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Chris mccowan

@mcc8.bsky.social
779 followers 613 following 264 posts

Married. Retired. New Mexico native. Been in Colorado since the mid 1980’s. Current interest photography, van trips, nose work training with my dogs. Believe deeply in, and worried about, our democracy.

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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Beyond the denial of credible testimony, Kavanaugh played the victim after just one morning of questioning. It just kills me that a judge who puts citizens under years of stress in court proceedings could cry about being treated so poorly…and get away with it.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Leaves just don't get enough love. #houseplants
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
House plant day. #Flowers
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Very nice Luis!
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Cruising Rocky Mountain National Park. Aways nice to be above the clouds in the Rockies. #RMNP
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debbywitha_y @debbolita.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#BirdOfTheDay #BestBeaks #YellowElements #Flyday #FeatheredFriday #Birds #Nature #Wildlife #OnlyBeautifulThings #PeacefulPost #Breathe #PhotographersOfBluesky #PhotographersUnited #EastCoastKin #AltText
This photo captures a high-angle, vertical shot of a large white pelican perched on a thick, gnarled tree branch stretching across a body of water with its large, pinkish webbed feet gripping the rough bark tightly. Its body is covered in white feathers, featuring a distinct patch of yellowish-buff coloration stretching across the lower front of its neck and upper chest. It has a long, heavy beak with a pinkish tip, a blue-gray stripe running down the upper bill, and a pale pinkish pouch beneath it. Its eye is small and dark, surrounded by bare, pale skin. In the upper left corner, a soft, distorted dark reflection of another bird ripples on the surface. Bright, direct sunlight illuminates the pelican from the upper right, casting strong highlights on its white back and wings, while throwing parts of its underbelly and the log into shadow. The background consists of calm, murky green-brown water.
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julielfrost.bsky.social @julielfrost.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Buzzed by something flying erratically, I followed it until it landed in the nearby field: A mantis. (I'll bet someone here can ID what kind.) #InsectThurs #Insects #Nature #Wildlife #BugSky #InsectPhotography
A brown mantis stands on a yellowing leaf, its forelegs raised. The background is a soft green with green leaves.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Thanks Luis.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Could be love. It's that time of year. #RMNP
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
That time of year in the Colorado high country. #aspen
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Built for a task! #butterflies
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This Clipper looks like a Japanese painting to me. #Butterflies #Flowers
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Kort Duce @kortduce.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A great blue heron flies low over a pond at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado. #FlyDay #BirdOfTheDay #ECK #bird #birds #birdphotography #birdwatching #birdsofbluesky #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wetland #wetlands #heron
Photo by Kort Duce

A great blue heron flies low over a pond at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado.

In this horizontal color photograph, a great blue heron is silhouetted in three-quarter left profile in the center of the frame, its left wing dipping into the water as it flies just above the pond’s surface. The background is the pond, with hints of the silhouetted shoreline visible in the upper-left and upper-right corners. The water reflects the golden-orange hues of the rising sun, while symmetrical ripples radiating across the surface help define the heron’s reflection and the movement of the scene.

A beautiful bird-in-flight photograph of a great blue heron relying on the wetland habitat so vital to its survival.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thanks Molly (one of my daughters names). Glad you liked it.
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Mike Henry @onlyveesaz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Look at this amazing specimen. Immature Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk just after taking flight, mid wing flap.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Butterfly in the spotlight, silhouetting the head, thorax, and tongue (proboscis). A lot of nice angles to view butterflies from. #butterflies
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@macro_action @birdzandbees.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Millions of years. Four striped digger bee. Canon R5 +Sigma 150mm + EF Lifesize converter SS1/3200 F8 ISO3200 #macro #bee #evolution #entomologia #nature
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Thanks Luis. You’re a sucker for those butterfly pics:)
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A Skipper, I think, with immaculate wings. #butterflies
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Thanks Luis.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Cool little plant with 1 little pink flower hiding in the really interesting round leaves. Maybe Neverdie (Kalanchoe crenata). #flowers
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JBC @johnbcaddell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
a bunch of #bugs #InsectThursday #butterflies #insects
Monarch butterflies wintering on a eucalyptus tree at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz CA
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A Malachite butterfly. #butterflies
A Malachite butterfly on a broad green leaf with a brown burnt tip. It is a large, Neotropical brush-footed butterfly known for its striking pale green to yellow-green translucent patches against a brown and olive background.
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linda2.bsky.social @linda2.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
"... It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world". Mary Oliver Poet. #ImageandVerse #Stunday #bluebells #woodland #photography #ECK #Nature
A view through the trees capturing the long shadows over a forest of bluebells.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
From my way back. An optical micrograph and a fracture surface of World Trade Center steel. This day brings back many memories.
Optical micrograph showing one of the microstructures found for the World Trade Center steel (color etch).Fracture surface (scanning electron fractography) of a World Trade Center test specimen showing ductile dimples running in elongated morphologies along tubular shaped sulfide inclusions.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Butterflies are just a pleasure. #butterflies
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Plumeria flower, I guess. This plant was gorgeous! #flowers
From the online info... The image shows the classic Plumeria flower: five overlapping petals with a strong yellow gradient at the center fading to white, with a faint pink tinge on the petal edges. The surrounding smooth, reddish stems and green leaves are also consistent with Plumeria.
Possible Lookalikes: Could be confused with other Plumeria species such as Plumeria alba, but the pink-tinged petal edges and yellow throat favor P. rubra.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Thanks Luis. Love the color.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Had fun today at the butterfly pavilion. This was my favorite color butterfly. #butterfly
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Wow
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Great photo. I find stacking can be really appealing. I did it a lot on flat field optical microscopes for many years in the past, and now with my Nikon 850. I don’t see much discussion here on stacking. I enjoy it all from extreme limited focal depth to extreme stacking. Cool photo!
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Just throw the ball! #DogsOfBluesky
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
@bsky.app Grass Hopper on the step.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Beautiful. Really nice setup for that f-stop. The apparent depth of field is amazing to me.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Winners of the 17th Audubon Photography Awards celebrate birds. My favorite.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thanks Luis. That’s a 14,256 foot peak near me.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Longs Peak under grey, smoky skies. #Scape
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mjlinde.bsky.social @mjlinde.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
@helenbennett.bsky.social Today’s #BirdOfTheDay Alt: #KingfisherQuest Any Kingfisher species. Here's a #CommonKingfisher #EurasianKingfisher #birdphotography 📸 Phil Gower
This classic small bird is famous for its bright metallic-blue back and vivid orange-brown underparts... here shown diving for its next meal..
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
My girls at a favorite game, couch play. The rescue likes making the pup do the work. She is very lazy for a kelpie/border collie mix. #Internationaldogday
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Thanks Luis. I love being present in that valley. Very special place.
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F/f Photography @ffaelan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"The modest Rose puts forth a thorn, The humble sheep a threat'ning horn: While the Lily white shall in love delight, Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright"~#WilliamBlake #WaterLily #FlowerReport #ECK #WCK #Art #BloomScrolling #flowers #FlowersOnBlueSky #Monochrome #ClassicMono
Black and white water lily blooming out of the water. Glowing with an internal sun it reflects off the water like a mirror. 



The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
William Blake
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Coral King @rocketcoral.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The morning #bee 🐝
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Had a nice drive today. #landscape #RMNP
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Alex Rimberg @ajrimberg.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Closeup of a sea eagle flying just above the waters of Vestfjorden. Lofoten, Norway, August 2026 As per @atlanticbirding.bsky.social's theme of #Simple for #BirdOfTheDay #ECK #Photography #Nature #Birds #Wildlife #Stunday
This image shows a closeup profile of a sea eagle flying just above the waters of Vestfjorden in the Lofoten Archipelago, having just snagged a bit of herring.  The eagle appears primarily in the upper left half of the image, except for its head, which appears in the right center.  Its wings are raised in a upstroke, its yellowish beak slightly open, and its eyes intensely focused.   We have an excellent view of the brown, white and black feathers under its wing and on its neck, as well as the whitish brown feathers of its head.  Its beak is sharply hooked, its eye brownish yellow, and it has a tuft of whiskers sticking down from its chin.  The image is finished by the dark, rippling waters of Vestfjorden appearing in the upper right above the eagle's head and also in the lower right half of the frame.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Makes me wish I was there. Great photo Luis!
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Work of Art
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Craig B @mutillidae.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
— "Crazy antennal modifications you say? Yeah, we got those. Tell you what, I'll throw in some slightly deflated eversible organs for free." — #NaturalHistoryCollections #MacroPhotography #FocusStacking #Melyridae
Dorsal view of the head and thorax of a soft-winged flower beetle (Melyridae) against a black background. The first two antennal segments have crazy modifications. The head, pronotum, and legs are reddish; the humeral angles of the the elytra are metallic green. The body is quite pubescent with lots of appressed pale setae visible.
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Kort Duce @kortduce.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Two double-crested cormorants fight over a perch at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado. #StunDay #BirdOfTheDay #ECK #bird #birds #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography #cormorant #cormorants
Photo by Kort Duce 

Two double-crested cormorants fight over a perch at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado.

In this horizontal color photograph, two double-crested cormorants face each other on a log perch above the water, their beaks wide open as they strike at one another. Both birds have their wings raised in the air.

The cormorant on the left faces the camera, with its head and neck turned to reveal its right profile. The cormorant on the right has its back to the camera, with its head and neck turned to reveal its left profile.

The cormorant on the left had just jumped out of the water to challenge the other bird for the coveted perch. The quick but aggressive spat ended with the cormorant on the left winning the confrontation and taking over the perch.

The background consists of slightly rippled pond water reflecting the gray, overcast sky. The water is disturbed beneath the birds, showing where the cormorant had just launched itself from the pond.

An interesting documentary photograph capturing the physical aggression that can occur between double-crested cormorants as they compete for a favored place to perch, sun themselves, and dry their feathers.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Some determined yellow snap dragons growing thru the ties in our garden.
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Chris mccowan @mcc8.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I sent it to them.
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