Home Forums Gear Photography Cookie's annual herp day

Three dry years in a row here and the desert reptiles are not doing especially well. Found a few, but Cookie also goes after anything that moves as well.

A whiptail. Rumor has it these guys can do about 4 yards a second. Whatever, when they take off, they can really cover the ground.


Leopard lizard


The excellently camouflaged horny toad.


An ash throated fly catcher complete with fly.


I think this is a western kingbird also a fly catcher.


A western tanager


Brewers blackbird packing food to the nest.
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/2minutes/Crittters1/Brewers1_zpssqyg6hqa.jpg[/img]

Yellow bellied marmot
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/2minutes/Crittters1/Marmot1_zpswaecus7p.jpg[/img]

And as we returned home our battling backyard bunny. This guy whips cats, small dogs, quail, jack rabbits, other cottontails, and any Eurasian doves that come into his realm. Quite distinctive. Reminds me of J. Carter's Bonsai bunny. Some seriously scared up ears.
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e344/2minutes/Crittters1/BrawlingBunny_zpst1kp33kp.jpg[/img]

Cookie has it down pat. Great shots!

Sorry. Could not edit the above. That is an Eastern Kingbird. My bad. I knew it was one direction or the other, and with my luck and 50:50 odds I missed.

My friend took these photos yesterday in SW Colorado. He has a love for Lizards and the great outdoors. All are great photos.
Canon Camera (7D Mark 2) with a 100-400 zoom and a 1.4 teleconverter
On a Really Right Stuff Tripod
ISO 400 and sunlight White Balance
1/ 1000 of a second at f/8 on Manual exposure
Fill flash set at - 2 2/3 to get the sparkle in their eye

Great vulture shot there. Can't ever get those guys to sit around a pose in this neighborhood. Might have to try playing dead. Great lighting on the lizard too. What's the species?

Terrific post.

Really enjoyed the pics.