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The western rosella (Platycercus icterotis), or moyadong, is a species of parrot endemic to southwestern Australia. The head and underparts are bright red, and the back is mottled black; a yellow patch at the cheek distinguishes it from others of the genus Platycercus. Adults of the species exhibit sexual dimorphism with the females duller overall; juveniles lack the striking colours of mature birds and the characteristic patterning is not as easily distinguished. Their communication call is a softly delivered pink-pink sound, and much of their behaviour is comparatively unobtrusive. Their habitat is in eucalypt forests and woodlands, where they often remain unobserved until they appear to feed on seeds at nearby cleared areas.
The state bird of Washington.
It's baby feeding time. Breeding season happens once every year and passes so quickly. Always a joy to see the new avian broods maturing.
Portage County, Wisconsin
Canon 5Ds, 100-400L, 1/500 sec. @ f/8.0 ISO 3200
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Lifer. This butterfly appears every other year as it takes two years to mature from an egg. Most appear in the Sierra Nevada and north into the Siskiyou Range on even numbered years. It is big but a slow flyer. It's top side reminds me of butterscotch. I wasn't able to a decent shot of the top side but it can be seen at this link: butterfliesofamerica.com/oeneis_c_chryxus_live1.htm. Castle Lake, Klamath Mountains, Siskiyou County, CA.
It is not often that you catch a Bald Eagle with his lunch. This guy was really getting with the program. Dining outside is just what the Doctor ordered right now.
[You really need to enlarge this one to look at this beautiful complexity.]
When you compare the young Silver Banksia flower to its mature expression, you could almost think they were two separate plants. They are very complex forms and capture the sun beautifully to enhance their growth.
Photo Note: You'll notice the narrow depth of field here was achieved at f/8 with my 120mm zoom. That is quite deliberate. I didn't want use f/4 because of the bright sunlight. But here one can use the foreshortening effect of the zoom lens to achieve the same result and get the correct exposure. Focus is also sharper at f/8 with this lens, so win-win.
Back garden Sparrowhawk, March 2019.
The maturity of a male Sparrowhawk can be gauged by eye colour.
Males have orange Irises compared with the yellow of females and yearlings but with increased maturity, there may also be a red colouration.
This male has a quite red rim which implies that he is very mature.
His back is also blue/grey rather than just grey - another sign of maturity. Young males have a few residual white back feathers - none here!
Overall, this is a veteran male - quite a feat, given that male Sparrowhawks must have a successful hunt every 48 hours or risk starvation.
What I really love about apple-blossom is that the flowers start off pink in bud and slowly turn to pure white as they open and mature. Taken May 3rd, 2022.
For Personal reference: 20220503-D85_0463-SmallForWeb 2
Cedrus deodara (deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar/devdar/devadar/devadaru; Sanskrit देवदारु devadāru, Hindi: देवदार devadār, दारूक dāruk; Urdu: ديودار/ دیار deodār; Kannada:ದೇವಧಾರ Chinese: 雪松 xuě sōng) is a species of cedar native to the western Himalayas in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan (especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and India (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Uttarakhand states), southwesternmost Tibet in (China) and western Nepal, occurring at 1,500–3,200 m (4,921–10,499 ft) altitude. It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching 40–50 m (131–164 ft) tall, exceptionally 60 m (197 ft) with a trunk up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter. It has a conic crown with level branches and drooping branchlets.[2]
The leaves are needle-like, mostly 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) long, occasionally up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long, slender (1 mm (0.039 in) thick), borne singly on long shoots, and in dense clusters of 20–30 on short shoots; they vary from bright green to glaucous blue-green in colour. The female cones are barrel-shaped, 7–13 cm (2.8–5.1 in) long and 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in) broad, and disintegrate when mature (in 12 months) to release the winged seeds. The male cones are 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) long, and shed their pollen in autumn.
Mature Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) honing in on prey in the late evening near Wildwood, Melbourne, Australia. This hunt was successful, and the prey was a small mouse. The mouse was quickly taken to an African Boxthorn nearby, where the spikes of the Boxthorn were used to hold, and help eat, the mouse. After about one minute, the kite tilted its head back and swallowed what remained of the mouse whole.
Lovely flowers and buds on taper stalk. Watsonia (bugle lily) is a genus of plants in the family Iridaceae, subfamily Crocoideae. Watsonias are native to southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland). All are perennial herbs growing from corms and producing erect spikes of showy flowers. Most are fynbos plants, adapted to a Mediterranean-type climate, but some occur along the eastern and inland areas of the country and adapted to a wider range of conditions, mainly continental climate with summer rainfall. Many species occur mainly in the mountains, though some occur in sandy flats and marshy areas. 6072
And rightly so.
Corona-virus is here for the "long-game", at the moment we have no cure, no treatment, no vaccine.
Staying isolated helps you not catch the virus, but how long can we maintain this "hide in the cave" situation?
When we were "cave men" hiding in the cave stopped the sabre tooth tiger eating you, but like now; sooner or later someone has to go outside.
The current easing of "lock down" restrictions is the equivalent of sending someone outside to see if the tiger has gone. Some people are going to get eaten.
If you are young and fit you will "probably" be OK, but us older folk need to be aware that we probably won't outrun the tiger. So best stay in the cave until someone else checks if the tiger has gone or you find a reliable tiger repellent.
Times change but the basic fight to survive does not.
Stay safe.
This animal is part of a semi-domesticated herd owned by Sámi herdsmen. Wild and herded reindeer still swim the narrow channel from mainland Norway to reach Mageróya Island for summer grazing. Mageróya Island is the most northern piece of land in Europe. Semi-nomadic Sámi herdsmen still follow the reindeer to the island. Once know as Lapps or Laplanders, many Sámi still keep to their traditional pastoral lifestyle. Over the years, the relationship between the Sámi and the Norwegian government has often been complicated. The Sámi have traditionally lived in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions across Scandinavia and Russia in the natural habitat of the reindeer which are essentially the same animal as North American caribou. Many Sámi also live by fishing instead of herding, or a combination of the two.
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Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India. Many species are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils. The most widely cultivated species is often referred to as lavender, and there is a colour named for the shade of the flowers of this species. R_18729
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Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus Dacelo native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between 28–42 cm in length. The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, onomatopoeic of its call. The loud distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies. They are found in habitats ranging from humid forest to arid savanna, as well as in suburban areas with tall trees or near running water. Even though they belong to the larger group known as 'kingfishers', kookaburras are not closely associated with water. Kookaburras are almost exclusively carnivorous, eating mice, snakes, insects, small reptiles, and the young of other birds; unlike many other kingfishers, they rarely eat fish, although they have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. In zoos they are usually fed food for birds of prey. S_651
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Commonly known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of orchids in the family orchid. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lasting, flat flowers arranged in a flowering stem that often branches near the end. Orchids in this genus are native to India, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia with the majority in Indonesia and the Philippines. A few to many, small to large, long-lasting, flat, often fragrant flowers are arranged on erect to hanging racemes or panicles. The sepals and petals are free from and spread widely apart from each other. The lateral sepals are usually larger than the dorsal sepal and the petals much wider than the sepals. The labellum is joined stiffly to the column and has three lobes. The side lobes are erect and more or less parallel to each other and the middle lobe sometimes has a pair of appendages or antennae. 53070
They are among the oldest horticultural orchids in the world. They are among the most popular orchid genus. They're an important cut flower crop for florists and are widely cultivated as a grower's fancy. Commonly known as boat orchids, is a genus of evergreen flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are epiphytic, lithophytic, terrestrial or rarely leafless saprophytic herbs usually with pseudobulbs. There are usually between three and twelve leaves arranged in two ranks on each pseudobulb or shoot and lasting for several years. From one to a large number of flowers are arranged on an unbranched flowering stem arising from the base of the pseudobulb. The sepals and petals are all free from and similar to each other. The labellum is significantly different from the other petals and the sepals and has three lobes. There are about fifty-five species and sixteen further natural hybrids occurring in the wild from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia. Cymbidiums are well known in horticulture and many cultivars have been developed. Plants in the genus Cymbidium are epiphytic, lithophytic or terrestrial plants, or rarely leafless saprophytes. All are sympodial evergreen herbs. Some species have thin stems but in most species the stems are modified as pseudobulbs. When present, there are from three to twelve leaves arrange in two ranks and last for several years. The leaf bases remain after the leaf has withered, forming a sheath around the pseudobulb. The flowers are arranged on an unbranched flowering stem which arises from the base of the pseudobulb or rarely from a leaf axil. 3682