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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 17h

True to their name, rock wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus) love rocky places. Not a setting you'll find on the high plains between Estancia and McIntosh, N.M. Instead, this rock wren was hanging out at a large pile of discarded timbers. Photo taken on October 14, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A very gray bird! The back is a medium gray, with many speckles on the back. Each speckle is about half black, half white. The chin, throat, breast, and visible part of the belly are pale gray. The photo includes a red background, which is from a blurred-out steel storage bin painted that color.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 1d

An immature great blue heron (Ardea herodias) at Isleta Lakes, New Mexico on October 13, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

The image shows a heron's S-shaped neck and the head ending in a long, sharp beak. The neck is mostly gray-brown but has white, black, and tan mottling on the front. The bird's chin is white and its cap is gray. The eye is yellow. The beak is dark above, tan below.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 3d

American snouts (Libytheana carinenta) are my candidate for New Mexico's least beautiful butterfly. Their appearance improves when the wings are open. This one is nectaring on seepwillow (Baccharis sp.). Photo taken in the Rio Grande Bosque on October 9, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #butterfly

A butterfly hanging from a white flower (and nectaring from it) forms an approximate triangle. With the wings folded it's a mottled brown. A bit of the upperwing colors -- orange, black, and white -- is showing. The long palps make the butterfly look like it has a snout.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 4d

In the Sandia Mountains this morning, an artist begins her painting of the fall colors. Photo taken at the 9 Mile picnic area on October 10, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography

An old road curves away from the camera before bending out of sight. It's flanked by aspens whose leaves range from yellow to golden red. At the lower left corner, an artist in a blue parka works at her easel. The visible patch of sky is filled with clouds.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 5d

A Say's phoebe (Sayornis saya) watching for insects from a construction stake. Photo taken in the Rio Grande Bosque in Albuquerque on October 9, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A bird perches at the top of a construction stake marked with the number 16. The bird's head, neck, and breast are gray, as are the coverts for the visible wing. The belly is a pale rust. The folded tail is black.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 6d

As the year winds down, so does the life of this female variegated meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum). Her children will fly south for the winter. Photo taken in the Rio Grande Bosque at Belén, N.M. on October 8, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #dragonfly

A dragonfly rests on the tip of a dead branch. The blurry background shows the browns and yellows of fall foliage. The wingtips are ragged. The dragonfly's body is mainly gray but with touches of rust, pink, and white.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 7d

An Abert's squirrel (Sciurus aberti) shows off its trademark ear tufts. Photo taken at Carlito Springs Open Space near Tijeras, N.M. on October 7, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #squirrel

A mostly gray squirrel in a tangle of branches, with blurred green and yellow leaves for a background. The tips of the ears have long tufts of fur. The tail is mostly white, with a black central stripe.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 10d

This female great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) was injured and foraging for food scraps at the Isleta Grill. At least she'll eat well. The Isleta Grill won the 2025 contest for New Mexico's best green chile cheeseburger and is doing lots of business.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A head-and-shoulders shot of a dark brown bird. The eye is also dark brown. The prominent beak is dark gray.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 11d

A queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) taking a break from its search for nectar. A female, I think. Photo taken at the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area near Belén, New Mexico on October 3, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #butterfly

A butterfly handing from the tip of a bare branch. The butterfly's body is black with white spots, as are the wing margins. The rest of the wings are mostly orange but include white-rimmed black streaks along the ribs, and also "floating" white dots.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 12d

Time to rise and go... two turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in the Rio Grande Bosque, Albuquerque on the morning of October 2, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds #newmexico

At the top of a dead tree, branches twist against a blue sky. Two turkey vultures display their all-black plumage, red heads, and white beaks. One is stretching its wings in the early morning light. The other is still hunkered down.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 12d

A female belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) in the Rio Grande Bosque on October 2, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A bird perches at the end of an upward-pointing dead branch. The bird's head is black, with a ragged crest. The neck is white. The undersides are a sloppy mix of white, black, rust-red, and gray. The folded wings are blue-gray.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 14d

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) stepping along the shore of the Rio Grande in Peña Blanca, New Mexico. Photo taken on September 29, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A tall, skinny-looking heron with mostly gray plumage. The left foot is raised for a step forward. The neck is long and skinny. The head ends at a long, pointed beak. The eye is yellow. The heron is in shallow water at the edge of the Rio Grande, with mud and green grass behind it.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 14d

That happens as it grows into adulthood.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 15d

A juvenile red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) wheeling over the Rio Grande Bosque in Peña Blanca, New Mexico. Photo taken on September 29, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

This juvenile "red-tail" doesn't yet have its signature red tail. Instead the tail feathers (along with the flight feathers) are white with thin brown stripes. The bird's head and the tips of its primaries are dark brown. Elsewhere the bird is white with brown spots.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 17d

Most globe mallow (Sphaeralcea spp.) flowers are bright orange, but once in a while I see a pink one. Photo taken on September 22, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #flowers

A flower with five pale pink rounded petals. The central portion of the flower (pistil and stamen) sticks out and looks fuzzy at the end, much like that on a hibiscus flower.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 18d

In the upper Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, the aspen leaves have started turning yellow. Photo taken on September 27, 2025.

Looking up a slope. In the foreground the slope is covered with grass. The first line of trees consists of aspens, whose leaves are turning yellow. Behind them are the dark green spikes of conifers. Behind those, a bright blue sky is dappled with thin clouds.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 18d

Here in New Mexico, the floodplain of the Rio Grande consists of a series of groves of cottonwoods and willows. So yes, definitely a bosque... and the birds love it.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 19d

As I walked in a little-used part of the Rio Grande Bosque this morning, a couple of female or immature male black-chinned hummingbirds (Archilochus alexandri) flew up to check me out. Here's one of them. Photo taken on September 25, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A hummingbird perches on a bare orange branch. The bird's breast and belly are white. The sun isn't catching the other plumage, so it looks more brown than green. The black beak is slightly curved and comes to a sharp point.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 20d

A southbound but off-course juvenile Sabine's gull (Xema sabini) at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on September 22, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A juvenile gull swimming. The back is brown, in a scalloped pattern. Most of the neck is brown, as is the nape and the area under the visible eye. There's white around the beak and at the belly. The visible parts of the wing feathers are dark brown.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 23d

Why I walk in the Bosque

Photo taken in the Rio Grande Bosque, Albuquerque on September 20, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography

In the foreground, a calm pond surface mirrors the far side of the pond and the sky. At the far end of the pond are reeds and trees, still in their summer green. A blue sky includes a few clusters of thin clouds.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 24d

This great blue heron (Ardea herodias) flew into a tree at Tingley Beach, and stared down at the water from there. Checking out the possibilities for fish, no doubt. Photo taken on September 20, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A large, long-legged, long-necked heron with a pointed beak perches on a branch in a tree. The heron is mostly shades of gray. Behind it, cottonwood leaves show the deeper green of late summer.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 24d

A male belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) keepin an eye on the main pond at Tingley Beach. The unused nest was made by Tingley's seasonal population of neotropic cormorants. Photo taken on September 20, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A forking bare branch extends upward, with a blue sky behind it. A kingfisher is perched at the end of one fork of the branch. The bird has patches of dark blue-gray and white, and a ragged-looking crest. Nearby is an unused nest built by cormorants.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 26d

An immature or nonbreeding adult American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) at Zia Reservoir, New Mexico on September 18, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A mostly white to light gray shorebird up to its belly in rippling water. The wings and tail have patches of dark brown. The bird's most distinctive feature is a long, narrow black bill that curves up at the end.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 26d

A nonbreeding/immature spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) at Zia Reservoir, New Mexico on September 18, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

A shorebird flies just above its reflection in rippling water. The visible part of the bird is a mix of brown, dark brown, and white. In particular, the primary wing feathers are dark brown with a white streak through them.

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Dogofthedesert @dogofthedesert.bsky.social · 27d

A Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri), probably on its way south. Photo taken at the Whitfield Conservation Area near Belén, New Mexico on September 17, 2025.

#nature #naturephotography #birds

At first glance, a plain brown bird. But there's a range in the plumage coloration, from white and gray to tan to dark brown. The back, for example, is tan with dark brown streaks. The wing and tail feathers are dark brown but with light edges. The tail is very obviously forked.

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