View allAll Photos Tagged CLOSETONATURE
After an hectic evening session of birding, this is the view to remind me to go home.
The view is intoxicating but home is sweeter ...
This image is included in a gallery "Westerfold's Park" curated by themediapod.net.
This image is included in 2 galleries:- 1) "2020 03 30 Fahrradbote" curated by BAKAWI and 2) "Butterflies and Moths" by Radoslav Besenyi.
This image is included in 4 galleries :- 1) "birds" curated by Nefesh", 2) "to amouse the students 11" by fairyduff, 3) "MIX_05" by Willie Sturges and 4) "Scene Against the Sky by bobtee178.
The Himalayan Griffon, Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is closely related to the European Griffon Vulture, G. fulvus.
Adults average 106 cm (42 inches) in length and 272 cm (108 inches) across the wings; they weigh 9.7 kg (21.4 lbs). They are the second largest Old World vulture, behind only the Eurasian Black Vulture in size.
It breeds on crags in mountains in the Himalayas and Tibet, laying a single egg. Birds may form loose colonies. The population is mostly resident. Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of animals, which it finds by soaring over open areas and mountains. These birds often move in flocks.
Captured this one at Sky Mountain, Wulumuqi, China. It was a very brief encounter and I only managed to capture two useful ones.
攝於烏魯木齊天山天池馬雅山觀景台
This image is included in a gallery "Stunning Images" curated by Anandamoy Chatterji.
Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York.
Accordding to information from the Niagara Parks :-
• More than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic ft.) of water go over the crestline of the Falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours.
• The average fall from Lake Erie to the beginning of the upper Niagara Rapids is only 2.7 metres (9 ft.)
• The Canadian Horseshoe Falls drops an average of 57 metres (188 ft.) into the Lower Niagara River.
• The crest line of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls is approximately 670 metres (2,200 ft.) wide. The plunge pool beneath the Falls is 35 metres (100 ft.) deep.
This is seen from the Canadian side.
This image is included in 6 galleries :- 1) "Verdes" curated by Marina Is, 2) "Amazing China" curated by L Felipe Castro (Life Without Borders), 3) "CHINA" by Floren Arocena, 4) "Islands" by Yousaf Ejaz and 5) "Oriental Land and Water Scape" by Ning Tranquiligold Jin and 6) "nature" by Aashutosh patel.
These bamboo boats are light and fast and are excellent for small groups sight-seeing.
Guilin is a famous scenic area in the province Guanxi, China. It is famous for its myriad of mountains and waterscapes along Lijian River.
Port Campbell National Park is world famous for its extraordinary collection of wave-sculpted rock formations and the Twelve Apostles. The rock stack is called the "Razorback". The sharp edges and bumps along its back are caused by wind-blown spray, which hardens small areas of rock. The softer rock around these erodes away, leaving an uneven surface. Wave energy channelled along the side of the stack carves the deep smooth grooves just above sea level. With one wave every 14 seconds, there is a lot of erosion over a year, a century, or a thousand years. The Razorback once extended much further out to sea. The force of the waves gradually eroded and undercut the base of the stack. Vertical cracks in the stack were widened by rainwater, forming a line of weakness. Huge blocks of rock then collapsed into the sea, leaving the rock shelf we can see today. Info according to Parks Victoria.
This image is included in a gallery "Stunning Images" curated by anandamoy chatterji.
Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York.
Accordding to information from the Niagara Parks :-
• More than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic ft.) of water go over the crestline of the Falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours.
• The average fall from Lake Erie to the beginning of the upper Niagara Rapids is only 2.7 metres (9 ft.)
• The Canadian Horseshoe Falls drops an average of 57 metres (188 ft.) into the Lower Niagara River.
• The crest line of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls is approximately 670 metres (2,200 ft.) wide. The plunge pool beneath the Falls is 35 metres (100 ft.) deep.
The Red Planet is getting bigger and brighter every day as it makes its closest approach to Earth since July 2018. It is a mini-moon - a full moon that occurs at the most distant point in its orbit from earth each month - so it will appear slightly smaller than usual.
This was taken on 3rd October 2020. Shortly just before 9pm, At 8pm, Mars appeared first, and was quite red, but the moon was behind thick clouds. I had to wait for an hour before clouds cleared. The exposure of the moon was suppressed by 0.6 EV to facilitate observing the red planet, which appears as tiny red disc in the top left corner. Visually the pair was a hand span apart, but in the telephoto shot, it appears considerably further.
Very close encounter : while photographing dragonflies at a pond, unannounced, this Grey Fantail landed silently on a dead branch a few feet from me. There was just enough time to set my lens's range to 1.5m and fired a few shots. Luckily the light compensation was spot on.
This was taken a split second before it took off.
The Three Sisters is the Blue Mountains’ most spectacular landmark. Located at Echo Point Katoomba, around 2.5 kilometres from the Great Western Highway, this iconic visitor attraction is experienced by millions of people each year.
The Three Sisters is essentially an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to Aboriginal legend were turned to stone.The character of the Three Sisters changes throughout the day and throughout the seasons as the sunlight brings out the magnificent colours. The Three Sisters is also floodlit until around 11pm each evening looking simply spectacular set against the black background of the night sky.Each of the Three Sisters stand at 922, 918 & 906 metres tall, respectively. They are actually over 3000 feet above sea level! The Wall of Kings is in the far left while Mount Solitary is just not far beyond to the right. The Legend is that " The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and 'Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.
(Sourced from BluemountainsAustralia.com.au)
This Tau Emerald is resting in the shade, silhouetting against the warm glow of Australian evening reflected off the bark of a gum tree.
This was taken at an aquarium prior to going through the immigration at the Vancouver International Airport. The graceful movements of the gellyfishes from a close range took my breath away.
This image is included in a gallery "Sky" curated by Jeff Tripodi.
Called "Blood Moon" by star gazers, the red hue is at its peak at total eclipse, caused by the shimmering of sunrises and sunsets seeping through the Earth's atmosphere.
Here the red hue is not as intense as it was a few minutes ago.
This image is included in a gallery "Stunning Bird Shots-VII" curated by anandamoy.
When they blink, their eyes simply turn opaque for a few moments.
Please view in large / original size.
This image is included in 4 galleries:- 1) "Reino Animal-Aves" curated by cruz dario33, 2) "Animals" by Steven P. Moreno, 3) "COLORFULL BEAUTY BIRDS VOL 7" curated by Jean-paul Vancoppenolle and 4) "Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae" by Bárbol.
Crane flies sizes range from small to large (wingspan 6-75mm) with slender bodies and very long legs. This is the largest family of flies in Australia with 700 species.
Winter is just round the corner: insects are busily mating ...
(explored: Apr 16, 2011 #475 )
Captured this one at a friend's backyard this afternoon.
Looks like this is a female, and she is trying to wake up : her bright yellow eyes are still droopy. There are loud noises from heavy machineries due to renovation work, but does not seem to be annoyed.
Tawny frogmouths are not owls, and are colloquially (incorrectly) referred to as Mopoke, Morepork. They are closely related to Nigtjars and Oilbirds. Unlike owls, they are not raptorial.
This image is included in a gallery entitled "Birds 1" curated by Odd K. Hauge.
This image is included in 4 galleries:- 1) El Plein Vol curated by jd.echenard, 2) Fantastic Animals 8 by afortiorama, 3) Flowers 2 by tyro 5 and 4) Birds by tyro5.
This was taken on 21.8.2017 on a fine day at the football ground of Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho, USA. This was the final testing of equipment and settings before the total solar eclipse. A Baader AstroSolar Safety Foil was put before the lens. This foil is CE-tested and reduces the intensity of sunlight by 99.999% (optical density 5.0).
This image is included in 3 galleries :- 1) "Let's Dance (2) curated by ènfin (verna R) and 2) "Stunning Bird Shots-XVII" by anandamoy chatterji and 3) "Wow! 2." by Jane Statham.
Peggy's Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality, which is famous for the Peggys Point Lighthouse (Wikipedia). The interesting looking huge boulders and rocks contribute to the main feature of the area. This was taken near the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse.
The yellow beaked sculpture guarding the entrance is a crow : according to Tim Brady of the Codrington Wind Farm. To passing tourists, the sculpture is a beautiful icon.
It is a wind farm on the coast of south-western Victoria, near Yambuk. The Codrington site is close to perfect with strong prevailing winds blowing off the Southern Ocean. Completed in June 2001, the 14 wind turbines generate 51 GWh annually, for a capital cost of 30 million Australian dollars by Pacific Hydro, being the first fully private investment in a wind farm in Australia. When opened it was Australia’s largest wind farm and the first in Victoria. The wind farm now generates enough electricity each year to supply the equivalent of 10,000 Victorian homes and each year avoids the emission of 49,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – the equivalent to taking more than 17,000 cars off the roads.
This wind farm is privately owned by the Crowe family, and is only open to pre-booked, group visitors.
At change of tides, the water surface is smooth as a mirror. Dense mist accentuates the distance dark haze while a few sea gulls disturb the stillness.
This image is included in 2 galleries :- 1) "mare 4" curated by Grisu and 2) " 136.Kopa" by Foto Svetlana.
This is a vertical rock face at Bare Island, taken in indirect, diffused light. Bare Island is connected to the peninsula by a solid bridge (Bare Island Road).
The area around the La Perouse peninsula is considered to be one of the best scuba diving sites in NSW. Bare Island has a number of dive sites, some of which extend to over 19 metres in depth. The reef around the area is extensive. There are also a number of dives around the mainland at La Perouse. Scuba divers here can see the common (weedy) sea dragon, red Indianfish, pygmy pipefish and big belly sea horses as well as fish normally found on dive sites in the Sydney area. Bare Island Fort’s structure provides a picturesque backdrop for any event, with spectacular scenic views over La Perouse. The island was the location for some thrilling action sequences in the Hollywood film, Mission: Impossible 2.
La Perouse pronounced (Lah-Peh-Roos) "Gooriwal" is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb of La Perouse is located about 14 kilometres southeast of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick.
The La Perouse peninsula is the northern headland of Botany Bay. It is notable for its old military outpost at Bare Island and the Kamay Botany Bay National Park. Congwong Bay Beach, Little Congwong Beach, and the beach at Frenchmans Bay provide protected swimming areas in Botany Bay.
This image is included in two galleries :- 1) "Beauties with Wings - II" curated by Vasant Kumar and 2) "the bird" by haiku_rose.
This image is included in 2 galleries :- 1) "Elegance in Flight 3" curated by Along the way and 2) "Oiseaux en vol...#10" by Impatience_1.
Captured this one in soft morning light at a nature strip outside of Best Western Desert Inn, West Yellowstone, Montana. I was actually a fair distance away, but the slanting early morning light made it seem I was very close to the bird.
This image is included in a gallery "Paesaggi 24" curated by
Stefano Bacci.
The Hopewell Rocks are located in New Brunswick, Canada, within one hour of the nearest airport in Moncton, N.B.
An UNESCO site, the Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpots Rocks or simply The Rocks, are rock formations caused by tidal erosion in The Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tidal Exploration Site in New Brunswick. Carved by melting glaciers, then sculpted by the world's highest and most artistic tides, these stacks stand 40–70 feet tall. They are located on the shores of the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Cape near Moncton.
Due to the extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy, the base of the formations are covered in water twice a day. The formations consist of dark sedimentary conglomerate and sandstone rock. The large volume of water flowing in to and out of the Bay of Fundy modifies the landscape surrounding it. Each day 160 billion tonnes of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy during one tide cycle, more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers! After the retreat of the glaciers in the region following the last ice age, surface water filtering through cracks in the cliff has eroded and separated the formations from the rest of the cliff face. Meanwhile, advancing and retreating tides and the associated waves have eroded the base of the rocks at a faster rate than the tops, resulting in their unusual shapes.
Because the Fundy Bay is funnel-shaped - wide and deep at one end and shallow at the other, tides are pushed increasingly higher as they move up the Bay. By the time they reach "The Rocks" they are over four stories high! Although the tides vary from day to day, the high tide can be as high as 16 metres (52ft) and an average of 10.7 metres (35ft), giving the Hopewell Rocks one of the highest average tides in the world.
We only had barely over an hour's time there because the tide was coming in very fast. Luckily the light was reasonably good.
This image is included in a gallery "azul" curated by haiku_rose@flickr.nl.
The blue one is male whereas the brown one is female.
This image is included in a gallery ""WOW" Spektakulär" curated by Michael Kammler.
Wave Rock, a granite cliff, is 15 metres high and 110 metres long. It forms the north side of a solitary hill, which is known as "Hyden Rock". Its rounded like shape has been caused by weathering and water erosion which has undercut the base and left a rounded overhang. Water from the springs running down the rock during wetter months dissolve minerals adding to the colouring of the wave. In 1960, crystals from Hyden Rock were dated as being 2700 million years old, amongst the oldest in Australia.
Source: Promaco-Geodraft, Perth, WA 10th Edition 2013.