A rather colorful resident thrush found in the foothills of the Himalayas that winters in South India.

This male, quite a colorful beauty, prefers the dense canopy around waterbodies and wet areas like the edges of lakes or ponds. This one though was shot in a forest on the edge of a hill. We were at a considerable elevation and hence had a fantastic vantage point. We just sat there and waited 2 hours and just about 7-8 species showed up, but we left with some spectacular shots! The birds would fly from a distance to the water drip on the hillside. Enroute, the birds often land on this tall bare tree for a brief while checking out the predators and other activity around prior to flying to the water source.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

One of the more uncommon Mynas that is found in woody, forest areas and not found in my resident state. This one is a lifer for me and we sighted plenty in the large forest area we visited.

The birds are social in nature and often found in numbers of 2 and more. The behavior is similar to Common Myna, but these birds are less vocal and noisy than its common cousin. We sighted them trying to build nests and carrying nesting materials I suppose. They had small pieces of leaves / twigs in their beaks.

This was part of the 3 day birding trip to a remote forest area that is very vast, but lacked wild animals. There is no mobile network in the entire region which was a blessing in many ways. The heat was scorching, but the place was amazing and I had around 25 lifers few of which are incredibly rare. Unfortunately, the place was incredibly tough for photograph and managed to get few decent shots. But nevertheless, I was absolutely delighted at seeing so many new amazing birds.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS MY DEAR FLICKR FRIENDS !

ACRYLIC PAINTING ON CANVAS BY ME

50X60 Cm

Feel free to share my paintings, with your Websites, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, E-Mail or as you like :)

Go to my website, select image, right click. press save image as. and download the image

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A Heartfelt Thank you! To you all my Friends!

For all the nice Comments, Faves, Awards and Invitations.!!!

I read all your Comments and all your Mail.

I really Appreciate all the feedback you are giving me,

Giving me strength and joy to paint every day !!!

A resident bird of the jungles and forests at higher altitude found in our neighbouring state. They were everywhere and unlike their common cousins, the common Myna, these birds are relatively quiet and mostly minding their own business.

We saw several in the forest we visited last week. Almost all of them were busy carrying food several times to their chicks. The nests were inside tree burrows - which we could see - but we could not see the chicks. The birds were quite wary as the area had lots of predators. We sighted several Malabar Pied Hornbills, Rufous Bellied Eagles, Hobby, Falcons etc... The Mynas were landing on multiple perches before going on to their nests so as to deter the predators.

Thank you so much in advance for your views and feedback.

Copenhagen, Denmark

I have been traveling, and decided to share a recent image from Copenhagen. What a wonderful city and a photographer's delight. This shot is from Superkilen park, which affords plentiful opportunities for photography and having fun. I was glad to go there after having seen amazing shots from some of my friends!

Thanks for looking at my photos and your feedback. I hope to reciprocate soon!

A common bird in the countryside mostly found near trees and some water body (including water logged fields) where there is some grass or grass blades. They use those blades for making nests.

On this day, they were hiding in the paddy fields which was around 2-2.5 feet tall. We captured several shots while they were plucking blades for their nests.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback.

A beautiful sandgrouse species resident in the country around grasslands - they are rare in our city but common in some areas of the state!

The males are spectacular with a very beautiful ring around their necks. The pattern too is quite interesting and is well suited for camouflage in their habitat. They prefer the small rocky / areas in the grasslands and it is so easy to miss them. And we did miss them, luckily another bunch of birders who sighted them shared the location - which was the place where we were a few minutes ago.

The bird didn't move despite our vehicle getting around 8 feet close to them. The nature guide informed us that these species don't fly away unlike their more common cousins - the chestnut bellied sandgrouse - which fly away almost 50-100 feet away from people.

Thanks in advance for your wonderful feedback and likes.

Hands up...baby Hands up... for the weekend.

Ottawan - Hands Up

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR2qjvsqNSk

Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)" is a 1981 song by Ottawan.

It was the band's second-biggest international hit single, after their 1979 hit "D.I.S.C.O.".

Verbena bonariensis cv.

Patagonisches Eisenkraut.

Thank you all for the nice comments and the feedback, have a great weekend. ✌

Many thanks in advance for your views, feedback and faves. Much appreciated.

Taken in the French Alps, near Chamonix.

I appreciate your feedback and comments! If you wish to contact me for any reason feel free to send me a Flickr mail or message me on any other social media and I'll reply as soon as I can.

If you like this or any of my other images, prints are available from my site at www.stewmillerphotography.com.

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Twitter: twitter.com/StewMillerCLIMB

A big thank you to all Flickr friends for your visits.

Thanking you in advanced for all your kind feedback & favourites.

Have a wonderful day and keeping Smiling be Happy!

Thank you for your support on EXPORE

Thank you

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A large kingfisher - the biggest found in South India. This is a resident of the subcontinent and found in a variety of forest / thick woody areas adjacent to lakes, small rivers and possibly coastal areas. The bird feeds on fish, frogs, crabs, rodents and even small young birds. Its an aggressive one and few times we saw it fighting with the common White-Throated Kingfisher and chasing it away.

We sighted two of them early in the morning on a nice perch. They somehow have this routine of sitting for 20-30 minutes like this. Every time I visit this place, I see these birds at the same place. We waited for better light to get this shot. Unfortunately, there was little space to maneuver on the checkdam - a 20 feet drop front or 20 feet deep lake behind us - so couldn't get different views.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

A common nuthatch found in the Himalayan belt and are not difficult to sight. The birds are busy bodies and always sighted scurrying along with the tree trunk or branches picking up insects on the tree. Few times we sighted them catching some caterpillars and it was quite an interesting scene - the birds shook the caterpillar vigorously killing them before flying away.

This one is a female as noted by the pale chestnut color whereas the male sports a much brighter chestnut colored belly.

Thanks in advance for your views, faves and feedback.

Red is the ultimate cure for sadness.

~ Bill Blass

... this is a decorative heart made of raffia / bast fibre with a strap for hanging ... (re)discovered while rummaging around in my boxes with Advent / Christmas decorations : ))

... captured for Macro Mondays - theme of December 2, 2019: Red

(width of this image: exactly 7 cm)

Happy Macro Mondays everyone !!

Thanks a lot for looking and your feedback : )

I will be browsing late in the evening due to work

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

von ganzem Herzen

für die Gruppe Macro Mondays - Thema: Rot

Ein Deko-Herz aus Bast mit einer Schlaufe zum Aufhängen ... (wieder) entdeckt beim Kramen in meinen Kartons mit Advents- / Weihnachtsschmuck : ))

Eine schöne erste Advents-Woche euch allen

A beautiful common bird whose calls are often heard in the country now in the breeding season. After this season the bird is quite impossible to sight. The birds are quiet and prefer thick bush, so sighting would be a rare thing in the off-season.

On this day, he came atop this perch and started making calls for almost 30 mins. That is the preferred mode for the bird - get on an open perch 3-4 feet high and call. Then he started preening himself giving me some 30 mins of excellent shots. I finally left leaving him on the perch after taking around 200 shots and realizing that he is likely to fly the opposite way.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback.

A beautiful colored flycatcher named after its distinctive color - copper-Sulphate blue. This is a migratory bird from Himalayan region and winters in South India. Thanks to the heavy rains this year, the winter is already colder than usual and because of that I think the winter birds will be more. I already sighted around 15-20 of these birds in one place and the numbers are pretty healthy this time.

I think this is a male based on the color. Both the sexes are of similar color, but the female has a quite washed out /faded color while the male sports a rich color.

Last weekend, we visited 3 different birding places and all of them turned out to be a flop show somehow. And then as we were leaving in the evening, these birds came out from the canopy and started playing around.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.

HSS!

A small (15-17 cms) blue colored bird that stands out in its environment and easy to spot. The birds are found in semi / evergreen forests and wooded areas and within them often sighted flying near streams catching the flies in the area. The blue is amazing and in the male is quite deep rich and wonderful. Its habitat is usually green or brown and this is so easy to spot, but very difficult to get close as it is a very shy bird.

The bird is a resident of the Indian subcontinent and found much of the country. The male in this picture sports this rich blue plumage while the female is pale blue in color and lacks the black nape on the head. We sighted a couple of them in our recent trip and almost all the photographers were trying to get a shot. The bird was smaller than many of the leaves in that forest, so it was tough to get a shot. I didn't realize I got some good shots till I saw them in the computer!

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

A beautiful and colorful Swallow resident in the country, but migratory in our city and the birding spots around us.

The bird is easy to spot due to the metallic blue plumage while the other swallows we have here sport a dark brown blackish plumage. These are social birds like other swallows and always seen in a small flock.

There were several juveniles in this flock of around 8 birds. They can be discerned by their brownish crowns - unlike the reddish crown that adults sport - and paler wings. The adults were keeping an eye on them watching for potential predators and other birds that were flying around them.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

A resident bird of the subcontinent and a state bird for 3 of the southern states - this is a popular and very colorful bird. The bird is quite common on the highways, countryside and is quite easy to sight due to its bright blue plumage.

It is medium sized bird, an adult being a tad smaller than a crow. The birds are insectivorous and demonstrate a typical hunting behavior shared by its rare cousin European roller. The bird lands on a high perch like a wire, or post or a bare branch, dives and catches its prey -usually any insect, grasshopper or a caterpillar and flies to another perch to eat. I sighted it around its regular active time which is around 8 AM onwards where it prefers the bright day light.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback.

These winter visitors have left Singapore in March or early April They fatten themselves up with dragonflies, insects, butterflies etc.before making their journey back home. Safe journey and they will return in Oct/Nov 2023.

A big thank you to all Flickr friends for your visits.

Thanking you in advanced for all your kind feedback & favourites.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Keeping Smiling & Happy!

Thank you for your support on EXPLORE!

Thank you

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Thanks in advance for your views, faves and feedback.

A large family of finches were basking in the morning sun on the dry bushes. They were probably 2-3 dozens of them. Different types of finches.

Many thanks in advance for your views / feedback.

My second attempt with Bracketing for macro. Glad it tuned out nicely.

A big thank you to all Flickr friends for your visits.

Thanking you in advanced for all your kind feedback & favourites.

Have a wonderful day and keeping Smiling be Happy!

A lovely weekend to all.

Thank you

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View from the dock of Lake Mahinapua on New Zealand's south island.

Press L to view on Black, press F if you like!

Thanks for your feedback, have a great weekend!

Lantern Festival; Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri.

Thank you for looking and for your feedback. It's a pleasure sharing images with you!

One of the coldest days of the year as much as I can remember - maybe 12-13 deg c and its getting chillier every night.

And maybe b'cos of that, the birds were out in full play basking in the bright sun. The minivets, maybe about 5-6 of them came out into the open and were playing around. Many were chasing each other and making merry. There were several small insects and butterflies which also seemed to be energized by the sun and were venturing out. The minivets seemed to enjoy hunting them in the bright sun - giving me some excellent time to observe and shoot these birds.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

Back to the Lake District today with another shot of Ashness Bridge.

I posted a shot of this from my first trip to the lakes, but I think I actually prefer this version. It was a moody day which meant the lack of light reduced any harsh shadows on the rocks.

This visit was a lot quieter than my first time there which was in the middle of the school holidays. This time we pretty much had the place to ourselves so we could take a bit longer getting the shots we wanted.

This is quite possibly the most photographed bridge in the Lake District and with views towards Derwent Water and Skiddaw you can see why, it's just stunning.

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As much as I appreciated comments and feedback I would request no Awards or flashy gif comments, please. They will be deleted. Thank you.

Taken in the village of Thini in north central Nepal, an empty street with lined with traditional houses. Dhaulagiri, the 7th highest mountain in the world is shrouded by clouds at the end of the street.

I appreciate your feedback and comments! If you wish to contact me for any reason feel free to send me a Flickr mail or message me on any other social media and I'll reply as soon as I can.

If you like this or any of my other images, prints are available from my site at www.stewmillerphotography.com.

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This is the nesting season for these little creatures and they are quite busy carrying little blades of grass for their nest. They fly like 40-50 meters with the grass blade, then perch for a short while, recover their strength and again carry it with them. I suppose the weight is a lot for these little birds which are less than 10 cms tall.

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback.

A remake of an older series, made in 2015 at the V8 Brothers Show (www.v8brothers.be/), a yearly car show in Gits (Belgium).

An exercise in seeing details and using shallow DOF

Revisited after some feedback on weekly (www.flickr.com/groups/weekly/ - a great group by the way) on long series of trees ... time to exercise some other subjects and this remake might be a good starting point

Series:

flic.kr/s/aHBqjzMWe3

It was watching me from a distance and as I came closer for a shot, it seemed ready to dart off. But it wasn't sure. It waited for me, but after getting my shots, I moved away.

The colors here are interesting, coming back to normal from camouflage maybe - with a bit of bluish green and orange while it was resting on large boulders with lots of greenery surrounding the rocks.

Thanks in advance for your views / feedback. Please stay safe and healthy.

The Common Babbler (next pic in the photostream), had a lucky escape. This Shikra made a sudden attack, but the Babbler saw the raptor and darted off. The Shikra clearly unhappy looked for another prey, but couldn't find one, so flew away.

These are resident raptors and by population the 2nd most common I think in our state / India after Black Kite. Shikra's are ferocious hunters and they attack birds foraging openly, in the bushes, at at times right in their nests during breeding time.

This bird was too close and I had to shoot from the gap between the driver's shoulder and the door from the back seat where I was seated - happy with the outcome though.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

An often sighted wagtail in tree covers and dirt roads, fields and countryside. The bird is easy to identify and it constantly wags it tail up and down. The bird prefers small insects on the ground and once it finds something it darts off to a tree to munch on it.

We were so busy trying to the flycatchers which were making us run all around when we noticed this one sitting quietly on a rock in a distance.!

Thanks in advance for your views and feedback. Much appreciated.

A very beautiful resident bird prized by the photographers due to its beautiful plumage. The one here is a male, but the female is even far more colorful and beautiful. I sighted 2 males and a 3rd one which I could not determine the sex. We were exploring a new area and these birds just flew right from under our feet scaring us for a few moments. They circled around and landed at some distance away.

Outside of its breeding season it is quite hard to spot. Also, the bird times its presence to align with the sowing reason and the post harvest season when the fields are wet and muddy both the times. The bird has a preference to the wet areas where we find them pretty much.

I suspect the male was watching the chicks and hence was trying to distract us by flying away so quickly and openly. It was also flying at eye level height instead of the usual close to ground mode. The males in the species watch the chicks while the polyandrous females leave after the eggs are laid.

Thanks in advance for all your lovely feedback and views. Much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

Back in the 1930's,radios like this decaying beauty were the TV sets of the era. News,weather, sports, and entertainment were broadcast over a limited bandwidth and kept people informed and entertained. Direct feedback and "likes" were a little slow but anyone that could afford one of these weren't complaining....

Happy throwback Tuesday all!

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

A common species of cuckoo found throughout the year in the country. This one is not very colorful, but has an incredibly loud call that is easy to recognize.

We found it in the countryside perched quietly like this. It moved to many perches, but didn't show much action till the day was quite bright.

Thanks in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

NEW!

THE WOLF IS BACK!

Close-up 📷

• Hair: Modulus - Matthias Hair - Lelutka Size - Red @TMD September Round

Resident birds of the subcontinent and found throughout the year, but not so common here. This was shot last winter near a dry lake on the outskirts of the city. That lake hosted 1000's of birds including a few species of ducks, godwits, swallows, stints, sandpipers and a variety of other waders. The place had amazing activity and was an excellent place for bird photography.

During one of those days, around 7-8 Spoonbills landed there and were foraging in the shallow lake scooping up the various aquatic creatures like worms, crustaceans, insects etc.. These spoonbills - I suspect - are locally migratory since their sightings are not that regular or predictable. And it is one of those large birds that many of us enjoying sighting and watching.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

A big thank you to all Flickr friends for your visits.

Thank you again for popping by and appreciate all your kind encouraging feedback & favourites.

Have a wonderful day and keeping Smiling be Happy!

Take good care & stay safe my friends 🙏

Thank you

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EXPLORE!

Thank you for your support Flickr friends

This is another winter image from the small town of Oakesdale outside the Palouse. I liked the way the warm and cool tones mixed as well as the shadow patterns.

Please view the larger version here

Larger Version

Thanks as well for all the great feedback on the last image.

Thanks for looking and appreciate and feedback

I appreciate all the feedback and comments !!!!

Here are some more of the images from this recent trip

Winter Palouse Images

Thanks to everyone for visits , comments , awards and invitations, I appreciate your feedback very much

A common bird around our neighbourhood and the countryside - sometimes a pest. However, they are great for flight shot practice. The birds are fast fliers, but predictable though making them great for practice. These are often the target of Falcons this season (Winter), so we often watch these birds movements to check for Falcons around.

Shot this bird on a dam next to a reservoir when it was flying above the water outlet. The pigeon foraged on the ground was heading to its flock . There were several Starlings and Mynas which were busy carrying food to their nests. And on the other side above the water, several Brahminy Kites and another raptor were hunting for smaller birds and/or fish.

Thanks in advance for your views, faves and feedback. Much appreciated.

A really small diminutive bird just around 12-14 cms long. It is quite a silent bird and easy to miss and track. The birds are long migrants from South East Asia and Southern china to South India during winters. They are flycatchers and often seen in the underbush and near wet areas hunting flies around woody areas. But I suspect there is a population of them resident in the country in some the richer forests far away from the cities.

During the last two trips we sighted several of them and some of them were quite unmindful of humans. This one was shot in a lovely forest where bird come down to the pools to drink water. This flycatcher was waiting near one pool for the flies to be disturbed before it can make a catch.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

A nicely coloured Junco

If you like this and some of my other images, I invite you to take a look at my wildlife/birding blog, which I try to update every few days. ... grenfell.weebly.com and my web page at www.tekfx.ca

I appreciate your feedback and comments! so feel free to contact me for any reason. I can be reached at bill@tekfx.ca or on Flickrmail

All images are copyright. Please don't use this, or any other of my, images, on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission © All rights reserved

Thank you very much for your visit. I really appreciate your valuable feedback through comments and/or faves.

This photograph is a result of a single capture.

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