I don't often get up for dawn. In no small part, because I'm just not a morning person. But the lure of frost, mist and an absence of wind in the weather forecast persuaded me to make the effort on my recent visit to the Lakes. I don't think I've ever seen a river quite so still.

Original photograph copyright © Simon Miles. Not to be used without permission. Thanks for looking.

...its diamond Wednesday :))

Neil Diamond - Song sung blue

Often when I use glass balls in a photograph I include too much of my lounge or myself in the picture, this time I wrapped shiny gift wrap round the table to prevent this. It may be possible to see something in the large globe but that is slightly out of focus.

☼My works are often BEST VIEWED

***************************************************

So often these guys would be off before I could so much as grab the camera.

However having just caught a tasty morsel, it was happy to let me watch it eat.

Common Redshank - Tringa Totanus

Upper Barn - Yorkshire Dales

As always I extend my sincere appreciation to all those who take the time to stop by and comment on my photos.

DSC_3513

The American bushtit inhabits mixed open woodlands, often containing oaks and a scrubby chaparral understory ; it also inhabits parks and gardens. It is a year-round resident of the western United States and highland parts of Mexico, ranging from Vancouver through the Great Basin and the lowlands and foothills of California to southern Mexico and Guatemala.

The American bushtit is one of the smallest passerines in North America, at 11 cm (4.3 in) in length and 5–6 g (0.18–0.21 oz) in weight. It is gray-brown overall, with a large head, a short neck, a long tail, and a short stubby bill. The male has dark eyes and the adult female, yellow. Coastal forms have a brown "cap" while those in the interior have brown "mask."

The American bushtit is active and gregarious, foraging for small insects and spiders in mixed-species feeding flocks containing species such as chickadees and warblers, of 10 to over 40 individuals. Members of the group constantly make contact calls to each other that can be described

Often Overlooked

House Finches are so common, that I realized that I had posted a photograph of one since Spring, even though the pastel pinks of the male are extremely beautiful. So I decided to post this photograph of this male house finch in order to show the variety of birds in my yard

2020_10_30_EOS 7D Mark II_1550-Edit_V1

Often watching others photograph makes for the best candid images. . .

This Female Woodpecker can often be seen in the field next to Hookers pit at Dungeness RSPB digging out Ants , she seemed to be doing very well on Sunday morning and had dug a hole with her bill that must have been swarming with them judging by how many she was eating

Often the weather is overcast and the waters are not calm. Fortunately we had some pretty light and calm water which allowed the opportunity to capture this image. They are so beautiful whether in the water, air or on the ground. zHope to go back one day and visit these little clowns of the sky !!

Wishing you a great evening and a very blessed one !!

Often I would cycle this trail on weekend and some weekdays. It is a long cycling trail around the Netherlands chores. It is all paved trail in the dune that separate the Northern Sea from the Land. These are man-made dunes and the trails help the jokers, the walkers and the cyclists do their exercise. Along the ride on this trail, there is the comfort of seeing the Northern Sea and some of the most beautiful scenery and sun sets. Living in the Netherland for 3 years, it was never boring. The people, the culture and the nature add more beauty to this beautiful place. I was so impressed to the point it is a stop destination on my travels.

Explored: www.flickr.com/photos/shedraway/52751614236/in/explore-20...

All My Links

Found a great corner on a motorway here in Berlin, this ridge over the dip made for an interesting red line LE. It many attempts to get it right and is often the most challenging in respects to photography, as it's pure chance and of course one can never get the time back. Luckily enough in cities there is seldom any lack of traffic.

Much appreciation to my followers both new and old, not far from the big 500; also I appreciate all comments, faves, criticisms and feedback and so as always, thank you! :)

Often the best interruptions come from four small legs and a demanding wet nose!

Dutchie velvet tufted sofa, blue and green rug and virtual classics books.

I don't often use my in-camera panorama mode - the in-camera stitching never seems very good, but here seemed like a good opportunity for a nice wide shot. Taken from a small lookout alongside Walker Flat, it shows the Murray river itself closest to camera and Lake Bywaters just beyond the small strip of land. There is a cable ferry crossing here (the Boobook) just out of view at the right edge of the image.

A small Indian mammal often found in grasslands or in farmlands adjacent to grasslands / forest areas. They are hard to sight and need right timing to see them. But now I am realizing that they are far more common than expected and could be found in several more places than possible.

The den was to the right of the pup and it was patiently waiting for the mother to show up with some food. There were two pups - both next to the den and didn't stray far. A street dog made its appearance briefly (It would kill the pups if there was a chance) and the pups immediately darted off into the den. We realized then that the den had two entry points - this was also confirmed in another den I saw later. Possibly as a backup way out maybe. I also thought the pups looked old, a couple of weeks maybe. Another week or two they will be out into the world.

Thank you so much in advance for your views, feedback and faves.

It's often called 'alba' or white, is our Fuchsia magellanica, var. molinae Espinosa. In fact though, its 'petticoats' are of a very pretty pale pink.

This Fuchsia hails from the large island of Chiloé about 1000 kms south of Santiago de Chile. Marcial Ramón Espinosa Bustos (1874-1959) in 1929 named it to honor Juan Ignacio Molina (1740-1829), formidable polymath born in Chile. He entered the Jesuit order and on its supression in that country fled to Italy where he among other positions was professor of Greek in Bologna. He continued his work in natural history and was one of the precursors of the theory of the gradual evolution of species for which Charles Darwin is so famous. In fact, Darwin often refers to Molina in his works.

Espinosa writes on the centenary of Molina's death when he made his scientific description of our Fuchsia: 'Es para mí muy satisfactorio dedicir esta variedad, como un modesto homenaje, al eminente naturalista e historiador chileno, el abate don Juan Ignacio Molina'.

Not often I see anything at sunset and then just the afterglow, but it's always nice when I do! Hope everyone is having a Brilliant day! :)

Quite a metaphor this one... about how the path to your goal is often obstructed.

For one reason or another, Bald Eagles often leave one spot and move on to another spot to see if the rotten salmon are tastier than the one they were eating, or maybe to have an interaction with another eagle. Skamania Co, WA, 15 Nove 2020.

Often, moonlight dims shows of the aurora in the northern latitudes, but here the effect was minimal, with the foreground and the sky both well-lighted over the Nenana River Valley in central Alaska. The area is experiencing record amounts of snowfall this winter.

Along the horizon can be seen red warning beacons from distant wind turbines.

(Tangara seledon)

Trilha dos Tucanos

Tapiraí

Brasil

==================***==================

All my photos are now organized into sets by the country where they were taken, by taxonomic order, by family, by species (often with just one photo for the rarer ones), and by the date they were taken.

So, you may find:

- All the photos for this trip Brasil // Atlantic Forest (2019) (271)

- All the photos for this order PASSERIFORMES (3553)

- All the photos for this family Thraupidae (Traupídeos) (266)

- All the photos for this species Tangara seledon (11)

- All the photos taken this day 2019/08/23 (11)

==================***==================

Wow! It rained like hell, but suddenly….this amazing rainbow was there.Was I lucky to have my Sony Alpha 6000 and the Samyang F2.0 - 12mm lens, a very wide lens, with me. I just could not believe it my eyes. I was just not expecting it at all.

This shot was taken at 6pm on August 19th,2017 in Laboe, Germany.

Laboe (German pronunciation: [laˈbøː]) is a municipality in the district of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Baltic Sea coast, approximately 10 km northeast of Kiel.

In this picture you can see the beach of Laboe, with the recognizable outline of the Laboe Naval Memorial at the left.

The city coat of arms depicts a swan and is based on its name, as Laboe means "swan" in the extinct Slavic Polabian language.

Thank you very much for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy and potentially learn something! Big thanks to the amazing Flickr family out there!

I often get comments about my titles and how I use people in my photography. The titles are actually a discourse with myself, they remind me of the wonderful, the essence of our world and the way I seek to live my own life. I do this for the people in my life, my family, my friends, the people who I meet and the boy on the left, my son. Being non-verbal, I am his voice, I am his teacher and his advocate. I remind myself daily of his ability to love unconditionally, his gratefulness for the tiniest things and his untainted joy for life. He is his mother's teacher, her inspiration and her best friend. xox

Dettifoss and Selfoss are the spectacular waterfalls that you often see on flickr, and i might post some shots later. But there is a third and smaller waterfall just downstream, and I am happy that we went there as well.

The reason is easy to see, because its surroundings are breathtaking. It is part of the Àsbyrgi Canyon, and there are so many colors to see.

Because of the dark weather I used my HDR technique and worked it out later in lightroom.

From 17th of August until the 31st I traveled through Iceland, mainly the classic tour taking the 1, and here and there doing alternative stretches, but I didn't go inland, because of lack of time. (www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155536506856759&set...).

Two weeks is clearly not enough to see this fantastic country with all its dynamic landscapes thanks mainly through its active vulcanism that can be seen everywhere. Active volcanoes, boiling landscapes, huge lava fields (old en new), moving tectonic plates etc.

And although the weather was very poor (the Icelandic people said it was the worst summer they could remember), there was so much to see (and to photograph) that I drove almost 5000 km's and took ca 2700 pictures (thank god the sun wasn't shining all day because I could easily have taken 6000 shots then).

Most of my pictures will not be very surprising because you can see them everywhere on Flickr, and maybe one day all will go back to do another less obvious tour there. It is worthwhile for sure.

Often one of the flowers in a bouquet will posses something that makes it stand out from the others! LOL

Here Gerbera turned ONE petal and showing us the colour with a laugh?

Have a glorious day and thank you, M, (*_*)

For more: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

I often change this huge are area in the sky completely.

It has been an urban, zombie killing hood, a Book Circus, Fantasy Land, a Winter Sports resort, a Christmas Fairy Tale Land and ... will be more ... It is really large - almost sim-wide!

So there is always a lot to explore. It is a sim over a sim!

♥.... Do not forget to ride the owl and fly around ....♥

Tp to Mystic Meadow, Oniro

Often maligned for their raucous behavior, Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) are a favorite of mine and their fondness for acorns has spread oak forests across North America. Backyard in Missouri City, Texas.

Often we don't even see them, but wow what a loss - so much prettiness out there 😍

The name designation in the map function of Flickr is often wrong, as in this contribution. Ooijen is on the west side of the Meuse River; De Hamert on the east.

The National Park 'De Hamert' is a great place to walk in any season, even in dreary, gray winter. This area was already settled in the bronze and early iron ages; it has only been partially excavated for archaeology in order to leave finds for later generations.

The heath is grazed by Kempen Heath Sheep whose forebears - as uncovered sheep bones attest - lived here as early as the bronze age.

Like all crows worldwide the Pied Crow is very much an opportunist. This one and many others like it were more often than not seen around human habitation. In this case it was found around the back of a restaurant, no doubt looking for food left overs.

We only came across one other species of crow on this trip and that was the House Crow. A bird that had been introduced by there British to Zanzibar in 1897. The idea was that the house crows would clean up the waste left by humans. Alas they spread really easily throughout East Africa and are now regarded as an invasive species. In fact I believe that a they have also reached Holland as recently as 1998.

Often there is a fight in my mind as to have great focus, or a nice soft depth of field. Mostly, as in this case, the bokeh background wins the battle. Pity about the left stamen being out of focus. Any suggestions to get the best of both worlds without stacking?

It's not often you can get excited by a micro moth, but this is one of my favourite species and one which can be seen at a private wood that I survey each year.

At only 9mm it is very small, but even at that size it has a spectacular pattern.

The larvae feed on dead leaf litter of all things. Despite this though the species is quite scarce.

I have posted a couple of images of this little beauty before, but this is probably my best shot so far of one.

Changing Seasons....

As photographers we often take shots at the same locations in different seasons. All too often we find the same vantage point that we find works so well for the subject we are trying to capture.

This photo is of the same tree, shot from the same vantage point in two very different seasons. ... so why not use photoshop and some slight retouching to combine the images.

Thank you for visiting for marking my photo as a favourite and for the kind comments,

Please do not copy my image or use it on websites, blogs or other media without my express permission.

© NICK MUNROE (MUNROE PHOTOGRAPHY)

You can contact me

by email @

karenick23@yahoo.ca

munroephotographic@gmail.com

munroedesignsphotography@gmail.com

or on Facebook @

www.facebook.com/MunroePhotography/

On Instagram

www.instagram.com/munroe_photography1/

☼My works are often BEST VIEWED LARGE☼

Created for Photoshop contest Week 924 ~ Angles

www.flickr.com/groups/photoshopcontest/discuss/7215772191...

Thanks to Paul Cowie for this source:

www.flickr.com/photos/paulcowie/5499644696/

Wombo blend with source and extra wombo images for background addition.

***************************************************

Photo shop and Nature ARTISTS:

Multi Group Contest/ Gallery Directory

New contests on the 1st and 15th

***************************************************

With heartfelt and genuine thanks for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day, be well, keep your eyes open, appreciate the beauty surrounding you, enjoy creating, stay safe and laugh often! ❤️❤️❤️

The Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) uses a variety of methods to get its food; stalking its prey in shallow water, often running with raised wings or shuffling feet to disturb small fish, or may stand still and wait to ambush prey.

They make use of opportunities provided by cormorants disturbing fish or humans attracting fish by throwing bread into water. On land they walk or run while chasing their prey, feed on creatures disturbed by grazing livestock and ticks on the livestock, and even scavenge. Their diet is mainly fish, but amphibians, small reptiles, mammals and birds are also eaten, as well as crustaceans, molluscs, insects, spiders and worms.[

Every so often I get up enough courage to publish an ICM image on Flickr. I personally love ICM as a genre but I know it doesn't always find favour with other photographers. I've never understood why not as for me at least it is how pleasing an image is to the eye that is important. In some ways ICM images are more honest than someone shooting a subject using autofocus on a modern DSLR. At least with ICM there is some camera skill involved in getting the movement and the composition right. So there's my pitch for ICM, take it or leave it as you wish.

So this was shot earlier today in some local woodland. I liked the look of it and decided to add a very fine blueish texture as an overlay in Photoshop. Other than that it hasn't been touched other than to frame it.

Particularly intelligent, the black redstart is a resourceful species. It often frequents rooftops, chimneys and antennas. During the night, it prefers crevices of walls or rock cavities instead. When not in flight, it is perched on overhangs of buildings or other perches, characteristic wiggling its tail. On the ground it proceeds in small hops.

Originally the black redstart was living almost exclusively in rocky areas, but already in the 18th and 19th centuries, due to the increasing urbanisation and expansion of cities, it spread to the plains and then into the cities and villages, using buildings and high-rises instead of its native, alpine and rocky habitat. It nests at a maximum altitude of 3200m and it’s a very widespread species. It’s funny song is strident and it starts way before sunrise, giving the start signal to the birds for their morning concert.

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) male_w_5038

Often early in the morning you will see the lone yellow crown night heron searching the beaches along the gulf for crabs. they are an elegant bird and even walking in a very gracious and deliberate kind of way . So beautiful and always a delight to see.

Wishing you a wonderful and blessed Thursday!!!!!!!!

Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis

The cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is a cosmopolitan species of heron (family Ardeidae) found in the tropics, subtropics and warm temperate zones.

It is a white bird adorned with buff plumes in the breeding season. It nests in colonies, usually near bodies of water and often with other wading birds. The nest is a platform of sticks in trees or shrubs. Cattle egrets exploit drier and open habitats more than other heron species. Their feeding habitats include seasonally inundated grasslands, pastures, farmlands, wetlands and rice paddies. They often accompany cattle or other large mammals, catching insect and small vertebrate prey disturbed by these animals. Some populations of the cattle egret are migratory and others show post-breeding dispersal.

The cattle egret has undergone one of the most rapid and wide reaching natural expansions of any bird species.It was originally native to parts of Southern Spain and Portugal, tropical and subtropical Africa and humid tropical and subtropical Asia. In the end of the 19th century it began expanding its range into southern Africa, first breeding in the Cape Province in 1908. Cattle egrets were first sighted in the Americas on the boundary of Guiana and Suriname in 1877, having apparently flown across the Atlantic Ocean. It was not until the 1930s that the species is thought to have become established in that area.

The species first arrived in North America in 1941 (these early sightings were originally dismissed as escapees), bred in Florida in 1953, and spread rapidly, breeding for the first time in Canada in 1962. It is now commonly seen as far west as California. It was first recorded breeding in Cuba in 1957, in Costa Rica in 1958, and in Mexico in 1963, although it was probably established before that. In Europe, the species had historically declined in Spain and Portugal, but in the latter part of the 20th century it expanded back through the Iberian Peninsula, and then began to colonise other parts of Europe; southern France in 1958, northern France in 1981 and Italy in 1985.

Breeding in the United Kingdom was recorded for the first time in 2008 only a year after an influx seen in the previous year. In 2008, cattle egrets were also reported as having moved into Ireland for the first time. This trend has continued and cattle egrets have become more numerous in southern Britain with influxes in some numbers during the non breeding seasons of 2007/08 and 2016/17. They bred in Britain again in 2017, following an influx in the previous winter, and may become established there.

In Australia, the colonisation began in the 1940s, with the species establishing itself in the north and east of the continent. It began to regularly visit New Zealand in the 1960s. Since 1948 the cattle egret has been permanently resident in Israel. Prior to 1948 it was only a winter visitor.

►►►►►BLOG

Sanssouci is the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. It is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. Frederick the Great wanted to cultivate plums, figs and wine on Potsdam’s doorstep. He had a terraced garden designed and constructed in Sanssouci Park in 1745 –1747 for this reason.

Sanssouci containing just ten principal rooms, it was built on the brow of a terraced hill at the centre of the park. The influence of King Frederick's personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace was so great that its style is characterised as "Frederician Rococo".

During the 19th century, the palace became a residence of Frederick William IV. The town of Potsdam, with its palaces, was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918.

After World War II, the palace became a tourist attraction in East Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, Frederick's body was returned to the palace and buried in a new tomb overlooking the gardens he had created. Sanssouci and its extensive gardens became a World Heritage Site in 1990 under the protection of UNESCO.

Don't see these elusive birds very often so delighted to catch a couple of images of this bittern in flight .. worth the wait 😃

It often pays off to stick with a subject. After the first few shots as the Plains Bison walked past - see yesterday's post - I stuck with him to see what he'd do. He found a rubbing stone. They're everywhere, many of them dropped during the last glacial retreat, and today they serve both bison and cows to relieve itches they can't otherwise reach.

Note the relaxed position of the tail. This is what you want to see when photographing bison: he is aware of me but does not feel threatened in any way. If that tail were raised, I would have retreated immediately. You don't mess with a 2,000 lb animal when he's agitated!

Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

More often heard than seen (and they aren't even heard all that often), Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea) are facing an uphill battle. This is due primarily to habitat loss and fragmentation. These stunning blue birds live the high life, literally--they live and nest predominately in the canopies of mature, deciduous forests. And because they live waaaaaay up there, they are typically discovered by their calls of "zee zee zee zizizizi eeet!"

Interestingly, lady cerulean warblers are often referred to as bungee jumpers They will hop to the edges of their nests and drop from them, free-falling with their wings tightly closed until they are well below their babies, when then unfurl their feathers and take flight!

☼My works are often BEST VIEWED LARGE☼

OK, so I made her look like a giant as an adult..hehe, just trying to fit her 10 week self into the scene.

Ember ended up as a 100 lb girl. Here she is in her Spring shed.

Her ear took about 6 years to stand up fully. It is fun to see how the face and body pattern changes on a Malamute from baby to adult.

Ember was with us for about 10 years. She blew out her knee. The operation failed and her other knee sometime later blew out as well.

Ember was a difficult girl, a bully to our then Shep/Newfie mix. But we loved her dearly anyway.

***************************************************

Photo shop and Nature ARTISTS:

Multi Group Contest/ Gallery Directory

New contests on the 1st and 15th

***************************************************

Often seen perched on tall thin plants, this one was happily standing on a pyramid. (a stone monument in Ferry Meadows).

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

- Merci au poète écossais: Robert Burns (1759-1796)-

*

♫♪

youtu.be/1XSvsFgvWr0

(Bob Dylan - Jokerman-)

Often a star was waiting for you to notice it.

A wave rolled toward you out of the distant past,

or as you walked under an open window, a violin yielded itself to your hearing.

All this was mission. But could you accomplish it?

Weren't you always distracted by expectation, as if every event announced a beloved?

------Rainer Maria Rilke