were termites ready to fly, mate, and establish new colonies. Photo taken in Albuquerque, N.M. on January 15, 2026.

#insects #termites
A confusing cluster of many tiny insects with gray wings, swarming on the forest floor. Only a close examination makes it clear that this is not an ant swarm -- the insects have long bodies, not at all ant-like. The ground is covered with fine detritus such as bits of dead grass, adding to the visual confusion.
January 16, 2026 at 1:15 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
I'll also post this image of a white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis), as it shows the undertail coverts that give its butt a mottled brown-and-white appearance. Photo taken on January 14, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A nuthatch hanging upside-down on a tree trunk, with its head pulled back to look off to the left. The foreground is rough tree bark, the background a uniform and pale blue sky. Seen in profile, the gray beak looks slender and sharp. The dark eye sits in a white face, with the white plumage continuing down the neck. The visible bit of wing is gray. The bird's underside is tilted mostly toward the camera, revealing a belly with a downy mix of gray and some brown. The undertail coverts are also revealed; those are small, rounded fethers that are roughly half brown, half white.
January 15, 2026 at 3:56 PM
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A Canada goose (Branta canadensis) flying so low, its wingtip is grazing the water. Photo taken at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on January 14, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A Canada goose flies from left to right, and slightly away from the camera. The bird's image is dominated by its right wing, which is stretched out and down and is barely making contact with the water on the downbeat. Each primary, secondary, tertiary, and covert can be made out, but the wing is seen from above, so shades of brown. Part of the underside of the left wing is also visible, and looks black. The tail looks black. The photo also shows the black and white hind area of the bird. The neck is stretched out straight. The neck, head, and beak are black, except for a large white patch at the bird's cheek. The background for the image is the finely rippled surface of a pond, in shades of dull green and dull tan.
January 15, 2026 at 1:55 AM
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A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) and riprap. Photo taken at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on January 14, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A heron stands at the water's edge. It's in profile with the head to the right. The water is visible only at the bottom of the image. Most of the background consists of slightly rounded, water-whitened rocks. The heron's dark gray legs emerge from the still water. The body and neck of the bird are mostly gray, but with a great deal of fine patterning. In particular, a black patch sits at the bird's "shoulder." Many light gray plumes are falling away from the lower neck. The neck as a whole has a graceful S shape. The bird has a black patch above the yellow eye, and a white chin. The long, narrow beak comes to a sharp point. The upper beak is black. The lower beak is white at the base and yellow farther out.
January 14, 2026 at 11:42 PM
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A white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) giving me the hairy eyeball. Photo taken at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on January 14, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A close-up showing the head and front part of the bird. The bird is in profile to the left. The beak is tilted up compared to the beak on most birds. Seen in profile, the beak looks narrow (but when seen from above or below, it isn't). The upper beak is dark. The lower beak is pale gray, turning black at the tip. The eye is dark. A dark gray streak starts at the beak, goes up over the head and down the back of the next, and joins the dark gray of the back. The side of the head, the chin, the neck, and the breast are a continuous patch of white. At the bottom of the picture it becomes apparent that the bird is perched on the stump of a broken-off branch; three toes are draped over that bit of branch. The background is a blurred-out pattern of a few additional branches.
January 14, 2026 at 11:25 PM
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The male ain't bad lookin', either. A male hooded merganser at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque, in the late afternoon of January 12, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A merganser floating in gently rippling blue water. The male's head and neck are black, except for a large white patch behind the eye. When raised, that patch forms one side of the miter-like hood. The beak is black. The eye is a dull orange. The breast is white. The flank includes a black vertical stripe, a narrow white vertical stripe, a narrow black vertical stripe, and a brown area towards the back. The folded wings are black. The tale is flat against the water and not that visible. The merganser's plumage is spotted with multiple small beads of water.
January 13, 2026 at 2:41 AM
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A female hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) at Tingley Beach in Albuquerque, late in the afternoon of January 12, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
This female merganser is swimming at the camera--and at the sun--but with her head turned partway to her left. The visble eye, usually quite dark, looks brown in such direct sunlight. The plumage is brown overall, but the Phyllis Diller style crest has a reddish tinge to it. The narrow beak is yellow at the base and black at the tip. Completing the image, reflections in the rippled water have created ribbons of blue and light brown.
January 13, 2026 at 2:18 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
Clouds drifting into TWA Canyon on January 10, 2026. The name is unofficial but widely used. It marks the spot where TWA Flight 260 came to a tragic end 71 years ago. The upper end of the Sandia Tram is visible (barely) at the left end of the skyline.
Most of the picture is dominated by a portion of the craggy, snow-dusted front face of the Sandia Mountains. A descending ridgeline sticks out from the rest of the mountains. Behind that ridge are a couple of white clouds, with the indistinctness commonly seen in small clouds in cold weather. At the base of the image, the base of the Sandias is masked by a line of leafless trees with writhing dark limbs. At the top is a cloudless pale blue sky. The structure at the top of the tramway looks tiny at this distance, so is almost impossible to detect.
January 11, 2026 at 10:24 PM
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Molly the Cat supervising the prep work for the weekend family supper. Photo taken on January 11, 2026.

#cat
Molly sitting on the kitchen counter, next to a pot partly filled with water. Items in the background include a round box of Morton's salt. Molly is a long-haired calico. She has a white chest, but otherwise shows the usual random mix of tan, gray, and black. Her eyes are light green.
January 11, 2026 at 9:22 PM
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Another great egret (Ardea alba), this one at the Alameda Open Space nature pond in Albuquerque. Photo taken on January 10, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A photo that takes in the head, folded-up neck, folded left wing, and much of the body of this all-white bird. The beak is orange with a white "bloom" on it; it's long, narrow, and comes to a sharp black tip. The visible lore is pale green. The eye is yellow. The folded-up neck is not at all obvious, but forms a large S curve at the bird's front. In general, the consistently snow-white plumage makes it difficult to pick out individual features such as wing feathers. In the lower right corner of the image, one of the egret's wispy plumes has detached slightly from the rest of the plumage. The background for the image is a blurry mix, mostly shades of brown -- the mud, detritus, and flotsam of an empty pond.
January 11, 2026 at 5:23 PM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A female common merganser (Mergus merganser) on the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. She's displaying the white chin patch that helps distinguish her from her "hoodie" cousins. Photo taken on January 10, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
Much of the image is taken up with finely rippled brown water, in focus in the foreground but blurred in the background. Near the bottom and to the left, a female hooded merganser is floating. She's in profile, with her head to the right. The head and neck are red-brown, with a prominent white patch at her chin. The head includes a shaggy crest. The eye is dark. The beak is bright pink-red, with a black tip. The break between the neck and body is sharp. The body and tail are mottled light gray. The folded wings are a slightly darker shade of gray, and also mottled.
January 11, 2026 at 2:38 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A great egret (Ardea alba) steps through the grass at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on January 9, 2026. Given the down at the end of its beak, it must have been preening before I arrived.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
An all-white egret on tall black legs faces mostly away from the camera. The bottom of one leg is lost in brown grass. The other leg is lifted as the egret steps forward, revealing three black toes. The egret has turned its head in profile, facing right, as it keeps an eye on me. The orange beak is long, narrow, and comes to a sharp point. White down at the end of the beak, plus the slightly ruffled body feathers, indicate that the egret was preeening recently. Between the beak and yellow eye, the bare lores are pale green. The grass in the foreground is in focus, but it's blurred farther back, providing an unintrusive tan background to the bird. At the very top of the image, blurred-out blue hints at the presence of a pond.
January 9, 2026 at 11:08 PM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
A male red-shafted northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) on a cold, gloomy morning. Photo taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 8, 2026.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
A bird perches on a dead branch, against a vague gray and gray-brown background. The bird is facing mostly away from the camera, so there's a clear view of it's back. It's twisted a little to the left, so the left flank is visible, and the head is in profile pointing left. The head features a dark gray, strong, slightly curved beak that comes to a point, a gray cheek with a strikingly red "moustache," a brown area above the dark eye, and gray at the nape. The back and coverts are tan, with black crosswise streaks. The visible flank is gray with black spots. The legs and feet are gray. The primaries are mostly not visible. The tail tips of the tail feathers are black and come to points -- the flicker uses those to brace itself against a tree trunk, the same way woodpeckers do.
January 9, 2026 at 1:45 AM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
After my recent picture of an immature Cooper's hawk (Astur cooperii), I decided to dig up my favorite image of such birds. Note the band on its right leg. Photo taken in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 5, 2023, long before I joined Bluesky.

#nature #naturephotography #birds
An immature hawk perched on the turquoise-colored top rail of a chain-link fence, against a pale blue sky. What makes the picture is how the hawk is hunched with its head down, giving it an especially annoyed and threatening appearance. The head and back are a streaky mix of dark and light brown. The folded wings are mostly dark brown, but mottled. The view is from slightly below the bird, so we see part of the breast and belly area, which are white with dark brown streaks. We can also see the banded (brown and gray) underside of the tail. The black beak curves to sharp points at the end; it's bright yellow at the roots. The visible eye is a glaring bright yellow. The feet are the same bright yellow, with black claws. The right leg has a silver birding band on it, not very obvious.
January 8, 2026 at 11:18 PM
dogofthedesert.bsky.social
On a cold winter night, there's nothing like curling up with a good book. Unless, of course, Molly the Cat gets jealous of all the attention you're giving the book. Photo taken on January 6, 2026.

#cat
A book lies open on top of a blanket. And the front half of Molly the Cat lies on top of the book. She's a calico, so a study in white, tank, gray, and black. In case anyone out there is interested, the book is Thackeray's Vanity Fair.
January 7, 2026 at 10:37 PM