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The Savannah sparrow is one of the most common songbirds in all of North America and has a range that stretches out across most of the continent in various seasons. It breeds across most of Canada and Alaska as well as virtually all the northern states. It can be found primarily in open grasslands as well as in meadows, pastures, prairies, salt marshes, and tundra. In autumn, most Savannah sparrows migrate to the southern states as well as into Mexico and other parts of Central America.
During breeding season the Savannah sparrow feeds primarily on insects including beetles, flies, grasshopper, spiders, and millipedes. They forage by walking through grassy areas on the ground or among shrubs and short trees. They sometimes fly to catch insects midair, and those that live on the coast sometimes eat small crustaceans on beaches. The Savannah sparrow also eats a variety of seeds and berries.
I found this and ten thousand other Savannah Sparrows (Okay maybe not that many) along Joe Overstreet Road. Osceola County, Florida.
A couple of chairs and a bottle of Ouzo on the small round table under an old arched terrace, are waiting for the casual passerby, searching for a relaxing corner. Kimolos is an island with rich history records. According to tradition, it is named after Kimolos, the very first resident of the island. Echinousa is also a recorded name of the island during the ancient times, probably because of the snake Echidna (viper), being common even today on the island. Since the ancient era, it has been a battlefield between Ancient Athens, the ruler of the island, and Sparta, the ruler of Milos. Since those times, the rocky lands of the southern coast provided Kimolia Gi-Kimolian Earth, a valuable trade good, which made the island a major trade hub. Ottoman Empire ruled the island until 1829, when the newborn Greek state annexed it along with the rest of Cyclades.
Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art. ----Ralph Waldo Emerson
Spanaway, WA
071120
© Copyright 2020 MEA Images, Merle E. Arbeen, All Rights Reserved. If you would like a copy of this, please feel free to contact me through my FlickrMail, Facebook, or Yahoo email account. Thank you.
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This photograph has achieved the following highest awards:
Super Six, The Academy
On the higher mountains the first snow has fallen, but here around this meander of river the last colors of autumn are resisting. I think it deserved a photo.
Sulle montagne più alte è caduta la prima neve, ma intorno a questo meandro del fiume resistono le ultime cromie autunnali; credo meritassero una foto.
All rights reserved © Nick Outdoor Photography
Flower of Hyacinth .
Hyacinth in the language of flowers symbolizes fun, but it also has other meanings depending on the color. Purple hyacinth indicates consistency and sincerity.
Tonight, a little before sunset, the evening mist had already begun to appear, when a terrible noise was heard. A large flock of crows was looking for a place to spend the night and eat something early tomorrow. They chose an excellent place because in my neighborhood there are many walnuts still left on the tree.
These desert flowers bloom abundantly here....so I'm going to keep after them with my camera until it's all over for this Spring. Again, presented with a nod to Georgia O'Keefe. Photographed in Sedona, Arizona. EXPLORE Worthy, Challenge 91 - Finally Spring! (Art from 2017)
Nevada City is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Montana, United States. In the 1880s, it was one of the two major centers of Commerce in what was known as one of the "Richest Gold Strikes in the Rocky Mountain West", sharing this role with its sister city Virginia City. Since the late 1990s, Nevada City has become a tourist attraction for its collection of 19th century buildings within or surrounding the Nevada City Museum & Music Hall.
Archaeological evidence found between the Music Hall and the Nevada City Hotel would indicate earlier than mining era habitation, possibly by white hunters or trappers. The earliest white hunters and trappers in the area had no conscious intention of establishing a city on the site, because the existence of a city would have presumably destroyed their economic base, which was based on the harvesting of beaver.
Nevada City, settled June 6, 1863, contemporary in settlement with Virginia City, as miners following the Fairweather party settled the length of Alder Gulch, and established homes, and businesses in convenient locations, the length of the gulch was known as 14 mile city. Nevada City was the first to become an incorporated city, on February 9, 1865, fully constituted a body corporate and politic. In 1896, the Conrey Placer Mining Company was organized to dredge the gulch for the next 24 years, destroying many of Nevada City’s buildings. The dredges were then disassembled and the heavy wooden barges were left to slowly be reclaimed by nature.
Nevada City was populated by placer miners working several mining districts including Browns Gulch just south of the town and Granite Creek, about two miles northwest of Nevada City. Nevada City was occupied by residents as early as June 6, 1863, and its boom era was between 1863–1875, at this point it was boasted that Nevada City was home to dozens of stores and housing that stretched for six blocks (“Nevada City.”). By 1869, the population of the mining camp had fallen to about 100 people. In 1869 mercantile representation included three general stores, and two saloons. In April 1872, the city contained one miners' store, one brewery, blacksmith shop, butcher shop, livery stable, and a Masonic Hall. Most of the citizens were engaged in mining pursuits, but some of the residents had farms and stock in the valley. In 1875 Nevada City's Population was still in decline, by 1880 the Nevada City census listed 50 people occupying 16 dwellings (US Census 1880). The most commonly listed occupation of Nevada City's working class was "placer miner."
When the mining had come to an end in 1922, about $2.5 billion worth of gold in today's market had been extracted.
Port of Melbourne is Australia’s largest capital city container and general cargo port, handling more than one-third of the Australia's container trade.
Another shot of the abandoned house in better lighting conditions.
I know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. E.A.P. The fall of the house of Usher
The (nearly) Halloween Blue Moon of 2020 above Earth's shadow with night approaching, held up by a spruce spire.
Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church in Reykjavík, Iceland. At 74.5 metres (244 ft) high, it is the largest church in Iceland and among the tallest structures in the country. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674), author of the Passion Hymns.
Situated on a hilltop near the centre of Reykjavík, the church is one of the city's best-known landmarks. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937. He is said to have designed it to resemble the trap rocks, mountains and glaciers of Iceland's landscape. It took 41 years to build the church: construction started in 1945 and ended in 1986, but the landmark tower was completed long before the whole church was finished. (Wikipedia)
Alyth is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
The Burn of Alyth runs through the town with footbridges criss-crossing it.
One lovely aspect of lockdown was the opportunity to connect with nature in my own garden.
Now the youngsters have fledged we are regularly invaded by six or seven of these busy beauties
Long tailed tit - Aegithalos caudatus
My Garden
Many thanks as always to everyone who passes by to view my photos and particularly to those who take the time to comment on or fave them. It is very much appreciated and welcome.
DSC_4297
A little over 30 miles to the south of Silver City, New Mexico is an area of large, sculpted rock formations known as City of Rocks. The rocks are about 40 feet tall and cluster in groups.
so I'm sitting in a brewery... (why do all my stories start with that?!)
and I'm facing this. I'd been hiking all day and the camera was stowed in the car for the day. I'm not getting up, I'm not getting up..... Dang it, I gotta get up!!
the house itself had fantastic lines and angles that were screaming at me and then the setting sun hit that wonderful out of place tree, so here it is, hope you like it as much as I do.
I found this patch of Aspen trees in Colorado with some romantic gestures of love as couples carved their initials and the date of their visit.
Aspen trees can live up to 100 years so these marks could quite possibly be there for sometime. I wouldn’t have thought twice about the effects on doing this years ago but I decided to look it up before I posted it the image.
I did find this when researching about tree carvings, "cutting into trees can lead to disturbing of the tree’s flow of nutrients that it needs to survive. Below the layer of bark there are cells in the tree that help the tree grow and stay healthy, and destruction of those cells could harm the tree.”
How do you feel on carving into trees?
As always thank you for viewing my work and taking the time to comment or like it.
Mike D.
Spotted all these birds hanging out together in the distance on the Hydro Wires. As they were far off from my view, I could not tell what kind of birds they were.
My tulips are just about to burst open. They are fantastic fotomodels in every stage though. You might see some more of these over the next days :-)
St. Canute's Cathedral / Odense / Funen / Denmark
Album of Denmark: www.flickr.com/photos/tabliniumcarlson/albums/72157712208...
Album of High-key photos: www.flickr.com/photos/tabliniumcarlson/albums/72157718851...
• Founded in 1693, the town of Matanzas is the capital of the province of the same name. Matanzas is located 90 kilometres east of Havana, on the nothwestern coast of Cuba. Matanzas is known for its poets, culture, Afro-Cuban folklore and is the birthplace of the music and traditional dances danzón (cuban national dance) and rumba. It is also called ‘The City of Bridges’ with its nineteen bridges that cross three rivers.
• Fondée en 1693, la ville de Matanzas est la capitale de la province du même nom. Matanzas est située à 90 kilomètres à l'est de La Havane, sur la côte nord-ouest de Cuba. Matanzas est connue pour ses poètes, la culture, le folklore afro-cubain et est le berceau de la musique et des danses traditionnelles danzón (danse nationale cubaine) et rumba. Matanzas est aussi appelée « La ville des ponts » avec ses dix-neuf ponts qui traversent trois rivières.
• Fundada en 1693, la ciudad de Matanzas es la capital de la provincia del mismo nombre. Matanzas se encuentra a 90 kilómetros al este de La Habana, en la costa noroeste de Cuba. Matanzas es conocida por sus poetas, cultura, folklore afrocubano y es la cuna de la música y los bailes tradicionales danzón (baile nacional cubano) y la rumba. Matanzas también se llama " La Ciudad de los Puentes ", con sus diecinueve puentes que cruzan tres ríos.
According to the teachings of the Apostle Paul, the Church is a mysterious mystical organism, which is the Body of Christ. That is why the Lord instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Ікона «Тайна вечеря» над царською брамою іконостасу Благовіщенського собору.
За вчення апостола Павла, Церква — це таємничий містичний організм, який є Тілом Христовим. Для того Господь і встановив Таїнство Євхаристії.
«Ісус на Тайній Вечері, тієї ночі, коли Його було видано, встановив Євхаристійну Жертву Свого Тіла і Крові, щоб увічнити жертву Хреста впродовж віків, аж до Свого приходу» (ККЦ, 1323).
Він заповів Своїм учням Своє Тіло і Свою Кров: «І, взявши хліб, віддав хвалу, переломив, дав їм і мовив: «Це Моє Тіло, що за вас віддається. Чиніть це на Мій спомин». Так само чашу по вечері, кажучи: «Ця чаша – це Новий Завіт у Моїй крові, що за вас проливається».
*Німб (від лат. nimbus — хмара), ореол — коло або сяйво, що оточує голову особи в релігійному мистецтві. Слугує для вказівки на святість цієї особи. У християнському мистецтві німб відомий з III століття. На Сході німб — коло сяйва, ознака наділення благодаттю.
On the east side of Detroit is a piece of history in ruin. in 1903 this massive 3,500,000 square feet facility was known as the most modern automotive manufacturing plant in the world. Here, the luxury auto brand know as the Packard rolled off the assembly line. The company later became the Studebake-Packard Corporation. The plant closed in 1958 and was used by small companies and as a storage facility until 1990. Today the 40 acre location sits empty riddled with graffiti, vandalism, and other suspicious activity. I got to noticed what appeared to be 3 drug deals while I carefully explored.
Group Cover \o/
Group Location: www.flickr.com/groups/art-of-emotions/
Original Pix: www.flickr.com/photos/57752611@N04/46459275905/in/photost...
On one of our last hiking tours we passed this beautiful house in Bad Berleburg, Germany. Very cute and inviting. What I ask myself all the time is why does someone put a tray with slices of bread on the bench in front of the house? Should they be dried in the sun or is it a gesture for hikers who come along the way or, or, or ....
To this day it remains an unsolved mystery to me!
Does somebody has any idea?
Chain of Hearts leaves.
This one grows in a pot and the hearts cascade down the sides of the pot .
It has a weird and wonderful flower.
I have a photo of that too.
Ceropegia woodii
These plants are one of the hardiest succulents. They can be grown indoors or outdoors. The long tendrils can grow up to a metre in a season and fill pots very fast. They look very effective in hanging baskets inside your home or outside in a sunny or shady position. The Chain of Hearts do not need frequent watering. Allow to dry out inbetween waterings.
Have a lovely day
This was an idea of my Flickr friend Jim Hill. I already posted two of those images separately and he proposed that it could make a nice triptych if I included a third one with a modern digital look. He saw more in this triptych as well as he noted that the amount of people in the images could stand for the growing accessibility of photography. Kudos to you, Jim!
If you like this triptych, head over to Jim's page and leave him a few likes. If not, head over there all the more and find something you like. His night images from Chicago stand out and are among the most interesting work here on Flickr.
This also concludes my series of images from Corfu. Tomorrow, a series in Frankfurt will start.
The then silent night had given way to the screams of pain, terror and the sinister and spiteful laughs of the vampire.
Their swords created through their own blood, with extreme speed fall on their victims dismembering them and decapitating. They didn't even have a chance to fight him with dignity, as they could only feel a sudden strong wind, see a brief figure and then, their bodies were sliced up with such force that their armor felt like paper.
In the sky, the moon shone like a huge, glittering silver scythe, a somewhat apt shape for this night, when he was a reaper and didn't make a point of leaving any poor devil alive. Everyone would pay for standing against him. With grace and extreme savagery their swords continued to fall on those who could no longer flee, who due to such fear, were paralyzed. It was a slaughter. He didn't care, he wouldn't be forgiving or pious tonight, he would be brutal and he insisted on demonstrating all his power, so that no mortal, vampire, or werewolf would ever make a point of rising up against him again. He would allow only the women and children to survive this night, to tell everyone about the horror that had befallen their city. When the animals controlled by a demon invaded the city gates, as if lashed by its invisible whip, and when finally the devil himself descended on them, always almost invisible, like a wind of death, at first tearing with its beastly claws the terrified people of the city, then impaling them, with spears created through their own blood, setting the city ablaze with flames that seemed to arise from hell itself or from your heart aflame with hate. When then the two swords set to fall on them, cutting flesh, amputating limbs and beheading heads.
The city of Khaldheim would be an example to everyone. The fire flickered in the burning houses, like huge insatiable demons wanting to feed on more and more, turning the once majestic houses to ashes. Like the flames, his swords were not content with the pile of dismembered bodies left in his path, like a scarlet wind, he continued to claim lives and as he did, he laughed with delight, for few things gave him more pleasure than wanton killing. His laughter echoed through the air, chilling the blood of those who were still alive even more, announcing that it wouldn't be for long.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went camping in Cunningham Gulch north of Silverton, CO, with some friends. The San Juans had just got their first dusting of snow on the mountain peaks and we were going to explore the Alpine Loop. It was fantastic weather, plenty of early fall colors with the bonus of snow tipped peaks. The overnight low the first night reached the low 20s, but the next day reached into the upper 60s. The one thing that would be the cherry on top to this trip was seeing a moose.
So, just as our day was coming to its conclusion, this guy appeared on the edge of a meadow near Howardsville, and he was kind enough to allow me a few snaps. but, he was pretty clear that I had come close enough.
'You ask, why Carhenge? Creator Jim Reinders responds to that question simply with one of his own: “Why Not?”'
Thank you for taken your time to visit me, comments or faves are always much appreciated!
TGIF right? Still not 100% sure what to do for a weekend, but I certainly hope that we get to have fun like for the last one! This image was shot in Grand Haven, MI and the weather was amazing. What is more amazing was the sheer amount of people walking back and forth to the lighthouse! I decided to try my luck from the other side and I think it was right thing to do. What do you think?
Sunrises of the summer, what may be more beautiful and more romantic. Another photo from the morning park in my city.
Thank you for all the comments and faves, my dear friends.
:: " A book can also be where one finds oneself; and when a reader is grasped by and held by a book, reading does not feel like an escape from life so much as it feels like an urgent, crucial dimension of life itself." ::
{Rebecca Mead - My Life in Middlemarch}
... oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre!
One of the most fantastic sunsets I have ever seen. Taken at the Mull of Kintyre on Saturday evening. The islands are, I think, in the front Rathlin Island, and behind that Northern Ireland.
This image was pretty much straight out of the camera (I just lightened the shadows a tiny notch, and added a tiny bit of tonal contrast). I had a bit of a job deciding whether the horizon was straight though---feel free to tilt your screen if not :D
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊