Lounge Challenge: Find something cuter than this (Dial-up warning)

[SallyMander]

I am currently writing a paper on these guys -- Piping Plovers. This is what the chicks look like.


*melt*









Not to mention that the parents will fake a broken wing if you get too close to their babies!

[billyskank]

1. Well, okay, you asked for it.

The bird is dead cute. But get a load of Fluffy:

[SallyMander]

2. ...

:spray:


He is obviously VICIOUS!!! :scared:


Hope you're well today billyskank! :hug:

[Ava]

3. easy!

*drool*

[SallyMander]

4. LOL -- i don't think so!!!

'Course, i'm also so out of the loop that i had to look at the file names to see who they were... :P

[AspenRose]

72. Very nice picture of Mr. Mayer

He has nice lips. :thumbsup:

[Maestro]

5. Not as cute but this is a cattle egret chick

in its nest at a local rookery.



I also found this baby killdeer, related to the plover, down in the wetlands at South Padre Island, Texas.

[SallyMander]

6. Those are great!!!

I LOVE your photos, Maestro! :loveya:


I see killdeer around here (Ohio) sometimes -- always makes me homesick for the coast. :)

[Maestro]

96. Thanks SallyMander

:hug:

[youthere]

20. Every year I have killdeer nest in in my driveway.

We live on a gravel road so we have a gravel drive, and every spring I look forward to my killdeer raising their chicks. I just love them.

[Maestro]

95. The photo that first spurred my interest in birding and bird

photography was this one, a killdeer sitting on its nest. I shot this with an old point and shoot camera. This little killdeer was sitting on my backyard protecting its nest.

[SallyMander]

98. Looks like his/her wing is about to spontaneously "break"

Such neat birds! What a great shot -- how close were you?

[Maestro]

99. I suppose because she would not leave the nest no matter what

I was able to get just a few feet away. Her mate was doing the "distraction" dance just off to the side. The eggs did hatch btw. :)

[SallyMander]

103. They are such cute little chicks

so much like the little plover babies. That's neat that you got to watch the eggs hatch!

[stuntcat]

87. great!

all of them but especially the last one where he looks like he's looking at you :loveya: look at his cute little kneeees!!!

[Maestro]

97. Thanks, that one

does make it looking really knocky-kneed. ;)

[sakabatou]

7. OK

[SallyMander]

10. Awwwww

What is wrong wif baby kitteh's eerz??? :rofl:

[Roon]

8. .

[SallyMander]

11. ...

:spray:


Noooooooes!!!


:rofl:

[mike_c]

9. prepare your blood insulin for...

...the baby slender loris. Look at its feets, Precious....

[SallyMander]

12. OMG!!!

I love it! It's a primate, i'm assuming??? How big do they get?


Adorableness! :loveya:

[mike_c]

14. yup-- chipmonk sized adults....

Nocturnal, obviously.

[SallyMander]

15. Look at those eyes!

"I can see FOREVER!!!" :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Inspiration for Yoda?

He looks so wise! :D

[SallyMander]

27. I think he looks like he is plotting to overthrow the government

or maybe take over the world.


I'm pretty sure he'd do a better job than W. :rofl:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. LOL

The Brain!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

51. I was half expecting you to show an insect.

:silly:

Human cute: my kids, respectively 5 hours and 5 years old.

[SallyMander]

52. Your kids are BEAUTIFUL!

*melt*

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

55. On ice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXGO5v442qI

[SallyMander]

58. Looks like they were having fun

and like the elder one is a good big sis. :D

[zippy890]

13. Aww we love the plovers

they are doing pretty well here - coastal Mass. starting to come back.

nice picks.

:hi:

thanks for your research.

[SallyMander]

16. That's where i did my work!

South shore of Cape Code. Do you live on the Cape?


The populations we were monitoring were doing OK. Some people really grumbled about having beach closures, etc... i saw way too many "Piping Plover tastes like chicken" bumper stickers. :cry:


:hi:

[mike_c]

17. we have the same issue here on the North Coast....

Beach closures piss off the folks who just can't understand why they shouldn't drive all over the dunes whenever they want to. One of my grad students is studying part of the food base for plovers on local beaches (although that's NOT what her thesis will say, LOL, since she's not actually studying the birds, their feeding, etc-- but rather wrack line arthropod communities).

[SallyMander]

19. Obviously the beaches were put there for us to drive on!!!

:sarcasm:


Your student's project sounds really neat -- that's something i wish i knew more about. So many neat critters on the beach. My coworkers and i used to especially love the little burrowing mole crabs.

[stuntcat]

88. compared to

compared to most humans he's adorable and probably more important. "borrowing mole crab" is a pretty name too! :loveya:

[SallyMander]

91. They are very neat little critters

They can bury themselves in the sand SO fast... i tried to find a video on youtube, but couldn't find anything good.

:hi:

[Gonzo Gardener]

18. Beauty is in the eye of the...

bullholder.



























:P

:hi:

[SallyMander]

21. Gah!

Apparently i need to start putting hay in my feeders... i've never seen one of those...


:rofl:

[matcom]

22. UBER cute!

[SallyMander]

23. Bad matcom!

:spank:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. So sweeeeet! Here's a cutie for you:

[SallyMander]

25. *falls over dead*

OMG, i think baby turtles and tortoises are so cute that it just *hurts* to look at them!


And look how tiny! I WANT ONE!!! :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[Richard Steele]

28. Excellent!

http://www.encircling.us/photoplog/file.php?n=2411&w=l

[SallyMander]

29. Aaahhhh!!!

I think tiny turtle is ANGRY his mouf is not bigger! :rofl:



OK, i think you and GoG win. That is so cute i could just die. :loveya:

[DarkTirade]

60. Awwwwwwww...

...wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


Want!!!!

[stuntcat]

89. omg

I LOVE this picture, it's on my screensaver and I have to like GASP when i see it.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

93. Wouldn't it be amazing to find one of those little guys?

One of my favorite blogs is maintained by a man whose profession is snail research. http://snailstales.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50
It's got to take astounding patience to find the tiny jewels of the world.

[Richard Steele]

30. OK, here's my entry:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. ...

:spray:
The caption kills me!

[SallyMander]

34. Awwww

I don't believe him/her tho :D


Also i think the tiny turtle wins!

[lost-in-nj]

33. .....

lost

:hi:

[SallyMander]

35. OMG, that first one makes me want to cry!

Poor little kitteh in the fence! :cry:


They are both too cute though! :loveya:


:hi:


Edit for smilie disfunction

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

36. Come on now...

this:

or this:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!1111

[SallyMander]

37. Tee hee

I am in ur cupz eetin ur cheez! :D

:hi:

[quip]

38. Hey Sal, check out this little guy!

http://porodistarije.files.wordpress.com.nyud.net:8090/2007/10/red-eyed-tree-frog.jpg

All red eyeds are simply amazing. :hi:

[SallyMander]

39. Pic is not working for me

:(


Though it sounds like you are posting an amphibian, so you already get two :thumbsup: :thumbsup:


:hi:

[quip]

42. ??? Does this work? (kind of big)

[SallyMander]

43. LOVE!

Look at those amazingly adorable feet... and he looks like he's smiling. :)

[DarkTirade]

65. Pffft... red-eyed tree frogs get all the publicity.

Greens and cubans are the cute ones. They're just overlooked because they don't stand out as much.

[seemunkee]

40. 3 week old hedgehog

[SallyMander]

41. CUTE!

Tiny & pokey & adorable! :D


Is that your pet?

[seemunkee]

47. She was

That photo was from the breeder before we got her. Unfortunately hedgehogs have short life spans and she is no longer with us.

[SallyMander]

50. Oh, I'm sorry

:hug:

[Ptah]

44. Those are very cute, all I have is a cute human photo.

[SallyMander]

45. What GORGEOUS eyes!

Who is that?

:hi:

[Ptah]

49. My daughter, many years ago.

Her eyes are a deeper intense now.

:hi:

[sniffa]

46. Easy!

[SallyMander]

48. Because

Jeb Bush is all up in the plovers' house with disease!


:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

53. here's one...

that's all the cute i got :P

[SallyMander]

57. Awwww!

Did you take that pic? They are soooo cuuuute!!!

[deucemagnet]

54. Flee before the crushing cuteness of MegaBird.

I cropped that and made it my desktop, BTW. :)

[SallyMander]

56. Is that a real photo?

And is the birdie about to smack into a camera? :o


In any case, it's really cool! :thumbsup:

[deucemagnet]

59. It's just something I stumbled upon on the intertubes.

Here's a link to the original (bigger) photo:

http://www.kuvaton.com/kuvei/tirppa.jpg

(I had to turn off html to keep from hotlinking a huge photo)

[SallyMander]

61. Thanks for the link!

I'm going to save that pic. I find it equally adorable and intriguing. :D

[stuntcat]

90. eek!

It's cute and kinda scary at the same time. Mostly CUTE though, the liddle feetsies

[LWolf]

62. I don't know about "cuter," but "cute as:"

[SallyMander]

64. Wow

Look at those eyes! Is that an Aussie? Your pet or random pic?


Adorable!!! :loveya:

[LWolf]

73. That's an aussie.

A random pic. I have some great shots of mine when she was that age, but none of them are digital. Here's one that looks a lot like my girl did when I brought her home:

[SallyMander]

74. They are SO cute as puppies

Adorable little fluff-balls. :D

[BuelahWitch]

63. Here's some cute

[SallyMander]

67. ...

:spray:


Those are GREAT!!! Adorable and hilarious! :rofl:

[Xipe Totec]

66. ...

[SallyMander]

68. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

z0MG, i am in LOVE!!! :loveya:


I would be SO excited to see them in the wild someday... :bounce:

[quip]

71. They are cute, but I've been brainwashed

Every time I see baby sea turtles, I think of the nature shows that have to fucking show and tell me how all of fucking creation swoops in to eat the poor little bastards and that only 1 in a 1000 survive and then tell me it's okay because that's life.

So now everytime I see one, it makes me sad. And mad. :mad: :cry: :hi:

[DarkTirade]

69. Bow before the cartoon cuteness of Gir!

[SallyMander]

70. LOL

You win the "cute cartoon" category by default. :D

[DarkTirade]

83. To quote from Gir...

"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!!"

"No Gir, that's bad."

"... Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!" :P

[bridgit]

75. Mr. Bunny says, "That's my kind of chick!"

[SallyMander]

78. Teeny eerz!!!

:loveya:


I just want to poke his widdle belly! :D

[zabet]

76. Whoa....

<a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/11/funny-pictures-then-u-were-like-whoaa/"><img src="" alt="funny pictures" /></a><br />moar <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com">funny pictures</a>

[SallyMander]

79. LOL

That's totally the best part of Finding Nemo :rofl:

[baldguy]

77. We're genetically pre-disposed the say "AAAWWWWEEEEE!" when we see cuteness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/03/science/03cute.html

Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look cute: bright forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big round ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait, among many others.

Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need, scientists say, and attending to them closely makes good Darwinian sense. As a species whose youngest members are so pathetically helpless they can't lift their heads to suckle without adult supervision, human beings must be wired to respond quickly and gamely to any and all signs of infantile desire.

The human cuteness detector is set at such a low bar, researchers said, that it sweeps in and deems cute practically anything remotely resembling a human baby or a part thereof, and so ends up including the young of virtually every mammalian species, fuzzy-headed birds like Japanese cranes, woolly bear caterpillars, a bobbing balloon, a big round rock stacked on a smaller rock, a colon, a hyphen and a close parenthesis typed in succession.

[SallyMander]

80. That's so interesting!

I'm a grad student in an Evolution & Ecology dept... so this is right up my alley. Thanks for the link! :hi:

[Maestro]

100. What a neat degree.

What do you plan to do? PM me if you don't want to declare your intentions in public. ;) Looking back on it, I wish I would have done something more scientific as I am gravitating more and more to the outdoors.

[SallyMander]

104. Check your PM

:hi:

[elana i am]

81. i don't know if this link will work

it's even captioned cutest kitten EVAR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dearcrissy/527821802/


http://www.dailykitten.com/page/2

[SallyMander]

82. OMG those blue eyes are DEADLY

Of course i will open this can of tuna for you, tiny kitty! :D


And i love the three sleeping babies too... :loveya:

[GigiMommy]

84. My two girls...

[SallyMander]

85. OMG - how do you function

with all that cuteness in your house??? :D


That baby has the most gorgeous eyes... and what a smile... how old is she?


And of course i am a huge fan of the scruffy dogs, being a scruffy dog mom myself! :D

[GigiMommy]

86. She was one.

She's eight now but Freckles is still a puppy. That was taken two months ago. They're both still very cute.

[Catbird]

92. I can't top this tonight. We are the plovers you are studying?

[SallyMander]

94. Where? South shore of Cape Cod

I had a job out there several years ago, and collected a bunch of data as a side project... i'm just now getting around to finishing the manuscript and submitting it. :blush:


They sure are cute though! :hi:

[MissHoneychurch]

101. I can't believe no one posted ETAwful's Quinn yet .....

[SallyMander]

105. Awww

What an adorable little fluffball! :loveya:

[jgraz]

102. Oohh -- more baby bird pics!

It's hard to beat baby conures for cuteness.

[SallyMander]

106. OMG that IS cute!!!

I don't think i've ever seen a baby conure before... their heads and beaks are so big compared to the rest of them! :D