Protective Mimicry
View allAll Photos Tagged PROTECTIVE
Most pups tend to sleep off a rather large meal. This grey seal pup was very lively and a complete cutey... lots of engagement with the camera.
Donna Nook is a wonderful place to visit on the Lincolnshire coast. There tends to be a really biting cold wind coming in from the sea but you forget all that with the wonders of what is on that beach. My friend and I witnessed a birth and..... unfortunately lots of fighting between naturally protective mothers protecting their pups and males wanting their pick of who to mate with. Then of course there are the numerous pups who, when awake, will grace your camera with some lovely images.
Photographed at Donna Nook, UK
"We are all protective over the things we love."
Quote - Alexandra Bracken
'A new leaf of the agave is revealing herself to the world…..
so don't touch!!!!…….or the other protective leaves will attack you with their thorns…...…' ;-)
For the Macro Mondays theme: “Eye of the Beholder”
HMM everyone!
Two mushrooms from last spring. The first spring rains led to the formation of different types of fungus. I like to venture into the woods with my macro lens to capture those moments.
Thank you very much for your kind comments and visit, much appreciated! © All rights reserved.
In the centre is the Pistil, which is made up of the stigma (where the focus is) on top of the style and attached at the ovary. The stigma is surrounded by the stamens, the long pointed bits with the tips called the anthers on long filaments. The surrounding, protective Petals come in many colours and the whole is attached to the plant via the Pedicel (not shown in this view).
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
Although you can't see it, there is a very small Zebra foal in this photo. I so wanted a photo of that little animal, but the adults closed around the foal to protect it, while this one defiant Zebra turned to face me. I contented myself with this photo which captures so much more of the Zebras' spirit than I could ever have hoped for. The baby Zebra has the very best of protection and care.
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Roseate Spoonbills on nest with 2 chicks in the nest.
Hope you all have a good mid week and Happy Wing Wednesday!
Thank you for your support and visit!
Ticks are small, parasitic arachnids that can carry and transmit various diseases to humans and animals. Some common diseases associated with ticks include:
1. Lyme Disease: It is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted primarily by the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in North America. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle and joint aches, and a characteristic skin rash.
2. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF): It is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii and is transmitted by the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) and the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni). Symptoms include high fever, headache, rash, and muscle aches.
3. Babesiosis: It is caused by microscopic parasites of the Babesia family and is transmitted primarily by the black-legged tick. Symptoms may include fever, fatigue, muscle aches, and anemia.
4. Ehrlichiosis: It is caused by bacteria of the Ehrlichia family and is transmitted by the Lone Star tick (Amblyomma americanum) and the black-legged tick. Symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches.
To avoid tick-borne diseases, consider the following preventive measures:
1. Wear protective clothing: When venturing into tick-prone areas like forests or grassy areas, wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and closed-toe shoes. Tuck pants into socks and opt for light-colored clothing to spot ticks easily.
2. Use tick repellents: Apply an EPA-approved insect repellent containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) or picaridin on exposed skin. Permethrin-based repellents can be used on clothing, shoes, and camping gear to repel ticks.
3. Perform regular tick checks: After spending time outdoors, thoroughly check your body for ticks. Pay close attention to areas such as the scalp, behind the ears, underarms, groin, and the back of the knees. Promptly remove any attached ticks using tweezers, grasping them as close to the skin's surface as possible.
4. Create a tick-safe environment: Keep lawns and outdoor recreational areas well-maintained. Clear leaf litter, tall grasses, and brush around your home to minimize tick habitats. Consider using tick control products or seek professional pest control services if necessary.
5. Check pets and gear: Pets can carry ticks indoors, so ensure regular tick checks and appropriate tick prevention measures for your pets. Examine camping gear, backpacks, and other outdoor equipment for ticks before bringing them indoors.
Remember, early detection and proper removal of ticks can reduce the risk of contracting tick-borne diseases. If you develop symptoms after a tick bite, seek medical attention promptly and inform your healthcare provider about the exposure to ticks.
And one more from that fabulous blooming Scottish heather and the multi-purpose protective fences that are criss-crossing it everywhere.
Happy Fence Friday!
Ah the goldrims, when raising these beauties you never know how long you might have them in protective custody. My past experience with them has been that they take their time eating, they are very messy and they will emerge on their own time.
I have had them eclose (hatch) anywhere between fourteen days to ten months after pupation. When they stick around they take up a lot of space. Therefore, I chose not to raise any last season. Instead, I ended up releasing the hold over's from the season before.
Reluctantly, this season I have decided to give them a boost. So, I brought in several clusters of eggs when I saw them on the vine. The eggs have hatched and the caterpillars are munching away in protective custody. Now, if they will only eclose within a couple of weeks instead of several months, I shall be a happy gardener.
Have a terrific Thursday and happy snapping.
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a corm. Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, and are often mistaken for trees, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least 60 cm deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. The leaves of banana plants are composed of a stalk (petiole) and a blade (lamina). The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called hands), with up to 20 fruit to a tier. The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a banana stem, and can weigh 30–50 kilograms. Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or finger) average 125 grams, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter. The fruit has been described as a leathery berry. There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit. In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. 32533
I wish you all a wonderful Christmas!
And I would like to thank you for all your visits, faves, comments and invites.
Adored the way the branch of the Oak sheltered the young Beech sapling. Taken in Hillock Wood, Princes Risborough.
Well, friends, every now and then I fall to my knees and thank the Gods of Street Photography. This girl lay on the bench, then sat up, looked up and put her hand on her throat! And there I was and all I had to do was not spill my coffee and fire away! 😂 100% candid!
Fujifilm X-T3
XF56mm/F1.2
Black tailed godwit on high alert,
This godwit was very busy with chasing of magpies and gull’s who were a threat to the nesting area. Was hoping to see some of the little ones but maybe the eggs didn’t hatch yet and if they did then the grass was way to high. The grassland was beautiful with wildflowers
Very early out tomorrow for a very special trip where because of how far it is we leave around 4:30 - 5:00 and hope that it is a very productive trip, will let you know. Here he has his protective eye membrane closed to protect him from any mishaps.
Thank you all for stopping by it is always so very much appreciated.
This was purely an exercise in catharsis for me. A calm and satifaction is what I get from doing these.
Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)
The Noisy Miner clan at the Woodville Football Oval continues to increase. This one had swooped me as it thought I had got too close to its offspring, which I hadn't noticed at this point.
This is the last of my nature series. Though I feel that photographing nature is actually a political act in these last few years when Trump has dismantled over 100 environmental protections, I still feel that it is not really a true calling for me. I'll return to posting once in awhile but I would like to continue to advocate for humanity.
I found a lot of people even on Flickr becoming protective when asked to examine how they feel about racism and the police. I think sometimes it's hard for people to change a viewpoint when they have invested so much time and energy in it. But, I would like to encourage all of you to continue to think about how we can use that same money to rebuild communities and actually plan for a future the same way we are invested in wanting nature to thrive every year. If we had mental health clinics, better employment opportunities, more opportunities for low income housing, quality public schools in every neighborhood, health care for all-that would be a start. Why are our taxes not going to any of these things? It is because this is a system that is relying on tradition and history....and it is a system that expects people to continue to be racist and value possessions over lives as well.
It's ok to have an initial feeling of protectiveness when you are afraid or when you don't know what a very different experience will be like but if you don't open yourself up to possibilities, things on Earth will never change or get better. Do you really want that? Maybe it's time for a new experience. There's a point where the petals open like a window and that's how the sun can get in.
**All photos are copyrighted**
For the Fenced Friday group: One from last January when we had so much snow. This is a barrier to a railway crossing, you couldn't have jumped this one easily on that day.
Happy Friday, stay warm and safe!
Cuckoo - Cuculus Canorus
The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. It is a brood parasite, which means it lays eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of dunnocks, meadow pipits, and reed warblers. Although its eggs are larger than those of its hosts, the eggs in each type of host nest resemble the host's eggs. The adult too is a mimic, in its case of the sparrowhawk; since that species is a predator, the mimicry gives the female time to lay her eggs without being seen to do so.
The English word "cuckoo" comes from the Old French cucu and it first appears about 1240 in the poem Sumer Is Icumen In - "Summer has come in / Loudly sing, Cuckoo!" in modern English.
The scientific name is from Latin. Cuculus is "cuckoo" and canorus, "melodious ".
A study using stuffed bird models found that small birds are less likely to approach common cuckoos that have barred underparts similar to the Eurasian sparrowhawk, a predatory bird. Eurasian reed warblers were found more aggressive to cuckoos that looked less hawk-like, meaning that the resemblance to the hawk helps the cuckoo to access the nests of potential hosts. Other small birds, great tits and blue tits, showed alarm and avoided attending feeders on seeing either (mounted) sparrowhawks or cuckoos; this implies that the cuckoo's hawklike appearance functions as protective mimicry, whether to reduce attacks by hawks or to make brood parasitism easier.
The common cuckoo is an obligate brood parasite; it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. At the appropriate moment, the hen cuckoo flies down to the host's nest, pushes one egg out of the nest, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season. Common cuckoos first breed at the age of two years.
More than 100 host species have been recorded: meadow pipit, dunnock and Eurasian reed warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; garden warbler, meadow pipit, pied wagtail and European robin in central Europe; brambling and common redstart in Finland; and great reed warbler in Hungary.
Studies were made of 90 great reed warbler nests in central Hungary. There was an "unusually high" frequency of common cuckoo parasitism, with 64% of the nests parasitised. Of the nests targeted by cuckoos, 64% contained one cuckoo egg, 23% had two, 10% had three and 3% had four common cuckoo eggs. In total, 58% of the common cuckoo eggs were laid in nests that were multiply parasitised. When laying eggs in nests already parasitised, the female cuckoos removed one egg at random, showing no discrimination between the great reed warbler eggs and those of other cuckoos.
It was found that nests close to cuckoo perches were most vulnerable: multiple parasitised nests were closest to the vantage points, and unparasitised nests were farthest away. Nearly all the nests "in close vicinity" to the vantage points were parasitised. More visible nests were more likely to be selected by the common cuckoos. Female cuckoos use their vantage points to watch for potential hosts and find it easier to locate the more visible nests while they are egg-laying.
A male Red-winged Blackbird calls and sings, defending his territory and letting everyone know he won't allow them to mess with his mate and her nest.
This young mother was extremely keen to engage my attention.
As a result I was given a wonderful close range flight display.
No doubt her young chicks were hiding in the grass nearby as mum distracted me from finding their whereabouts.
Northern Lapwing - Vanellus Vanellus
Near Lower Barn - Yorkshire Dales
Many thanks as always to all those kind enough to comment and fave my pics, or even stop by for a look. Although I am unable to always respond, your feedback is very much appreciated.
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