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The first train on my trip to Colorado yielded a nice pair of EMDs on the head end of this H-LAUDEN manifest train. After a few hours of waiting and making a setout, it finally gets on the move with a thunderstorm that had formed right behind it.
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
Sometimes change is a good thing. Years ago the woods across from my home was clear cut to build homes. I was really upset about that. But over the years I have apprecaited that I can now see amazing sunsets from my front yard that I couldn't see when the woods was blocking my view.
Processed with Midjourney, Photoshop, and Topaz.
I sincerely thank you for taking your valuable time to view, award, or comment on my work. ♥
All rights reserved. You may NOT download or use this image without my written permission.
Week 9 - An 8-shot panorama from my front porch. Having too much fun with Photo Merge in Lightroom CC, I guess. The novelty will wear off eventually, I'm sure.
A huge severe-warned cell shows off some explosive convection as it drifts along the Front Range west of Loveland, CO.
Image Notes: To get an idea of how large the storm is, consider that this image is a five-frame pano. Each frame was shot vertically with the Samyang 14 mm, itself an incredibly wide lens. I processed each frame in DXO, corrected distortion/vignetting with PTLens (DXO lacks a profile for the Samy) and merged the frames in Photoshop to construct the pano.
Yellow-fronted Barbet (Psilopogon flavifrons)
Another colourful memory from my birding archives!
Looking back through my older photographs, I came across this beautiful Yellow-fronted Barbet, photographed during my birding trip to Sri Lanka in March 2012.
Revisiting these images brings back wonderful memories and gives me the chance to re-edit them using my improved editing skills and today’s software.
This lovely barbet is endemic to Sri Lanka, meaning it occurs naturally nowhere else in the world. It spends much of its time among the trees, feeding mainly on fruit, including figs, berries and guavas, although it also takes insects.
Another special bird I feel fortunate to have seen and photographed!
I’m sure I’ve told you before that I get very embarrassed about taking photos int he front garden. However, having taken the dog for a walk this morning I just couldn’t resist, besides Sunday mornings, there’s not too many people up and about.
I had realised last year that I’m a bit shy on the old photography front so had bought more bulbs and planted them in the seclusion of our back garden. They’re coming up, but slightly behind the ones in the front.
Thanks for stopping
A hooded oriole was at the feeder and this golden-fronted woodpecker seemed to be calmly waiting for its turn.
Una calandria dorso negro menor estaba en el comedero y este carpintero cheje parecí-a esperar con calma su turno.
Toronto, CANADÀ 2024.
Front Street West is one of the main east-west thoroughfares in downtown Toronto, renowned for being the location of most of the city's iconic landmarks and a major transportation hub.
Central Function: The street serves as the central spine of the city's entertainment, convention, and sports district, located just north of Lake Ontario.
Key Landmarks: The western section of Front Street is home to some of Toronto's most famous structures:
The CN Tower.
The Rogers Centre (retractable roof stadium).
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC).
Union Station (Canada's primary rail station and transit hub).
Historical Significance: The street originally ran along the shore of Lake Ontario before large land reclamation projects in the 19th century moved the waterfront back. Many historic buildings (like the St. Lawrence Market) are located on the street's eastern stretch.
真是意外,完全搞不懂為何這張有機會上FP?!
呵呵~ 當作是福利課給的新年紅包好了!
謝謝大家! 祝大家虎年裡,每個人都是一頭精力充沛的帥老虎美老虎,有源源不絕的動力去衝刺自己想要的,有擋不住的運氣去得到自己想得的!
大家新年快樂~~ ^^
It's nice to see this kind of a scene when you open your front door in the morning.. :-)
(Please View Large)
More of the tulipa tarda. Our weather has warmed up and we should be free of the white stuff until October.
Peach-fronted Parakeet is an inhabitant of savanna, gallery forest and cerrado from Suriname to south to northern Argentina, and west to extreme southeastern Peru. Peach-fronted Parakeet has a peachy orange forehead and midcrown; a pale orange orbital ring; dull blue wings, tail and hindcrown; and olive brown cheeks and underparts that fade to yellow-green on the undertail coverts. This parakeet is superficially similar to Orange-fronted Parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis), and the two may form a superspecies; but Orange-fronted Parakeet is confined to Central America, and there is no geographic overlap between the two. Peach-fronted Parakeet spends much time foraging on the ground where it feeds on seeds, flowers, leaves and insects. At times Peach-fronted Parakeet also raids fields of soybeans, rice and corn. doi.org/10.2173/bow.pefpar1.01
This one was at Pantanal, MT, Brasil.
Wishing a Peaceful Bokeh Wednesday!
Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc. Very much appreciated!
© All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated by any means without my written explicit permission, including the use on websites and similar medias. All rights reserved. Please contact me at thelma.gatuzzo@gmail.com if you intend to buy or use any of my images.
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Member of Nature’s Spirit
Good Stewards of Nature
Amerasia Restaurant in Covington, Kentucky is a favorite. Love the dining experience and artsy crowd.
White-fronted tern (White-fronted tern), Ashley Estuary, New Zealand. The white-fronted tern is the most common tern on the New Zealand coastline. The New Zealand population has declined markedly over the last 40 years and is currently regarded as At Risk/Declining.