As you may recall from a previous post, I have a goal on my new list to take photos of animals.  Now I generally get excited to see animals anyway, whether it's in the wild or in a zoo.  I wanted to share the photos that I've taken of animals and hopefully they help capture the beauty that is nature.

11. Moth - Independence Pass, Colorado

Saw this during a short stop/hike around Independence Pass driving back to Denver from Aspen.

After one photo in Colorado, the rest of the selections come from my two travels to Asia in the last two months.  The first trip included stops in India (Bangalore/Pune) and Singapore.  I unfortunately didn't really get to sightsee my first time in India, but I did get out in Singapore.  In fact, my first day in Singapore included meeting a wonderful Couchsurfer named Dinah who took my to Pulau Ubin, a mostly undeveloped island off the coast of Singapore.  There was a lot of flora out there, but we aren't here to talk about trees.  This first guy was spotted in the marshy mud below a bridge...

12. Mudskipper - Pulau Ubin, Singapore

The only reason I even know what a Mudskipper is goes back to my youth, at a time when there was such a thing called SNICK.  Saturday night Nickelodeon featured a crazy show called Ren & Stimpy.  There was a character named Muddy Mudskipper.

13. Wild Pigs/Boars - Pulau Ubin, Singapore

While on Pualau Ubin, Dinah and I rented mountain bikes to ride around the island.  At one stop, there were a bunch of these cute guys hanging out around the bike racks.  There were friendly and people were actually feeding them.

I did see one other interesting animal while in Singapore.  It is the national symbol of Singapore...the Merlion!

Unfortunately I didn't see an actual living Merlion, as no one has since it was supposedly spotted by the people who first arrived in Singapore.  So sadly this doesn't count.

After a few weeks in the US, I returned to India (where I currently am).  Though I am here for work, I have been able to go on a couple adventures.  The pictures below come from one day of travel.  One of the guys I was working with in Bangalore took me on a day trip last Saturday to Mysore, which is a couple hours southwest of Bangalore.  I didn't really know of all the plans prior to leaving, but I was happy to let him take me to see things.  Our first stop was at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary.  Sadly I was informed that we were there out of season, so I wouldn't see too much wildlife.  That was ok.  The sanctuary was peaceful, with many trees and a lake.  There was a main trail that went through the sanctuary, and you could ride a boat out into the lake. 

I apologize for my lack of bird names below, I probably should have paid more attention to the signs around the park.

14. Black Headed Ibis - Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

15. Squirrel/Chipmunk - Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

Not sure if these were squirrels or chipmunks.  By the pattern I would say chipmunk, but they were a bit bigger than I would expect.

16. Unknown Bird - Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

17. Unknown Bird - Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

18. Monkey - Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

There were a bunch of these monkeys hanging out as I was on my way to the parking lot at the sanctuary.  This is one of the many monkey pictures I took. 

19. Urban Cow - Outside Mysore Palace, India

I did see a lot of cows in the cities in India.  Usually on the side of the road.  Though I took some pictures with my phone of those, this was the only one I got with my SLR.  It was just outside Mysore Palace next to a bunch of souvenir and food stands.  He was just standing there looking around.

In my previous 88 in 888, I had a goal to take a random photo every week for a year and make a photobook at the end.  It was a very enjoyable experience, so I decided to repeat the process.  I feel I labeled the goal wrong, as I'm not just taking a single random photo once a week.  What it really became was choosing a photo out of many photos I may take in a week.  So of course there are many pictures from trips that included more than just one photo.

So I am beginning my new 52 Week Photo Project with a photo I took over the weekend in my visit to Aspen.  There were many pictures I took that I really liked, so it was difficult to pick just one for this list.  It was a toss up between a landscape shot of the Maroon Bells, the most photographed spot in Colorado, or some Aspen trees with leaves changing color.  I ended up deciding on the landscape shot...

But just for fun, here's the other photo I almost chose...

A new photo goal for myself that I didn't have in the previous list is specifically about animals.  I found myself taking some great animal pictures over the past couple of years (since I got my new SLR) and thought it would be fun to get pictures of 50 different animals.  Below are my first 10!  Interestingly all but 3 of them are winged creatures.

Enjoy

1. Two bald eagles...spotted several while riding a train from Seattle to Vancouver just after crossing the Canadian border.

2. "What also floats in water?"
"Bread!"
"Apples!"
"Uh, very small rocks."
"Cider. Gravy. Cherries. Mud."
"Churches!"
"Lead. Lead"

"A duck!"
"Exactly."

3. Besides all the ducks like the one above, there were a bunch of turtles hanging out on a log.  This by the way was in Victoria on Vancouver Island.

4. Also in Victoria...a peacock in a tree!

5. This puffy-headed beauty was spotted in Muir Woods just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

6. Also in Muir Woods.

7. I know they're just seagulls, but I got a kick out of these guys just chilling on top of cars in San Francisco.

8. A Marmot hanging out in the rocks at Maroon Bells in Aspen.

9. Spotted this butterfly while hiking at the base of the Maroon Bells.

1o. While leaving the Maroon Bells area, I was fortunate enough to experience this rare sighting of an adult and young Moose going to the lake for some water.