dave and some of me

The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members within the genus of Buteo in North America or worldwide. The red-tailed hawk is one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk", though it rarely preys on standard-sized chickens. The bird is sometimes also referred to as the red-tail for short, when the meaning is clear in context. Red-tailed hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands (from small meadows to the treed fringes of more extensive prairies), coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. Its latitudinal limits fall around the tree line in the subarctic and it is absent from the high Arctic. Generally it favors varied habitats with open woodland, woodland edge and open terrain. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico, and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The 14 recognized subspecies vary in appearance and range, varying most often in color, and in the west of North America, red-tails are particularly often strongly polymorphic, with individuals ranging from almost white to nearly all black. The subspecies Harlan's hawk (B. j. harlani) is sometimes considered a separate species (B. harlani). The red-tailed hawk is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo, typically weighing from 690 to 1,600 g (1.5 to 3.5 lb) and measuring 45–65 cm (18–26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110–141 cm (3 ft 7 in – 4 ft 8 in). This species displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.

The diet of red-tailed hawks is highly variable and reflects their status as opportunistic generalists, but in North America, they are most often predators of small mammals such as rodents of an immense diversity of families and species. Prey that is terrestrial and at least partially diurnal is preferred, so types such as ground squirrels are preferred where they naturally occur. Over much of the range, smallish rodents such as voles alternated with larger rabbits and hares often collectively form the bulk of the diet. Large numbers of birds and reptiles can occur in the diet in several areas, and can even be the primary foods. Meanwhile, amphibians, fish and invertebrates can seem rare in the hawk's regular diet, but they are not infrequently taken by immature hawks. Red-tailed hawks may survive on islands absent of native mammals on diets variously including invertebrates such as crabs, as well as lizards or birds. Like many Buteo species, they hunt from a perch most often, but can vary their hunting techniques where prey and habitat demand it. Because they are so common and easily trained as capable hunters, in the United States they are the most commonly captured hawks for falconry. Falconers are permitted to take only passage hawks (which have left the nest, are on their own, but are less than a year old) so as to not affect the breeding population. Passage red-tailed hawks are also preferred by falconers because they have not yet developed the adult behaviors that would make them more difficult to train.

Taxonomy

The red-tailed hawk was formally described in 1788 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin under the binomial name Falco jamaicensis. Gmelin based his description on the "cream-coloured buzzard" described in 1781 by John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. The type locality is Jamaica. The red-tailed hawk is now placed in the genus Buteo that was erected by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799.

The red-tailed hawk is a member of the subfamily Buteoninae, which includes about 55 currently recognized species. Unlike many lineages of accipitrids, which seemed to have radiated out of Africa or south Asia, the Buteoninae clearly originated in the Americas based on fossil records and current species distributions (more than 75% of the extant hawks from this lineage are found in the Americas). As a subfamily, the Buteoninae seem to be rather old based on genetic materials, with monophyletic genera bearing several million years of individual evolution. Diverse in plumage appearance, habitat, prey, and nesting preferences, buteonine hawks are nonetheless typically medium- to large-sized hawks with ample wings (while some fossil forms are very large, larger than any eagle alive today). The red-tailed hawk is a member of the genus Buteo, a group of medium-sized raptors with robust bodies and broad wings. Members of this genus are known as "buzzards" in Eurasia, but "hawks" in North America. Under current classification, the genus includes about 29 species, the second-most diverse of all extant accipitrid genera behind only Accipiter. The buzzards of Eurasia and Africa are mostly part of the genus Buteo, although two other small genera within the subfamily Buteoninae occur in Africa.

At one time, the rufous-tailed hawk (B. ventralis), distributed in Patagonia and some other areas of southern South America, was considered part of the red-tailed hawk species. With a massive distributional gap consisting of most of South America, the rufous-tailed hawk is considered a separate species now, but the two hawks still compromise a "species pair" or superspecies, as they are clearly closely related. The rufous-tailed hawk, while comparatively little studied, is very similar to the red-tailed hawk, being about the same size and possessing the same wing structure, and having more or less parallel nesting and hunting habits. Physically, however, rufous-tailed hawk adults do not attain a bright brick-red tail as do red-tailed hawks, instead retaining a dark brownish-cinnamon tail with many blackish crossbars similar to juvenile red-tailed hawks. Another, more well-known, close relative to the red-tailed hawk is the common buzzard (B. buteo), which has been considered as its Eurasian "broad ecological counterpart" and may also be within a species complex with red-tailed hawks. The common buzzard, in turn, is also part of a species complex with other Old World buzzards, namely the mountain buzzard (B. oreophilus), the forest buzzard (B. trizonatus ), and the Madagascar buzzard (B. brachypterus). All six species, although varying notably in size and plumage characteristics, in the alleged species complex that contains the red-tailed hawk share with it the feature of the blackish patagium marking, which is missing in most other Buteo spp.

Subspecies

At least 14 recognized subspecies of B. jamaicensis are described, which vary in range and in coloration. Not all authors accept every subspecies, though, particularly some of the insular races of the tropics (which differ only slightly in some cases from the nearest mainland forms) and particularly Krider's hawk, by far the most controversial red-tailed hawk race, as few authors agree on its suitability as a full-fledged subspecies.

ImageSubspeciesDistribution

Jamaican red-tailed hawk (B. j. jamaicensis)occurs throughout the West Indies (including Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles) except for the Bahamas and Cuba.

Alaska red-tailed hawk (B. j. alascensis)breeds (probably resident) from southeastern coastal Alaska to Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Eastern red-tailed hawk (B. j. borealis)breeds from southeast Canada and Maine south through Texas and east to northern Florida.

Western red-tailed hawk (B. j. calurus)greatest longitudinal breeding distribution of any race of red-tailed hawk.

Central American red-tailed hawk (B. j. costaricensis)from Nicaragua to Panama.

Southwestern red-tailed hawk (B. j. fuertesi)breeds from northern Chihuahua to South Texas.

Tres Marias red-tailed hawk (B. j. fumosus)endemic to Islas Marías, Mexico.

Mexican Highlands red-tailed hawk (B. j. hadropus)native to the Mexican Highlands.

Harlan's hawk (B. j. harlani)breeds from central Alaska to northwestern Canada, with the largest number of birds breeding in the Yukon or western Alaska, reaching their southern limit in north-central British Columbia.

Red-tailed hawk (kemsiesi) (B. j. kemsiesi)a dark subspecies resident from Chiapas, Mexico, to Nicaragua.

Krider's hawk (B. j. kriderii)breeds from southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, and extreme western Ontario south to south-central Montana, Wyoming, western Nebraska, and western Minnesota.

Socorro red-tailed hawk (B. j. socorroensis)endemic to Socorro Island, Mexico.

Cuban red-tailed hawk (B. j. solitudinis)native to the Bahamas and Cuba.

Florida red-tailed hawk (B. j. umbrinus)occurs year-round in peninsular Florida north to as far Tampa Bay and the Kissimmee Prairie south throughout the rest of peninsular Florida south to the Florida Keys.

Description

Red-tailed hawk plumage can be variable, depending on the subspecies and the region. These color variations are morphs, and are not related to molting. The western North American population, B. j. calurus, is the most variable subspecies and has three main color morphs: light, dark, and intermediate or rufous. The dark and intermediate morphs constitute 10–20% of the population in the Western United States, but seem to constitute only 1–2% of B. j. calurus in western Canada. A whitish underbelly with a dark brown band across the belly, formed by horizontal streaks in feather patterning, is present in most color variations. This feature is variable in eastern hawks and generally absent in some light subspecies (i.e. B. j. fuertesi). Most adult red-tails have a dark-brown nape and upper head, which gives them a somewhat hooded appearance, while the throat can variably present a lighter brown "necklace". Especially in younger birds, the underside may be otherwise covered with dark-brown spotting, and some adults may too manifest this stippling. The back is usually a slightly darker brown than elsewhere with paler scapular feathers, ranging from tawny to white, forming a variable imperfect "V" on the back. The tail of most adults, which gives this species its name, is rufous brick-red above with a variably sized, black subterminal band and generally appears light buff-orange from below. In comparison, the typical pale immatures (i.e. less than two years old) typically have a mildly paler headed and tend to show a darker back than adults with more apparent pale wing-feather edges above (for descriptions of dark morph juveniles from B. j. calurus, which is also generally apt for description of rare dark morphs of other races, see under that subspecies description). In immature red-tailed hawks of all morphs, the tail is a light brown above with numerous small dark brown bars of roughly equal width, but these tend to be much broader on dark morph birds. Even in young red-tails, the tail may be a somewhat rufous tinge of brown. The bill is relatively short and dark, in the hooked shape characteristic of raptors, and the head can sometimes appear small in size against the thick body frame. The cere, the legs, and the feet of the red-tailed hawk are all yellow, as is the color of bare parts in many accipitrids of different lineages. Immature birds can be readily identified at close range by their yellowish irises. As the bird attains full maturity over the course of 3–4 years, the iris slowly darkens into a reddish-brown, which is the adult eye-color in all races. Seen in flight, adults usually have dark brown along the lower edge of the wings, against a mostly pale wing, which bares light brownish barring. Individually, the underwing coverts can range from all dark to off-whitish (most often more heavily streaked with brown) which contrasts with a distinctive black patagium marking. The wing coloring of adults and immatures is similar but for typical pale morph immatures having somewhat heavier brownish markings.

Though the markings and color vary across the subspecies, the basic appearance of the red-tailed hawk is relatively consistent.

Overall, this species is blocky and broad in shape, often appearing (and being) heavier than other Buteos of similar length. They are the heaviest Buteos on average in eastern North America, albeit scarcely ahead of the larger winged rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus), and second only in size in the west to the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis). Red-tailed hawks may be anywhere from the fifth to the ninth heaviest Buteo in the world depending on what figures are used. However, in the northwestern United States, ferruginous hawk females are 35% heavier than female red-tails from the same area.[2] On average, western red-tailed hawks are relatively longer winged and lankier proportioned but are slightly less stocky, compact and heavy than eastern red-tailed hawks in North America. Eastern hawks may also have mildly larger talons and bills than western ones. Based on comparisons of morphology and function amongst all accipitrids, these features imply that western red-tails may need to vary their hunting more frequently to on the wing as the habitat diversifies to more open situations and presumably would hunt more variable and faster prey, whereas the birds of the east, which was historically well-wooded, are more dedicated perch hunters and can take somewhat larger prey but are likely more dedicated mammal hunters. In terms of size variation, red-tailed hawks run almost contrary to Bergmann's rule (i.e. that northern animals should be larger in relation than those closer to the Equator within a species) as one of the northernmost subspecies, B. j. alascensis, is the second smallest race based on linear dimensions and that two of the most southerly occurring races in the United States, B. j. fuertesi and B. j. umbrinus, respectively, are the largest proportioned of all red-tailed hawks. Red-tailed hawks tend have a relatively short but broad tails and thick, chunky wings. Although often described as long-winged, the proportional size of the wings is quite small and red-tails have high wing loading for a buteonine hawk. For comparison, two other widespread Buteo hawks in North America were found to weigh: 30 g (1.1 oz) for every square centimeter of wing area in the rough-legged buzzard (B. lagopus) and 44 g (1.6 oz)/cm2 in the red-shouldered hawk (B. lineatus). In contrast, the red-tailed hawk weighed considerably more for their wing area: 199 g (7.0 oz) per square cm.

As is the case with many raptors, the red-tailed hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, as females are on average 25% larger than males. As is typical in large raptors, frequently reported mean body mass for red-tailed hawks is somewhat higher than expansive research reveals. Part of this weight variation is seasonal fluctuations; hawks tend to be heavier in winter than during migration or especially during the trying summer breeding season, and also due to clinal variation. Furthermore, immature hawks are usually lighter in mass than their adult counterparts despite having somewhat longer wings and tails. Male red-tailed hawks may weigh from 690 to 1,300 g (1.52 to 2.87 lb) and females may weigh 801 to 1,723 g (1.766 to 3.799 lb) (the lowest figure from a migrating female immature from Goshute Mountains, Nevada, the highest from a wintering female in Wisconsin). Some sources claim the largest females can weigh up to 2,000 g (4.4 lb), but whether this is in reference to wild hawks (as opposed to those in captivity or used for falconry) is not clear. The largest known survey of body mass in red-tailed hawks is still credited to Craighead and Craighead (1956), who found 100 males to average 1,028 g (2.266 lb) and 108 females to average 1,244 g (2.743 lb). However, these figures were apparently taken from labels on museum specimens, from natural history collections in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, without note to the region, age, or subspecies of the specimens. However, 16 sources ranging in sample size from the aforementioned 208 specimens to only four hawks in Puerto Rico (with 9 of the 16 studies of migrating red-tails), showed that males weigh a mean of 860.2 g (1.896 lb) and females weigh a mean of 1,036.2 g (2.284 lb), about 15% lighter than prior species-wide published weights. Within the continental United States, typical weights of males can range from 840.8 g (1.854 lb) (for migrating males in Chelan County, Washington) to 1,031 g (2.273 lb) (for male hawks found dead in Massachusetts), and females ranged from 1,057.9 g (2.332 lb) (migrants in the Goshutes) to 1,373 g (3.027 lb) (for females diagnosed as B. j. borealis in western Kansas). Size variation in body mass reveals that the red-tailed hawk typically varies only a modest amount and that size differences are geographically inconsistent.[9][40]

Male red-tailed hawks can measure 45 to 60 cm (18 to 24 in) in total length, females measuring 48 to 65 cm (19 to 26 in) long. Their wingspan typically can range from 105 to 141 cm (3 ft 5 in to 4 ft 8 in), although the largest females may possible span up to 147 cm (4 ft 10 in). In the standard scientific method of measuring wing size, the wing chord is 325.1–444.5 mm (12.80–17.50 in) long. The tail measures 188 to 258.7 mm (7.40 to 10.19 in) in length. The exposed culmen was reported to range from 21.7 to 30.2 mm (0.85 to 1.19 in) and the tarsus averaged 74.7–95.8 mm (2.94–3.77 in) across the races. The middle toe (excluding talon) can range from 38.3 to 53.8 mm (1.51 to 2.12 in), with the hallux-claw (the talon of the rear toe, which has evolved to be the largest in accipitrids) measuring from 24.1 to 33.6 mm (0.95 to 1.32 in) in length.

Identification

Although they overlap in range with most other American diurnal raptors, identifying most mature red-tailed hawks to species is relatively straightforward, particularly if viewing a typical adult at a reasonable distance. The red-tailed hawk is the only North American hawk with a rufous tail and a blackish patagium marking on the leading edge of its wing (which is obscured only on dark morph adults and Harlan's hawks by similarly dark-colored feathers). Other larger adult Buteo spp. in North America usually have obvious distinct markings that are absent in red-tails, whether the rufous-brown "beard" of Swainson's hawks (B. swainsonii) or the colorful rufous belly and shoulder markings and striking black-and-white mantle of red-shouldered hawks (also the small "windows" seen at the end of their primaries).[ In perched individuals, even as silhouettes, the shape of large Buteo spp. may be distinctive, such as the wingtips overhanging the tail in several other species, but not in red-tails. North American Buteo spp. range from the dainty, compact builds of much smaller ones, such as broad-winged hawk (B. platypterus) to the heavyset, neckless look of ferruginous hawks or the rough-legged buzzards, which have a compact, smaller appearance than a red-tail in perched birds due to its small bill, short neck, and much shorter tarsi, while the opposite effect occurs in flying rough-legs with their much bigger wing area. In flight, most other large North American Buteo spp. are distinctly longer and more slender-winged than red-tailed hawks, with the much paler ferruginous hawk having peculiarly slender wings in relation to its massive, chunky body. Swainson's hawks are distinctly darker on the wing and ferruginous hawks are much paler-winged than typical red-tailed hawks. Pale morph adult ferruginous hawk can show mildly tawny-pink (but never truly rufous) upper tail, and like red-tails tend to have dark markings on underwing-coverts and can have a dark belly band, but compared to red-tailed hawks have a distinctly broader head, their remiges are much whiter looking with very small, dark primary tips, they lack the red-tail's diagnostic patagial marks and usually also lack the dark subterminal tail-band, and ferruginous hawks have totally feathered tarsi. With its whitish head, the ferruginous hawk is most similar to Krider's red-tailed hawks, especially in immature plumage, but the larger hawk has broader head and narrower wing shape, and the ferruginous immatures are paler underneath and on their legs. Several species share a belly band with the typical red-tailed hawk, but they vary from subtle (as in the ferruginous hawk) to solid blackish, the latter in most light-morph rough-legged buzzards. More difficult to identify among adult red-tails are their darkest variations, as most species of Buteo in North America also have dark morphs. Western dark morph red-tails (i.e. B. j. calurus) adults, however, retain the typical distinctive brick-red tail, which other species lack, and may stand out even more against the otherwise all chocolate-brown to black bird. Standard pale juveniles when perched show a whitish patch in the outer half of the upper surface of the wing, which other juvenile Buteo spp. lack.[ The most difficult to identify stages and plumage types are dark morph juveniles, Harlan's hawk and some Krider's hawks (the latter mainly with typical ferruginous hawks as mentioned). Some darker juveniles are similar enough to other Buteo juveniles that they "cannot be identified to species with any confidence under various field conditions." However, field identification techniques have advanced in the last few decades and most experienced hawk-watchers can distinguish even the most vexingly plumaged immature hawks, especially as the wing shapes of each species becomes apparent after seeing many. Harlan's hawks are most similar to dark morph rough-legged buzzards and dark morph ferruginous hawks. Wing shape is the most reliable identification tool for distinguishing Harlan's hawks from these, but also the pale streaking on the breast of Harlan's, which tends to be conspicuous in most individuals, and is lacking in the other hawks. Also, dark morph ferruginous hawks do not have the dark subterminal band of a Harlan's hawk, but do bear a black undertail covert lacking in Harlan's.

Vocalization

The cry of the red-tailed hawk is a 2- to 3-second, hoarse, rasping scream, variously transcribed as kree-eee-ar, tsee-eeee-arrr or sheeeeee, that begins at a high pitch and slurs downward. This cry is often described as sounding similar to a steam whistle. The red-tailed hawk frequently vocalizes while hunting or soaring, but vocalizes loudest and most persistently in defiance or anger, in response to a predator or a rival hawk's intrusion into its territory. At close range, it makes a croaking guh-runk, possibly as a warning sound. Nestlings may give peeping notes with a "soft, sleepy quality" that give way to occasional screams as they develop, but those are more likely to be a soft whistle rather than the harsh screams of the adults. Their latter hunger call, given from 11 days (as recorded in Alaska) to after fledgling (in California), is different, a two-syllabled, wailing klee-uk food cry exerted by the young when parents leave the nest or enter their field of vision. A strange mechanical sound "not very unlike the rush of distant water" has been reported as uttered in the midst of a sky-dance. A modified call of chirp-chwirk is given during courtship, while a low key, duck-like nasal gank may be given by pairs when they are relaxed.

The fierce, screaming cry of the adult red-tailed hawk is frequently used as a generic raptor sound effect in television shows and other media, even if the bird featured is not a red-tailed hawk. It is especially used in depictions of the bald eagle, which contributes to the common misconception that it is a bald eagle cry; actual bald eagle vocalizations are far softer and more chirpy than those of a red-tailed hawk.

Distribution and habitat

The red-tailed hawk is one of the most widely distributed of all raptors in the Americas. It occupies the largest breeding range of any diurnal raptor north of the Mexican border, just ahead of the American kestrel (Falco sparverius). While the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) has a greater latitudinal distribution as a nester in North America, its range as a breeding species is far more sporadic and sparse than that of red-tailed hawks. The red-tailed hawk breeds from nearly north-central Alaska, the Yukon, and a considerable portion of the Northwest Territories, there reaching as far as a breeder as Inuvik, Mackenzie River Delta and skirting the southern shores of Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake. Thereafter in northern Canada, breeding red-tails continue to northern Saskatchewan and across to north-central Ontario east to central Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and south continuously to Florida. No substantial gaps occur throughout the entire contiguous United States where breeding red-tailed hawks do not occur. Along the Pacific, their range includes all of Baja California, including Islas Marías, and Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands. On the mainland, breeding red-tails are found continuously to Oaxaca, then experience a brief gap at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec thereafter subsequently continuing from Chiapas through central Guatemala on to northern Nicaragua. To the south, the population in highlands from Costa Rica to central Panama is isolated from breeding birds in Nicaragua. Further east, breeding red-tailed hawks occur in the West Indies in north Bahamas (i.e. Grand Bahama, Abaco and Andros) and all larger islands (such as Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico) and into the northern Lesser Antilles (Virgin Islands, Saint Barthélemy, Saba, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, being rare as a resident on Saint Eustatius and are probably extinct on Saint Martin). Their typical winter range stretches from southern Canada south throughout the remainder of the breeding range.

Red-tailed hawks have shown the ability to become habituated to almost any habitat present in North and Central America. Their preferred habitat is mixed forest and field, largely woodland edge with tall trees or alternately high bluffs that may be used as nesting and perching sites. They occupy a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, nearly any coastal or wetland habitat, mountains, foothills, coniferous and deciduous woodlands, and tropical rainforests. Agricultural fields and pastures, which are more often than not varied with groves, ridges, or streamside trees in most parts of America, may make nearly ideal habitat for breeding or wintering red-tails. They also adapt well to suburban areas especially ones with tall trees or any kind of parkland. Some red-tails may survive or even flourish in urban areas, usually hunting and roosting in available urban parks, cemeteries, road verges, and so on, and nesting freely either in trees or virtually any tall man-made structures. One famous urban red-tailed hawk, known as "Pale Male", became the subject of a nonfiction book, Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park, and is the first known red-tail in decades to successfully nest and raise young in the crowded New York City borough of Manhattan. As studied in Syracuse, New York, the highway system has been very beneficial to red-tails as it juxtaposed trees and open areas and blocks human encroachment with fences, with the red-tailed hawks easily becoming acclimated to car traffic. The only practice that has a negative effect on the highway-occupying red-tails is the planting of exotic Phragmites, which may occasionally obscure otherwise ideal highway habitat.

In the northern Great Plains, the widespread practices of wildfire suppression and planting of exotic trees by humans has allowed groves of aspen and various other trees to invade what was once vast, almost continuous prairie grasslands, causing grassland obligates such as ferruginous hawks to decline and allowing parkland-favoring red-tails to flourish. To the contrary, clear-cutting of mature woodlands in New England, resulting in only fragmented and isolated stands of trees or low second growth remaining, was recorded to also benefit red-tailed hawks, despite being to the determent of breeding red-shouldered hawks. The red-tailed hawk, as a whole, rivals the peregrine falcon and the great horned owl among raptorial birds in the use of diverse habitats in North America. Beyond the high Arctic (as they discontinue as a breeder at the tree line), few other areas exist where red-tailed hawks are absent or rare in North and Central America. Some areas of unbroken forest, especially lowland tropical forests, rarely host red-tailed hawks, although they can occupy forested tropical highlands surprisingly well. In deserts, they can only occur where some variety of arborescent growth or ample rocky bluffs or canyons occur.

Behavior

The red-tailed hawk is highly conspicuous to humans in much of its daily behavior. Most birds in resident populations, which are well more than half of all red-tailed hawks, usually split nonbreeding-season activity between territorial soaring flight and sitting on a perch. Often, perching is for hunting purposes, but many sit on a tree branch for hours, occasionally stretching on a single wing or leg to keep limber, with no signs of hunting intent. Wintering typical pale-morph hawks in Arkansas were found to perch in open areas near the top of tall, isolated trees, whereas dark morphs more frequently perched in dense groups of trees. For many, and perhaps most, red-tailed hawks being mobbed by various birds is a daily concern and can effectively disrupt many of their daily behaviors. Mostly larger passerines, of multiple families from tyrant flycatchers to icterids, mob red-tails, despite other raptors, such as Accipiter hawks and falcons, being a notably greater danger to them. The most aggressive and dangerous attacker as such is likely to be various crows or other corvids, i.e. American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), because a mobbing group (or "murder") of them can number up to as many as 75 crows, which may cause grievous physical harm to a solitary hawk, and if the hawks are nesting, separate the parent hawks and endanger the eggs or nestlings within their nest to predation by crows. Birds that mob red-tailed hawks can tell how distended the hawk's crop is (i.e. the upper chest and throat area being puffy versus flat-feathered and sleek), thus mob more often when the hawk is presumably about to hunt.

Flight

In flight, this hawk soars with wings often in a slight dihedral, flapping as little as possible to conserve energy. Soaring is by far the most efficient method of flight for red-tailed hawks, so is used more often than not. Active flight is slow and deliberate, with deep wing beats. Wing beats are somewhat less rapid in active flight than in most other Buteo hawks, even heavier species such as ferruginous hawks tend to flap more swiftly, due to the morphology of the wings. In wind, it occasionally hovers on beating wings and remains stationary above the ground, but this flight method is rarely employed by this species. When soaring or flapping its wings, it typically travels from 32 to 64 km/h (20 to 40 mph), but when diving may exceed 190 km/h (120 mph). Although North American red-tailed hawks will occasionally hunt from flight, a great majority of flight by red-tails in this area is for non-hunting purpose. During nest defense, red-tailed hawks may be capable of surprisingly swift, vigorous flight, while repeatedly diving at perceived threats.

Migration

Red-tailed hawks are considered partial migrants, as in about the northern third of their distribution, which is most of their range in Canada and Alaska, they almost entirely vacate their breeding grounds. In coastal areas of the north, however, such as in the Pacific Northwest to southern Alaska and in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic, red-tailed hawks do not usually migrate. More or less, any area where snow cover is nearly continuous during the winter shows an extended absence of most red-tailed hawks, so some areas as far south as Montana may show strong seasonal vacancies of red-tails. In southern Michigan, immature red-tailed hawks tended to remain in winter only when voles were abundant. During relatively long, harsh winters in Michigan, many more young ones were reported in northeastern Mexico. To the opposite extreme, hawks residing as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, may persevere through the winter on their home territory, as was recorded with one male over three consecutive years. Birds of any age tend to be territorial during winter but may shift ranges whenever food requirements demand it. Wintering birds tend to perch on inconspicuous tree perches, seeking shelter especially if they have a full crop or are in the midst of poor or overly windy weather. Adult wintering red-tails tend to perch more prominently than immatures do, which select lower or more secluded perches. Immatures are often missed in winter bird counts, unless they are being displaced by dominant adults. Generally, though, immatures can seem to recognize that they are less likely to be attacked by adults during winter and can perch surprisingly close to them. Age is the most significant consideration of wintering hawks' hierarchy, but size does factor in, as larger immatures (presumably usually females) are less likely to displaced than smaller ones. Dark adult red-tailed hawks appear to be harder to locate when perched than other red-tails. In Oklahoma, for example, wintering adult Harlan's hawks were rarely engaged in fights or chased by other red-tails. These hawks tended to gather in regional pockets and frequently the same ones occurred year-to-year. In general, migratory behavior is complex and reliant on each individual hawk's decision-making (i.e. whether prey populations are sufficient to entice the hawk to endure prolonged snow cover). During fall migration, departure may occur as soon as late September, but peak movements occur in late October and all of November in the United States, with migration ceasing after mid-December. The northernmost migrants may pass over resident red-tailed hawks in the contiguous United States, while the latter are still in the midst of brooding fledglings. Not infrequently, several autumn hawk watches in Ontario, Quebec, and the northern United States record 4,500–8,900 red-tailed hawks migrating through each fall, with records of up to 15,000 in a season at Hawk Ridge hawk watch in Duluth, Minnesota. Unlike some other Buteo spp., such as Swainson's hawks and broad-winged hawks, red-tailed hawks do not usually migrate in groups, instead passing by one-by-one, and only migrate on days when winds are favorable. Most migrants do not move past southern Mexico in late autumn, but a few North American migrants may annually move as far south as breeding red-tailed hawks happen to occur, i.e. in Central America to as far south Panama. However, a few records were reported of wintering migrant red-tails turning up in Colombia, the first records of them anywhere in South America. Spring northward movements may commence as early as late February, with peak numbers usually occurring in late March and early April. Seasonal counts may include up to 19,000 red-tails in spring at Derby Hill hawk watch, in Oswego, New York, sometimes more than 5,000 are recorded in a day there. The most northerly migratory individuals may not reach breeding grounds until June, even adults.

Immature hawks migrate later than adults in spring on average, but not, generally speaking, in autumn. In the northern Great Lakes, immatures return in late May to early June, when adults are already well into their nesting season and must find unoccupied ranges. In Alaska, adults tend to migrate before immatures in early to mid-September, to the contrary of other areas, probably as heavy snowfall begins. Yearlings that were banded in southwestern Idaho stayed for about 2 months after fledging, and then traveled long distances with a strong directional bias, with 9 of 12 recovered southeast of the study area- six of these moved south to coastal lowlands in Mexico] and as far as Guatemala, 4,205 km (2,613 mi) from their initial banding. In California, 35 hawks were banded as nestlings; 26 were recovered at less than 50 miles away, with multidirectional juvenile dispersals. Nestlings banded in Southern California sometimes actually traveled north as far as 1,190 km (740 mi) to Oregon, ranging to the opposite extreme as far as a banded bird from the Sierra Nevadas that moved 1,700 km (1,100 mi) south to Sinaloa. Nestlings banded in Green County, Wisconsin, did not travel very far comparatively by October–November, but by December, recoveries were found in states including Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.

Diet

The red-tailed hawk is carnivorous, and a highly opportunistic feeder. Nearly any small animal they encounter may be viewed as potential food. Their most common prey are small mammals such as rodents and lagomorphs, but they also consume birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Prey varies considerably with regional and seasonal availability, but usually centers on rodents, accounting for up to 85% of a hawk's diet. In total, nearly 500 prey species have been recorded in their diet, almost as many as great horned owls have been recorded as taking. When 27 North American studies are reviewed, mammals make up 65.3% of the diet by frequency, 20.9% by birds, 10.8% by reptiles, 2.8% by invertebrates, and 0.2% by amphibians and fish. The geometric mean body mass of prey taken by red-tailed hawks in North America is about 187 g (6.6 oz) based on a pair of compilation studies from across the continent, regionally varying at least from 43.4 to 361.4 g (1.53 to 12.75 oz). Staple prey (excluding invertebrates) has been claimed to weigh from 15 to 2,114 g (0.033 to 4.661 lb), ranging roughly from the size of a small mouse or lizard to the size of a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus). The daily food requirements range from 7 to 11.2% of their own body weight, so that about three voles or the equivalent weight are required daily for a typical range adult.

The talons and feet of red-tailed hawks are relatively large for a Buteo hawk; in an average-sized adult red-tail, the "hallux-claw" or rear talon, the largest claw on all accipitrids, averages about 29.7 mm (1.17 in). In fact, the talons of red-tails in some areas averaged of similar size to those of ferruginous hawks which can be considerably heavier and notably larger than those of the only slightly lighter Swainson's hawk. This species may exert an average of about 91 kg/cm2 (1,290 lbf/in2) of pressure through its feet. Owing to its morphology, red-tailed hawks generally can attack larger prey than other Buteo hawks typically can, and are capable of selecting the largest prey of up to their own size available at the time of hunting, though in all likelihood numerically most prey probably weighs on average about 20% of the hawk's own weight (as is typical of many birds of prey). Red-tailed hawks usually hunt by watching for prey activity from a high perch, also known as still hunting. Upon being spotted, prey is dropped down upon by the hawk. Red-tails often select the highest available perches within a given environment, since the greater the height they are at, the less flapping is required and the faster the downward glide they can attain toward nearby prey. If prey is closer than average, the hawk may glide at a steep downward angle with few flaps, if farther than average, it may flap a few swift wingbeats alternating with glides. Perch hunting is the most successful hunting method generally speaking for red-tailed hawks and can account for up to 83% of their daily activities (i.e. in winter). Wintering pairs may join and aseasonally may join forces to group hunt agile prey that they may have trouble catching by themselves, such as tree squirrels. This may consist of stalking opposites sides of a tree, to surround the squirrel and almost inevitably drive the rodent to be captured by one after being flushed by the other hawk.

The most common flighted hunting method for red-tail is to cruise around 10 to 50 m (33 to 164 ft) over the ground with flap-and-glide type flight, interspersed occasionally with harrier-like quarters over the ground. This method is less successful than perch hunting, but seems relatively useful for capturing small birds and may show the best results while hunting in hilly country. Hunting red-tailed hawks readily use trees, bushes, or rocks for concealment before making a surprise attack, even showing a partial ability to dodge among trees in an Accipiter-like fashion. Among thick stands of spruce in Alaska, a dodging hunting flight was thought to be unusually important to red-tails living in extensive areas of conifers, with hawks even coming to the ground and walking hurriedly in prey pursuit especially if the prey was large, a similar behavior to goshawks. Additional surprisingly swift aerial hunting has reported in red-tails that habitually hunt bats in Texas. Here, the bat-hunting specialists stooped with half-closed wings, quite falcon-like, plowing through the huge stream of bats exiting their cave roosts, then zooming upwards with a bat in its talons. These hawks also flew parallel closely to the stream, then veer sharply into it and seize a bat. In the neotropics, red-tails have shown the ability to dodge amongst forest canopy whilst hunting. In Kansas, red-tailed hawks were recorded sailing to catch flying insects, a hunting method more typical of a Swainson's hawk. Alternately, they may drop to the ground to forage for insects like grasshoppers and beetles as well as other invertebrates and probably amphibians and fish (except by water in the latter cases). Hunting afoot seems to be particularly prevalent among immatures. Young red-tailed hawks in northeastern Florida were recorded often extracting earthworms from near the surface of the ground and some had a crop full of earthworms after rains. Ground hunting is also quite common on Socorro Island, where no native land mammals occur, and invertebrates are more significant to their overall diet. A red-tailed hawk was observed to incorporate an unconventional killing method, which was drowning a heron immediately after capture. One red-tailed hawk was seen to try to grab a young ground squirrel and, upon missing it, screamed loudly, which in turn caused another young squirrel to break into a run, wherein it was captured. Whether this was an intentional hunting technique needs investigation. Upon capture, smaller prey is taken to a feeding perch, which is almost always lower than a hunting perch. Among small prey, rodents are often swallowed whole, as are shrews and small snakes, while birds are plucked and beheaded. Even prey as small as chipmunks may take two or three bites to consume. Larger mammals of transportable size are at times beheaded and have part of their fur discarded, then leftovers are either stored in a tree or fall to the ground. Large prey, especially if too heavy to transport on the wing, is often dragged to a secluded spot and dismantled in various ways. If they can successfully carry what remains to a low perch, they tend to feed until full and then discard the rest.

Mammals

Rodents are certainly the type of prey taken most often by frequency, but their contribution to prey biomass at nests can be regionally low, and the type, variety, and importance of rodent prey can be highly variable. In total, well over 100 rodent species have turned up the diet of red-tailed hawks. Rodents of extremely varied sizes may be hunted by red-tails, with species ranging in size from the 8.2 g (0.29 oz) eastern harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys humulis) to full grown muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus). At times, the red-tailed hawk is thought of as a semi-specialized vole-catcher, but voles are a subsistence food that is more or less taken until larger prey such as rabbits and squirrels can be captured. In an area of Michigan, immature hawks took almost entirely voles but adults were diversified feeders. Indeed, the 44.1 g (1.56 oz) meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) was the highest frequency prey species in 27 dietary studies across North America, accounting for up to 54% of the food at nests by frequency. It is quite rare for any one species to make up more than half of the food in any dietary study for red-tailed hawks. In total about 9 Microtus species are known in the overall diet, with 5 other voles and lemmings known to be included in their prey spectrum. Another well-represented species was the 27.9 g (0.98 oz) prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), which were the primary food, making up 26.4% of a sample of 1322, in eastern Kansas. While crepuscular in primary feeding activity, voles are known to be active both day and night, and so are reliable food for hawks than most non-squirrel rodents, which generally are nocturnal in activity. Indeed, most other microtine rodents are largely inaccessible to red-tailed hawks due to their strongly nocturnal foraging patterns, even though 24 species outside of voles and lemmings are known to be hunted. Woodrats are taken as important supplemental prey in some regions, being considerably larger than most other crictetid rodents, and some numbers of North American deermouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) may turn up. The largest representation of the latter species was contributing 11.9% of the diet in the Great Basin of Utah, making them the second best-represented prey species there. Considering this limited association with nocturnal rodents, the high importance of pocket gophers in the diet of red-tailed hawks is puzzling to many biologists, as these tend to be highly nocturnal and elusive by day, rarely leaving the confines of their burrow. At least 8 species of pocket gopher are included in the prey spectrum (not to mention 5 species of pocket mice). The 110 g (3.9 oz) northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) is particularly often reported and, by frequency, even turns up as the third most often recorded prey species in 27 American dietary studies. Presumably, hunting of pocket gophers by red-tails, which has possibly never been witnessed, occurs in dim light at first dawn and last light of dusk when they luck upon a gopher out foraging.

By far, the most important prey among rodents is squirrels, as they are almost fully diurnal. All told, nearly 50 species from the squirrel family have turned up as food. In particular, where they are distributed, ground squirrels are doubly attractive as a primary food source due to their ground-dwelling habits, as red-tails prefer to attack prey that is terrestrial. There are also many disadvantages to ground squirrels as prey: they can escape quickly to the security of their burrows, they tend to be highly social and they are very effective and fast in response to alarm calls, and a good deal of species enter hibernation that in the coldest climates can range up to a 6 to 9-month period (although those in warmer climates with little to no snowy weather often have brief dormancy and no true hibernation). Nonetheless, red-tailed hawks are devoted predators of ground squirrels, especially catching incautious ones as they go out foraging (which are often younger animals). A multi-year study conducted on San Joaquin Experimental Range in California, seemingly still the largest food study to date done for red-tailed hawks with 4031 items examined, showed that throughout the seasons the 722 g (1.592 lb) California ground squirrel (Otospermophilus beecheyi) was the most significant prey, accounting for 60.8% of the breeding season diet and about 27.2% of the diet for hawks year-around. Because of the extremely high density of red-tailed hawks on this range, some pairs came to specialize in diverse alternate prey, which consisted variously of kangaroo rats, lizards, snakes or chipmunks. One pair apparently lessened competition by focusing on pocket gophers instead despite being near the center of ground squirrel activity. In Snake River NCA, the primary food of red-tailed hawks was the 203.5 g (7.18 oz) Townsend's ground squirrel (Urocitellus townsendii), which made up nearly 21% of the food in 382 prey items across several years despite sharp spikes and crashes of the ground squirrel population there. The same species was the main food of red-tailed hawks in southeastern Washington, making up 31.2% of 170 items. An even closer predatory relationship was reported in the Centennial valley of Montana and south-central Montana, where 45.4% of 194 prey items and 40.2% of 261 items, respectively, of the food of red-tails consisted of the 455.7 g (1.005 lb) Richardson's ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii). Locally in Rochester, Alberta, Richardson's ground squirrel, estimated to average 444 g (15.7 oz), were secondary in number to unidentified small rodents but red-tails in the region killed an estimated 22–60% of the area's ground squirrel, a large dent in the squirrel's population. Further east, ground squirrels are not so reliably distributed, but one study in southern Wisconsin, in one of several quite different dietary studies in that state, the 172.7 g (6.09 oz) thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) was the main prey species, making up 29.7% of the diet (from a sample of 165).

In Kluane Lake, Yukon, 750 g (1.65 lb) Arctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus parryii) were the main overall food for Harlan's red-tailed hawks, making up 30.8% of a sample of 1074 prey items. When these ground squirrels enter their long hibernation, the breeding Harlan's hawks migrate south for the winter. Nearly as important in Kluane Lake was the 200 g (7.1 oz) American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), which constituted 29.8% of the above sample. Red squirrels are highly agile dwellers on dense spruce stands, which has caused biologists to ponder how the red-tailed hawks are able to routinely catch them. It is possible that the hawks catch them on the ground such as when squirrels are digging their caches, but theoretically, the dark color of the Harlan's hawks may allow them to ambush the squirrels within the forests locally more effectively. While American red squirrels turn up not infrequently as supplementary prey elsewhere in North America, other tree squirrels seem to be comparatively infrequently caught, at least during the summer breeding season. It is known that pairs of red-tailed hawks will cooperatively hunt tree squirrels at times, probably mostly between late fall and early spring. Fox squirrels (Sciurus niger), the largest of North America's tree squirrels at 800 g (1.8 lb), are relatively common supplemental prey but the lighter, presumably more agile 533 g (1.175 lb) eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) appears to be seldom caught based on dietary studies. While adult marmot may be difficult for red-tailed hawks to catch, young marmots are readily taken in numbers after weaning, such as a high frequency of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) in Boulder, Colorado. Another grouping of squirrels but at the opposite end of the size spectrum for squirrels, the chipmunks are also mostly supplemental prey but are considered more easily caught than tree squirrels, considering that they are more habitual terrestrial foragers In central Ohio, eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), the largest species of chipmunk at an average weight of 96 g (3.4 oz), were actually the leading prey by number, making up 12.3% of a sample of 179 items.

Outside of rodents, the most important prey for North American red-tailed hawks is rabbits and hares, of which at least 13 species are included in their prey spectrum. By biomass and reproductive success within populations, these are certain to be their most significant food source (at least in North America). Adult Sylvilagus rabbits known to be hunted by red-tails can range from the 700 g (1.5 lb) brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani) to the Tres Marias rabbit (Sylvilagus graysoni) at 1,470 g (3.24 lb) while all leporids hunted may range the 421.3 g (14.86 oz) pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) to hares and jackrabbits potentially up twice the hawk's own weight. While primarily crepuscular in peak activity, rabbits and hares often foraging both during day and night and so face almost constant predatory pressure from a diverse range of predators. Male red-tailed hawks or pairs which are talented rabbit hunters are likely to have higher than average productivity due to the size and nutrition of the meal ensuring healthy, fast-growing offspring. Most widely reported are the cottontails, which the three most common North America varieties softly grading into mostly allopatric ranges, being largely segregated by habitat preferences where they overlap in distribution. Namely, in descending order of reportage were: the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), the second most widely reported prey species overall in North America and with maximum percentage known in a given study was 26.4% in Oklahoma (out of 958 prey items), the mountain cottontail (Sylvilagus nuttallii), maximum representation being 17.6% out of a sample of 478 in Kaibab Plateau, Arizona and the desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), maximum representation being 22.4% out of a sample of 326 in west-central Arizona. Black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) are even more intensely focused upon as a food source by the hawks found in the west, particularly the Great Basin. With the weight around 2,114 g (4.661 lb), adults of this species is the largest prey routinely hunted by red-tailed hawks. When jackrabbit numbers crash, red-tailed hawk productivity tends to decline as well. In northern Utah, black-tailed jackrabbits made up 55.3% of a sample of 329. Elsewhere, they are usually somewhat secondary by number.

In the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska, red-tails are fairly dependent on the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), falling somewhere behind the great horned owl and ahead of the Anerican goshawk in their regional reliance on this food source. The hunting preferences of red-tails who rely on snowshoe hares are variable. In Rochester, Alberta, 52% of snowshoe hares caught were adults, such prey estimated to average 1,287 g (2.837 lb), and adults, in some years, were six times more often taken than juvenile hares, which averaged an estimated 560 g (1.23 lb). 1.9–7.1% of adults in the regional population of Rochester were taken by red-tails, while only 0.3–0.8 of juvenile hares were taken by them. Despite their reliance on it, only 4% (against 53.4% of the biomass) of the food by frequency here was made up of hares. On the other hand, in Kluane Lake, Yukon, juvenile hares were taken roughly 11 times more often than adults, despite the larger size of adults here, averaging 1,406.6 g (3.101 lb), and that the overall prey base was less diverse at this more northerly clime. In both Rochester and Kluane Lake, the number of snowshoe hares taken was considerably lower than the number of ground squirrels taken. The differences in average characteristics of snowshoe hares that were hunted may be partially due to habitat (extent of bog openings to dense forest) or topography. Another member of the Lagomorpha order has been found in the diet include juvenile white-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii) and the much smaller American pika (Ochotona princeps), at 150 g (5.3 oz).

A diversity of mammals may be consumed opportunistically outside of the main food groups of rodents and leporids, but usually occur in low numbers. At least five species each are taken of shrews and moles, ranging in size from their smallest mammalian prey, the cinereus (Sorex cinereus) and least shrews (Cryptotis parva), which both weigh about 4.4 g (0.16 oz), to Townsend's mole (Scapanus townsendii), which weighs about 126 g (4.4 oz). A respectable number of the 90 g (3.2 oz) eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) were recorded in studies from Oklahoma and Kansas. Four species of bat have been recorded in their foods. The red-tailed hawks local to the large cave colonies of 12.3 g (0.43 oz) Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) in Texas can show surprising agility, some of the same hawks spending their early evening and early morning hours in flight patrolling the cave entrances in order to stoop suddenly on these flighted mammals. Larger miscellaneous mammalian prey are either usually taken as juveniles, like the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), or largely as carrion, like the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). Small carnivorans may be taken, usually consisting of much smaller mustelids, like the least weasels (Mustela nivalis), stoats (Mustela erminea), and long-tailed weasels (Neogale frenata). slightly larger carnivores, such as small Indian mongooses (Herpestes auropunctatus), ringtails (Bassariscus astutus), small American minks (Neovison vison) and even adult striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), which can be much larger than a fully grown hawk, was reportedly taken by red-tailed hawks. Additionally, red-tailed hawks are considered as potential predators of white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) and kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) Remains of exceptionally large carnivoran species, such as domestic cats (Felis catus), red fox ( Vulpes vulpes) and common raccoon (Procyon lotor) are sometimes found amongst their foods, but most are likely taken as juveniles or consumed only as carrion. Many of these medium-sized carnivorans are probably visited as roadkill, especially during the sparser winter months, but carrion has turned up more widely than previously thought. Some nests have been found (to the occasional "shock" of researchers) with body parts from large domestic stock like sheep (Ovis aries), pigs (Sus domesticus), horses (Equus caballus ) and cattle (Bos taurus) (not to mention wild varieties like deer), which red-tails must visit when freshly dead out on pastures and take a couple of talonfuls of meat. In one instance, a red-tailed hawk was observed to kill a small but seemingly healthy lamb. These are born heavier than most red-tails at 1,500 g (3.3 lb) but in this case, the hawk was scared away before it could consume its kill by the rifle fire of the shepherd who witnessed the instance.

Birds

Like most (but not all) Buteo hawks, red-tailed hawks do not primarily hunt birds in most areas, but can take them fairly often whenever they opportune upon some that are vulnerable. Birds are, by far, the most diverse class in the red-tailed hawk's prey spectrum, with well over 200 species known in their foods In most circumstances where birds become the main food of red-tailed hawks, it is in response to ample local populations of galliforms. As these are meaty, mostly terrestrial birds which usually run rather than fly from danger (although all wild species in North America are capable of flight), galliforms are ideal avian prey for red-tails. Some 23 species of galliforms are known to be taken by red-tailed hawks, about a third of these being species introduced by humans. Native quails of all five North American species may expect occasional losses. All 12 species of grouse native to North America are also occasionally included in their prey spectrum. In the state of Wisconsin, two large studies, from Waupun and Green County, found the main prey species to be the ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), making up 22.7% of a sample of 176 and 33.8% of a sample of 139, respectively. With a body mass averaging 1,135 g (2.502 lb), adult pheasants are among the largest meals that male red-tails are likely to deliver short of adult rabbits and hares and therefore these nests tend to be relatively productive. Despite being not native to North America, pheasants usually live in a wild state. Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are also taken throughout North America, with all Wisconsin studies also found large numbers of them, making up as much as 14.4% of the diet. Many studies reflect that free-ranging chickens are vulnerable to red-tailed hawks although somewhat lesser numbers are taken by them overall in comparison to nocturnal predators (i.e. owls and foxes) and goshawks. In Rochester, Alberta, fairly large numbers of ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) were taken but relatively more juveniles were taken of this species than the two other main contributors to biomass here, snowshoe hare and Townsend's ground squirrel, as they are fairly independent early on and more readily available. Here the adult grouse was estimated to average 550 g (1.21 lb) against the average juvenile which in mid-summer averaged 170 g (6.0 oz).

Beyond galliforms, three other quite different families of birds make the most significant contributions to the red-tailed hawk's avian diet. None of these three families are known as particularly skilled or swift fliers, but are generally small enough that they would generally easily be more nimble in flight. One of these are the woodpeckers, if only for one species, the 131.6 g (4.64 oz) northern flicker (Colaptes auratus), which was the best represented bird species in the diet in 27 North American studies and was even the fourth most often detected prey species of all. Woodpeckers are often a favorite in the diet of large raptors as their relatively slow, undulating flight makes these relatively easy targets. The flicker in particular is a highly numerous species that has similar habitat preferences to red-tailed hawks, preferring fragmented landscapes with trees and openings or parkland-type wooded mosaics, and often forage on the ground for ants, which may make them even more susceptible. Varied other woodpecker species may turn up in their foods, from the smallest to the largest extant in North America, but are much more infrequently detected in dietary studies. Another family relatively often selected prey family are corvids, which despite their relatively large size, formidable mobbing abilities and intelligence are also slower than average fliers for passerines. 14 species of corvid are known to fall prey to red-tailed hawks. In the Kaibab Plateau, the 128 g (4.5 oz) Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) were the fourth most identified prey species (10.3% of the diet). 453 g (0.999 lb) American crows are also regularly detected supplemental prey in several areas. Even the huge common raven (Corvus corax), at 1,050 g (2.31 lb) at least as large as red-tailed hawk itself, may fall prey to red-tails, albeit very infrequently and only in a well-staged ambush. One of the most surprising heavy contributors are the icterids, despite their slightly smaller size and tendency to travel in large, wary flocks, 12 species are known to be hunted. One species pair, the meadowlarks, are most often selected as they do not flock in the same ways as many other icterids and often come to the ground, throughout their life history, rarely leaving about shrub-height. The 100.7 g (3.55 oz) western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), in particular, was the third most often detected bird prey species in North America. Red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) which are probably too small, at an average weight of 52.4 g (1.85 oz), and fast for a red-tailed hawk to ever chase on the wing (and do travel in huge flocks, especially in winter) are nonetheless also quite often found in their diet, representing up to 8% of the local diet for red-tails. It is possible that males, which are generally bold and often select lofty perches from which to display, are most regularly ambushed. One bird species that often flocks with red-winged blackbirds in winter is even better represented in the red-tail's diet, the non-native 78 g (2.8 oz) European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), being the second most numerous avian prey species and seventh overall in North America. Although perhaps most vulnerable when caught unaware while calling atonally on a perch, a few starlings (or various blackbirds) may be caught by red-tails which test the agile, twisting murmurations of birds by flying conspicuously towards the flock, to intentionally disturb them and possibly detect lagging, injured individual birds that can be caught unlike healthy birds. However, this behavior has been implied rather than verified.

Over 50 passerine species from various other families beyond corvids, icterids and starlings are included in the red-tailed hawks' prey spectrum but are caught so infrequently as to generally not warrant individual mention. Non-passerine prey taken infrequently may include but are not limited to pigeons and doves, cuckoos, nightjars, kingfishers and parrots. However, of some interest, is the extreme size range of birds that may be preyed upon. Red-tailed hawks in Caribbean islands seem to catch small birds more frequently due to the paucity of vertebrate prey diversity here.

These are the first "walk-through gangway" trains on the Tube network. This picture is taken from the passenger side of the driver's connecting door, looking along the whole length of the train.

26275, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - Sunday November 9 2008. **USA AND CANADIAN USE ONLY** Ashley Tisdale, left, and Vanessa Hudgens hold hands as they take in some of the sights of Sydney ahead of the Australian premire of the hit movie "High School Musical 3: Senior Year". The young stars of the box office hit went for a water taxi harbour cruise, dined at the Catalina restaurant on the harbour and then indulged in some retail therapy at Ksubi. The third installment of the popular Disney teen series opens Down Under on December 4, having premiered in the southern Australian city of Melbourne on Wednesday, November 12. Photograh: © Scope Features, PacificCoastNews.com ***FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE*** UK OFFICE: +44 131 225 3333/3322 US OFFICE: 1 310 261 9676

This is sooo Woodstock era! Perfect for Rainbow Gatherings, concerts, parties or your Authentic vintage hippy collection! :D

Super fem with loads of Flower Power and sweet details... a wreath of flowers in your hair and you're ready for a barefoot walk in the park! :)

Please see my profile for details! :D

www.flickr.com/people/rockcandyrags/

Chester's Northgate viewed from outside the Walls

The entire length of the Boka Kotorska Bay (literally "inlet" and also known as the Bay of Kotor) is 15 nautical miles or 28 km. In the 4th century Bc the Greeks founded the town of Risan here (and Budva further down the coast). The Romans, after defeating the Illyrian tribes, settled in 2nd century Ad, renaming the coast Dalmatia. By the 5th century, after the roman empire had been divided, the Boka Kotorska remained under western influence while the rest of the land became part of Byzantium. But by the end of the 6th century the southern Slavs had taken all the territory inland and the Dalmatian coast into a bargain. Although from the early 15th centrury until 1797 the Republic of Venice was a significant presence in this inner part of the Boka Kotorska Bay and left such an indeilible mark, the region has always essentially been the domain of its indigenous seafares acclaimed over the centuries for their mastery of all maritime matters.

Fixed stock versions of SMG-45 and SMG-9

Parameters:

Overall length - 680mm

Barrel lenght - 330mm

Rest is the same as in standard version

Since this version is much longer than the original one, it's less suitable for crewmen. Due to increased accuracy, it became standard issue SMG for DX Shock Core (9x19 ammo version).

This version also features detachable silencer (not shown)

Again, forgive me grouping errors:D

Before you ask:

- Rail on magazine tilts with the magazine, so it doesn't obstruct magazine changing

- I have two foregrips, vertical and horizontal. Some find more comfortable using the vertical one, some the other one. So here's two of them, pick one and shoot:D

- Sight aren't obstructed by the rail, since it's 'empty' in the middle (like upper rail in M1014)

- Flashlight is detachable, you can put laser pointer in it's place (or something like that, even a small banana if you manage to fit it there:D)

Pastie: pastie.org/967437 (includes only SMG-9F)

Anjana At Aylestone Hall Gardens 2025.

by SIGMA DP2 Merrill

45.0mm ( 35mm equivalent focal length )

Quebec Bridge, the world’s longest cantilever road bridge, has main span length of 549m. Image courtesy of Jean-Philippe Bourgoin.

Like this:Like Loading...

bridgestunnelsgantries.alljc.co/?p=3579

Description: The standard length of the semi-scaled goby is thirteen millimeters. This image was taken with a Nikon D1X 5.47-megapixel camera with a 105-millimeter f/2.8D AF Micro-Nikkor lens and dual Nikon SB28 flash units.

Creator/Photographer: Belize Larval-Fish Group 2002

The Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian's National Museum Natural History has sent several teams to Belize in order to photograph larvae in the field. The 2002 team included Julie H. Mounts, David G. Smith, Carole C. Baldwin, and James Van Tassell.

Medium: Digital photograph

Geography: Belize

Date: 2002

Repository: National Museum of Natural History, Division of Fishes

Image ID: VT-02-037

About 104 studs, between Vogstar-1 and Gonga Shan in length, first time I ever had 3 SHIPs together!

arms length self-portrait at 10,600'

blurry. happy.

kiwanis cabin

sandia crest

albuquerque, nm

yashica-mat 124G

ilford delta 400 + hc-110 (solution b)

Balmain, is the leading brand in DoubleHair & Extensions. As a result of close ties with the fashion world and years of sound experience, Balmain has continually succeeded in launching innovative products. Their latest innovation is hairMake-up, a handy system that enables the consumer to create a different hairstyle at any given time. More length, more volume and more color in a twinkling.

www.balmainhair.com

Fashion 2014 Concise Floor Length Summer Beach Maxi Dress www.dresswe.com/trend/black-friday-event-dresses-sales/

Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)

Aperture f/3.5

Focal Length 6.3 mm

ISO Speed 100

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother church of the Diocese of London. The present church dating from the late 17th century was built to an English Baroque design of Sir Christopher Wren, as part of a major rebuilding program which took place in the city after the Great Fire of London, and was completed within his lifetime.

The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world. In terms of area, St Paul's is the second largest church building in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.

St Paul's Cathedral occupies a significant place in the national identity of the English population.[5] It is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as postcard images of the dome standing tall, surrounded by the smoke and fire of the Blitz. Important services held at St Paul's include the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill; Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, the launch of the Festival of Britain and the thanksgiving services for the Golden Jubilee, the 80th Birthday and the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. St Paul's Cathedral is a busy working church, with hourly prayer and daily services.

Sunseeker Manhattan 56

Boat Name: LUNA SEA

Year Built: 2001

Length: 17.07 m

Beam: 4.72 m

Draught: 2.65 m

Material: Glass-reinforced plastic GRP

No. of Cabins: 3 Cabins

No. of berths: 3 beds

WaterFresh water tank: 750 l

Propulsion: Inboard Direct-Drive

Engine: MAN

Engine Performance: 2 x 800 HP / 588 kW

Fuel Type: Diesel

Fuel tank: 2'500 l

Max speed: 30 knots

Details

The Manhattan 56 is a great fly bridge yacht for Mediterranean cruising. Consisting of three cabins and an amidships crew/utility cabin, she sleeps six guests in comfort and one crew or nanny in a dedicated area. She boasts a highly specified galley and a spacious main saloon that beams light through her large windows. She is fitted to a Mediterranean specification and contains many extras, including the full beam hydraulic platform for tender launching. Viewings of this exceptionally well-maintained yacht are recommended to fully appreciate her condition. Recent works include but are not limited to; full antifoul removal and epoxy coatings applied, new electronics including plotter, radar, WIFI hotspot, 2019 external upholstery, cockpit covers, charger and batteries, underwater lights, domestic appliances.

Layout/Interior:

The Manhattan 56 consists of 3 good size cabins sleeping for 6 people with an additional crew bunk adjacent to the galley. The forward VIP owner cabin with ensuite, then 2 twin cabins aft on the port and starboard sides, the port cabin having an ensuite facility to the second head. Above deck you have the superb split level saloon, the upper area next to the helm with dining table giving a unique panoramic view whilst dining or under way, the lower saloon opens into the cockpit area to extend the social space. ?Me and Him? has the classic Sunseeker high gloss cherry wood throughout with cream carpet and cream leather. The yacht is complimented by many recent upgrades.

Additional Extras:

Air Conditioning AnchorAntifoul Removed Jan 2019, New Epoxy And 2 Coats Of Antifoul Applied.Bilge PumpsBimini For FlybridgeBow ThrusterCompassRay70 VHF Radio with GPS and AISFire ExtinguisherFull Med Specification. All Cabins Air Con. Kohler Generator Fitted.Generator Guest Remote Search And FloodlightHot/Cold Transom ShowerHydraulic Passarelle With Remote ControlHydraulic Trim TabsMultiview Wind SystemNavtex StationNew 24v Charger 2018 And Domestic Batteries X 4 2019New Cockpit Covers 2017New Electronics To Both Helms, VHF/AIS, Raymarine Radar, Touchscreen Chart Plotters, Wifi Hotspot All Fitted In 2018/2019.New Galley Fridge, AEG Fan Oven/Microwave And Hob 2018New Porthole Lenses And Flybridge Hatch Seal 2019New Seat Covers/Sunpads 2019.Quick Anchor Control With Chain CounterStern WinchesSunpad CushionsTeak Extended Hydraulic Bathing PlatformTeak Laid CockpitTeak Laid FlybridgeTeak Laid Side DecksUnderwater Bluefin LED Lights 2019Wetbar On Flybridge

P/1074

440 bhp at 6,800 rpm, 289 cu in OHV V-8 engine, four 48 IDA Weber carburetors, ZF 5DS25/1 five-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension with unequal-length A-arms and Koni adjustable shock absorbers, independent rear suspension with trailing arms, unequal-length A-arms, and Koni adjustable shock absorbers, and four-wheel stage II Girling ventilated disc brakes. Wheelbase: 95"

Please note that this vehicle will be sold on a Bill of Sale only.

• Debut win at Spa 1967 with Jacky Ickx and Dr. Dick Thompson

• Extraordinary racing history; ex-David Hobbs, Brian Redman, Mike Hailwood, and Paul Hawkins

• The first win for the famed Gulf/Wyer Partnership

• Only Gulf team car to win both as a Mirage (’67 Spa) and a GT40 (’68 Monza)

• First of three lightweight production GT40s; one of two surviving

• Early use of carbon fiber-reinforced bodywork

• Famous Gulf camera car used in the epic Steve McQueen film, Le Mans

• Distinguished provenance, including Sir Anthony Bamford, Harley Cluxton, and others

• Complete with original 1967 Mirage bodywork

• Countless books, models, awards, and event participations

In March 2013, it will be 50 years since Ford instituted the GT40 program. The purposeful mid-engine sports coupe is the finest Anglo-American supercar of the last century, with four straight victories at the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race between 1966 and ’69. In 1966 alone, it finished 1-2-3 against Ferrari, in one of the most memorable photo finishes in the race’s distinguished history, cementing the car’s place in motorsports history and on the postered walls of teenaged bedrooms the world over.

Its genesis alone is the stuff of legends and the subject of countless books, summarized most succinctly as a failed buy-out of Ferrari by Henry Ford II.

Blank checks were signed in Detroit, engineering and racing heavyweights were hired, and Lolas were modified and readied for testing. GT/101, the first prototype, was assembled in March 1964, in time for testing and the imminent Ford-Ferrari battle at Le Mans in the summer. Undaunted by a lack of wins, Ford regrouped for 1965 with Carroll Shelby—already a veteran with his Cobras—taking over the GT40 MK II program.

He delivered a win at Daytona with Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby in GT/103 and a Second Place at Sebring with Ken Miles and Bruce McLaren in the same car. Shelby also ran the first MK II at Le Mans in June of ’65. Meanwhile, John Wyer continued development of the customer 289 GT40 racing cars.

The stunning GT40 offered here, chassis P/1074, is very well-documented in GT40 history. It began life as Mirage M.10003, and in its debut at Spa, in May 1967, the legendary endurance racer Jacky Ickx and the “Flying Dentist,” Dr. Dick Thompson, finished First Overall. This was also the first win for any car under the fabled powder blue (1125) and marigold (1456) Gulf livery. Such an accomplishment on its own would be sufficient to impress any enthusiast, but it marks only the beginning of P/1074’s storied history. It should be noted that Ickx was only in his early-twenties at the time, had just made his first Grand Prix start the same year, and was on the cusp of beginning one of the great careers in motorsports that, to date, includes an extraordinary six wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 25 podium finishes in Formula One, factory racing for Porsche, and everything in between, not to mention winning the Paris-Dakar Rally and even piloting the famous Ferrari 512S for the Steve McQueen film Le Mans.

Unfortunately, however, this particular car DNF’d later that year at Le Mans and Brands Hatch, and then won at Karlskoga and finished Second at Skarpnack, before finished with a convincing win at Montlhery. Quite the stunning debut for this exceptional racing car!

Following the FIA’s regulation change for the 1968 season, which reduced prototype engine size to three-liters and five-liters for production (Group 4) sports cars, with a limited build of 25 examples, Mirage M.10003 was taken back to J.W.A. in England for its conversion into a Group 4 GT40. The conversion was completed on February 23, 1968, whereupon it became GT40 P/1074, but has since remained complete with its original Mirage bodywork and could easily be returned to that configuration.

It was the first (by serial number) of three lightweight racing GT40’s built for the J.W.A./Gulf team. Its chassis retained the unique Mirage straight substructure forward of the windscreen. Specific to the car were Stage II ventilated disc brakes, a lightweight frame, and a lightened roof.

The body was described as “super lightweight with carbon filament aluminum, fully-vented spare wheel cover, extra wide rear wheel arches, double engine coolers, and rear panel vented (sic) for brake air exit.” The carbon fiber-reinforced bodywork used on the Mirage M1s, now P/1074, P/1075, and P/1076, are reputed to be among the first, if not the very first, uses of carbon fiber panels in race car fabrication.

Currently, P/1074 is fitted with an original, period correct GT40 Ford 289 cubic inch V-8 with Gurney-Weslake cylinder heads, four Weber twin-choke carburetors, and a 351 oil pump with an Aviaid oil pan. During its active career, P/1074 (M.10003) was powered by four other V-8 Ford push-rod engines, including a 289, a 302 (1074), a 305, and a 351 (M.10003). It was painted in powder blue Gulf livery, with a distinctive, constant-width, marigold (orange) center stripe, which instantly identified it as J.W.A’s number two car. On several occasions, it was raced with triangular nose-mounted canard fins to improve downforce. From the outset, 8.5-inch front and 11.0-inch rear BRM Mirage wheels were fitted.

Soon after conversion to a GT40, driven by endurance racing greats David Hobbs and Paul Hawkins, P/1074 raced at Daytona (February 3, 1968), where it was a DNF. This record would soon improve. On March 3, 1968, with the same drivers, it finished 28th at Sebring, then ran at the Le Mans Trials with Jacky Ickx, where it set a 3 minute 35.4-second lap record. Driven again by Hawkins and Hobbs, P/1074 won at the Monza 1000 Kilometre on April 25, 1968. On May 19, 1968, competing at the Nürburgring, David Hobbs and Brian Redman finished in Sixth Place. Hawkins and Hobbs teamed up in P/1074 at Watkins Glen to finish Second. This was the first race that P/1074 was fitted with the larger 302 cubic inch V-8 engine. It DNF’d at Le Mans (September 8, 1968), which was the last race of the season that year, again with Hawkins and Hobbs driving.

In October 1968, P/1074 was loaned to Ecurie Fracorchamps and to a Belgian racer, Jean (Beurlys) Blaton, as a replacement for his P/1079, which had been crashed at Le Mans earlier that year. Beurlys and DeFierlant ran the car at Montlhery on October 13th, achieving an Eighth Place finish. Early in 1969, J.W.A acquired P/1074 again, and in its only race that year, David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood finished Fifth at the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in April, still running the 302 V-8.

McQueen

This car’s life was about to change dramatically. In 1970, David Brown, of Tampa, Florida, purchased P/1074 and P/1076 from J.W.A. He in turn leased P/1074 to Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions, of North Hollywood, California, in May of that year. Under the care of J.W.A, it was to be used as a mobile camera car for McQueen’s epic production of the movie Le Mans. Steve McQueen had insisted that the cars be filmed at speed. This necessitated that the camera car be capable of very high performance and keeping up with the “star” cars.

For filming purposes, the entire roof section was removed, which left P/1074 with a windscreen that was just a few inches high. It is believed that this operation rendered the doors inoperable. Period photographs of the car show the doors securely taped shut. At the same time, the car’s fully-vented spare tire cover was removed and replaced with the less aerodynamically-efficient “twin nostril” unit from a road-going Mk III GT40.

The modified GT40 was tested at the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (FVRDE) in Surrey England. The radical changes to P/1074 resulted in a race car with adversely impacted aerodynamics and, in the words of Jonathan Williams, “diabolical” handling. During a test, P/1074 ran over a section of tank tread, which punctured one of its racing tires, precipitating an off-road excursion that dented the belly pan in a few places. Its driver, John Horsman, author of Racing in the Rain, and the film’s director, who was accompanying him as a passenger, were unharmed.

P/1074 was employed as a camera car at the start of the 1970 Le Mans 24-Hour race, where its former driver, Jacky Ickx, was coincidentally also in attendance, racing a Ferrari 512S, no less! Its spare tire cover was removed, and a pair of movie cameras were mounted securely in the spare tire well. Several runs were made up and down the pit lanes prior to the race. It’s uncertain as to whether the car actually ran during the race. A gyroscopically-stabilized, compressed air-powered, 180 degree rotating Arriflex camera was mounted on the rear deck, where it could be remotely-controlled by a dashboard-mounted TV screen. A 35 mm manually-rotated camera was securely mounted above the passenger side door. Its operation required intrepid cameraman Alex Barbey to crouch alongside it in a small rotating seat.

But the combination of these heavy cameras, along with the car’s substantially reduced aerodynamics and now less rigid chassis, meant the car was very hard to control at the 150 mph speeds the filming required. At this time, Dutch skid-pad expert Rob Slotemaker replaced a probably very relieved Jonathan Williams as P/1074’s driver. The much-modified GT40 “roadster” was used in its altered configuration for some five months, until the filming of Le Mans was completed. It was still finished in powder blue and marigold.

After the film wrapped production, Harley E. Cluxton III (then of Glenview, Illinois) bought P/1074 from Mr. Brown. He tested the car at the Glenview Naval Air Station and said that crossing the runway arresting cables at speed was what he could only describe as “interesting.” P/1074 was sold to noted collector Sir Anthony Bamford (Staffordshire, England) in 1972. It was subsequently reconstructed by Willie Green, of Derby, England, who did the rework using a new roof structure obtained from Abbey Panels Ltd. The cut-down doors were replaced with early GT40 units, which meant the car was now equipped with early type “rocker” door handles instead of the sliding levers that are found on later J.W.A. racers.

Other body modifications performed at this time included new rear bodywork, fabricated from a “standard” GT40 production unit with widened wheel flares, so the transom lacked the additional outlet vents found on Gulf GT40s, and the rear wheel arches did not have carbon fiber reinforcement. Finally, the number plate location had to be modified to clear the exhaust pipes when the rear section was opened. Willie Green raced the reconstituted P/1074 at several UK racing events. Subsequent ownership history is well-documented and includes Mr. Cluxton’s re-acquisition of the car in 1983, prior to another restoration.

The peripatetic P/1074 was present at the GT40 25th Anniversary Reunion at Watkins Glen in September 1989 and at the 30th Anniversary Reunion in July, 1994. It has appeared in numerous books, on the “Competition Ford GT40” poster, and it’s been replicated in several models, both as the topless Le Mans camera car and in “conventional” Le Mans racing configuration. The current owner bought P/1074, and sent it to Harley Cluxton for a complete restoration in 2002, where it received a straight nose stripe and a fully vented nose cover. The doors were replaced with units featuring the later rocker style handles (as the car’s original sliding lever handles). The infamous cut-down tail section, which was removed when the car was reconstructed, reportedly survives in France. P/1074 has since been fastidiously maintained by its current owner.

In 2003, Jackie Oliver drove P/1074 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Again in 2004, this well-known and highly-respected GT40 reappeared at Goodwood fitted with nose canard fins and an adjustable height rear spoiler. In 2009, it was driven by its original driver, David Hobbs, at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, where it was awarded Best in Class.

For a fortunate bidder, the acquisition of GT40 P/1074 represents a special opportunity. Aside from its current, stunning presentation, the fact that it is one of only two surviving Gulf Mirage M1s, in which form it accumulated much of its racing history, renders it particularly attractive to an enthusiast who now has the option of relatively easily returning the car to this configuration and actively campaigning the car with its remarkable Jacky Ickx provenance.

This car’s impeccable credentials, both as a winning racer and as the camera car for the legendary Steve McQueen film Le Mans, as well as its long documented history of prominent owners and its meticulous restoration in J.W.A./Gulf livery, mark it as one of the most desirable GT40s, and indeed endurance racing cars, ever built.

Please note that a number of spare parts accompany the sale, including 1967 Mirage bodywork. Please consult an RM specialist for further details.

Special thanks to the GT40 Registry, Ronnie Spain, author of GT40: An Individual History and Race Record, and John S. Allen, author of The Ford GT40 and The Ford That Beat Ferrari, for their help and research on this car.

[Text from RM Auctions]

www.rmauctions.com/mo12/monterey/lots/1968-ford-gt40-gulf...

This Lego miniland-scale Ford GT40 Guld/Mirage P/1074 (1968), has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 89th Build Challenge, - "Over a Million, Under a Thousand", - a challenge to build vehicles valued over one million (US) dollars, or under one thousand (US) dollars.

This particular vehicle was auctioned by the RM Auction house on Friday, August 17, 2012, where it sold for US$11,000,000.

by NIKKOR-H Auto 28mm F3.5

56.0mm ( 35mm equivalent focal length )

7:19 pm CET ->

Focal length: 100 mm

Aperture: f/9

Exposure: 30 sec

ISO Speed: 100

Manfrotto 190CXPRO4 + 460MG

FLUIDR I flickriver I Flickr Hive Mind I Getty Images I 500px

Dressed for the weather! My knee-length New Rock boots make light work of a few flakes of snow.

1950s full-length bridal portrait with a printed-in-background by Strands Studio of Rugby, North Dakota

The Strand Studio negative collection 1948-1988 is housed at the NDSU Archives at North Dakota State University NDSU Libraries in Fargo,ND.

digitalhorizonsonline.org/digital/collection/ndsu-strand

library.ndsu.edu/ir/handle/10365/17200

Rhamphomyia longicauda - Long-tailed Dance Fly (female, length = 10 mm)

bugguide.net/node/view/44785

I used to see these commonly at this particular site, but have not seen any in years. I recently reprocessed the photos I took back in 2005. As they fly, the fringed legs are held out to the side, giving an odd effect. This might be mimicry of Lycid or Lampyrid beetles--the outstretched legs resemble the spread elytra of a beetle, perhaps. (Also, the large legs are thought to be part of courtship behavior--see below.) I finally got one to hold still and got photos. This one was perched quite still on some violets in the understory of suburban woodland. The time was 6:54 p.m. EST, approaching dusk. (References indicates females swarm near dusk.) You can see the air sacks on the abdomen as well in this photo. Length was measured by photographing the leaf it was perched on next to a scale. HFDF!

Note on behavior:

Adult females congregate in a swarm above vegetation near water around sunset, and inflate abdominal sacs in an attempt to fool males into thinking the swollen abdomens are full of ripe eggs. The hairy legs are held alongside the abdomen in flight, supposedly to accentuate abdominal size. Males hunt small insects and bring the dead prey as "nuptial gifts" to females in exchange for a chance to mate. Males prefer to mate with the fattest and hairiest females, but the cost of being hairy is an increased chance of being caught in spider webs.

Funk, D.H. and D.W. Tallamy. 2000. Courtship role reversal and deceptive signals in the long-tailed dance fly, Rhamphomyia longicauda. in Animal Behavior 59: 411-421.

Full length pic of my new gorgeous silky nightdress feels so wonderful to slip Into ❤️

In the process of cutting it (Chrissy)

Dense, dark brown cerata with white flecks cover most of body. Exposed notum is brownish yellow with densely spread, small, purplish brown and yellow flecks.

1: cleioproctic anus. 2: faecal mass. 3: tip of small triangular propodial tentacle.

Length 55 mm. Menai Strait, Wales. March 2010.

Full SPECIES DESCRIPTION BELOW

Sets of OTHER SPECIES at: www.flickr.com/photos/56388191@N08/collections/

PDF available at www.researchgate.net/publication/364340435_Aeolidia_papil...

Aeolidia papillosa (Linnaeus, 1761)

Synonyms: Limax papillosus Linnaeus, 1761; Eolis papillosa (Linnaeus, 1761).

Current taxonomy: World Register of Marine Species www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=138709

Vernacular names: Common grey sea slug; Shag-rug aeolis; Plumed sea slug (English); Môrwlithen lwyd (Welsh); Stor trådsnegl (Danish); Vlokkige zeenaaktslak; Grote vlokslak (Dutch); Eolidien à papilles (French); Breitwartige Fadenschnecke (German).

GLOSSARY BELOW

Preface

In 2016, Kienberger et al. segregated with molecular sequencing what had previously been generally accepted in Europe as A. papillosa into Aeolidia papillosa sensu stricto (Linnaeus, 1761) and Aeolidia filomenae Kienberger et al., 2016. Descriptions published before 2016 combine features of the two species and often, such as in Alder & Hancock (1845-1855) fig. 31 flic.kr/p/2nRfmBr and Thompson & Brown (1984), illustrated the descriptions with images of probable A. filomenae. This account draws on the description in Kienberger et al. (2016).

Description

The large, broad and relatively low body sometimes grows to a maximum length of 120 mm. The ground colour of the notum varies from light white–beige, through mustard brownish, to reddish brown or dark brown with, often dense, darker flecks spread over it fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nRf5eB & fig. 02 flic.kr/p/2nRgbPe .

Kienberger et al. (2016) state, “A white Y–shaped or triangular mark extending from the oral tentacles to the pericardial area between the rhinophores may be present.” (See appendix below for discussion of this). Dorsal surfaces are usually concealed by dense cerata apart from the head and a bare zone extending back from the rhinophores fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nRf5eB & fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nRbkGX .

The cleioproctic anus is located between the ninth and tenth row of the right side.

(fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2nRbkBr & fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nRf5eB & Kienberger et al. 2016). The genital aperture is situated on the right side between the sixth and eighth anterior rows of cerata, which usually conceal it.

The numerous, crowded cerata are arranged in up to 25 close, difficult to discern, rows of eight to twelve cerata each, on each side of the body. They decrease in size towards the posterior of the body, and the anterior cerata positioned by the rhinophores are small fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nRfnP6 . The cerata are often elongate and thin, with a uniform diameter for most of their length fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2nRdUp5 . Their dimensions can be altered but they are never flattened. They are translucent but usually covered with dark pigment marks and, sometimes, some white marks fig. 05 flic.kr/p/2nRfnP6 . Where the pigment is less intense, usually at the basal half of the posterior, the digestive gland may be visible fig. 07 flic.kr/p/2nRfnGH , and the dull whitish cnidosac is visible when not obscured by white apical pigment fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2nRdUkn . The general colour of individuals depends largely on the colour of the ceratal pigment, which is usually darker than the notum fig. 03 flic.kr/p/2nRbkGX but the peripheral cerata are sometimes pale fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nRbkt5 .

The smooth, conical rhinophores are similar in colour to or a little darker than the body. The truncated tip usually has a small, terminal, translucent, pale spot fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT & fig. 11 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXh . The internal eye at the base of each rhinophore is rarely visible through the body, but may be discerned on some pale American specimens fig. 12 flic.kr/p/2nRfnCe .

The head has translucent, whitish, oral tentacles with variable amounts of dark and/or white freckling fig. 09 flic.kr/p/2nRbkt5 & fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT but the white does not form a well defined line. They are longer than the rhinophores and placed apart on the anterior edge of the head at a distance, when it is spread, equal to about three times the thickness of a tentacle base (IFS, pers. obs. fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT ).

The broad foot has small triangular propodial tentacles at the anterior fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT .

Key identification features Features vary and may sometimes overlap with similar species. Identifications should be made on the basis of more than a single feature. American specimens differ in some respects.

Aeolidia papillosa

Features as in Kienberger et al. (2016). [IFS pers. obs. in square brackets.]

1) Maximum length 120 mm.

2) Body colour extremely variable: from light white-beige, through mustard brownish, to reddish brown or dark brown.

3) “A white Y–shaped or triangular mark extending from the oral tentacles to the pericardial area between the rhinophores may be present”. [Pale marks on the head are frequent on A. papillosa in America fig. 13 flic.kr/p/2nRfnC4 , where A. filomenae is absent, but seem to be rare in Europe. See appendix below.]

4) Elongate thin cerata, not flattened, usually with uniform diameter for most of length fig. 06 flic.kr/p/2nRdUp5 . In difficult to count crowded rows.

5) Cerata darker than body.

6) [Dull whitish cnidosac visible if not obscured by white apical pigment fig. 08 flic.kr/p/2nRdUkn .]

7) Rhinophores dark, [usually with a small, terminal, translucent, pale spot on the truncated tip fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT & fig. 11 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXh ].

8) Internal eyes at base of rhinophores, visible rarely if ever in Europe. [Sometimes visible in America fig. 12 flic.kr/p/2nRfnCe ].

9) [Distance between oral tentacles at base about three times thickness of tentacle base, fig. 10 flic.kr/p/2nRgvXT ].

Similar species

Aeolidia filomenae Kienberger, Carmona, Pola, Padula, Gosliner & Cervera, 2016.

Features as in Kienberger et al. (2016). [IFS pers. obs. in square brackets.]

1) Longest specimen described in Kienberger et al. (2016) was 45 mm; maximum possible length not stated; at least 70 mm fig. 16 flic.kr/p/2nRbkeN .

2) Body white fig. 14 flic.kr/p/2nRgvUb , light beige, pink fig. 16 flic.kr/p/2nRbkeN or greenish with white or brown flecks [which may concentrate into dense brown on the head, rhinophores and pericardial area fig. 18 flic.kr/p/2nRgvAW ].

3) White ‘Y’ mark on oral tentacles and head, with stem passing back between the rhinophores, is often present. Varies from very evident and intense opaque white fig. 15 flic.kr/p/2nRgbpB to unobtrusive beige or light brown, and may be partly covered by white or beige flecks fig. 16 flic.kr/p/2nRbkeN . [See appendix.]

4) Cerata, [often in neat, easily counted rows], are typically flattened, broader at their base, and often slightly hooked inwards fig. 17 flic.kr/p/2nRfnk5 . This is the primary feature for identification (L. Carmona, pers. comm. 7 October 2022) [They may inflate a little to give a thicker cross section.]

5) Cerata usually [have much less surface pigment than on A. papillosa and] are usually lighter than the rest of the body fig. 15 flic.kr/p/2nRgbpB . [But some have dark cerata fig. 18 flic.kr/p/2nRgvAW .]

6) Apices of cerata are white, [often revealing large white cnidosacs fig. 15 flic.kr/p/2nRgbpB ].

7) Blunt, conical, smooth rhinophores are translucent whitish with opaque white or yellowish-white freckles which often concentrate to colour the distal quarter fig. 19 flic.kr/p/2nRbjYN . [Most also have brown spots of varying extent and intensity on the basal three-quarters fig. 18 flic.kr/p/2nRgvAW ]

8) Internal eyes sometimes faintly visible at base of rhinophores in lighter specimens fig. 19 flic.kr/p/2nRbjYN .

9) [Distance between oral tentacles at base about three times thickness of tentacle base. fig. 15 flic.kr/p/2nRgbpB ]

Pre 2016 authors such as Alder & Hancock (1845-1855) fig. 20 flic.kr/p/2nRfnd6 and Thompson & Brown (1984), illustrated their descriptions of A. papillosa with images of probable A. filomenae.

Aeolidiella alderi (Cocks, 1852) fig. 21 flic.kr/p/2nRgb6f , A. glauca (Alder & Hancock, 1845) fig. 22 flic.kr/p/2nRbjUz and A. sanguinea (Norman, 1877) fig. 23 flic.kr/p/2nRgvnQ .

1) Extreme maximum length 46 mm (A. sanguinea, others shorter).

2) Body translucent white or pale shade of other colour. Any opaque marks are scattered, small and not dark.

3) No white ‘Y’ or triangular mark on head.

4) Cerata not flattened, with uniform diameter for most of length

5) Cerata have more saturated colour than body.

6) Apices of cerata are white or pale.

7) Rhinophores translucent, no dark pigment marks.

8) Internal eyes visible at base of rhinophores

9) Distance between oral tentacles at base about same as thickness of single tentacle base (IFS pers. obs.).

Habits and ecology

Information in this section is mainly from Thompson & Brown (1984) who did not differentiate A. papillosa from A. filomenae, so it may apply to either one or both.

It lives sublittorally and on lower shores where there is some hard substrate, including estuaries down to 20‰ salinity and on muddy sand with isolated stones coated with sediment.

A. papillosa attacks and eats sea anemones, including Actinia equina and Metridium senile fig. 02 flic.kr/p/2nRgbPe . It is immune to the toxic nematocysts in their tentacles and exuded acontia fig. 24 flic.kr/p/2nRgvmn , and it ingests them and stores them in cnidosacs at the tips of its cerata for release when it is attacked. The effect is powerful enough in a dog's mouth to make it drop the slug (IFS pers. obs.) but it does not prevent haddock, Gadus aeglefinus, from consuming it (Thompson & Brown, 1984). Other enemies include copepod parasites and Nucella lapillus which occasionally eats its spawn. When alarmed it can raise its cerata and roll into a ball resembling a sea anemone fig. 25 flic.kr/p/2nRdTsa . Faeces are irregular masses fig. 01 flic.kr/p/2nRf5eB & fig. 04 flic.kr/p/2nRbkBr .

A. papillosa is a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Its convoluted white, pink or purple cord of spawn, somewhat resembling a coiled spring, is attached spirally to hard substrate from January to August in Britain. Initially, the coil forms a compact disc fig. 26 flic.kr/p/2nRgv6H but, as it ages, it absorbs water and expands into a looser coil fig. 27 flic.kr/p/2nRbjsT . When several individuals spawn close together, a confused mass may result fig. 28 flic.kr/p/2nRdTmo .

Veliger larvae hatch from the spawn and live in the plankton before metamorphosis. Small juveniles are not often found on shore; they may spend their early life sublittorally (Thompson & Brown, 1984).

Distribution and status

A. papillosa sensu stricto is an amphiboreal species with maximum uncorrected p-distance of 1.6% between individuals (Carmona et al., 2013), which is common along the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America fig. 29 flic.kr/p/2nRbjqZ and from Washington State to Alaska in the in the north-eastern Pacific fig. 30 flic.kr/p/2nRfmFe . Kienberger et al. (2016) verified with molecular sequencing specimens from Sweden, Netherlands, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska and Washington State. GBIF map www.gbif.org/species/2291938 . UK map NBN species.nbnatlas.org/species/NHMSYS0021312941

Acknowledgements

For use of images I gratefully thank Nils Aukan, Emil Burman, Roy Dahl, Jeff Goddard, Heine Jensen, Guillaume Lemonnier, Sutherland MacIver, Erin McKittrick, Malcolm Storey and Alex Wilson. For providing specimens to photograph I thank Simon Taylor. For information and advice I thank J. Lucas Cervera, Leila Carmona and Marta Pola, but any errors or omissions are my (IFS) responsibility.

Appendix

Kienberger et al. (2016) stated of A. papillosa, “A white Y–shaped or triangular mark extending from the oral tentacles to the pericardial area between the rhinophores may be present”. But the common practice of European recorders on iNaturalist and Facebook is to record all specimens with a white Y as A. filomenae.

As substantiation for their statement, Kienberger et al. refer to their Fig. 5B which shows a sequenced A. papillosa from the White Sea with a whitish mark on the head resembling a wine glass with the stem passing back between the rhinophores. Apart from it, the only European Aeolidia image with a wine glass mark found by IFS is one from the Mersey Estuary fig. 31 flic.kr/p/2nRfmBr . Whether the wine glass mark should be regarded as a form of white Y is an open question. Sometimes it is centrally faded with small lateral branches to resemble a Y, but the branches bend to meet at an obtuse angle of nearly 180° instead of the acute junction of the arms of a Y fig. 13 flic.kr/p/2nRfnC4 & fig. 29 flic.kr/p/2nRbjqZ .

Judging from the many images posted as A. papillosa on iNaturalist, and ‘Fig. 5F’ from Alaska in Kienberger et al. (2016), the wine glass mark is frequent on it in North America both in the Atlantic and Pacific. In the Pacific, it is often misidentified as A. loui Kienberger, Carmona, Pola, Padula, Gosliner & Cervera, 2016, especially in Washington and further north where there is no molecular evidence for A. loui ( L. Carmona, pers. comm. 7 October 2022).

Kienberger et al. differentiated A. papillosa and A. filomenae on the basis of molecular sequencing, and they described morphological features observed on the specimens studied which correlated with each species. It is possible that subsequent experience and photography of larger numbers have revealed more morphological variations but they need molecular sequencing for substantiation.

In June 2016, J. Lucas Cervera, co author with Kienberger, posted on Facebook Group N. E. Atlantic Nudibranchs to say that an in depth, focused study of UK and Irish specimens is still required to understand much better the diversity of this complex in that area, but that without material it is not possible. He would like collections to be made from different localities and then sent to him together in one or two packs, as if he receives the material scattered over time it is difficult to arrange students and material for a study focused on the issue. If you wish to help, please first email leila.carmona@uca.es for detail of how to preserve and send specimens.

Without further linked morphological and molecular study, morphological identifications of British and Irish Aeolidia species including those illustrated in this account are uncertain. Some specimens have some morphological features of each species fig. 32 flic.kr/p/2nSPveL and cannot be confidently identified without molecular sequencing; they are best recorded as Aeolidia sp.

References and links

Alder, J. & Hancock, A. 1845-1855. A monograph of the British nudibranchiate mollusca. London, Ray Society. Family 3 Plate 9 [A. papillosa sensu lato includes A. filomenae ] www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/131598#page/314/mode/1up

Carmona, L., Pola, M., Gosliner, T. M. and Cervera, J. L. (2013) A tale that morphology fails to tell: a molecular phylogeny of Aeolidiidae (Aeolidida, Nudibranchia, Gastropoda). PLoS ONE 8(5): e63000. journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone...

iNaturalist www.inaturalist.org/observations

Kienberger, K., Carmona, L., Pola, M., Padula, V., Gosliner, T.M. and Cervera, J.L. 2016. Aeolidia papillosa (Linnaeus, 1761) (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia), single species or a cryptic species complex? A morphological and molecular study. Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 177: 481–506. www.researchgate.net/publication/303953645_Aeolidia_papil...

Thompson, T.E. & Brown, G.H. 1984. Biology of opisthobranch molluscs 2. London, Ray Society.

Glossary

acontia = thread-like tissue containing numerous stinging nematocysts which are released by some sea anemones.

amphiboreal = living in the cold temperate boreal zone to south of Arctic on more than one side of the Atlantic and/or Pacific.

cerata = (sing. ceras, adj. ceratal) lobes on notum of some nudibranchs.

cleioproctic = (of anus) located on the notum to the right of the midline.

Cnidaria = hydroids, jellyfish, sea anemones etc. which possess cnidocytes.

cnidocytes = explosive stinging cells of Cnidaria. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnidocyte

cnidosac = storage capsule at tips of cerata of Aeolidiidae for ingested cnidocytes.

digestive gland = large organ in gastropods which acts like the liver and pancreas in mammals to absorb food.

distal = away from centre of body or from point of attachment.

hermaphrodite, simultaneous = individual acts as both male and female at the same time with similar partner.

molecular sequencing = technique for determining the sequence of the bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine (A, G, C and T) in a DNA molecule.

notum = (of sea slugs) the dorsal surface of the body; the back.

partim = partly, in part, a part, some of, some.

pericardium = sac containing heart, sometimes visible as a raised pericardial mound behind rhinophores in sea slugs.

pleuroproctic = (of anus) located on side of body below the notal edge or cerata.

propodial tentacles = tentacular, lateral extensions on anterior of the foot.

rhinophore = chemo-receptor tentacle; many sea slugs have a pair on top of the head.

sensu lato = (abbreviation s.l.) in the wide sense, possibly an aggregate of more than one species.

sensu stricto = (abbreviation s.s.) in the strict sense, excluding species that have been aggregated or confused with it.

veliger = shelled larva which moves by action of cilia on a velum (bilobed flap). Stage may be passed in plankton or within liquid-filled egg-capsule.

Models at the Bangkok International Motorshow 2013.

Golphins, short stockings (right under knee)

Only shot of full outfit

Type Geophysical survey FleetMon Geophysical survey Icon

Flag The Bahamas Flag of The Bahamas

IMO 9239446

MMSI 311222000

Callsign C6RX4

Year Built 2001

Length 84 m

Width 20 m

Draught Avg 5.5 m / ...

Speed Avg/Max 6.9 kn / 14.1 kn

Skandi Carla berthed at Pocra Quay, what a beauty, first time I've seen her in the harbour , I love it when I can get up close to these magnificent vessels.

Skandi Carla is one of Fugro’s purpose-designed and built ROV survey, IRM and construction support vessels. Delivered in 2001, it is a diesel-electric, DP2 vessel equipped with advanced DGPS, USBL acoustic system and a Seapath 200. A moon pool allows work class ROVs to be launched safely and the large main deck is available for exclusive client use.

One of the distinguishing features of the vessel are the three optional mezzanine decks. These 4.8 m x 14 m platforms can be used for the deployment of a second work class ROV system, or other client equipment.

Skandi Carla is tted with a heave compensated Hydramarine 50T/15m knuckle boom deck crane with optimum deployment and recovery speeds at depths down to 3,000 metres. The combination of knuckle boom design and full active heave compensation has proven to provide ideal construction support capability.

The primary work class ROV - FCV 3087C is deployed through the moon pool using a custom-built Rolls-Royce Launch & Recovery System (LARS) designed to minimise the impact of vessel motion, thus extending the window within which the vehicle can be deployed. The 5.4 m x 5.5 m moon pool is enclosed in a large hanger which, with adjoining workshops and stores areas, provides a safe and protected environment for the maintenance of the vehicle. The winch for the LARS provides heave compensated, high speed deployment and recovery of the vehicle in water depths down to 3,000 metres.

Norway's west coast maritime cluster has again demonstrated its technological skills and business verve through the delivery of a complex, diesel-electric offshore support vessel equipped to carry out deepwater subsea inspection and construction tasks. Ordered from Aukra Industrier by local operator District Offshore (DOF), the 275-ft. (84-m) Skandi Carla ranks among the world's most sophisticated ships designed for ROV(remote-operated vehicle) deployment. The powerful, dynamic-positioning vessel entered an immediate five-year charter assignment to Aberdeen-based survey specialist Fugro-UDI, to whose requirements she has been customized.

She is considered equally well suited to the harsh environment of the North Sea as to the so-called Golden Triangle development areas of West Africa, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico, where operations in extreme water depths are the norm. ROV-based work can be carried out by the new vessel at depths as great as 3,000 m.

Built to a design developed by the Norwegian consultancy Marin Teknikk (MT), the versatile Skandi Carla has integrated, protected moonpool for ROV operations, just forward of midships, complemented by an open deck area of 640-sq. m. The deck has been strengthened for a 5-t/sq. m. loading, with a total carrying capacity of 2,000-tons, and is plumbed by a 50-ton, heave-compensated Hydramarine crane stooled on the starboard side.

The main, work-class ROV is dispatched and retrieved through the moonpool using a custom-designed launch and recovery system (LARS). A moveable mezzanine deck arranged in the after part of the ship provides a platform that can be used for a second ROV - or for trenching equipment. The arrangements permit two ROVs to be deployed simultaneously, with the second unit put overboard to starboard by way of the Hydramarine crane. Facilities are in place on deck to support clients' trenching, pipeline and cable deployment spreads.

Scope for undertaking unbroken, longer work assignments is enhanced by the foreship helideck, strengthened to receive a Super Puma-type aircraft, and enabling personnel to be changed out at sea. In terms of bunker capacity relative to the fuel consumption profile, the ship has an endurance of around 40 days.

Characteristic of such vessels, Skandi Carla has a large accommodation capacity for up to 80 persons in single-berth and two-berth cabins, so that charterers' own technical specialists can be carried in addition to the vessel's regular complement. Her power and propulsion plant is based on four eight-cylinder engines of the Caterpillar 3600-series, a popular marquee among Norwegian operators yield. The 'Big Cats' serve as the prime movers in the 2,475-kV main gensets.

Diesel-electric has become the mode of choice for many Norwegian supply and support vessel owners in the latest period of fleet investment, through the recognition of benefits with regard to overall operating performance in terms of flexibility and full-cycle economy. The location of the diesel-alternator aggregates only about one-third aft in Skandi Carla is also indicative of the increased ship design and layout possibilities conferred by a diesel-electric system. Furthermore, its adoption denotes a perception of environmental benefits, in terms not only of reduced exhaust emissions but also as concerns onboard noise and vibration levels. In fact, the vessel's environmental attributes as a whole have been recognized in the award of the Clean class notation by Det Norske Veritas.

The propulsion, maneuvering and station-keeping devices which form the main electrical energy consumers are the two 2,200-kW main thrusters, of contra-rotating azimuth type, plus two 1,000-kW bow tunnel thrusters and adjacent, retractable unit of 1,000-kW. ABB had total responsibility for the ship's electrotechnical systems, engineering and installation.

A Simrad SDP21 system from Kongsberg ensures the precise dynamic positioning critical to the safe and efficient performance of subsea assignments, as well for operations alongside structures. The nature of the outfit is such that it meets the Norwegian Maritime Directorate's Class II requirements for DP. The propulsion arrangements give a free-running speed of 14 knots.

Aukra undertook the District Offshore build project on the basis of a delivery time of less than 10 months, demonstrating the depth of individual capability within the Aker Yards group. Production scheduling and work quality, key competitive factors in Aukra's target markets, benefit considerably from the full weather protection afforded by the yard's facilities near Molde. Skandi Carla has been taken under the wing of DOF Management, which was already familiar with the Aker build philosophy and delivery performance as a result of earlier projects at the group's other Norwegian yards, namely Aker Brattvaag, Langsten Slip and Soviknes Verft.

This typewrite was made by Olympia Büromaschinenwerke A.G. Erfurt, who also made Enigma Machines such as the one at Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth.

www.royalnavalmuseum.org/CuratorschoiceMay05.htm

"All of the typewriter manufacturers in Germany suffered to some extent from the devastation of the Second World War. Most had been converted, in part or in total, to armaments production, and had been targeted during the conflict. All re-tooled and started producing typewriters again as soon as possible.

When Germany was split following the war, West Germany was in posession of Olympia, Adler and Triumph; East Germany was in posession of part of Olympia (which was renamed Optima Buromaschinenwerke in 1950), Groma, the Rheinmetall plant, and the former Seidel & Naumann plant which had made Erika machines prewar, and others. The East, like the West, immediately made plans to restore its manufacturing base to get cash flowing, and typewriters were naturally included as it was well known that there was an extreme shortage of these machines everywhere."

www.geocities.com/wbd641/germany3.html

#3 in series of 4,

Macro Exploration & Camera Remote

Working on different Focal Points & Light Reflections for each of this series of shots.

Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)

Aperture f/0.0 (Tubes)

Focal Length 50 mm

ISO Speed 100

Processed with VSCOcam with 4 preset

Autumn on Waterfall Trail, Fossil Creek, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, November 14, 2017. Fall colors were at their peak the entire length of Fossil Creek. Daytime temperatures were in the 70°F's.

A large, natural waterfall on Fossil Creek is the destination of an easy, one mile hike on Waterfall Trail. A large, deep pool at the base of the fall is a popular swimming hole.

Fossil Creek produces 20,000 gallons of water a minute from a series of springs at the bottom of a 1,600 foot deep canyon. This permanent water source has created a stunningly beautiful, green riparian zone rich with flora and fauna at the bottom of this arid canyon in Arizona's high desert. Travertine deposits encase whatever happens to fall into the streambed, forming the fossils for which the area is named. These deposits create deep pools along the length of the creek, providing opportunities to find more secluded swimming holes than the popular pool at the waterfall. Fossil Creek is one of two "Wild and Scenic" rivers in Arizona. This designation was achieved when the Irving power plant was decommissioned, and removal of flume and dam on the creek allowed the creek to flow free.

Increasing popularity has led to the Coconino and Tonto National Forests to implement a parking permit reservation system in 2016. Reserved parking permits allow visitors to have a parking spot available in their chosen parking lot. Many visitors drive two or three hours to get to the creek. The final descent to the creek at the bottom of a canyon is on an extremely rough, rocky jeep road. In prior years, the area would often be closed to entry when it reached capacity, and potential visitors would be turned away after the long, difficult drive. (Forest Service photo by Deborah Lee Soltesz)

For trail and recreation information, see Fossil Creek, Fossil Springs Wilderness, and the Coconino National Forest.

Blue Cocktail Dress With V-neck Sequin Mini-length For Club

Item ID #:DR1HNPT028

Just noting my current length. It is nearly what I would consider waist length. I don't often see my hair from the back, so it's interesting to see that the hemline is a little lopsided looking after a year of no trims. It is usually put up though, so I am not going to bother with it now. Right is completely untouched after a wash, I let it air dry as usual, no finger combing or anything. Left is with a bit of combing while the hair is drying. I have noticed that it tends to make the hair dry a little smoother.

Reichsbrücke

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Empire Bridge, seen from the north bank of

Use motor vehicles in the basement underground,

Cyclists, pedestrians

Road train Lassallestraße - Wagramerstraße (B8 )

Location Vienna, between Leopoldstadt (2nd District)

and Danube City (22 nd District)

Prestressed concrete bridge construction, double deck bridge

Total length 865 meters

Width 26.10 meters

Release 8 November 1980

Altitude 157 m above sea level. A.

Card reichsbrücke.png

Location of the Empire Bridge in Vienna

The Empire Bridge is one of Vienna's most famous bridges. It crosses the Danube, the Danube Island and the New Danube and connects the second District of Vienna, Leopoldstadt, with the 22nd District, Danube city. The building extends from Mexico place at Handelskai (2nd district) in a northeasterly direction to the Danube City and the Vienna International Centre (District 22).

The current kingdom bridge (Reichsbrücke) was opened in 1980, it is the third crossing of the Danube in the same axis, which bears the name kingdom bridge. The first Empire Bridge (also: Crown Prince Rudolf bridge when Project: National Highway Bridge), an iron bridge on current five pillars existed from 1876 until 1937. The second Empire Bridge, a chain bridge with two 30-meter high pylons on two river piers, was opened in 1937, it was next to St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Giant Ferris one of the landmarks of the city of Vienna. After the Second World War it was the only intact Danube river crossing downstream of Linz in Austria and became the busiest stretch of road in Austria. On Sunday, the first August 1976 the bridge collapsed in the early morning hours on full width of the Danube into the water. In the accident, which was not foreseeable by the then state of the art, one person was killed. The meaning and emotional charge, which had received the bridge by its colorful past in the Viennese population, increased further by the collapse.

Prehistory

The Danube before regulation (centric is the location of the Reichsbrücke marked)

Some years after the devastating flood of 1830 was considering Emperor Ferdinand I to regulate the Danube and at the same time to build several bridges over the resulting stream bed. The plan was, among other things, a chain bridge approximately at the site of today's Empire bridge, whose construction costs were estimated at two to three million florins. However, these plans came as well as future intentions, build stable bridges over the unregulated Danube, before the Vienna Danube regulation not for execution, the projects went not beyond the planning stage. All bridges over the Danube, whether for road or since 1838 for the Northern Railway, then had rather provisional character. Jochbrücken Those were trestle bridges made ​​of wood, which were regularly swept away by floods or Eisstößen (bumps of ice chunks) and then re-built.

On 12 September 1868 eventually ordered Emperor Franz Joseph I, the nephew and successor of Ferdinand, the regulation of the Danube. At the same time, eventually, should be built "stable bridges". One of them should represent a direct extension of the hunter line (Jägerzeile) (today: Prater Road and the Schwimmschulstraße (now Lassallestraße). With the choice of this location a central urban axis should be continued, which ranged from the Gloriette in Schonbrunn over St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Prater Stern to the Danube. On the other side of the Danube, the bridge should join to the Vienna, Kagraner and Leopold Auer Reichsstrasse (since 1910 Wagramerstraße), which became a major transit route in the northeastern areas of the monarchy. The name of the bridge was accordingly to "Empire Road bridge" set.

First Reichsbrücke - 1876-1937

Crown Prince Rudolf bridge

Since 6 November 1919 : Reichsbrücke

Crown Prince Rudolf bridge since 6 November 1919: Reichsbrücke

Official name of Crown Prince Rudolf Bridge (1876-1919), since then Reichsbrücke

Use vehicles, trams (from 26 June 1898 on the current bridge single track) and pedestrian

crossing of Handelskai, Danube and floodplain

Construction iron lattice structures (river bridge), 341.20 meters

Total length 1019.75 meter (incl. bridge over Handelskai and floodplain)

Width 11.40 meters

Release 21 August 1876

Closure 11 October 1937

Toll 32 cruisers and 64 Heller per vehicle (up to 1904)

The by Franz Joseph commissioned bridge, which the main part of the 2nd district after the regulation of the Danube with the on the left bank lying part of the city Kaisermuehlen, the now Old Danube and the to 1890/1892 independent community of Kagran connected, was navigable from August 1876 to October, 1937. It has been renamed several times: During the construction period it had the preliminary name of Empire Road bridge, after its opening, it was Crown Prince Rudolf bridge. The term "Empire Bridge" but soon won through in general usage, as was said, for example, the stop of the Donauuferbahn (Railway) at the bridge officially Kommunalbad-Reichsbrücke. After the fall of the monarchy on 6 November 1919 it was officially renamed Empire bridge.

With a total length of nearly 1,020 feet, it was at that time the longest bridge connection over the Danube. It was 11.40 meters wide, the road took 7.60 meters and 3.80 meters, the two sidewalks. The original plan had provided a total width of eight fathoms (15.20 meters), the Parliament decided shortly before the start of the construction to reduce the width because of cost reasons.

The bridge consisted of three parts. The so-called Hubertusdamm, protected the March field against flood, and the flood area created in the Danube regulation (inundation) on the north, the left bank of the river was spanned by a stone, 432 meters long inundation bridge, which consisted of 16 sheets of 23 and 39 m width. Handelskai on the southern right bank of the river spanned the so-called Kaibrücke of stone with a length of 90.4 meters and four arches, each 18.96 m width. The actual current bridge was 341.20 meters long and consisted of four individual iron grating structures that rested on five 3.80 meter thick pillars, three of which were in the water. The distance of each pillar was 79.90 meters.

Construction

The current bridge seen from the north, from the left bank (St Stephen's Cathedral in the background); recording before the summer of 1898, there's no tram track

Construction began in August, 1872. Although at that time the stream bed of the Danube had already been largely completed, but not yet flooded. The Empire bridge was then, as the northern railway bridge Stadlauer Bridge and the Emperor Franz Joseph Bridge (later Floridsdorfer bridge), built in dry construction.

The building was designed by the Road and Hydraulic Engineering Department of Imperial Ministry of Interior, whose boss, Undersecretary Mathias Waniek Ritter von Domyslow, was entrusted with the construction management. Total construction cost of 3.7 million guilders. The metal construction had a total weight of 2,193 tons and was manufactured by Schneider & Co in Burgundy of Belgian welding iron.

The two piers on the banks were about five feet below the river bed, which is about eleven meters founded under the riverbed on so-called "blue Viennese Tegel" (a stiff to semi-solid floor similar to the clay which as sedimentary rock is typical for the Vienna basin). The pillars of the two foreland bridges (Kaibrücke and inundation bridge ) were established in shallow coarse gravel.

Of the four Danube bridges built at that time only the kingdom bridge (Reichsbrücke) was not opened to traffic when the new bed of the Danube on 14 April 1875 was flooded. Until 16 months later, on 21 August 1876, the birthday of the Crown Prince Rudolf, opened the Imperial Governor of Lower Austria , Baron Conrad of Sigmund Eybesfeld, representing the emperor, the bridge and gave her in honor of Crown Prince - contrary to the original plan - the name "Crown Prince Rudolf bridge". The opening ceremony was attended by a delegation from Japan, Minister of War Feldzeugmeister Graf Maximilian von Artur Bylandt-Rheidt and mayor of Vienna Cajetan Felder. The governor read a royal resolution, in which Franz Joseph announced the full imperial satisfaction with Oberbauleiter Waniek and several Engineers and Building Officers were awarded the Imperial Knights Cross. As highlight of the celebration the keystone of the last pillar of the ramp was set - under it were built into a cassette several documents, photos of the bridge, coins and medals.

Bridge operation

The Kaibrücke over the Handelskai on the south, the right bank of the Danube, recording c. 1907

The bridge ramp and the four brick arches over the Handels on the south, the right bank of the Danube, it ( right) the bridge over the stream, recording from 1876

After the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889, the bridge was popularly called "suicide bridge ". It was in the first years of its operation still not a very popular crossing of the Danube. Industry and trade settled slowly to the other side of the Danube. There were also no significant trade routes from north to March Field. Via the Old Danube, which it would have to be crossed, leading to around 1900 only a rickety wooden bridge.

In the first 28 years of its operation, the crossing of the Empire Bridge was charged. 32 cruisers and 64 Heller had to be paid per vehicle, which has been regularly criticized by newspapers in Vienna. Only after the villages north of the Old Danube in the year 1904/1905 than 21st district were incorporated, the crossing was provided free of charge and increased the popularity of the bridge. From 26 June 1898, the bridge was frequented by the tram. The occasion was the 50-year Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph. The route went (over the current bridge (Strombrücke) just single track ) for the moment to shooting range (Schießstätte) at Arbeiterstrandbadstraße and was on 22 December 1898 extended until Kagraner place. Operator was the Vienna-Kagraner train (WKB), which initially used for six railcars acquired from Hamburg. In 1904, the traffic operation of Vienna-Street Railways WKB.

The end of the bridge

1910 were counted in Vienna over two million inhabitants. On the left, northern bank of the Danube, more and more settlements and commercial enterprises emerged. This increased both the importance and the traffic on the Empire Bridge. Neither the load nor the total roadway width of less than eight meters were sufficient for this additional burden. 1930 damage was discovered at the bridge, which would have necessitated the refurbishment in the near future. In recent years, their stock weight restrictions has been to protect the bridge. Vienna's city government first planned a conversion of the old kingdom bridge. In 1933, under the federal government of Dollfuss a new building was disposed.

During the three years of construction work had the old bridge remain usable - ie the existing 340 meters long by 4,900-ton Strombrücke was there moved by 26 meters downstream in September 1934, and connected with the banks. The move operation lasted only six hours, the traffic interruption to the reusability lasted three days. The suspended bridge was then three years in operation. Immediately after the opening of its successor bridge it was dismantled.

Second Empire Bridge - 1937-1976

Second Reichsbrücke

The second Empire Bridge, circa 1975

Official name Reichsbrücke, from 11 April 1946 to 18 July 1956 the Red Army Bridge

Use private transport (2 lanes next to the tracks, 2 on the tracks), tram (2 tracks in the middle position), pedestrians (sidewalks 2)

Construction through the air: "Spurious" self-anchored chain bridge with reversed horizontal thrust); broadening of the inundation bridge used since 1876

Total length 1225 meters

Width 26.90 meters (including sidewalks)

Longest span 241.2 meters in the central opening, 60.05 and 61.05 meters in the side openings

Construction September 1934

Release 10 October 1937

Closure 1 August 1976 (collapse)

The second realm bridge had a total length of 1255 meters. The current bridge had a length of 373 meters and a maximum span length of 241.2 meters, the construction of the third largest chain bridge in Europe. It had two pylons made ​​of steel with a height of 30 meters above road top, standing on two piers and with the bridge superstructure burd two steel chains carrying.

The bridge was staged as a symbol of the wealth and size of Vienna. So it was yet in the late 1930s next to St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Giant Ferris emblem for the third city of Vienna declared and served as an internationally used symbol on all promotional literature and invitations to the Vienna Exhibition in 1938.

Competition

First, the Commerce Department announced a precompetitive, although that could win the architects Emil Hoppe and Otto Schonthal, the result of which, however, did not correspond with the Ministry and the City of Vienna. The final competition for the construction of the Empire Bridge was finally announced in Spring 1933 and awarded in November. As architectural advisor to the eight-member jury acted the architect Clemens Holzmeister. The jurors selected from 64 submitted, one of which even provided for a tunnel under the river Danube. The winning project was a chain bridge by architects Siegfried Theiss and Hans Jaksch. This design provided only two pillars standing in the water. Three quarters of the full width of the river should be free spans. The bridge would connect directly to the still-to-use, only to be widened inundation bridge of the first Empire bridge over floodplain and Hubertusdamm.

Construction

Construction began on 26 February 1934, two weeks after the civil war-like battles in February. The cost of 24 million shillings were imposed to one third of the city of Vienna, two-thirds came from the federal budget. There were only Austrian companies involved in the construction. The two pillars were erected in caisson construction.

Soon the first difficulties appeared. The ground, especially in the Danube River, on which the bridge piers and anchor blocks for the chains should be founded, proved to be less viable than the planners had anticipated. It was originally planned to have to shoulder a large part of the weight of the Strombrücke, primarily of the area lying between the pillars middle part of the bridge, of two chains that run on both sides of the two pylons and should be anchored right in the river on heavy, solid anchor blocks of concrete. However, it was feared that this abutment on the Danube soft soil by the large tensile forces of 78.5 million N (8,000 t) per chain would start sliding and could not be adequately anchored in the Danube ground.

Professor Paul Fillunger of the Technical University of Vienna became the largest public critic of the building. He was of the opinion that not only the foundation of the anchor blocks, but also the pillars of the Danube in the soft ground was irresponsible because the bridge would not have the necessary stability. Contrasting opinion was his colleague of professors, soil mechanics Karl von Terzaghi. In his view, the nature of the Danube soil was suitable for the pier foundation. The disagreement was part of a personal feud, which was publicly held. Together with his wife Fillunger took in 1937 due to a disciplinary procedure that ran against him at the Technical University of Vienna his life. The construction of the bridge was rescheduled after the proposals Terzaghis: the chains were not fastened to anchor blocks on the Danube ground, but directly to the two main girders of the steel supporting structure, ie on the bridge itself anchored.

In June 1936, the building was overshadowed by a shipwreck: the people steamer "Vienna" DDSG was driven to a pillar. The ship broke up and sank immediately. Six people were killed.

The final link in the chain was composed of 98 members on 16 November 1936 inserted. Thereafter the lowering of the support stand began to displace the chain in tension. The production of the concrete deck slab of the bridge deck and the installation of sidewalks followed in the spring of 1937, in the summer, the bridge was painted dark green.

From 1 to 3 October 1937 the stress test of the building took place in the stretched chains and the pylons were slightly rotated. Were then driven as a load test 84 trucks and 28 loaded with stones streetcars on the bridge and left to stand there for a few hours. All measurements were running satisfactorily, so that on 4 October the first tram of line number 16 was able to drive over the kingdom bridge. A day later, the bridge was unofficially released for streetcar traffic. To traffic it remained locked up to its opening.

Austro-Fascist propaganda

A labor-and cost-intensive project such as the construction of the bridge was fully in line with the spirit of the Austro-fascist regime: the end of 1933, unemployment stood at 38.5 percent. The construction of the second Empire bridge can therefore be seen as a job creation project, similar to the construction of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road or the Vienna High Road.

On 10 October 1937, the Empire Bridge was officially opened. The corporate state government held a solemn state ceremony with President Wilhelm Miklas, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer, the Vienna Vice Mayor Fritz Lahr and Trade Minister Taucher who called the new Reich bridge as a "symbol of creating life force of the new Austria". Present were alongside architects, project managers and designers also a delegation of the opus "New Life" of the Fatherland Front, all workers involved in the construction of the construction companies and 10,000 school children. Soldiers of the armed forces lined the shore.

The Viennese city researcher Peter Payer writes about the pompous production:

"Conspicuously, propagated the carefully staged celebration the new model of society of the Austro-fascist government: the ending of the class struggle and overcoming social barriers through meaningful work and cooperation of all professional groups. [ ...] The completion of the bridge was portrayed as unprecedented cultural achievement, as a joint work of all involved". - Peter Payer.

The event was broadcast live on the radio, the newspapers reported widely about it. At the event, postcards, envelopes, and a commemorative stamp was issued and even a "Reichsbrücke song "composed, in which was said:

"A thousand hammers, wheels, files,

thousand hands had to rush

the great work that was!

Salvation of the work that connects,

Hail to the work, healing our land!"

- Empire Bridge Song

The Empire Bridge in the Second World War

During the Second World War the German army used two support pillars of reinforced concrete under the Empire Bridge into the Danube, so that the building would not completely fall into the water when it was hit, but could be repaired. In addition, at each of the two pylons were erected platforms for anti-aircraft guns.

In early April, 1945, in the last days of the war, Soviet armies were moving from the south and west heading to the city center. The fleeing units of the SS blew up in their retreat to the north gradually almost all Vienna Danube bridges.

For the Nordwestbahnbrücke, the Floridsdorfer bridge and the Nordbahnbrücke the "defenders" of Vienna had by Hitler's headquarters on the 8th April 1945 sought the permission for demolition, the Stadlauer Ostbahnbrücke was also blown up without explicit permission. With the Reichsbrücke, however, Hitler had personally for days the blasting ruled out, still yet at 11 April 1945, just on 13 April afternoon allowed, at a time when the southern bridgehead was already occupied by the Red Army, was the northern bridgehead without coverage in their field of fire and the German troops who had retreated to the left bank of the Danube, north west withdrew, for not beeing closed in by the Red Army. There was therefore no chance to blow. The Red Army occupied the evening of the 13th April also the northern bridgehead.

On 11 April, at the height of the battle of Vienna, the Russian troops with armored boats already had been advanced on the Danube to the Reichsbrücke (officially called by the Russians "Object 56") and had obscured the area. They went on the right bank of the Danube, about 500 meters northwest of the bridge, on land and moved slowly to the building.

Decades later, it was unclear why exactly the Empire bridge was not blown up. The Red Army, the Austrian resistance movement O5 as well as members of the armed forces later claimed they just would have prevented the explosion. One version said that, at the Battle of 11 April some soldiers of the Red Army should have gotten to the beachhead, where they destroyed the explosive lines. Another version was that Red Army soldiers were led by a knowledgeable local Vienna sewer worker sneaked through the sewer system of Vienna to the bridge to prevent the demolition. Clarity created in 2012 the analysis of historical sources with the résumé. Ultimately, it was Hitler himself which had prevented demolition of the bridge until the last moment. The Reichsbrücke was now the only intact bridge crossing over the Danube between Linz and the state border. She was thus given a status symbol, it was a sign of the resilience of Austria.

The city council renamed the Empire Bridge on the anniversary of the liberation of Vienna on 11 April 1946 in honor of the liberators "Bridge of the Red Army Bridge". Was also on this occasion by the city government to the left of the bridge driveway in the 2nd district an obelisk (reddish colored lightweight concrete on wood construction) erected with the Soviet Star on the top of which was in German and Russian to read:

"THE HERO WILL

LANDING GUARD SQUAD

AND SAILORS

IN GRATITUDE

THE EXEMPT

VIENNA "

- Obelisk, then plaque on the bridge

The obelisk was removed after 1955. The inscription was then attached on a bronze plaque that was mounted directly to the bridge. The bridge was at 18 July 1956 re-named Reichsbrücke.

Reichsbrücke in the postwar period

To the rebuilding of Floridsdorfer bridge 1946 the Reichsbrücke was the only way to reach Vienna coming from the northeast on the road. Although it was not blown up, it still suffered numerous losses, primarily by shellfire. In 1946, took place the first rehabilitation of war damage of the bridge, ​​from May 1947 work on a larger scale was made. Thereby five hanging rods have been mended and repaired the vault of the inundation bridge. The smoke control ceiling above the Donauuferbahn has been replaced. At seven chain links had to be renewed a total of 26 blades. For this temporary piers were used on barges, which again ate on the river bed. The work was finished in 1952. On the Reichsbrücke originally was wooden heel patch installed, this was 1958-1960 replaced by granite stone pavement, which resulted in an additional load of 4688 kN for each pylon bearing. The enormous, newly ascended individual traffic led more often hinder the tram traffic on the bridge, therefore the tracks in the sixties by blocking lines have been declared not approved for individual traffic of the roadway. Now, congestion of vehicular traffic was the result.

Empire bridge collapse in 1976

The southern, right after the collapse of the banks, recording August 1976

Bridge debris on the north, left bank, recording August 1976

On Sunday, the first August 1976 Reichsbrücke 4:53 to 4:55 clock crashed to almost full length of the main bridge into the water. The first radio announcement was made at 5:00 clock. An eyewitness described the collapse as". The whole bridge has suddenly lifted a foot and then dropped loud crashing on the entire length".

On the Kaibrücke as well as on the Überschwemmungsbrücke (inundation bridge) the carrier collapsed in several places, but both bridges were standing. The Strombrücke itself broke into three parts, the middle part falling into the water as a whole and and the two outer parts obliquely hanging into the water. The south-facing pylon fell downstream and damaged heavily the stern of a passenger ship, the north side pylon collapsed in the other direction on the flood plain.

At the time of the collapse, five people were in four vehicles on the bridge: a bus driver in an urban articulated, two employees of the ÖAMTC in a roadside assistance vehicle, the driver of a Volkswagen Beetle, which had requested the breakdown service because of a defective tire following an accident as well as the driver of a minibus, who was employed as a driver at the ORF. The bus driver crashed his vehicle into the Danube and was rescued unharmed within hours. The ÖAMTC employees and the VW drivers were on that part of the Kaibrücke, which indeed broke and fell, but not completely destroyed, so that they could save themselves by foot. The ORF driver was trapped in his pickup truck and found his dead the day after the collapse.

Within an hour was a quarter of all vehicles of the in Vienna available Fire Brigade on the site of the collapse, it was the alarm given stage IV. Also, police, ambulance and army were represented by large contingents. The on the bridge located water pipes that supplied drinking water to the north of Vienna, put the Handelskai under water. Explosions were also feared because the gas lines running across the bridge were broken. There was on the scene for days strict non-smoking. First, many people were north of the Danube without gas, electricity, water and telephone. Already on the second August was, however, restored the supply.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsbr%C3%BCcke

by EL NIKKOR 75mm F4 Enlarging Lens

112.5mm ( 35mm equivalent focal length )

Nikon V1, 10-100mm f4.0-5.6

3 focal lengths of a sunset view

Waist: 27"

Length: 40"

inseam: 31"

Material: 69% Cotton

4% Spandex

Length: 7.6 cm, max length for this sp. is 23.5 cm.

Asia: Indonesia and Malaysia.

Habitat: Inhabits only in blackwater streams (Ref.56749). A common snakehead in peat swamps

Wave Lengths is an audiovisual ode to swimming. In a pool, as in life, we are alone together. Yet there is something about the immersive nature of swimming that further separates an individual from their peers. In the water time slows and speeds up. Thoughts roam and regulate. We move in new ways. Wave Lengths will explore the lived experiences of swimmers. What they think in the water, what that space feels like and its significance in their lives. Centennial pool members will be invited to explore their understanding of swimming in conversation with artists Veronica Simmonds and Katie McKay. These interviews will be audio recorded as well as photographed. Veronica Simmonds will edit each audio interview into a 4 minute piece which will be accompanied by Katie McKay’s images of the interviewee and the pool space. There will be four interviews in total making a 14 minute audio slideshow, looped and projected onto the side wall of Centennial Pool at 1970 Gottingen Street.

JXM_1793

Length 249m Beam 43m Gross Tonnage 64133 tons seen leaving Liverpool

Full length VIDEO on YouTube:

Auld Lang Syne by Lea Michele (New Year's Eve -Motion Picture)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yrEKGCHsqA

A special THANK YOU to flickr members who shared their photo.

Photographer’s Name ~ Flickr Name ~ Photo Caption

(in order of appearance in video)

Maiken Vestergard – MaikenVL – 82/366 - Music night

www.flickr.com/photos/maikenvl/8028018022/

Kenneth Barker – kenny barker – Almost There

www.flickr.com/photos/kenny_barker/10994105496/

Margot Komine – Margot - Dark Days...are not over yet

www.flickr.com/photos/maruchan313/5574363744/

Ron Doke – Rdoke – 56 Years

www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt220/6159710662/

Yulia Trunina – yuliatrunina - Christmas New Year decor

www.flickr.com/photos/108041380@N03/11611530075/

Website: Food Photo by Yulia Trunina

www.foodphoto.biz/

Juline – JulineB - Auld Lang Syne

www.flickr.com/photos/julineb/2821118570/

Carmen Ortiz – Baking is my Zen – One Silent Night by Jaci Velasquez

www.flickr.com/photos/bakingismyzen/6517936025/

Yoann JEZEQUEL - Zeeyolq Photography – happy new year 2014

www.flickr.com/photos/zeeyolqpictures/11560068776/

Carmen Ortiz – Baking is my Zen – Me and my guitar

www.flickr.com/photos/bakingismyzen/4347161209/

Josine and Harry Frankhuisen – Frankhuisen Photography – The Piano Player

www.flickr.com/photos/frajh/8395642432/

Gina Blank - gina.blank - We'll Take a Cup of Kindness Yet...

www.flickr.com/photos/gina_blank/11594728615/

Bernarda/Gloria Gospic/Simunic - zakonslike - have a cup of kindness

www.flickr.com/photos/zakonslike/4224589656/

Jeff Johnston – Non Paratus - Arcadian Slope

www.flickr.com/photos/73417912@N00/9559173858/

Christopher Porter – Canadian Veggie - Winter Walk in the Park

www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/11630177683/

Ginny Griffin - Auld Lang Syne

www.flickr.com/photos/ggriffin1288/4227290464/

Anthony Beyga - Anthony Beyga - Happy New Year Everyone :) (Explore)

www.flickr.com/photos/anthonybeyga/8331078942/

Carmen Ortiz – Baking is my Zen – New Year's Eve (Auld Lang Syne)

www.flickr.com/photos/bakingismyzen/11665382916/

Andy Pitt – Super70 Photography – auld lang syne

www.flickr.com/photos/23434444@N08/5312625865/

Anne Adema – ademaann1 - violinist

www.flickr.com/photos/99144369@N03/11069591303/

l4ts - Violinist

www.flickr.com/photos/35884794@N04/8407165906/

Carmen Ortiz – Baking is my Zen – Summertime

www.flickr.com/photos/bakingismyzen/5927395680/

Ron Doke – Rdoke - Morning Sun

www.flickr.com/photos/cobalt220/4607781590/

Melfoody - Starry Starry Night

www.flickr.com/photos/melfoody/9326170868/

Kaye E - batang_igat - Auld Lang Syne

www.flickr.com/photos/batang_igat/6606315827/

Aaron_ - Riz_Aaroni - New Years Hat

www.flickr.com/photos/rizaaroni/2307601437/

Anthony Quintano - New Waterford Crystal Installed On The New Year's Eve Ball

www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/11590441285/

Flickr Set –Anthony Quintano - New Waterford Crystal Installation On The New Year's Eve Ball

www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/sets/72157639090930144/

Website: Anthony Quintano

anthonyquintano.com/

Blog: Anthony Quintano

anthonyquintano.com/2013/12/27/times-square-new-years-eve...

Christi - ChristiNYCa - Times Square: Confetti Wishing Wall 2013

www.flickr.com/photos/christinyca/8306372530/

Christi - ChristiNYCa - Times Square: Confetti Wishing Wall 2013 (closeup)

www.flickr.com/photos/christinyca/8306374794/

S R – R I V A – (Sandro Riva) happy new year 2014

www.flickr.com/photos/sandroriva/2485427817/

Aina - **Aina** - HAPPY NEW YEAR

www.flickr.com/photos/23179744@N03/4229298056/

Len Janes - Len Janes Photography - Bird of Peace "Happy New Year" 2014

www.flickr.com/photos/amazing-capture/5311610017/

Carmen Ortiz – Baking is my Zen – Bubbly…

www.flickr.com/photos/bakingismyzen/5313832150/

A Sari, saree, sadi, or shari is a South Asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from 4.5 metres to 8 metres in length and 60 cm to 1.20 m in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.

The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (called 'parkar' (परकर) in Marathi lahaṅgā or lehenga in the north; seelai in Tamil, pavada (or occasionally langa) in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu, chaniyo, parkar, ghaghra, or ghagaro in the west; and shaya in eastern India), with a fitted upper garment commonly called a blouse (ravike in South India and choli elsewhere). The blouse has short sleeves and is usually cropped at the midriff. The sari is associated with grace and is widely regarded as a symbol of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh, and Sri Lankan cultures.

ETYMOLOGY

The word sari described in Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi. The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'. The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil Nadu, the Cholas. Rajatarangini (meaning the 'river of kings'), a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the Choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.

ORIGINS AND HISTORY

In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sari draping leaves back, cleavage, and side view of belly bare. The origin of such exposing attire can be attributed to humid climate of the land. The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.

Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.

Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st–6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.

Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band called 'Kurpasika' or 'Stanapatta' and occasionally a wrap called 'Uttariya' that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.

It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions 'Kurpasika' a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as 'Uttarasanga' or 'Stanapatta'.

The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. Choli evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of Rajasthan.

In South India and especially in Kerala, women from most Hindu communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the middle of the 20th century.Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered. Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. By the mid 19th century, though, bare breasted styles of the sari faced social revaluation and led to the Upper cloth controversy in the princely state of Travancore (now part of the state of Kerala) and the styles declined rapidly within the next half a century.

In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible. By which for some time the navel exposure became a taboo and the navel was concealed.

Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, colour options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colours have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well. Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).

STYLES OF DRAPING

There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari. Fashion designer Aaditya sharma declared, "I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".

The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff. However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:

- Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.

- Bengali and Odia style.

- Gujarati/Rajasthani/Pakistani – after tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back

- Maharashtrian/Konkani/Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The centre of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the centre back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth of nine yards is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.

- Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards saree.

- Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.

- Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas saree with three four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.

- Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.

- Malayali style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.

- Tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts.

Kunbi style or denthli:Goan Gauda and Kunbis,and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping Sari or Kappad, this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.

NIVI STYLE

The nivi is today's most popular sari style from Andhra Pradesh. The increased interaction with the British saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the traditional unadorned white. Characteristically, she transformed her "mourning" clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire.

The chiffon sari did what years of fashion interaction had not done in India. It homogenised fashion across this land. Its softness, lightness and beautiful, elegant, caressing drape was ideally suited to the Indian climate. Different courts adopted their own styles of draping and indigenising the sari. In most of the courts the sari was embellished with stitching hand-woven borders in goldfrom Varanasi, delicate zardozi work, gota, makaish and tilla work that embellished the plain fabric, simultaneously satisfying both traditional demands and ingrained love for ornamentation. Some images of maharanis in the Deccan show the women wearing a sleeveless, richly embellished waistcoat over their blouses. The Begum of Savanur remembers how sumptuous the chiffon sari became at their gatherings. At some courts it was worn with jaali, or net kurtas and embossed silk waist length sadris or jackets. Some of them were so rich that the entire ground was embroidered over with pearls and zardozi.

Nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture that can be worn in the midriff region are the waist chains. They are considered to be a part of bridal jewellery.

PROFESSIONAL STYLE OF DRAPING

Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian Subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the clothing of choice of air hostesses on Air India. This led to a professional style of draping a sari which is referred to "Air-Hostess style sari". An air hostess style sari is tied in just the same way as a normal sari except that the pleats are held together quite nicely with the help of pins. A bordered sari will be just perfect for an Air-Hostess style drape where the pallu is heavily pleated and pinned on the shoulder. Even the vertical pleats that are tucked at the navel are severely pleated and pressed. Same goes for the pallu pleats that are pinned at the shoulder. To get the perfect "Air-hostess" a complimentary U-shaped blouse that covers the upper body completely is worn which gives a very elegant and formal look. Mastering the "Air-hostess" style drape helps to create the desired impact in a formal setting like an interview or a conference.

Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five star luxury hotels in India as symbol of culture. Recently, in a makeover design, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, decided the welcoming staff at the group's Luxury Hotels would be draped in the rich colours and designs of the Banarasi six yards. The new saris were unveiled at the Taj property in Mumbai. It will be subsequently replicated at all 10 Luxury Hotels of the group across the country for duty managers and front office staff. Taj had adopted three villages in Varanasi and employed 25 master weavers there for the project. The vision finally took shape after 14 months, once the weavers had a good work environment, understood the designs and fine-tuned the motifs.

Similarly, the female politicians of India wear the sari in a professional manner. The women of Nehru–Gandhi family like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wear the special blouse for the campaign trail which is longer than usually and is tucked in to prevent any midriff show while waving to the crowds.Stylist Prasad Bidapa has to say, "I think Sonia Gandhi is the country's most stylish politician. But that's because she's inherited the best collection of saris from her mother-in-law. I'm also happy that she supports the Indian handloom industry with her selection." BJP politician Sushma Swaraj maintains her prim housewife look with a pinned-up pallu while general secretary of AIADMK Jayalalithaa wears her saris like a suit of armour.

SARIS IN INDIAN LAW

In 2014, an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce. The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.

BANGLADESH

Sharee or saree (in Bengali=শাড়ি) is the national wear of Bangladeshi women. Most women who are married wear sharee as their regular dress while young-unmarried girls wear sharee as an occasional dress. The shari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh. Sari is the most popular dress for women in Bangladesh, both for casual and formal occasion. Although Dhakai Jamdani (hand made shari) is worldwide known and most famous to all women who wear shari but there are also many variety of shari in Bangladesh.There are many regional variations of them in both silk and cotton. e.g.- Tanta/Tant cotton shari, Dhakai Benaroshi shari, Rajshahi silk shari, Tangail Tanter shari, Tassar silk shari, monipuri shari and Katan shari are the most popular in Bangladesh.

PAKISTAN

In Pakistan, the sarees are still popular and worn on special occasions. The Shalwar kameez, however, is worn throughout the country on a daily basis. The sari nevertheless remains a popular garment among the middle and upper class for many formal functions. Sarees can be seen worn commonly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Islamabad and are worn regularly to weddings and other business type of functions. Sarees are also worn by many Muslim women in Sindh to show their status or to enhance their beauty. The sari is worn as daily wear by Pakistani Hindus, by elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India and by some of the new generation who have reintroduced the interest in saris.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. Two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate: the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or osaria in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.

The traditional Kandyan (osaria) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely and is partially tucked in at the front as is seen in this 19th-century portrait. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the Dravidian style noted earlier in the article.

The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of SriLankan Airlines.

During the 1960s, the mini sari known as 'hipster' sari created a wrinkle in Sri Lankan fashion, since it was worn below the navel and barely above the line of prosecution for indecent exposure. The conservative people described the 'hipster' as "an absolute travesty of a beautiful costume almost a desecration" and "a hideous and purposeless garment".

NEPAL

The sari is the most commonly worn women's clothing in Nepal. In Nepal, a special style of sari draping is called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.

AFGHANISTAN

Sari's have been worn by the Afghan royal family house and upper family classes as well by Muslim women at special functions.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER ASIAN CLOTHING

While the sari is typical to Indian traditional wear, clothing worn by South-East Asian countries like Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore resemble it, where a long rectangular piece of cloth is draped around the body. These are different from the sari as they are wrapped around the lower-half of body as a skirt, worn with a shirt/blouse, resembling a sarong, as seen in the Burmese Longyi, Filipino Malong, Tapis, Laotian Xout lao, Thai Sinh's, and Timorese Tais. Saris, worn predominantly in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal are usually draped with one end of the cloth fastened around the waist, and the other end placed over the shoulder baring the midriff.

SAREE ORNAMENTATION AND DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES

Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.

In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.

Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.

More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.

Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.

In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.

Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.

SARI OUTSIDE SOUTH ASIA

The traditional sari made an impact in the United States during the 1970s. Eugene Novack who ran the New York store, Royal Saree House told that he had been selling it mainly to the Indian women in New York area but later many American business women and housewives became his customers who preferred their saris to resemble the full gown of the western world. He also said that men appeared intrigued by the fragility and the femininity it confers on the wearer. Newcomers to the sari report that it is comfortable to wear, requiring no girdles or stockings and that the flowing garb feels so feminine with unusual grace.

As a nod to the fashion-forward philosophy established by the designs of Emilio Pucci, the now-defunct Braniff International Airways envisioned their air hostesses wearing a more revealing version of a sari on a proposed Dallas-Bombay (conceivably via London) service in the late 1970s. However this was never realised because of Halston's resistance to working with a palette outside of his comfort zone. The former Eagan, Minnesota–based Northwest Airlines considered issuing saris to flight attendants working the Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Delhi route that began in the 1990s. This never occurred largely because of a union dispute.

The sari has gained its popularity internationally because of the growth of Indian fashion trends globally. Many Bollywood celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai,[48] have worn it at international events representing the Indian culture. In 2010, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone wanted to represent her country at an international event, wearing the national costume. On her very first red carpet appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, she stepped out on the red carpet in a Rohit Bal sari.

Even popular Hollywood celebrities have worn this traditional attire. Pamela Anderson made a surprise guest appearance on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, dressed in a sari that was specially designed for her by Mumbai-based fashion designer Ashley Rebello. Ashley Judd donned a purple sari at the Youth AIDS Benefit Gala in November 2007 at the Ritz Carlton in Mclean, Virginia. There was an Indian flavour to the red carpet at the annual Fashion Rocks concert in New York, with designer Rocky S walking the ramp along with Jessica, Ashley, Nicole, Kimberly and Melody – the Pussycat Dolls – dressed in saris.

TYPES

While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia:

CENTRAL STYLES

Chanderi Sari – Madhya Pradesh

Maheshwari – Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh

Kosa Silk – Chhattisgarh

Dhokra Silk – Madhya Pradesh

EASTERN STYLES

Tangail Tant Saree – Bangladesh

Jamdani – Bangladesh

Muslin – Bangladesh

Rajshahi Silk (Eri Silk) – Bangladesh

Tussar Silk Saree – Rajshahi Bangladesh

Dhakai Katan – Bangladesh

Khadi Saree – Comilla Bangladesh

Jute Cotton – Bangladesh

Mooga Silk – Assam

Mekhla Cotton – Assam

Dhaniakhali Cotton – West Bengal

Shantipuri Cotton – Shantipur, West Bengal

Phulia Cotton – Phulia, West Bengal

Begumpur Cotton – Begumpur, West Bengal

Garad Saree (Korial) – Murshidabad, West Bengal

Tant Saree – Farshganj, West Bengal

Murshidabad Silk – West Bengal

Baluchari Silk – Bishnupur, Bankura West Bengal

Kantha Silk & Cotton Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh

Batic Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh

Sambalpuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Sambalpur, Odisha

Bomkai Silk & Cotton Saree – Bomkai, Ganjam, Odisha

Khandua Silk & Cotton Saree – Nuapatna, Cuttack, Odisha

Sonepuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Subarnapur, Odisha

Berhampuri Silk – Behrampur, Odisha

Mattha Silk Saree – Mayurbhanj, Odisha

Bapta Silk & Cotton Saree – Koraput, Odisha

Tanta Cotton Saree – Balasore, Odisha

Manipuri Tant Saree - Manipur

WESTERN STYLES

Paithani – Maharashtra

Bandhani – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Pakistan

Kota doria – Rajasthan, Pakistan

Lugade – Maharashtra

Patola – Gujarat, Pakistan

SOUTHERN STYLES

Mysore Silk – Karnataka

Ilkal Saree – Karnataka

Molakalmuru Sari – Karnataka

Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh

Mangalagiri Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh

Uppada Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh

Chirala Sarees – Andhra Pradesh

Bandar Sarees – Andhra Pradesh

Bandarulanka – Andhra Pradesh

Kuppadam Sarees – Andhra Pradesh

Dharmavaram Silk Saree – Andhra pradesh

Kanchipuram Sari (locally called Kanjivaram Pattu) – Tamil Nadu

Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu

Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu

Coimbatore Cotton Tamil Nadu

Chinnalampattu or Sungudi Tamil Nadu

Balarampuram – Kerala

Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala

Mayilati Silk – Kerala

Kannur Cotton – Kerala

Kalpathi Silk Sarees – Kerala

Maradaka Silk – Kerala

Samudrikapuram Silk and Cotton – Kerala

Pochampally Sari or Puttapaka Sari – Telangana

Gadwal Sari – Telangana

Narayanpet – Telangana or Maharashtra

NORTHERN STYLES

Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh

Shalu – Uttar Pradesh

Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh

Bagru – Rajasthan, Pakistan

WIKIPEDIA

The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), also known as the common peafowl, and blue peafowl, is a peafowl species native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been introduced to many other countries. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are referred to as peahens, although both sexes are often referred to colloquially as a "peacock".

Indian peafowl display a marked form of sexual dimorphism. The peacock is brightly coloured, with a predominantly blue fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers and is best known for the long train made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colourful eyespots. These stiff feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship. Despite the length and size of these covert feathers, peacocks are still capable of flight. Peahens lack the train, have a white face and iridescent green lower neck, and dull brown plumage. The Indian peafowl lives mainly on the ground in open forest or on land under cultivation where they forage for berries, grains but also prey on snakes, lizards, and small rodents. Their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest areas often indicate the presence of a predator such as a tiger. They forage on the ground in small groups and usually try to escape on foot through undergrowth and avoid flying, though they fly into tall trees to roost.

The function of the peacock's elaborate train has been debated for over a century. In the 19th century, Charles Darwin found it a puzzle, hard to explain through ordinary natural selection. His later explanation, sexual selection, is widely but not universally accepted. In the 20th century, Amotz Zahavi argued that the train was a handicap, and that males were honestly signalling their fitness in proportion to the splendour of their trains. Despite extensive study, opinions remain divided on the mechanisms involved.

The bird is celebrated in Hindu and Greek mythology, and is the national bird of India. The Indian peafowl is listed as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Taxonomy and naming

Carl Linnaeus in his work Systema Naturae in 1758 assigned to the Indian peafowl the technical name of Pavo cristatus (means "crested peafowl" in classical Latin).

The earliest usage of the word in written English is from around 1300 and spelling variants include pecok, pekok, pecokk, peacocke, peacock, pyckock, poucock, pocok, pokok, pokokke, and poocok among others. The current spelling was established in the late 17th century. Chaucer (1343–1400) used the word to refer to a proud and ostentatious person in his simile "proud a pekok" in Troilus and Criseyde (Book I, line 210).

The Sanskrit, later Pali, and modern Hindi term for the animal is maur. It is debated that the nomenclature of the Maurya Empire, whose first emperor Chandragupta Maurya was raised and influenced by peacock farmers was named after the terminology.

The Greek word for peacock was taos and was related to the Persian "tavus" (as in Takht-i-Tâvus for the famed Peacock Throne). The Ancient Hebrew word tuki (plural tukkiyim) has been said to have been derived from the Tamil tokei but sometimes traced to the Egyptian tekh. In modern Hebrew the word for peacock is "tavas". In Sanskrit, the peacock is known as Mayura and is associated with the killing of snakes.

Description

Male neck detail

Peacocks are a larger sized bird with a length from bill to tail of 100 to 115 cm (39 to 45 in) and to the end of a fully grown train as much as 195 to 225 cm (77 to 89 in) and weigh 4–6 kg (8.8–13.2 lb). The females, or peahens, are smaller at around 95 cm (37 in) in length and weigh 2.75–4 kg (6.1–8.8 lb). Indian peafowl are among the largest and heaviest representatives of the Phasianidae. So far as is known, only the wild turkey grows notably heavier. The green peafowl is slightly lighter in body mass despite the male having a longer train on average than the male of the Indian species. Their size, colour and shape of crest make them unmistakable within their native distribution range. The male is metallic blue on the crown, the feathers of the head being short and curled. The fan-shaped crest on the head is made of feathers with bare black shafts and tipped with bluish-green webbing. A white stripe above the eye and a crescent shaped white patch below the eye are formed by bare white skin. The sides of the head have iridescent greenish blue feathers. The back has scaly bronze-green feathers with black and copper markings. The scapular and the wings are buff and barred in black, the primaries are chestnut and the secondaries are black. The tail is dark brown and the "train" is made up of elongated upper tail coverts (more than 200 feathers, the actual tail has only 20 feathers) and nearly all of these feathers end with an elaborate eye-spot. A few of the outer feathers lack the spot and end in a crescent shaped black tip. The underside is dark glossy green shading into blackish under the tail. The thighs are buff coloured. The male has a spur on the leg above the hind toe.

The adult peahen has a rufous-brown head with a crest as in the male but the tips are chestnut edged with green. The upper body is brownish with pale mottling. The primaries, secondaries and tail are dark brown. The lower neck is metallic green and the breast feathers are dark brown glossed with green. The remaining underparts are whitish. Downy young are pale buff with a dark brown mark on the nape that connects with the eyes. Young males look like the females but the wings are chestnut coloured.

The most common calls are a loud pia-ow or may-awe. The frequency of calling increases before the Monsoon season and may be delivered in alarm or when disturbed by loud noises. In forests, their calls often indicate the presence of a predators such as the tiger. They also make many other calls such as a rapid series of ka-aan..ka-aan or a rapid kok-kok. They often emit an explosive low-pitched honk! when agitated.

Mutations and hybrids

This leucistic mutation is commonly mistaken for an albino.

There are several colour mutations of Indian peafowl. These very rarely occur in the wild, but selective breeding has made them common in captivity. The black-shouldered or Japanned mutation was initially considered as a subspecies of the Indian peafowl (P. c. nigripennis) (or even a separate species (P. nigripennis)) and was a topic of some interest during Darwin's time. Others had doubts about its taxonomic status, but the English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) presented firm evidence for it being a variety under domestication, which treatment is now well established and accepted. It being a colour variation rather than a wild species was important for Darwin to prove, as otherwise it could undermine his theory of slow modification by natural selection in the wild. It is, however, only a case of genetic variation within the population. In this mutation, the adult male is melanistic with black wings. Young birds with the nigripennis mutation are creamy white with fulvous-tipped wings. The gene produces melanism in the male and in the peahen it produces a dilution of colour with creamy white and brown markings. Other forms include the pied and white mutations, all of which are the result of allelic variation at specific loci.

Crosses between a male green peafowl (Pavo muticus) and a female Indian peafowl (P. cristatus) produce a stable hybrid called a "Spalding", named after Mrs. Keith Spalding, a bird fancier in California. There can be problems if birds of unknown pedigree are released into the wild, as the viability of such hybrids and their offspring is often reduced (see Haldane's rule and outbreeding depression).

Distribution and habitat

The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder across the Indian subcontinent and inhabits the drier lowland areas of Sri Lanka. In the Indian subcontinent, it is found mainly below an elevation of 1,800 m (5,900 ft) and in rare cases seen at about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is found in moist and dry-deciduous forests, but can adapt to live in cultivated regions and around human habitations and is usually found where water is available. In many parts of northern India, they are protected by religious practices and will forage around villages and towns for scraps. Some have suggested that the peacock was introduced into Europe by Alexander the Great, while others say the bird had reached Athens by 450 BCE and may have been introduced even earlier. It has since been introduced in many other parts of the world and has become feral in some areas.

The Indian peafowl has been introduced to the United States, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Croatia and the island of Lokrum.

Genome sequencing

The first whole-genome sequencing of Indian peafowl identified a total of 15,970 protein-coding sequences, along with 213 tRNAs, 236 snoRNAs, and 540 miRNAs. The peacock genome was found to have less repetitive DNA (8.62%) than that of the chicken genome (9.45%). PSMC analysis suggested that the peacock suffered at least two bottlenecks (around four million years ago and again 450,000 years ago), which resulted in a severe reduction in its effective population size.

Behaviour and ecology

Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant display feathers which, despite actually growing from their back, are thought of as a tail. The "train" is in reality made up of the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen. The colours result not from any green or blue pigments but from the micro-structure of the feathers and the resulting optical phenomena. The long train feathers (and tarsal spurs) of the male develop only after the second year of life. Fully developed trains are found in birds older than four years. In northern India, these begin to develop each February and are moulted at the end of August. The moult of the flight feathers may be spread out across the year.

Peafowl forage on the ground in small groups, known as musters, that usually have a cock and 3 to 5 hens. After the breeding season, the flocks tend to be made up only of females and young. They are found in the open early in the mornings and tend to stay in cover during the heat of the day. They are fond of dust-bathing and at dusk, groups walk in single file to a favourite waterhole to drink. When disturbed, they usually escape by running and rarely take to flight.

Peafowl produce loud calls especially in the breeding season. They may call at night when alarmed and neighbouring birds may call in a relay like series. Nearly seven different call variants have been identified in the peacocks apart from six alarm calls that are commonly produced by both sexes.

Peafowl roost in groups during the night on tall trees but may sometimes make use of rocks, buildings or pylons. In the Gir forest, they chose tall trees in steep river banks. Birds arrive at dusk and call frequently before taking their position on the roost trees. Due to this habit of congregating at the roost, many population studies are made at these sites. The population structure is not well understood. In a study in northern India (Jodhpur), the number of males was 170–210 for 100 females but a study involving evening counts at the roost site in southern India (Injar) suggested a ratio of 47 males for 100 females.

Sexual selection

The colours of the peacock and the contrast with the much duller peahen were a puzzle to early thinkers. Charles Darwin wrote to Asa Gray that the "sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" as he failed to see an adaptive advantage for the extravagant tail which seemed only to be an encumbrance. Darwin developed a second principle of sexual selection to resolve the problem, though in the prevailing intellectual trends of Victorian Britain, the theory failed to gain widespread attention.

The American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer tried to show, from his own imagination, the value of the eyespots as disruptive camouflage in a 1907 painting. He used the painting in his 1909 book Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, denying the possibility of sexual selection and arguing that essentially all forms of animal colouration had evolved as camouflage. He was roundly criticised in a lengthy paper by Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote that Thayer had only managed to paint the peacock's plumage as camouflage by sleight of hand, "with the blue sky showing through the leaves in just sufficient quantity here and there to warrant the author-artists explaining that the wonderful blue hues of the peacock's neck are obliterative because they make it fade into the sky."

In the 1970s a possible resolution to the apparent contradiction between natural selection and sexual selection was proposed. Amotz Zahavi argued that peacocks honestly signalled the handicap of having a large and costly train. However, the mechanism may be less straightforward than it seems – the cost could arise from depression of the immune system by the hormones that enhance feather development.

Male courting female

The ornate train is believed to be the result of sexual selection by the females. Males use their ornate trains in a courtship display: they raise the feathers into a fan and quiver them. However, recent studies have failed to find a relation between the number of displayed eyespots and mating success. Marion Petrie tested whether or not these displays signaled a male's genetic quality by studying a feral population of peafowl in Whipsnade Wildlife Park in southern England. She showed that the number of eyespots in the train predicted a male's mating success, and this success could be manipulated by cutting the eyespots off some of the male's ornate feathers.

Although the removal of eyespots makes males less successful in mating, eyespot removal substantially changes the appearance of male peafowls. It is likely that females mistake these males for sub-adults, or perceive that the males are physically damaged. Moreover, in a feral peafowl population, there is little variation in the number of eyespots in adult males. It is rare for adult males to lose a significant number of eyespots. Therefore, females' selection might depend on other sexual traits of males' trains. The quality of train is an honest signal of the condition of males; peahens do select males on the basis of their plumage. A recent study on a natural population of Indian peafowls in the Shivalik area of India has proposed a "high maintenance handicap" theory. It states that only the fittest males can afford the time and energy to maintain a long tail. Therefore, the long train is an indicator of good body condition, which results in greater mating success. While train length seems to correlate positively with MHC diversity in males, females do not appear to use train length to choose males. A study in Japan also suggests that peahens do not choose peacocks based on their ornamental plumage, including train length, number of eyespots and train symmetry. Another study in France brings up two possible explanations for the conflicting results that exist. The first explanation is that there might be a genetic variation of the trait of interest under different geographical areas due to a founder effect and/or a genetic drift. The second explanation suggests that "the cost of trait expression may vary with environmental conditions," so that a trait that is indicative of a particular quality may not work in another environment.

Fisher's runaway model proposes positive feedback between female preference for elaborate trains and the elaborate train itself. This model assumes that the male train is a relatively recent evolutionary adaptation. However, a molecular phylogeny study on peacock-pheasants shows the opposite; the most recently evolved species is actually the least ornamented one. This finding suggests a chase-away sexual selection, in which "females evolve resistance to male ploys". A study in Japan goes on to conclude that the "peacocks' train is an obsolete signal for which female preference has already been lost or weakened".

However, some disagreement has arisen in recent years concerning whether or not female peafowl do indeed select males with more ornamented trains. In contrast to Petrie's findings, a seven-year Japanese study of free-ranging peafowl came to the conclusion that female peafowl do not select mates solely on the basis of their trains. Mariko Takahashi found no evidence that peahens expressed any preference for peacocks with more elaborate trains (such as trains having more ocelli), a more symmetrical arrangement, or a greater length. Takahashi determined that the peacock's train was not the universal target of female mate choice, showed little variance across male populations, and, based on physiological data collected from this group of peafowl, do not correlate to male physical conditions. Adeline Loyau and her colleagues responded to Takahashi's study by voicing concern that alternative explanations for these results had been overlooked, and that these might be essential for the understanding of the complexity of mate choice. They concluded that female choice might indeed vary in different ecological conditions.

A 2013 study that tracked the eye movements of peahens responding to male displays found that they looked in the direction of the upper train of feathers only when at long distances and that they looked only at the lower feathers when males displayed close to them. The rattling of the tail and the shaking of the wings helped in keeping the attention of females.

Breeding

Peacocks are polygamous, and the breeding season is spread out but appears to be dependent on the rains. Peafowls usually reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 3 years old. Several males may congregate at a lek site and these males are often closely related. Males at leks appear to maintain small territories next to each other and they allow females to visit them and make no attempt to guard harems. Females do not appear to favour specific males. The males display in courtship by raising the upper-tail coverts into an arched fan. The wings are held half open and drooped and it periodically vibrates the long feathers, producing a ruffling sound. The cock faces the hen initially and struts and prances around and sometimes turns around to display the tail. Males may also freeze over food to invite a female in a form of courtship feeding. Males may display even in the absence of females. When a male is displaying, females do not appear to show any interest and usually continue their foraging.

The peak season in southern India is April to May, January to March in Sri Lanka and June in northern India. The nest is a shallow scrape in the ground lined with leaves, sticks and other debris. Nests are sometimes placed on buildings and, in earlier times, have been recorded using the disused nest platforms of the white-rumped vultures. The clutch consists of 4–8 fawn to buff white eggs which are incubated only by the female. The eggs take about 28 days to hatch. The chicks are nidifugous and follow the mother around after hatching. Downy young may sometimes climb on their mothers' back and the female may carry them in flight to a safe tree branch. An unusual instance of a male incubating a clutch of eggs has been reported.

Feeding

Peafowl are omnivorous and eat seeds, insects (including termites), worms, fruits, small mammals, frogs, and reptiles (such as lizards). They feed on small snakes but keep their distance from larger ones. In the Gir forest of Gujarat, a large percentage of their food is made up of the fallen berries of Zizyphus. They also feed on tree and flower buds, petals, grain, and grass and bamboo shoots. Around cultivated areas, peafowl feed on a wide range of crops such as groundnut, tomato, paddy, chili and even bananas. Around human habitations, they feed on a variety of food scraps and even human excreta. In the countryside, it is particularly partial to crops and garden plants.

Mortality factors

Large animals such as leopards, dholes, golden jackals, and tigers can ambush adult peafowls. However, only leopards regularly prey upon peafowls as adult peafowls are difficult to catch since they can usually escape ground predators by flying into trees. They are also sometimes hunted by large birds of prey such as the changeable hawk-eagle and rock eagle-owl. Chicks are somewhat more prone to predation than adult birds. Adults living near human habitations are sometimes hunted by domestic dogs or by humans in some areas (southern Tamil Nadu) for folk remedies involving the use of "peacock oil".

Foraging in groups provides some safety as there are more eyes to look out for predators. They also roost on high tree tops to avoid terrestrial predators, especially leopards.

In captivity, birds have been known to live for 23 years but it is estimated that they live for only about 15 years in the wild.

Conservation and status

Indian peafowl are widely distributed in the wild across South Asia and protected both culturally in many areas and by law in India. Conservative estimates of the population put them at more than 100,000. Illegal poaching for meat, however, continues and declines have been noted in parts of India. Peafowl breed readily in captivity and as free-ranging ornamental fowl. Zoos, parks, bird-fanciers and dealers across the world maintain breeding populations that do not need to be augmented by the capture of wild birds.

Poaching of peacocks for their meat and feathers and accidental poisoning by feeding on pesticide treated seeds are known threats to wild birds. Methods to identify if feathers have been plucked or have been shed naturally have been developed, as Indian law allows only the collection of feathers that have been shed.

In parts of India, the birds can be a nuisance to agriculture as they damage crops. Its adverse effects on crops, however, seem to be offset by the beneficial role it plays by consuming prodigious quantities of pests such as grasshoppers. They can also be a problem in gardens and homes where they damage plants, attack their reflections (thereby breaking glass and mirrors), perch and scratch cars or leave their droppings. Many cities where they have been introduced and gone feral have peafowl management programmes. These include educating citizens on how to prevent the birds from causing damage while treating the birds humanely.

In culture

Prominent in many cultures, the peacock has been used in numerous iconic representations, including being designated the national bird of India in 1963. The peacock, known as mayura in Sanskrit, has enjoyed a fabled place in India since and is frequently depicted in temple art, mythology, poetry, folk music and traditions. A Sanskrit derivation of mayura is from the root mi for kill and said to mean "killer of snakes". It is also likely that the Sanskrit term is a borrowing from Proto-Dravidian *mayVr (whence the Tamil word for peacock மயில் (mayil)) or a regional Wanderwort. Many Hindu deities are associated with the bird, Krishna is often depicted with a feather in his headband, while worshippers of Shiva associate the bird as the steed of the God of war, Kartikeya (also known as Skanda or Murugan). A story in the Uttara Ramayana describes the head of the Devas, Indra, who unable to defeat Ravana, sheltered under the wing of peacock and later blessed it with a "thousand eyes" and fearlessness from serpents. Another story has Indra who after being cursed with a thousand ulcers was transformed into a peacock with a thousand eyes and this curse was removed by Vishnu.

In Buddhist philosophy, the peacock represents wisdom. Peacock feathers are used in many rituals and ornamentation. Peacock motifs are widespread in Indian temple architecture, old coinage, textiles and continue to be used in many modern items of art and utility. A folk belief found in many parts of India is that the peacock does not copulate with the peahen but that she is impregnated by other means. The stories vary and include the idea that the peacock looks at its ugly feet and cries whereupon the tears are fed on by the peahen causing it to be orally impregnated while other variants incorporate sperm transfer from beak to beak. Similar ideas have also been ascribed to Indian crow species. In Greek mythology the origin of the peacock's plumage is explained in the tale of Hera and Argus. The main figure of the Yazidi religion Yezidism, Melek Taus, is most commonly depicted as a peacock. Peacock motifs are widely used even today such as in the logos of the US NBC and the PTV television networks and the Sri Lankan Airlines.

These birds were often kept in menageries and as ornaments in large gardens and estates. In medieval times, knights in Europe took a "Vow of the Peacock" and decorated their helmets with its plumes. In several Robin Hood stories, the titular archer uses arrows fletched with peacock feathers. Feathers were buried with Viking warriors and the flesh of the bird was said to cure snake venom and many other maladies. Numerous uses in Ayurveda have been documented. Peafowl were said to keep an area free of snakes. In 1526, the legal issue as to whether peacocks were wild or domestic fowl was thought sufficiently important for Cardinal Wolsey to summon all the English judges to give their opinion, which was that they are domestic fowl.

In Anglo-Indian usage of the 1850s, to peacock meant making visits to ladies and gentlemen in the morning. In the 1890s, the term "peacocking" in Australia referred to the practice of buying up the best pieces of land ("picking the eyes") so as to render the surrounding lands valueless. The English word "peacock" has come to be used to describe a man who is very proud or gives a lot of attention to his clothing.

Main article: Di Goldene Pave

A golden peacock (in Yiddish, Di Goldene Pave) is considered by some as a symbol of Ashkenazi Jewish culture, and is the subject of several folktales and songs in Yiddish. Peacocks are frequently used in European heraldry. Heraldic peacocks are most often depicted as facing the viewer and with their tails displayed. In this pose, the peacock is referred to as being "in his pride". Peacock tails, in isolation from the rest of the bird, are rare in British heraldry, but see frequent use in German systems.

The American television network NBC uses a stylized peacock as a legacy of its early introduction of color television, alluding to the brilliant color of a peacock, and continues to promote the bird as a trademark of its broadcasting and streaming services.

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