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I discovered a new technique for getting low-key photos with this one. A flat-screen TV turned off makes a perfect black background for non-macro photos. The lighting is from a full-spectrum lamp behind me and a lighted essential oil diffuser on the left.
For FlickrFriday's "Humans and Birds" challenge.
all helpers welcome! Pelicans, seagulls waiting for the shrimp sorting by the shrimpboat crew, Corpus Christi marina, Tx
My contribution to "Humans and birds" themed Flickr Friday.
I walked on a street when suddenly this little parrot, often kept as a pet in cages, catched my eye. It looks so real! But it is NOT a living budgerigar, but a human made (probably of gypsum). I thought that it would be a nice contribution to this Flickr Friday.
EDIT: Just added its position to the map. You can see it on your own if you follow the map!
"We are all bad birdwatchers; it is an inescapable part of our lives"
- From 'How To Be A Bad Birdwatcher' : Simon Barnes
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The #FlickrFriday #HumansAndBirds challenge
Nearly 50 years of watching them makes me assert, without any possibility of contradiction, that birds are brilliant. Even ring necked parakeets which have taken up residence in some areas of London displacing some indigenous species have a certain charm. I'd encourage a few peregrines into such areas just to even things out, but I digress.
Sir Peter Scott, conservationist and artist among his many talents, founded the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, initially at Slimbridge on the River Severn in South Western UK in 1946. Thinking way ahead of his time he recognised the importance of wetlands both to wildlife and us. In his later years he concluded that to make this point most effectively, wetlands needed to be brought to the people rather than trying to get people to the wetlands. How better to do that than to plonk a wetland in a city of eight million people? Getting to many wetlands for people without their own transport can be a bit of a hike, sometimes literally. Getting to this one involved a train ride, a trip on the London Underground (nearest tube, Hammersmith) and then a 15 minute bus ride from the adjacent bus station.
The London Wetland Centre was built on the site of four disused reservoirs, opening in 2000. Easily accessible both in getting there and within by those with mobility issues, it brings humans and birds (plus quite a few dragonflies on our visit) into close proximity. Kids (aka future conservationists) are not forgotten, with various activities and zones friendly to them. Other areas are quiet with hides, some staffed by knowledgeable volunteers with telescopes zoomed in to something interesting, hence my first ever knowing view of a jack snipe.
These are snapshots of a glorious October day, combined using Photoshop layers. Featured are a general view across a lagoon towards local houses and a construction site, a mute swan, two shovellers (the site is internationally important for them) a grey heron and a dragonfly, a migrant hawker I think. No great rarities today, but they do turn up.
Two(?) young pigeons sheltering on a windy day in the Banksia Rose growing over my back decking. They are quite unafraid.
This happens a lot because, no matter how eco-friendly, how efficient, or even how sturdy a building is, a big large beautiful building with many windows, a glistening lake, a decorative fountain, or any other reflective surface, man-made or not, which is situated near trees will attract birds. The strong male birds see their reflection and see it as a threat or challenge, this causes the bird to fight against itself and in the end bashing itself into the window and killing itself. It's sometimes not too hard to fix, but a few of the solutions would look out of place or just plain ugly, such as buildings with few windows or placing statues hawks on top which sometimes look like they just don't belong, but then skipping these actions would result being the birds dying, and leading to this.