CD / TV / TS who actually look female
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companion (of sorts) to my last post, this is looking north from about the same spot, slightly different treatment, but not so much as to be indistinguishable, one from the other.
littletinperson
A European Starling enjoys a cool drink of water on a hot summer day... Makes Me Happy : )
_______________________________________________
European Starling:
First brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds.
European Starlings are stocky black birds with short tails, triangular wings, and long, pointed bills. Though they’re sometimes resented for their abundance and aggressiveness, they’re still dazzling birds when you get a good look.
Covered in white spots during winter, they turn dark and glossy in summer. For much of the year, they wheel through the sky and mob lawns in big, noisy flocks.
All the European Starlings in North America descended from 100 birds set loose in New York's Central Park in the early 1890s. The birds were intentionally released by a group who wanted America to have all the birds that Shakespeare ever mentioned. It took several tries, but eventually the population took off. Today, more than 200 million European Starlings range from Alaska to Mexico.
Because of their recent arrival in North America, all of our starlings are closely related. Genetically, individuals from Virginia are nearly indistinguishable from starlings sampled in California, 3,000 miles away. Such little genetic variation often spells trouble for rare species, but seems to offer no ill effects to starlings so far.
Starlings are great vocal mimics: individuals can learn the calls of up to 20 different species. Birds whose songs starlings often copy include the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Killdeer, Meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite, Wood Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Northern Flicker, and many others.
Starlings turn from spotted and white to glossy and dark each year without shedding their feathers. The new feathers they grow in fall have bold white tips – that’s what gives them their spots. By spring, these tips have worn away, and the rest of the feather is dark and iridescent brown. It’s an unusual changing act that scientists term “wear molt.”
Starlings are strong fliers that can get up to speeds of 48 mph.
A female European Starling may try to lay an egg in the nest of another female. A female that tries this parasitic tactic often is one that could not get a mate early in the breeding season. The best females find mates and start laying early. The longer it takes to get started, the lower the probability of a nest's success. Those parasitic females may be trying to enhance their own breeding efforts during the time that they cannot breed on their own.
The oldest recorded wild European Starling in North America was a male and was at least 15 years, 3 months old when he died in Tennessee in 1972. He had been banded in the same state in 1958.
(Nikon, 500 mm +TC 1.4, 1/2000 @ f/7.1, ISO 2500, edited to taste)
Juvenile Red-Winged Black birds resemble females of this species but are paler below and have buff feather fringes.
Unlike most North American passerines which develop their adult plumage in their first year of life so that the one-year-old and the oldest individual are indistinguishable in the breeding season, the red-winged blackbird does not. It acquires its adult plumage only after the breeding season of the year following its birth when it is between thirteen and fifteen months of age.-wiki
-Agelaius phoeniceus
Grau- und Grünspechte werden häufig verwechselt. Beide sind von der Farbe ihres Federkleides nicht zu unterscheiden.
Das sicherste Unterscheidungsmerkmal ist der schwarze Streifen, der beim Grauspecht vom Schnabel nur bis zum Auge reicht. Beim Grünspecht ist er breiter und ragt über das Auge hinaus.
Beim männlichen Grauspecht ist nur der Vorderscheitel bis zur Kopfmitte rot. Beim männlichen Grünspecht ist die gesamte Kopfoberseite bis zum Nacken rot sowie ein schmaler Streifen unterhalb des Auges.
Der Grünspecht nimmt seit 20 Jahren kontinuierlich zu, während der sehr viel seltenere Grauspechtbestand eher abnimmt.
Gray and green woodpeckers are often confused. Both are indistinguishable from the color of their plumage.
The safest distinguishing feature is the black stripe, which in the gray woodpecker only extends from the beak to the eye. In the green woodpecker, it is wider and protrudes beyond the eye.
In the male gray woodpecker, only the front part is red up to the middle of the head. In the male green woodpecker, the entire top of the head up to the neck is red as well as a narrow strip below the eye.
The green woodpecker has been increasing continuously for 20 years, while the much rarer gray woodpecker population is declining.
Thank you very much for all your visits, faves and
kind comments! Much appreciated!
Gray Woodpecker
Grau- und Grünspechte werden häufig verwechselt. Beide sind von der Farbe ihres Federkleides nicht zu unterscheiden.
Das sicherste Unterscheidungsmerkmal ist der schwarze Streifen, der beim Grauspecht vom Schnabel nur bis zum Auge reicht. Beim Grünspecht ist er breiter und ragt über das Auge hinaus.
Beim männlichen Grauspecht ist nur der Vorderscheitel bis zur Kopfmitte rot. Beim männlichen Grünspecht ist die gesamte Kopfoberseite bis zum Nacken rot.
Der Grünspecht nimmt seit 20 Jahren kontinuierlich zu, während der sehr viel seltenere Grauspechtbestand eher abnimmt.
Gray and green woodpeckers are often confused. Both are indistinguishable from the color of their plumage.
The safest distinguishing feature is the black stripe, which in the gray woodpecker only extends from the beak to the eye. In the green woodpecker, it is wider and protrudes beyond the eye.
In the male gray woodpecker, only the front part is red up to the middle of the head. In the male green woodpecker, the entire top of the head up to the neck is red.
The green woodpecker has been increasing continuously for 20 years, while the much rarer gray woodpecker population is declining.
Thank you very much for all your visits, faves and
kind comments! Much appreciated!
Rail enthusiasts and photographers, sometimes indistinguishable one from the other, flock to outback South Australia to ride on and take photos of the beautiful old Pichi Richi Railway, here seen at Quorn preparing for the return run to Port Augusta.
While all the Little Egrets were quite social with each other everywhere else in and around this lake, there seemed to be a dispute about this one spot.
These birds are mostly silent but make various croaking and bubbling calls at their breeding colonies and produce a harsh alarm call when disturbed. To the human ear, the sounds are indistinguishable from the black-crowned night heron.
Little egrets are sociable birds and are often seen in small flocks. Nevertheless, individual birds do not tolerate others coming too close to their chosen feeding site
Taken in Camargue National Park, France
-Egretta garzetta
Saw this in the front garden of an apartment block nearby and was intrigued by how many unfurled flowers were emerging in all directions, is it a photographer's thing that see's the world this way? This is the beauty of the art of photography to bring about so much of intrigue, curiosity, beauty and expression in one secular, liberated and perfect image, and of course, art is the within the eye of the beholder, isn't that amazing?
I hope everyone is well and so as always, thank you! :)
My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.
Kumlein's Gull - Larus glaucoides kumlien
BIRDGUIDES NOTEABLE PHOTO 11-17 Mar 2020
Kumlien's gull (Larus glaucoides kumlieni) is a subspecies of the Iceland gull. It is a large gull which breeds in the Arctic regions of Canada. It is migratory, wintering from Labrador south to New England and west across the Great Lakes. The subspecies is named after the Swedish-American naturalist Thure Kumlien. It is a regular vagrant in small numbers to Britain and Ireland.
It has variably been considered a full species, a subspecies of Thayer's gull, a subspecies of Iceland gull, and a hybrid between the aforementioned species, all of which are considered subspecies of the Iceland gull as of 2017.
This taxon breeds colonially or singly on coasts and cliffs, making a nest lined with grass, moss or seaweed on the ground or cliff. Normally, two or three light brown eggs are laid.
The taxon is pale in all plumage, with a remarkably variable amount of pigment in the primaries. Individuals range from completely white-winged (indistinguishable from nominate L. glaucoides Iceland gull) to so dark in the wings as to be indistinguishable from Thayer's gull. Eye color is also variable, from pale yellow to dark brown. Such remarkable variation seems to lend credence to the belief that Kumlien's gull is in fact a hybrid swarm.
Kumlien's gulls average smaller overall and much smaller-billed than the very large glaucous gull and are usually smaller than herring gull. The taxon reaches adult plumage in four to five years. The call is a "laughing" cry like the herring gull's, but higher pitched.
A pale-extreme first cycle Kumlien's gull photographed in Toronto, Ontario: Birds with white wingtips such as this may not be separable from nominate L. glaucoides.
These are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and they scavenge an seek suitable small prey. These birds forage while flying, picking up food at or just below the water's surface, and feed while walking or swimming. Their scavenging habits lead them to frequent garbage dumps, sewage outlets, and places where fish are cleaned.
This large thrush appears blackish with shiny patches of blue on the forehead and shoulders. The blue becomes visible only in oblique lighting. The bill and legs are black. The sexes are indistinguishable and juveniles are more brownish and lack the blue forehead
I found myself staring for a while at this intriguing and fascinating mechanism displayed in a store's window in the centre of Augsburg, without having the faintest idea what it represents, other than being the fruit of a beautiful mind. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke
Willow flycatchers are generally indistinguishable from Alder flycatchers. Even skilled birders rely on the difference in song, song differences that invariably I fail to recall. This bird was high in a tree and far from water, so my presumptive ID is based on habitat.
At times it was a bit disorienting, staring into the reflections. The strong, early morning back-lighting, and the super-still water created scenes where the reflection was almost indistinguishable from the actual image. In large size format, there is a gentle ripple visible in the water. I liked the contrast between the dark tree trunks and the backlit fern that almost seems to glow.
Seen at Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, with D200-PAUL.
Kumlein's Gull - Larus glaucoides kumlien
Kumlien's gull (Larus glaucoides kumlieni) is a subspecies of the Iceland gull. It is a large gull which breeds in the Arctic regions of Canada. It is migratory, wintering from Labrador south to New England and west across the Great Lakes. The subspecies is named after the Swedish-American naturalist Thure Kumlien. It is a regular vagrant in small numbers to Britain and Ireland.
It has variably been considered a full species, a subspecies of Thayer's gull, a subspecies of Iceland gull, and a hybrid between the aforementioned species, all of which are considered subspecies of the Iceland gull as of 2017.
This taxon breeds colonially or singly on coasts and cliffs, making a nest lined with grass, moss or seaweed on the ground or cliff. Normally, two or three light brown eggs are laid.
The taxon is pale in all plumage, with a remarkably variable amount of pigment in the primaries. Individuals range from completely white-winged (indistinguishable from nominate L. glaucoides Iceland gull) to so dark in the wings as to be indistinguishable from Thayer's gull. Eye color is also variable, from pale yellow to dark brown. Such remarkable variation seems to lend credence to the belief that Kumlien's gull is in fact a hybrid swarm.
Kumlien's gulls average smaller overall and much smaller-billed than the very large glaucous gull and are usually smaller than herring gull. The taxon reaches adult plumage in four to five years. The call is a "laughing" cry like the herring gull's, but higher pitched.
A pale-extreme first cycle Kumlien's gull photographed in Toronto, Ontario: Birds with white wingtips such as this may not be separable from nominate L. glaucoides.
These are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and they scavenge an seek suitable small prey. These birds forage while flying, picking up food at or just below the water's surface, and feed while walking or swimming. Their scavenging habits lead them to frequent garbage dumps, sewage outlets, and places where fish are cleaned.
Day two of my lighthouse shoot was not so cooperative as at Point Betsie When I arrived at the Manistee light the snow and ice made it dangerous to get as far out on the pier as I would have liked. It was too easy to slip off into the channel which was NOT frozen. It also made the white clad lighthouse pretty indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape. Still with some exposure blending and bit of color enhancement to the sky I came away with an image I could share.
Thank you so much for your visit!
Please take a minute to press L and view in large!
This was my first sighting of the Roe Deer on Burnt Common. I love the way Nature has disguised its presence with the brown blotches and streaked greys of the gauze like grasses, its body virtually indistinguishable. I then moved round the doe in a complete circle to view her from a different perspective in totally different light.
Thank you all for your kind responses.
Jordanita sp. male resting on a Blue Aphyllanthes flower. This little moth is a zyganidae moth and Procrinidae subfamily. This subfamily is composed of closely related species indistinguishable from a photograph.
Une turquoise ou procris mâle posé sur une aphyllanthe de Montpellier dans le Diois. Ce petit papillon est un Zygène appartenant à la sous famille des Procrinidae. Cette sous-famille est composée d'espèces très proches indifférenciables à partir d'une photo.
Wikipedia: The Javan pond heron (Ardeola speciosa) is a wading bird of the heron family, found in shallow fresh and salt-water wetlands in Southeast Asia. Its diet comprises insects, fish, and crabs.
The Javan pond heron is typically 45 cm long with white wings, a yellow bill with a black tip, yellow eyes and legs. Its overall color is orange, slaty and white during mating season, and brown and flecked with white out of the mating season. The non-breeding plumage is similar to that of the Chinese and Indian pond herons and is virtually indistinguishable in the field.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javan_pond_heron
Conservation status: Least Concern
The Red-headed Woodpecker is a gorgeous woodpecker bird with a bright red head from which it got its name. This North American species, with its boldly-patterned plumage, is popular among the bird-watchers and is widely spread almost all across the country, and is known in different names like ‘flag bird’ and ‘patriotic bird’. Once a very common bird in the country’s eastern part, this species has been showing long-term declines in a moderately rapid rate, which is primarily because of their degradation and loss of habitat in recent decades.
The red-headed woodpecker was a favorite to celebrated ornithologists like Alexander Wilson and Audubon.
These birds are ‘monomorphic’, which means, the males and females look so similar that, they are practically indistinguishable even when taken in the hand. To know the gender, you actually need to run a DNA test or a dissection of the bird.
This species is the only woodpecker in the eastern part that has a completely red head.
In 1996, the RHW was featured on a United States Postal Service 2-cent stamp.
These are one of the only four woodpecker species that cover their reserved foods with bark or wood. They would even store live stocks like grasshoppers wedged so tightly in a crevice that it is impossible for the insect to escape.
This species of woodpeckers is relatively small compared to others in its family.
The presence of white patches on its wings makes them especially noticeable when they are flying.
In this species, the annual adult survivorship is estimated to be around 62%.
This bird can dig holes that can measure up to 20 to 60 centimeters in depth.
A red-headed woodpecker takes 2-3 weeks or more to excavate one single hole.
I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
This delecate plant is almost indistinguishable from the normal bladder silene and belongs to the zinc flora.
The plant has evolved trough cell adjustment, in such a way that it is insenstive to zinc and other heavy metals.
The stores zinc acts as a toxic weapon so that herbivores avoid this.
Because it hardly has any natural enemies, this plant can grow to be 50 years. This plant only grows in the southern part of the Netherlands on the waste mountains of the former Belgium zinc mines.
Black Redstart (Full frame)
0835.24.11.2022
In 2010 I posted an image of a male Black Redstart, see link below
www.flickr.com/photos/24940353@N03/5230296553/in/album-72... You will read that I had a vision of an image I wanted to achieve (it's a nod to any number of Godfather film posters that I thought were very striking) I have nearly pulled off the image without having to do post capture enhancement. Though the bird is not looking at me I still think this image is quite striking and hope you forgive my lack of modesty for saying so. I have to say the bird did give me direct looks but I was not quick enough on the draw to capture them. The opportunity with the lighting only lasted a couple of minutes if I was lucky to have the sun shining and the bird on the right part of the wall.
This male had a very successful breeding season. A few weeks before I made this image he was indistinguishable from the female. I watched him every day and saw his transition...he looked a scruffy bugger for a while.
B252 is a dark nebula in the Scorpius constellation, an unknown distance from earth.
A common misconception about these dark nebulae (in general, not specifically this one) is that they're somehow empty voids of space. There's a B68 image taken by Hubble that makes its way across social media platforms every so often where people (incorrectly) make that claim. So what are we looking at then?
These dark regions in space are every bit as populated as the regions surrounding them. The only difference is that from our vantage point; there's some thick dust clouds in the line of sight blocking our view in visual wavelengths of light (in plain English, light that our human eyes can see). When scanning said regions with specialized instruments that operate at longer wavelengths (infrared and beyond), said regions become indistinguishable from their surroundings (as far as how densely populated they are).
Image acquisition details:
24x600" Luminance
18x600" Red
18x600" Green
18x600" Blue
Love.
It's so close to Hate,
it's almost indistinguishable.
Presenting Poison Rouge
POISON ROUGE Sweet Spell Hat
@Cosmopolitan.
This is a photo of a young European wild cat in captivity in the Tierpark Langenberg sitting on a tree branch. They are exceptionally cute and look almost indistinguishable from common house cats. However, I’d probably not recommend patting them, even if you had the chance.
A bumblebee trapped by a white crab spider indistinguishable from the zinnia flower. This is its end this is life
or eastern paradise whydah (Vidua paradisaea) is a small brown sparrow-like bird of Eastern Africa, from eastern South Sudan to southern Angola. During the breeding season the male moults into breeding plumage that consists of a black head and back, rusty brown breast, bright yellow nape, and buffy white abdomen with broad, elongated black tail feathers up to 36 cm long (approximately three times the length of its body). Males and females are almost indistinguishable outside of the breeding season.
The focus is not on the bird!
Tried something different!
A small heron that is common in most aquatic habitats across the Indian subcontinent. Adults in breeding plumage have a dark reddish brown back that contrasts with a yellowish head, neck, and breast. In non breeding plumage they are virtually indistinguishable from non breeding Chinese Pond-Heron. In flight, adults appear surprisingly white due to their strikingly white wings, underparts, and tail. Although typically solitary, large numbers often gather where food is plentiful. Prone to seasonally local movements and vagrancy.
A small heron that is common in most aquatic habitats across the Indian subcontinent. Adults in breeding plumage have a dark reddish brown back that contrasts with a yellowish head, neck, and breast. In nonbreeding plumage they are virtually indistinguishable from nonbreeding Chinese Pond-Heron.
Please, no invitations to award/forced comment groups or to those with large/animated comment codes.
Stout heron with flashing white wings; can be mistaken for a egret in flight, but note darker head in all plumages. Handsome in breeding plumage, with creamy head, dark red breast, and lacy black plumes on the back. Streaky brown nonbreeding plumage is nearly indistinguishable from other pond-herons. Forages in rice paddies, pond and lake edges, and mangroves. (eBird)
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The water's edge was lined with water hyacinth and pond-herons. The herons were particularly adroit at flying away just as we approached by boat, but this one was just a little slower than its friends.
Prek Toal, Siemréab, Cambodia. February 2025.
Cambodia Bird Guides Association.
Model: Viktor Savior de Grataine
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible
~ Styling ~
::ZED:: MESH Cyber set
alpha.tribe ::: LRRH - mech avatar
HILTED - Cyber Visor
NO.MATCHe_NO_INDUSTRY
SCI-FI TABLET HL-1
Serendipity Logan pose st
Zibska Usha Deux
~JJ~ Cyber Heart
*Birth* 'Axel' skin
Much to my delight Lilac-breasted Rollers were often seen in both Botswana and Zambia. They are gorgeous birds and this one graced me with a nice wing and tail spread, showing off those trailing feathers of the tail, I hadn’t really noticed before. I just read that they are absent in the juveniles. Both males and females are indistinguishable. (Coracias caudated) Sony a1M2, 200-600 lens @ 456mm, 1/4000 second, f/6.3, ISO 1600)
Seen in the Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool. In 1819, when this sculpture was attached to a ship carrying his name, Lord Hastings was the Governor General of India. The ship, originally owned by the East India Company, was now equipped with guns. There were times when the interests of the Governor and those of the Company were indistinguishable. Fuji X100F.
The eastern (pale) chanting goshawk (Melierax poliopterus), or Somali chanting goshawk, is a bird of prey of East Africa.
This species is intermediate between the smaller dark chanting goshawk (widespread to the west and south) and the pale chanting goshawk (southern Africa) in colour, size, and leg length, but not in range. It has often been considered a subspecies of the latter, but because of this disparity between geography and characters, it is now considered a separate species, as agreed by many authorities.
Males average 85 percent the size of females. Like the other chanting goshawks, it resembles an accipiter but the tail is shorter and graduated (the feathers increase in length from the edges to the center), and the wings are broader.[2]
Adults have grey head, neck, breast, and upperparts, except for the white or lightly barred uppertail coverts. The belly has narrow grey and white bars and the undertail coverts are white. The belly and wing linings are white, the secondaries are light grey, and the primaries are dark, giving an impression from below of a white bird with grey head and dark wingtips. The tail is blackish above and white below with grey bars. The cere is yellow, and the legs are orange-red. Juveniles are dull brown above with a pale stripe over the eye. They have white underparts with brown streaks on the throat and breast, brown bars on the belly coverts, and faint or no barring on the undertail coverts. The tail is brown with widely spaced darker brown bars. The rump is white, partially barred or unmarked. They are indistinguishable from some juvenile dark chanting goshawks except for the less barred undertail coverts and rump. Also, the legs are slightly longer at all ages than the dark chanting goshawk's.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You have no engagements, commitments, obligations, or duties; no special ambitions and only the smallest, least complicated of wants; you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation, “far removed from the seats of strife,” as the early explorer and botanist William Bartram put it. All that is required of you is a willingness to trudge.
There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same place: in the woods. It’s where you were yesterday, where you will be tomorrow. The woods is one boundless singularity. Every bend in the path presents a prospect indistinguishable from every other, every glimpse into the trees the same tangled mass. For all you know, your route could describe a very large, pointless circle. In a way, it would hardly matter.
-- Bill Bryson
It was undated and unmarked. I know that my mother shot this. It must have been in the early 1960s, on the lower Meghna in what then was East Pakistan and now is Bangladesh, and it might be at the start or the end of the monsoon season, but that is all I can reconstruct.
The print has faded a bit on the right hand side, but it still perfectly captures the sense of wideness and tranquillity. The lifestyle of the fishermen in their nowkas probably had not changed very much over the centuries. A picture from the middle ages would have captured a scene virtually indistinguishable from this one.
I have no idea which camera and film was used here.
The poor old brown teal never stood a chance: hunted for food and eggs and young predated by rats, as soon as humans arrived, then with the European settlement came the introduction of more rats, plus stoats, ferrets and cats... The South Island mainland population hung on until 2013, since then the brown teal has been confined to the north of the North Island. Fewer than 1000 individuals survive, many in predator-free sanctuaries as part of a re-introduction programme, as here.
Ducks and drakes are indistinguishable in the field. the closely related Auckland Islands teal (A. aucklandica) was once considered conspecific.
From a slide.
211108 002
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There are about 6 subspecies in the "Sooty" group of Fox Sparrow, but they're basically indistinguishable from one another for the most part, so we don't bother.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
I took so many shots of what we were seeing and none of them could adequately communicate the gravity of what we were experiencing.
You really just need to join the group and see for yourself.
When baby toads hatch in the water, the tadpoles are indistinguishable from frogs. The difference only becomes apparent when they change into miniature versions of their adult form. This baby is the size of a fingernail and part of the one percent who survived to make the transformation.
The photo was taken during the summer of 2023 when virtually all fallen leaves were green. It’s amazing how the baby toad (who’d never seen his own reflection) instinctively chose a brown leaf to be better camouflaged while his his muscular/skeletal system fully developed before making the journey to land.
Stout heron with flashing white wings; can be mistaken for a egret in flight, but note darker head in all plumages. Handsome in breeding plumage, with creamy head, dark red breast, and lacy black plumes on the back. Streaky brown nonbreeding plumage is nearly indistinguishable from other pond-herons. Forages in rice paddies, pond and lake edges, and mangroves. (eBird)
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We were on the hunt for the Chinese Pond-Heron when we came across this Javan Pond-Heron, a rare visitor to Singapore. He delighted us with lovely close views.
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Singapore. March 2024.
Birding Singapore.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible
Visit NOVA
The rufous-tailed lark (Ammomanes phoenicura), also sometimes called the rufous-tailed finch-lark, is a ground bird found in the drier open stony habitats of India and parts of Pakistan. Like other species in the genus it has a large finch-like bill with a slightly curved edge to the upper mandible. The dull brown colour matches the soil as it forages for grass seeds, grain and insects. Males and females are indistinguishable in the field but during the breeding season, the male has a courtship display that involves flying up steeply and then nose-diving and pulling up in a series of stepped wavy dips accompanied by calling
Twenty-six years ago, there was great concern that the turn of the century to the year 2000 would bring horrific computer problems. Dubbed the "Y2K problem," the issue was that computer programs at the time represented four-digit years with only the final two digits, making the year 2000 indistinguishable from the year 1900.
This computer "bug," some experts predicted, would cause a modern-day apocalypse when the clock struck midnight to end 1999, causing computer systems worldwide to malfunction or shut down. Fortunately, however, computer programmers were able to rectify the issue ahead of time, and worldwide catastrophe was averted.
The fun decorative creation shown here is a remembrance of
that time.
Smile on Saturday: “Free Theme”
HSoS
A lovely adult male Bar-tailed Godwit still in most of its breeding plumage is being shadowed by an adult Common Redshank. A good indication here, of the size difference between the two species. Taken in mid-September, this is quite late for a bird to be still with so much breeding plumage still showing. It hung around for a couple of weeks, getting greyer and greyer and, if it is still in the region, it will be indistinguishable from the others by now
Island Of Madagascar
Off The East Coast Of Africa
Berenty Reserve
Furcifer verrucosus, also known as the warty chameleon, spiny chameleon or crocodile chameleon, is a species of small reptile endemic to Madagascar. It was first described by Georges Cuvier in 1829.
The warty chameleon is found only on the island of Madagascar including Manderano in the Tulear region. It occurs over much of the west part of the island and in drier parts of the south. It is seldom found in primary rainforest but favours arid disturbed land, including near the sea. It is a terrestrial species and also climbs around in low bushes. In hot weather it sometimes retreats into a sandy burrow to keep cool.
There are two subspecies, Furcifer v. verrucosus and Furcifer v. semicristatus, the latter being found mainly in the southernmost part of the island. This chameleon is closely related to Oustalet's chameleon Furcifer oustaleti (Malagasy giant chameleon), the pair forming a species complex, but each member of the group may be a cryptic species (two species indistinguishable in the field and currently believed to be a single species) and the exact taxonomical relationship between members of the group is unclear.
The warty chameleon feeds largely on insects which it catches with its long sticky tongue. The female lays one clutch of 30 to 60 eggs a year and these are incubated for about 200 days. They hatch into juvenile chameleons which may take six months to a year to become mature. – Wikipedia
..European robins are present in Britain all year, but their red breast stands out more in winter. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable
The largest European wading bird, the Eurasian curlew is easy to identify with its elongated bow-shaped bill and spindly legs. In winter groups of curlews known as ‘curfews’ forage together in coastal wetlands, and up to 66,000 pairs breed in the UK and are resident all year round.
Females and males are largely indistinguishable. Their plumage is identical and the only marked difference is the length of the bill – a female’s bill is marginally longer than a male’s and in general, a female is slightly larger and heavier.
Although curlew population numbers remain fairly high and they are resident over a wide range of habitats and geographical regions, these giant waders have become a cause for concern, with declines in their breeding ranges and habitats. They are becoming increasingly rare, and conservation efforts to attempt to preserve their habitats and reverse the decline exist.
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The hooded pitta is a passerine bird. It is common in eastern and southeastern Asia and maritime Southeast Asia, where it lives in several types of forests as well as on plantations and other cultivated areas.
Scientific name: Pitta sordida
Other common names: Green-breasted(!) Pitta, Black-headed Pitta
Taxonomy: Turdus sordidus Statius Muller, 1776, Philippine Islands.
Recently treated as forming a superspecies with P. superba and P. maxima, sometimes also including P. steerii, but morphological differences seem too great for this treatment; probably closest to last of those three. The four New Guinea races novaeguineae, from which described race hebetior (from Karkar I, off N Papuan coast) considered indistinguishable, mefoorana, rosenbergii and goodfellowi are geographically isolated from others and show several plumage differences from them; may represent a separate species. Race palawanensis possibly better treated as synonymous with nominate. In original description, race mulleri was written thus (without umlaut), so this is correct spelling rather than muelleri. Twelve subspecies recognized.
The Eurasian blue tit is usually 12 cm (4.7 in), long with a wingspan of 18 cm (7.1 in) for both sexes, and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz). A typical Eurasian blue tit has an azure-blue crown and dark blue line passing through the eye, and encircling the white cheeks to the chin, giving the bird a very distinctive appearance. The forehead and a bar on the wing are white. The nape, wings and tail are blue and the back is yellowish green. The underparts is mostly sulphur-yellow with a dark line down the abdomen—the yellowness is indicative of the number of yellowy-green caterpillars eaten, due to high levels of carotene pigments in the diet. The bill is black, the legs bluish grey, and the irides dark brown. The sexes are similar and often indistinguishable to human eyes, but under ultraviolet light, males have a brighter blue crown. Young blue tits are noticeably more yellow.