View allAll Photos Tagged Behaviour

Please don't go about being naughty around here, or you may get in trouble with the City of London Police: www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/SaferCityWards/Init...

Thank you to the vast majority of fans last night for your excellent behaviour while watching the England game.

 

Although the score didn’t go our way, fans by-and-large were brilliant and watched the #WorldCup semi-final between England and Croatia in good spirits.

 

Nine arrests were made in total in Manchester City Centre including public order offences and being drunk and disorderly, but thankfully no serious incidents took place.

 

We would also like to thank all the officers who worked hard to keep everyone safe last night, with many having to give up their plans of watching the game with friends and family.

 

Yesterday was a testament to fans – you came together, helped look after each other and dealt with the result graciously.

 

Bring on Euro 2020!

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.Thank you to the vast majority of fans last night for your excellent behaviour while watching the England game.

 

Although the score didn’t go our way, fans by-and-large were brilliant and watched the #WorldCup semi-final between England and Croatia in good spirits.

 

Nine arrests were made in total in Manchester City Centre including public order offences and being drunk and disorderly, but thankfully no serious incidents took place.

 

We would also like to thank all the officers who worked hard to keep everyone safe last night, with many having to give up their plans of watching the game with friends and family.

 

Yesterday was a testament to fans – you came together, helped look after each other and dealt with the result graciously.

 

Bring on Euro 2020!

 

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit www.gmp.police.uk

 

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

 

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

 

You can also call anonymously with information about crime to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Crimestoppers is an independent charity who will not want your name, just your information. Your call will not be traced or recorded and you do not have to go to court or give a statement.

Gesture, attitude, behaviour : a workshop with dancers Mauro Paccagnella and Alessandro Bernardeschi on march 6, 2007 at Erg (Ecole de Recherche Graphique, Brussels) for bachelor 1 students. Professors : Sabine Voglaire and Marc Wathieu. Pictures by Yves André.

A selection from the banquet... The different behaviours were absolutely brilliant to watch and absolutely nothing went to waste...

Catherine the Great created the Small Hermitage in order to escape the rigid court protocol of the Winter Palace. She wrote rules of behaviour for her Hermitage guests, which were displayed in the gallery connecting the Winter Palace to the Small Hermitage. Breaking the rules meant a culprit had to drink a glass of cold water, recite lines from a poem or learn a verse by heart. The original rules, left, are displayed in the exhibition, and this handy translation on the right is printed on a tea towel you can buy in the Exhibition shop.

 

The rules read:

1. All RANKS shall be left behind at the doors, similarly HATS and particularly SWORDS.

2. Orders of PRECEDENCE and HAUGHTINESS, and anything of such like which might result from them, shall be left at the DOORS.

3. Be MERRY, but neither SPOIL nor BREAK anything, nor indeed GNAW at anything.

4. Be SEATED, STAND or WALK as it best pleases you, regardless of others.

5. Speak with MODERATION and not too loudly, so that others have not an EARACHE or HEADACHE.

6. Argue without ANGER or PASSION.

7. Do not SIGH or YAWN, neither BORE nor FATIGUE others.

8. Agree to PARTAKE of any INNOCENT ENTERTAINMENT suggested by others.

9. Eat well of good things, DRINK in MODERATION so that each should be able always to find his LEGS on leaving these DOORS.

10. All DISPUTES must stay behind closed doors; and what goes in one EAR should go out the other before departing through the DOORS.

Some Japanese service behaviours that foreigners may or may not appreciate. Of then they will but some, especially caucasian foreigners may be irritated by some Japanese attempts at service in ways that the foreigner does not expect. I have put an X against those services that I think are best avoided, and a triangle next to those that may, occasionally, result in a negative reation.

 

To be used with the guessing game in the next image.

 

Why might Westerners not be happy with some of these instances of Japanese service? Explaining the ones against which I have put a triangle or X....

 

Spoke in a high pitched voice. It is common for female, and even male (e.g television shopping announcers), Japanese sales staff to speak in a falsetto voice an octave higher than they would normally. This is I think to to be more humble and less threatening (like a child or small person) and also perhaps to depersonalise the interaction so that the customer does not feel oblidged to reciprocate service received, as would be the case in normal Japanese interpersonal interaction, since the false voice connotes that the service staff is a role rather than a person.

 

This may be felt to be less than ideal to some Westerners since on the one hand they would not want the service staff to demean themselves to that extent, and on the other they would like to be served by a person (and demean that person!) rather than a role.

 

The falsity of the voice may be felt more acutely by Westerners since I believe Westerners identify more strongly with voices. To a Westerner putting on a false voice is to affect a greater trait rather than state change on the part of the sevice staff. To a Westerner, if a service staff member affects a smile then all they are doing is pretending to be pleased to see you, but if they change their voice then they are pretending to be a different person.

 

Research shows that Japanese are more sensitive to the information content of tone of voice (Ishii and Kitayama) presumably because Japanese express their state, their emotion, their desire, through the tone of their voice whereas Westerners feel that a vocal tone is something that is situationally unchanging, depending upon personality.

 

(I really don't know why however, in stage plays featuring famous television and cartoon characters, it seems essential that these characters speak in the same voice as that used on screen, so stage players in Japan mime to a recording of the voice of the voice actor, or more likely actress, that dubbs the character, suggesting a greater degree of voice-identification.

 

Conversely again, I am troubled by the fact that a great many preadolescent male characters, such as Crayon Shin Chan or even I think Satoshi in Pokemon, are voiced by women. I don't think I noticed that the voices are female, but once I am told, I find it troubling that for instance, Satoshi's voice is that of a woman. It makes me wonder "Who is Satoshi?" or think that "Satoshi is unreal, polysexual, a fake!")

  

Now, which is more strange? Is it the good folk of Blaenau Ffestiniog, who have developed the weird custom of chucking lumps of slate on every hill that they can find surrounding the town? Or is it the fact that 30 miles up the A470 in Llandudno, B+Q are doing a roaring trade, selling the stuff at 10 quid a bag? Either way, it all seems a bit mad to me...

 

On the last yards of it's journey south, the Premier set passes through the platform of the closed Blaenau Ffestiniog North station, with a typical Blaenau backdrop.

 

North station closed in 1982 when the current joint Network Rail/Ffestiniog Railway station came into use, the 1950's station building slipped into dereliction yet survived as long as 2012, and the platform lighting is still in place!

 

28 September 2013

Nuthatch visiting the feeders before hiding the seeds and nuts in the nearby woods.

If you ever get close to a human

And human behaviour

Be ready be ready to get confused

 

There's definitely definitely definitely no logic

To human behaviour

But yet so yet so irresistible

 

And there's no map to human behaviour

 

They're terribly terribly terribly terribly moody

Then all of a sudden turn happy

But, oh, to get involved in the exchange

Of human emotions

Is ever so ever so satisfying

 

And there's no map

And a compass wouldn't help at all

 

Milky Stork

 

The milky stork (Mycteria cinerea) is a medium, almost completely white plumaged stork species found predominantly in coastal mangroves in parts of Southeast Asia.

 

The milky stork was formerly placed in the Ibis genus, with the binomial name Ibis cinereus, but is now categorised as belonging to Mycteria due to large similarities in appearance and behaviour to the three other storks in this genus (the wood stork, yellow-billed stork and painted stork). Phylogenetic studies based on DNA hybridization and cytochrome oxidase b have demonstrated that the milky stork shares a clade with other Mycteria, and forms a sister pair of species with the painted stork.

 

Adult:

This medium stork stands 91–97 cm tall, making it slightly smaller than the closely related painted stork. The adult plumage is completely white except for black flight feathers of the wing and tail, which also have a greenish gloss. Wing length measures 435–500 mm and the tail measures 145–170 mm. The extensive white portion of the plumage is completely suffused with a pale creamy yellow during the breeding season, hence the term “milky”. This creamy tint is absent from the plumage during breeding. The wing coverts and back feathers are paler and have an almost white terminal band.

 

The bare facial skin is greyish or dark maroon; with black, irregular blotches. During breeding, the bare facial skin is deep wine red with black markings on the lores by the bill base and gular region, with a ring of brighter red skin around the eye. Soon after courtship, the facial skin fades to paler orange-red. Breeding birds also show a narrow pinkish band of bare skin along the underside of the wing.

 

The downcurved bill is dull pinkish yellow and sometimes tipped white. The culmen length measures 194 – 275mm. The legs are a dull red-flesh colour, with the tarsi measuring 188 – 225mm. It has long thick toes that probably serve to increase surface area of its feet and therefore reduce pressure from standing and walking on the soft mud of its foraging area, so that the bird does not sink considerably when foraging and feeding.

 

During courtship, the bill turns deep yellow, with a greyish tan on the basal third; and the legs become deep magenta. The sexes are similar, but the average male is slightly larger with a longer, thinner bill.

 

The adult is readily recognisable in the field by its white head feathers, yellow-orange bill and pink legs. It is distinguished from other waders such as egrets and lesser adjutants by its extensively white body plumage and black wing coverts. However, the milky stork resembles and may therefore be confused with the partly sympatric Asian Openbill and various white egret species. Nevertheless, the egrets are smaller and completely white, and the Asian Openbill is also smaller and distinguished from the milky stork by the grey bill. In the northern part of its range around Vietnam, milky storks occasionally occur in sympatry with the closely related and morphologically similar painted storks. However, the painted stork is distinguished from the milky stork in adult plumage by the former’s black and white breast band and wing coverts, pink inner secondaries, more restricted bare head skin, and generally brighter soft part colouration.

 

Like other storks, the milky stork habitually soars on thermals to travel between areas. Flocks of up to a dozen birds can be seen soaring on thermals at great heights between 10:00 and 14:00. At breeding colonies and feeding grounds, flight is contagious in that take-off by one bird is quickly followed by others. Average flapping rate has been estimated at 205 beats per minute.

 

Juvenile:

At hatching, the chicks are covered with white down. Contour feathers begin to appear by 10–14 days, and the chicks become fully feathered with full plumage after 4–6 weeks. This plumage is typically pale greyish brown with a white lower back, rump and tail coverts; some white downy feathers remaining under the wings and underside of the body; black wing and tail feathers with a white and dark brown wing lining; distinct feathering on the greyish brown head, and dull yellow bare parts. After about 10 weeks when juveniles have fledged, loss of head feathers begins; and the dark, bare areas on the forehead and sides of the head around the eyes become visible. These dark bare areas are sometimes interspersed with dull orange spots. Nestlings also have a dark brownish grey bill and skin around the bill and eye.

 

By the age of three months, the previously feathered head is now completely bald and the dull bill has become warm yellow with a greenish yellow tip. Both features are characteristic of adults. Milky stork juveniles appear almost identical to painted stork juveniles, but are said to be distinguishable from painted stork juveniles by their paler underwing lining contrasting with the completely black flight feathers, whereas this underwing lining is completely black in painted storks.

 

The milky stork is usually silent during non-breeding. At nests, individuals utter a falsetto “fizz” call during the Up-Down display. The young utter a froglike croak when begging for food.

 

Especially in captivity in National Zoo of Malaysia, Singapore Zoo and Dusit Zoo, milky storks and painted interbred to produce hybrid offspring. These hybrids apparently vary in appearance through different combinations of milky stork and painted stork phenotypes in varying proportions. Because these hybrid juveniles are not readily distinguishable from pure-bred juveniles based on morphology, molecular methods have been used to detect possible hybrids. Compared to the parent painted stork, the adult hybrid has a pink rather than orange bill and head. Adult hybrids may also have some small black spots on the white wing and a subtle pink tinge on the feathers.

 

Across all ages in this species, the iris is dark brown; and the legs are pinkish, but appear white due to a covering of the birds’ excreta.

 

In 2008, the global population was fewer than 2200 individuals, which is a reduction from approximately 5000 in the 1980s. In Malaysia, population counts decreased steadily from over 100 individuals in 1984 to less than 10 by 2005 (by over 90%), so that the population here faces local extinction. Of the current world population estimate, there are probably about 1600 individuals in Sumatra, less than 500 on Java, and less than 100 on the southeast Asian mainland. The Cambodian population is very small, numbering 100–150 individuals; and although it may be relatively stable, rapid declines are expected if serious threats persist. Due to the substantial population declines across its range, the milky stork’s population status was elevated to Endangered from Vulnerable in 2013 by the IUCN.

-------------------------------------------

Whimbrel

 

The whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland.

 

This is a migratory species wintering on coasts in Africa, South America, south Asia into Australasia and southern North America. It is also a coastal bird during migration. It is fairly gregarious outside the breeding season.

 

This is a fairly large wader though mid-sized as a member of the curlew genus. The English name is imitative of the bird's call. The genus name Numenius is from Ancient Greek noumenios, a bird mentioned by Hesychius. It is associated with the curlews because it appears to be derived from neos, "new" and mene "moon", referring to the crescent-shaped bill. The species name phaeopus is the Medieval Latin name for the bird, from Ancient Greek phaios, "dusky" and pous, "foot".

 

It is 37–47 cm (15–19 in) in length, 75–90 cm (30–35 in) in wingspan, and 270–493 g (9.5–17.4 oz) in weight. It is mainly greyish brown, with a white back and rump (subspecies N. p. phaeopus and N. p. alboaxillaris only), and a long curved bill (longest in the adult female) with a kink rather than a smooth curve. It is generally wary.

 

The usual call is a rippling whistle, prolonged into a trill for the song.

 

The only similar common species over most of this bird's range are larger curlews. The whimbrel is smaller, has a shorter, decurved bill and has a central crown stripe and strong supercilia.

 

This species feeds by probing soft mud for small invertebrates and by picking small crabs and similar prey off the surface. Before migration, berries become an important part of their diet. It has also been observed taking insects, specifically blue tiger butterflies.

 

The nest is a bare scrape on tundra or Arctic moorland. Three to five eggs are laid. Adults are very defensive of nesting area and will even attack humans who come too close.

 

Near the end of the 19th century, hunting on their migration routes took a heavy toll on this bird's numbers; the population has since recovered.

 

In the Ireland and Britain, it breeds in Scotland, particularly around Shetland, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides as well as the mainland at Sutherland and Caithness.

 

The whimbrel is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

This bin doesn't just advertise and allow for recycling; it is recycling!

Chapultepec Park, Mexico City.

Album Title: Exotic Behaviour

Model: 虹羚

Photographer: Edwin Setiawan

Place: 士林官邸

Date: 2009/07/12

 

Just about Photography: edwinsetiawan.wordpress.com

 

Edwin Setiawan Photography: www.edwinsetiawan.com

I think this is a Warbler, possibly an Audubon Warbler, getting at food on the underside of this rock formation.

My Mental Notes card deck finally arrived — a 52 cards with insights into human behaviour, to bring a little psychology into webdesign.

At RobotVille, a temporary exhibition of the Science Museum in London, UK, end of 2011. These small robots are able to mimic the collective behaviour of insects like bees, ants, etc. Here they could work together to search for virtual food. These were made at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (their project page has more details about them).

The osprey or more specifically the western osprey (Pandion haliaetus) — also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk — is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts.

 

The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

 

As its other common names suggest, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion and family, Pandionidae. Three subspecies are usually recognized; one of the former subspecies, cristatus, has recently been given full species status and is referred to as the eastern osprey.

 

The osprey is unusual in that it is a single living species that occurs nearly worldwide. Even the few subspecies are not unequivocally separable. There are four generally recognised subspecies, although differences are small, and ITIS lists only the first two.

 

The osprey is 0.9–2.1 kg (2.0–4.6 lb) in weight and 50–66 cm (20–26 in) in length with a 127–180 cm (50–71 in) wingspan. It is, thus, of similar size to the largest members of the Buteo or Falco genera. The subspecies are fairly close in size, with the nominate subspecies averaging 1.53 kg (3.4 lb), P. h. carolinensis averaging 1.7 kg (3.7 lb) and P. h. cristatus averaging 1.25 kg (2.8 lb). The wing chord measures 38 to 52 cm (15 to 20 in), the tail measures 16.5 to 24 cm (6.5 to 9.4 in) and the tarsus is 5.2–6.6 cm (2.0–2.6 in).

 

The upperparts are a deep, glossy brown, while the breast is white and sometimes streaked with brown, and the underparts are pure white. The head is white with a dark mask across the eyes, reaching to the sides of the neck. The irises of the eyes are golden to brown, and the transparent nictitating membrane is pale blue. The bill is black, with a blue cere, and the feet are white with black talons. A short tail and long, narrow wings with four long, finger-like feathers, and a shorter fifth, give it a very distinctive appearance.

In flight, Northern Territory, Australia

 

The sexes appear fairly similar, but the adult male can be distinguished from the female by its slimmer body and narrower wings. The breast band of the male is also weaker than that of the female, or is non-existent, and the underwing coverts of the male are more uniformly pale. It is straightforward to determine the sex in a breeding pair, but harder with individual birds.

 

The juvenile osprey may be identified by buff fringes to the plumage of the upperparts, a buff tone to the underparts, and streaked feathers on the head. During spring, barring on the underwings and flight feathers is a better indicator of a young bird, due to wear on the upperparts.

 

In flight, the osprey has arched wings and drooping "hands", giving it a gull-like appearance. The call is a series of sharp whistles, described as cheep, cheep or yewk, yewk. If disturbed by activity near the nest, the call is a frenzied cheereek

 

he osprey is piscivorous, with fish making up 99% of its diet. It typically takes fish weighing 150–300 g (5.3–10.6 oz) and about 25–35 cm (9.8–13.8 in) in length, but the weight can range from 50 g (1.8 oz) to 2 kg (4.4 lb). Virtually any type of fish in that size range are taken.

 

Ospreys have vision that is well adapted to detecting underwater objects from the air. Prey is first sighted when the osprey is 10–40 m (33–131 ft) above the water, after which the bird hovers momentarily then plunges feet first into the water.

 

Occasionally, the osprey may prey on rodents, rabbits, hares, other birds, and small reptiles.

 

The osprey has several adaptations that suit its piscivorous lifestyle:

 

reversible outer toes

sharp spicules on the underside of the toes

closable nostrils to keep out water during dives

backwards-facing scales on the talons which act as barbs to help hold its catch

dense plumage which is oily and prevents its feathers from getting waterlogged.

 

The osprey breeds near freshwater lakes and rivers, and sometimes on coastal brackish waters. Rocky outcrops just offshore are used in Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia, where there are 14 or so similar nesting sites of which five to seven are used in any one year. Many are renovated each season, and some have been used for 70 years. The nest is a large heap of sticks, driftwood, turf or seaweed built in forks of trees, rocky outcrops, utility poles, artificial platforms or offshore islets. As wide as 2 meters and weighing about 135 kg, large nests on utility poles may be fire hazards and have caused power outages.

 

Generally, ospreys reach sexual maturity and begin breeding around the age of three to four, though in some regions with high osprey densities, such as Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., they may not start breeding until five to seven years old, and there may be a shortage of suitable tall structures. If there are no nesting sites available, young ospreys may be forced to delay breeding. To ease this problem, posts are sometimes erected to provide more sites suitable for nest building. In some regions ospreys prefer transmission towers as nesting sites, e.g. in East Germany.

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

 

The platform design developed by one organization, Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc. has become the official design of the State of New Jersey, U.S. The platform plans and materials list, available online, have been utilized by people from a number of different geographical regions. Osprey-watch.org is the global site for mapping osprey nest locations and logging observations on reproductive success.

 

Ospreys usually mate for life. Rarely, polyandry has been recorded. The breeding season varies according to latitude; spring (September–October) in southern Australia, April to July in northern Australia and winter (June–August) in southern Queensland. In spring the pair begins a five-month period of partnership to raise their young. The female lays two to four eggs within a month, and relies on the size of the nest to conserve heat. The eggs are whitish with bold splotches of reddish-brown and are about 6.2 cm × 4.5 cm (2.4 in × 1.8 in) and weigh about 65 g (2.3 oz). The eggs are incubated for about 35–43 days to hatching.

 

The newly hatched chicks weigh only 50–60 g (1.8–2.1 oz), but fledge in 8–10 weeks. A study on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, had an average time between hatching and fledging of 69 days. The same study found an average of 0.66 young fledged per year per occupied territory, and 0.92 young fledged per year per active nest. Some 22% of surviving young either remained on the island or returned at maturity to join the breeding population. When food is scarce, the first chicks to hatch are most likely to survive. The typical lifespan is 7–10 years, though rarely individuals can grow to as old as 20–25 years.

 

The oldest European wild osprey on record lived to be over thirty years of age. In North America, great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are the only major predators of ospreys, capable of taking both nestlings and adults. However, kleptoparasitism by bald eagles, where the larger raptor steals the osprey's catch, is more common than predation. The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), which is very similar to the bald eagle, may harass or prey on the osprey in Eurasia. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) can be a serious threat to nestlings or eggs if they can access the nest. Endoparasitic trematodes (Scaphanocephalus expansus and Neodiplostomum spp.) have been recorded in wild ospreys.

 

from Wikipedia

This is a unique behaviour of this species I observed after a long time, for which I had no idea before! It seemed to me like a kind of mating rituals. I waste not my time to record this event. I remained scared lest they get disturbed, and thereby I knew that I was breaking some basic ethics of a nature lover. The whole event went for 20 minutes or so, and I recorded only a fraction of this whole event.

  

My sweet water aquariums are always my wonderful windows to underwater nature. These are of my amazing micro-nature study and I spend hours and hours to experience and document fascinating behaviour of fishes and other creatures, plants, and even macroscopic members of a micro ecosystem under various conditions. Sometimes I study activities of minute creatures at night under low light conditions when all the fishes sleep. My hobby educates me every single moment I observe so close to them. I enjoy beauties of life everyday from so close, and they are my immense source of energies to stay happy.

Album Title: Exotic Behaviour

Model: 虹羚

Photographer: Edwin Setiawan

Place: 士林官邸

Date: 2009/07/12

 

Just about Photography: edwinsetiawan.wordpress.com

 

Edwin Setiawan Photography: www.edwinsetiawan.com

Starlings returning to roost on Palace Pier in Brighton. Sussex, UK.

 

photo.domgreves.com

4 immature

Snow Goose SNGO (Chen caerulescens)

 

off of

Sidney Waterfront

Sidney, British Columbia

 

DSCN2198

These geese were feeding in flotsam of a tideline way out there --- as we sometimes see Black Brant doing

 

This is my first time seeing SNGO doing this...

 

It was a bit of a surprise in the Scope

:)

 

I did a look in my best/most trusted references and could NOT see ANY references to SNGO feeding out in a marine environment over a couple of miles from shore

  

looked to be about 1/2 way or more ...the distance from Sidney to Sidney Spit...

but was N of the Spit from my view point

 

Sidney Spit is

9.7 km

6 miles

from

Sidney

 

The boat gently leans into a turn, rather like a motor cycle - except in this case it is automatic. The mechanism is not widely agreed, but I strongly believe that when the boat turns at speed, the side of the boat on the inner side of the turn is subject to low pressure underwater. This gently pulls the boat downwards on that side, causing it to lean into the turn. The behaviour is beneficial, because it helps to prevent people being thrown overboard on sharp turns. Incidentally, as predicted, the boat still leans into the turn with the mast up, overcoming the centrifugal force from the mast.

More shots from a portrait session.

This is a unique behaviour of this species I observed after a long time, for which I had no idea before! It seemed to me like a kind of mating rituals. I waste not my time to record this event. I remained scared lest they get disturbed, and thereby I knew that I was breaking some basic ethics of a nature lover. The whole event went for 20 minutes or so, and I recorded only a fraction of this whole event.

  

My sweet water aquariums are always my wonderful windows to underwater nature. These are of my amazing micro-nature study and I spend hours and hours to experience and document fascinating behaviour of fishes and other creatures, plants, and even macroscopic members of a micro ecosystem under various conditions. Sometimes I study activities of minute creatures at night under low light conditions when all the fishes sleep. My hobby educates me every single moment I observe so close to them. I enjoy beauties of life everyday from so close, and they are my immense source of energies to stay happy.

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) murmuration. Poole Harbour, Dorset, UK.

  

photo.domgreves.com

There is some confusion as to the name of this memorial park as there is a nearby park known as the "Croppies Memorial Park" which includes a pond.

 

The good news is that this park is now open 24 hours a day but I would exercise a degree caution if visiting after dark as it is still a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

 

It was closed to the public for quite some time now, owing to anti-social problems. However, following discussions in 2013 with the Office of Public Works it was agreed that the management of the 4.3 acre Park would transfer from the Office of Public Works to Dublin City Council.

 

There is a memorial park near the site of Collins Barracks Dublin (now a part of the National Museum of Ireland) known as the "Croppy's Acre", beside the Liffey into which the bodies of executed rebels were flung after the 1798 rebellion.

 

Croppy (sometimes spelt croppie) was a derogatory nickname given to Irish rebels during the period of the 1798 rebellion.

 

The name "croppy" derives from Ireland in the 1790's as a reference to people with closely cropped hair, a fashion which was associated with the anti-wig (and therefore, anti-aristocrat) French revolutionaries of the period. Those with their hair cropped were automatically suspected of sympathies with the pro-French underground organisation, the Society of United Irishmen and were consequently liable to seizure for interrogation by pro-British forces. Suspected United Irish sympathisers were often subjected to torture by flogging, picketing and half-hanging but the reactive contemporary torture, pitchcapping, was specifically invented to intimidate "croppys". There is evidence of United Irish activists retaliating by cropping the hair of loyalists to reduce the reliability of this method of identifying rebel sympathisers.

"To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being.

You have to care about people who have no power."

( Jane Fonda - American actress and political activist, b. in 1937)

 

Those kids stay at Guria in Varanasi (Benaras) where they are trying to have a normal childhood like any other child in the world.

Guria is a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.

Manju and her husband Ajeet Singh are running this non-profit organisation at great personal risk, providing shelter and hope to many children and facing many difficulties from all those who would like to use those children as a second generation prostitution.

 

There are many ways to help and give a kind of support to Guria, this is its website, www.guriaindia.org and you may contact Manju and Ajeet at guriaajeet@rediffmail.com

 

A special dedication to my friend Charles Trabuchet, a French young man who came to India in order to give some time to Guria and to help those children during several months.

View On Black

 

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Welcome,

this item is gaining an unexpected number of consultations in the last days without any comment.

I am curious to know who is intersted in this topic.

Not injured, just a little posturing possibly because of another great tit in the area.

The milky stork (Mycteria cinerea) is a medium, almost completely white plumaged stork species found predominantly in coastal mangroves in parts of Southeast Asia.

 

The milky stork was formerly placed in the Ibis genus, with the binomial name Ibis cinereus, but is now categorised as belonging to Mycteria due to large similarities in appearance and behaviour to the three other storks in this genus (the wood stork, yellow-billed stork and painted stork). Phylogenetic studies based on DNA hybridization and cytochrome oxidase b have demonstrated that the milky stork shares a clade with other Mycteria, and forms a sister pair of species with the painted stork.

 

Adult:

This medium stork stands 91–97 cm tall, making it slightly smaller than the closely related painted stork. The adult plumage is completely white except for black flight feathers of the wing and tail, which also have a greenish gloss. Wing length measures 435–500 mm and the tail measures 145–170 mm. The extensive white portion of the plumage is completely suffused with a pale creamy yellow during the breeding season, hence the term “milky”. This creamy tint is absent from the plumage during breeding. The wing coverts and back feathers are paler and have an almost white terminal band.

 

The bare facial skin is greyish or dark maroon; with black, irregular blotches. During breeding, the bare facial skin is deep wine red with black markings on the lores by the bill base and gular region, with a ring of brighter red skin around the eye. Soon after courtship, the facial skin fades to paler orange-red. Breeding birds also show a narrow pinkish band of bare skin along the underside of the wing.

 

The downcurved bill is dull pinkish yellow and sometimes tipped white. The culmen length measures 194 – 275mm. The legs are a dull red-flesh colour, with the tarsi measuring 188 – 225mm. It has long thick toes that probably serve to increase surface area of its feet and therefore reduce pressure from standing and walking on the soft mud of its foraging area, so that the bird does not sink considerably when foraging and feeding.

 

During courtship, the bill turns deep yellow, with a greyish tan on the basal third; and the legs become deep magenta. The sexes are similar, but the average male is slightly larger with a longer, thinner bill.

 

The adult is readily recognisable in the field by its white head feathers, yellow-orange bill and pink legs. It is distinguished from other waders such as egrets and lesser adjutants by its extensively white body plumage and black wing coverts. However, the milky stork resembles and may therefore be confused with the partly sympatric Asian Openbill and various white egret species. Nevertheless, the egrets are smaller and completely white, and the Asian Openbill is also smaller and distinguished from the milky stork by the grey bill. In the northern part of its range around Vietnam, milky storks occasionally occur in sympatry with the closely related and morphologically similar painted storks. However, the painted stork is distinguished from the milky stork in adult plumage by the former’s black and white breast band and wing coverts, pink inner secondaries, more restricted bare head skin, and generally brighter soft part colouration.

 

Like other storks, the milky stork habitually soars on thermals to travel between areas. Flocks of up to a dozen birds can be seen soaring on thermals at great heights between 10:00 and 14:00. At breeding colonies and feeding grounds, flight is contagious in that take-off by one bird is quickly followed by others. Average flapping rate has been estimated at 205 beats per minute.

 

Juvenile:

At hatching, the chicks are covered with white down. Contour feathers begin to appear by 10–14 days, and the chicks become fully feathered with full plumage after 4–6 weeks. This plumage is typically pale greyish brown with a white lower back, rump and tail coverts; some white downy feathers remaining under the wings and underside of the body; black wing and tail feathers with a white and dark brown wing lining; distinct feathering on the greyish brown head, and dull yellow bare parts. After about 10 weeks when juveniles have fledged, loss of head feathers begins; and the dark, bare areas on the forehead and sides of the head around the eyes become visible. These dark bare areas are sometimes interspersed with dull orange spots. Nestlings also have a dark brownish grey bill and skin around the bill and eye.

 

By the age of three months, the previously feathered head is now completely bald and the dull bill has become warm yellow with a greenish yellow tip. Both features are characteristic of adults. Milky stork juveniles appear almost identical to painted stork juveniles, but are said to be distinguishable from painted stork juveniles by their paler underwing lining contrasting with the completely black flight feathers, whereas this underwing lining is completely black in painted storks.

 

The milky stork is usually silent during non-breeding. At nests, individuals utter a falsetto “fizz” call during the Up-Down display. The young utter a froglike croak when begging for food.

 

Especially in captivity in National Zoo of Malaysia, Singapore Zoo and Dusit Zoo, milky storks and painted interbred to produce hybrid offspring. These hybrids apparently vary in appearance through different combinations of milky stork and painted stork phenotypes in varying proportions. Because these hybrid juveniles are not readily distinguishable from pure-bred juveniles based on morphology, molecular methods have been used to detect possible hybrids. Compared to the parent painted stork, the adult hybrid has a pink rather than orange bill and head. Adult hybrids may also have some small black spots on the white wing and a subtle pink tinge on the feathers.

 

Across all ages in this species, the iris is dark brown; and the legs are pinkish, but appear white due to a covering of the birds’ excreta.

 

In 2008, the global population was fewer than 2200 individuals, which is a reduction from approximately 5000 in the 1980s. In Malaysia, population counts decreased steadily from over 100 individuals in 1984 to less than 10 by 2005 (by over 90%), so that the population here faces local extinction. Of the current world population estimate, there are probably about 1600 individuals in Sumatra, less than 500 on Java, and less than 100 on the southeast Asian mainland. The Cambodian population is very small, numbering 100–150 individuals; and although it may be relatively stable, rapid declines are expected if serious threats persist. Due to the substantial population declines across its range, the milky stork’s population status was elevated to Endangered from Vulnerable in 2013 by the IUCN.

Y no hay mapa para el comportamiento humano, son terriblemente caprichosos; luego, de repente se transforma en felicidad; pero, oh, nos vemos envueltos en el intercambio de las emociones humanas; cada vez de manera satisfactoria. Y no hay mapa, y una brújula no ayudaría en absoluto...

Bronica S2A - Ilford Delta 3200

Rodinal - 16-22C for 13 mins.

 

Human life before the conecept of posing is understood, hooray!

 

Umpiring at a Rowing Regatta at Dorney Lake and one of the officials is feeling naughty. Taken on Fuji X-H1 with Fringer adapter and Canon 100-400 L f/4.6-5.4

Wonderful to watch. Captured in Dorset.

Behaviour festival of live performance at the arches, Glasgow.

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