Monday, September 6, 2010

Summer Fauna

We were having a picnic on Mt. Charleston and this little guy wanted to get in on it. He was very persistent, but in the end only ended up getting our crumbs.
For some reason as a science teacher you think that you've seen/heard of most of the terrifyingly weird creatures that exist, but I had never experienced these guys. I think they're called Fox Bats and have a wingspan of over 4 feet. Imagine that flying at you!! Perhaps they're especially terrifying to me because we have a lot of bats here at dusk that like to dive bomb you as you're out taking a walk. P.S. - these were at the Columbus Zoo
Pretty Birds - Columbus Zoo
This owl never came out from behind the tree, but look at the size of those FEET!! I know it's hard to tell the scale, but they were each about 8 in across. I'm pretty sure this guy could pick up a small child if he wanted to.
Perhaps a bearded dragon? That's Adam's guess. Also at the Columbus Zoo.
This is from our front yard zoo. This roadrunner likes to frequent our yard and make funny squaking/clicking sounds. Up until about 2 years ago I had never seen a real one, but they're easily identifiable as they really do run just like the roadrunner on loony tunes.
And he/she's off ...
...and running down the road
Burro babies. There are TONS of babies in Blue Diamond this year. So many in fact that the BLM is trying to decide what to do with them because the herd size is too big. I'll keep you posted. The babies are super cute though. They remind me of puppies because they like to chase each other around and roll around in the dirt.