As promised (to Tom) very early Thursday afternoon, two more Acorn woodpeckers upon request. This is a special pair. Normally, I can't tell a mated pair of these birds because they are not monogamous although they do only mate within the family. In order to become a member of an Acorn woodpecker family,you have to be ... hartched into it. Several generations are part of the family. For an outsider to be nominated, there usually has to be a death in the family. I don't know how the voting is accomplished, but I would imagine if the nominee shows up with three or more acorns, its got the insider track.

This is a pair: the male is on the left; female on the right. You can tell by the differences in the red crown.

The acorn woodpecker's habitat is forested areas with oaks in the coastal areas and foothills of Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia.This species may occur at low elevations in the north of its range, but rarely below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Central America, and it breeds up to the timberline. Nests are excavated in a cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. Other characteristics are discussed in yesterday's upload.

One other thing that I always mention is that these "clowns" of the woodpecker species were the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker by cattroonist Walter Lantz in the 1930s. The call, a lioud ratcheting sound, HAD to be the model for Woody's call.

This was one of the earliest successful shots of this woodpecker, and one of the first bird images with the SX20 camera. Knowing the behavior and territory of a family ofhem is exceedingly useful in getting good images. For these two, I found the three main Valley oaks (out of as many as five), saw which was getting the most attention, and staked it out for the better part of two summers. With all that, I never saw where a nest was although I could guess by the activity around a hole in the trunk. Once the young are flying, they do not use the nest cavity again. They're too busy hoarding acorns. The branch of the tree that these two were on, collapsed under its own weight in May of 2011. It was estimated that 100,000 acorns had been hammered into that one branch. By the end of 2013, the whole tree had collapsed. flic.kr/p/23Xpdx4

Rarely did one encounter a perfect A-B-A set of F units on CP (except on the 'Canadian'). Here FP7 4037, F7B 4435 and FP7 4040 sit at Quebec Street in London. 4037 was the last unit to retain its maroon-and-gray livery with script lettering, and was to be repainted a few months later.

I rarely see oat fields, but when I took a detour on my way home from work yesterday, I found this one. However, the tree has found its way to my photostream before.

View On Black

A scene rarely seen in a household with cats.

“We are rarely aware of the tangent of the beyond at the whirling wheel of experience.… What is extraordinary appears to us as habit, the dawn a daily routine of nature. But time and again we awake. In the midst of walking in the never-ending procession of days and nights, we are suddenly filled with a solemn terror, with a feeling of our wisdom being inferior to dust. We cannot endure the heartbreaking splendor of sunsets.”

-Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion (New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1951), 35.

I rarely spend time photographing UP's 34 mile Salt Lake Subdivision. The surroundings are not particularly scenic, bordered by the I-15 superslab, heavy traffic, warehouses, and housing developments. When I saw this move, I had to give chase. The MROOG 06 (Roper to Ogden transfer) rolled by with a single GE C44ACM leader. It was relatively clean, so I gave chase. Being the journey would be in the thick of rush hour traffic, my options were limited. I decided to go for Cherry Hill with the sweeping 2 degree curve at Burton Lane in Kaysville. I managed to arrive with five minutes to spare, and would later discover the train had 235 cars, 82 loads, 153 empties, 15,671 gross tons, 13,938 feet of train, 1x1x1 DPU, all GEs.

Life rarely exists just in black and white, it is made up of countless shades in between. Every story holds layers, perspectives, and quiet truths that are not always visible at first glance.

Life is far more complex than it appears on the surface. Every person, every situation, every story holds more than one perspective. There are emotions, histories, and unseen reasons that shape what we do and how we feel.

Understanding comes when we step back from judgment and open ourselves to the deeper truths hidden between the lines.

True understanding begins when we step back from judgment and open our hearts to the deeper truths hidden between the lines.

So be humble and kind, and open to the different shades each on of us are made up of.

Compassion grows when we remember that there is often more than one side, more than one reason, and more than one truth.

♫ Music ♫

💖 In advance I want to thank each one of you for your always kindness, support, beautiful awards, favs, and messages and for taking the time to stop by my stream. Please know that I see and read them all, even if I do not reply back to them, I appreciate them all so much as well as each on of you for taking the time.

Lori 💖

Microscelis amaurotis

ssp. amaurotis

Bulbuls rarely get birders particularly excited, and often seem to just pad out the list - these proved to definitely be the exception !

They were one of the commonest birds that we encountered, and could be found in a wide range of habitats...

Taken last Friday using A7RM2 using the CZ jena pancolar. We knew there was a fog forecast and as I rarely get a foggy photo we drove to this lovely wood near Louth. Unfortunately for my dreams of mist we were stuck in traffic behind two seperate tractors because agricultural land around here is all ready to be harvested so we should have expected it. Of course drivers were naturally being careful too so i'm not complaining. We should have set off earlier that's all. There was some mist left which kept drenching me when I was beneath the trees but I enjoyed myself and so did our two dogs. Jonathan said he did but he is such a selfless person he would say that anyway... I didn't take much close up but instead stopped the lens down to mainly f/5.6 or f/8 but don't remember which this was. The info actually showed ISO 1000 because it was fairly dull but the sun was trying to break through…

Island Of Madagascar

Off The East Coast Of Africa

Palmarium Reserve

Night shot of a woolly lemur. This is the only time I saw this type of lemur on my entire Madagascar trip.

The woolly lemurs, also known as avahis or woolly indris, are nine species of strepsirrhine primates in the genus Avahi. Like all other lemurs, they live only on the island of Madagascar.

With a body size of up to 20 inches long and a weight of up to 42 ounces, the woolly lemurs are the smallest indriids. Their fur is short and woolly. The body can be grey brown to reddish, with white on the back of the thighs, with a long, orange tail. The head is round with a short muzzle and ears hidden in the fur.

Woolly lemurs can be found in both humid and dry forests, spending most of their time in the leafy copse. Like many leafeaters, they need long naps to digest their food. Woolly lemurs live together in groups of two to five animals, which often consist of parents and several generations of their offspring. Males and females live in pairs.

Like all indriids, the woolly lemurs are strictly herbivorous, eating predominantly leaves, but also buds and, rarely, flowers. Overall life expectancy is not known. – Wikipedia

First offering with my new macro lens

I could not resist a chance to take some shots, and see what the new camera and macro lens can do. ;o)

I want the lens overwhelmingly for outdoor macro shooting, and ideally hand-held rather than always needing a tripod. My current 30mm macro lens is quite unforgiving when hand-held, and I rarely use it when I'm out and about. So I've been looking online and on Flickr to try to find a lens that could complement my existing macro, and add something different to my range of lenses.

The lens I decided on is too heavy for the small NEX body, so I found an older Sony A Mount camera body for it ... certainly heavy and bulky compared to the NEX! And plenty to learn and discover as I get used to both camera and lens ;o)

So when the sun shone early yesterday morning I took it out into the garden, where the new young shoots on the honeysuckle held plenty of raindrops. This is just one tiny leaf in the sunshine. And yes - the rain came back by midday!!

My Leaves, berries, seeds set here: Elisa Leaves, berries, seeds

Rarely have we had that much snow in Berlin in recent years - and when it is combined with a blue sky it really is a delight.

I very rarely take photographs of people that I don't know - this was one exception. I was taking photographs in the Bensham area of Gateshead some time in the mid to late 1970s when one of these boys shouted "Take our photo mister!", so I did.

I have no idea who they were, but if they see this image and recognize themselves I will be happy to credit them. Equally, if they wish the image to be removed, I will do so.

The image you see here was created from a scanned negative of the original photo. Other images from this period can be found in the album flic.kr/s/aHBqjA9zTC.

*

*

* Ha pasado ya medio siglo (50 años) de que a España llegó la película basada en la Ópera Rock Jesus Christ Superstar de Tim Rice y Andrew Lloyd. El otro día, al volver a reponerla en televisión, nos dimos cuenta que aún está actualísima, tanto las secuencias, como la música y la puesta en escena fotográfica y visual.

Dicho film causó furor, mucho más que la Ópera. La película fue dirigida por Norman Jewison y John Clark. La figura de Jesús fue encarnada por el actor y cantante Ted Nelly. Singulares fueron también las maravillosas intervenciones de Carl Anderson, como Judas; Barry Dennen, como Pilatos e Yvonne Helliman como María Magdalena.

Nos resultó muy grato recordarla de nuevo y poder tararear algunos de sus pasajes que aún tenemos presentes, como el seleccionado para la evocación de esta imagen que ha sido fotografiada de la pantalla del televisor y trabajada con el programa PSP.

Para escuchar (To listen) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex0YEDcIZU8

I dreamed I met a Galilean

A most amazing man

He had that look you very rarely find

The haunting, hunted kind

I asked him to say what had happened

How it all began

I asked again, he never said a word

As if he hadn't heard

And next, the room was full of wild and angry men

They seemed to hate this man

They fell on him, and then

Disappeared again

Then I saw thousands of millions

Crying for this man

And then I heard them mentioning my name

And leaving me the blame.

Soñé que me encontraba con un galileo,

un hombre muy asombroso.

Tenía esa mirada que rara vez encuentras.

El tipo inquietante y perseguido.

Le pedí que dijera lo que había pasado.

Cómo había comenzado todo.

Volví a preguntar, nunca dijo una palabra,

como si no hubiera escuchado.

Y luego, la habitación estaba llena de hombres salvajes y enojados.

Parecían odiar a este hombre.

Cayeron sobre él, y después

desapareció de nuevo.

Entonces vi miles de millones

llorando por este hombre…

Y luego… los escuché mencionar mi nombre

Culpándome de todo.

(TIM RICE. Pilate’s dream.)

Rarely a day goes by

That some leaf fails to let go

Birds sit nearby and wait.

Now they may be called Common Loons, and it is not like they are rare in these parts, but I rarely see them and when I do it is usually in the middle of a large pond or lake. I know they are divers, and I am guessing that they prefer deep waters.

When driving through Elk Island National Park, for much of the stretches of road there are trees bordering the Road and a view of some of the ponds are obstructed by those trees. Still while moving slowly you can still see past the trees in an obstructed sort of way. I often drive slowly in these parts hoping one day to perhaps fine a moose or Elk on the other side of a pond or better yet wading through a shallow part. That has not happened yet, but maybe some day I will get lucky. On this day I got lucky in that I spotted something on the water that looked a bit different. In coming to a stop and looking through my camera between trees I saw that it was a loon. I was thrilled. I took a couple of obstructed shots in case they that is was all I was going to get. I got out of the car made my way down through the ditch and the row of trees and brush to get this shot.

There were two of them and if they saw me they did not seem concerned. Still at quite a distance (this is a fair sized crop) but much closer than what I am used to getting. Also reflections were quite different than the few other shots I have of Loons so all in all I was thrilled with the opportunity.

Rarely seen such a beautiful, perfect Amanita muscaria!

I rarely get the chance to photograph magpies. In our family, snapping one [ one for sorrow ] is thought to be bad luck. But anything upwards of one is OK and this morning I got the opportunity to quickly snap four. For a second they were all looking the same way which was just a bit of a fluke.

I rarely get to spend as much time with wild animals as I did with these Colobus around the hotel pool.

They hardly ever acknowledged my presence no matter how close I got especially the older animals.

Hakuna Majiwe Beach Lodge

Paje

Unguja

Zanzibar Archipelago

Tanzania

rarely do I see these birds 'in the trees'......

Friston Forest / November 27th

Sunrise in Friston Forest. I rarely venture to this part of the forest when there's fog about. I always get sidetracked by the obvious areas, more likely to give me a shot. But on this occasion I threw caution to the wind and headed to a rarely visited section of trees. I was rewarded for my efforts with some splendid sunlight breaking through and slowly burning away the mist.

Instagram

Twitter

Rarely spoke of the Winter Olympics.

Because every day was the Winter Olympics.

Art Print Available:

www.curioos.com/product/print/pioneers-1

I rarely post two photos a day OR two photos of the same band at once but I was very impressed by Deep Sea Diver yesterday so....here we go. Here's lead singer, Jessica Dobson. Special note to photographers-she does jump during the set but all of my jump shots she was facing away audience right/stage left unfortunately.

thedeepseadiver.bandcamp.com/music

**All photos are copyrighted**

..are rarely seen in modern agricultur, all the more so on meadows that are not fertilized..

I rarely post two images...I'm posting these because they are a first sighting for me and not because they are grand photographs. Such a thrill to finally see the feather pattern a young osprey!

They are gone now to the south, likely FL and/or S. America. I'll have to wait until May to see them again:(

Statue from the back

Rarely am I in awe, but today's breathtaking views of Victoria Falls left me in complete amazement. This trip was foiled by COVID in 2021, so it is beyond-gratifying to finally visit this Natural Wonder of the World.

Rarely seen northern light in the southern part of Sweden

Rarely seen...Cettis Warbler taken spring 2022

Black Terns in the UK are most often autumn juveniles Northumberland rarely sees full adults.

One appeared in a Tern colony during the first Covid year, it was only when it returned in 2021 and remained the whole summer and with excellent photos taken by others a local birder got suspicious and started investigating the subtle differences between the European and American sub-species and its true identity was worked out just about when it left for the year.

Fast forward to 2022 and once again the adult returned as all the Arctic Terns were for the new season in the past week.

Having never had the opportunity to see even a Black Tern well it was worth the trip, it can be a waiting game as it goes out to sea for hours at a time but an unfamiliar call was heard after about an hour and it swooped in flying around in front of the wardens hut for about 30 minutes before disappearing as abruptly as it appeared.

I rarely post pics taken with my cell phone as the quality is just not comparable to my Canon cameras. However, this pleasing arrangement was found at a Costco store and all I had was my cellphone. I couldn't ignore this composition, so here it is.

Boyfriends can rarely be oversized, but their suits usually are...

Eden wears :

Jacket & shirt: V.C. LAB Chica Bom Pattern D @ Kustom 9

Hairstyle: V.C.LAB Mirae

Pose by OMY - Billie

Ninth image in my Bird Art series...

Does a bird get any cuter than this???

Despite their small size and weight (4 to 8 grams!) these Kinglets are amazingly hardy, able to withstand winter nights down to -40 Fahrenheit.

They do not migrate to the far south, choosing to stay in cold latitudes during winter. Almost exclusive insect feeders, and not finding many insects to feed on in the cold, many of these birds don't survive the winter due to starvation, sadly.

Frenetic and constantly chasing insects, they are a challenging subject for photographers. They rarely stand still, making a sharp image seemingly impossible :)

I got lucky here and even had the bonus of a colorful background!

related to the bluebell but rarely grown in the garden. Lockdown edit

White-Tailed Deer (fawn).

From between 27 to 45 inches tall and 6 to 7 feet long and weighing 150-310 pounds (male) and 90 to 211 pounds (female). Tan or reddish brown in summer and grayish brown in winter. Belly, throat, nose band, eye ring and inside of ears are white. Tail brown and edged with white above often with a dark stripe down the center and white below. Black spots on side of chin. Buck's antlers can spread to 3 feet. Does rarely have antlers. Fawns are spotted.

The White-Tailed Deer inhabits farmlands, brushy areas, woods, suburbs and gardens.

They range throughtout the southern half of the southern tier of Canadian provinces and through most of the United States except for the Southwest.

Kensington Metropark, Livingston County, Michigan.

While standing in the center of Texas State Highway 54 with a view looking north and to the ridges and peaks of the Guadalupe Mountains and the national park. One lone raven is caught in flight just right of the image center.

rarely seen out of water, by me anyway, this Mom was 20 feet up in the air on a branch when I arrived. Shortly after, she joined the 14 young ones I posted on a log a few days ago, and she ushered them away as I approached the edge of the water.

We rarely stop to think about how our very lives are dependent on the biodiversity of our planet, and even when we do.... we believe it’s someone else’s problem to sort out.....

BUT IT's NOT ! ,

Taken at ELVION

Rarely have I had a nature View as spectacular as the Perito Moreno Glacier, in Argentina. When we see it from afar, it seems to be just a vision of great beauty, but as we get closer, we see how impressive is this ice wall that reaches up to 80 meters above the waterline, showing the grandeur of the force of nature. It is not only beautiful, but it makes us see how much greater nature is when we allow it to develop and manifest itself in all its splendor.

Poucas vezes tive uma visão de natureza tão espetacular quanto o Glaciar Perito Moreno, na Argentina. Ao vermos de longe, aparenta ser apenas uma visão de grande beleza, mas, ao nos aproximarmos, vemos quão impressionante é este paredão de gelo que atinge até 80 metros acima da linha d’água, mostrando a imponência da força da natureza. Não é apenas belíssimo, mas nos faz ver quão maior é a natureza quando permitimos que se desenvolva e manifeste em todo seu esplendor.

I rarely wear tattoos and the little octopus always has to wait in the inventory but yesterday at Mita Beach I did some pole dancing and the little octopus was allowed to dance with me^^

LM:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maamagili%20Island/16/18/24

Very rarely does a Sparrows Point Sub shot pop up, I’m hoping to document more of this line. Here’s L106 (Formerly Y328) running west through Dundalk. This line has a lot of cool shots and decent power, a nice stronghold of cool railroad activity in the dry city of Baltimore

I rarely photograph someones wall art but these grabbed my attention this morning (Directly opposite the camera clinic where I had my sensor cleaned today. Yea no dust spots on the semiconductor charge-coupled devices for a while)

Four single images.

Easey Street,Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia.

Street artists Rone, Adnate, Mayo, Guido Van Helton and Askew.

I rarely walk on private property to take a photo but saw this down the little road and could not pass on it. I loved all the elements in the photo. It didn't have a no trespassing sign, but it is obviously private property.

I rarely get a chance to capture frost or snow, so this is from my archives. A freezing fog came down and coated everything with ice - a rare happening in SE UK - HSoS!

I rarely see these birds, so it was a nice surprise to have them visit my feeder. They were gone the next day. According to my field guides, their range and numbers are highly variable from year to year. The other bird is a pine siskin.

On the relatively rarely visited Barnstaple branch, the 1618 from Barnstaple to Exeter Central passes Cowley, shortly before joining the West of England mainline at Cowley Bridge Junction.

In the 19th century, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and it’s predecessors built an extensive network in Devon and Cornwall. The railway’s network reached Devon via Exeter and then via the line pictured here before fanning out to reach towns such as Barnstaple, Okehampton, Ilfracombe, Padstow, Bude, Plymouth and Bodmin.

The severe pruning of the railway in the 1960s following the Beeching Report transformed this previously busy artery into a backwater. The extensive network was cut back such that by the early 1980s, of the former LSWR network west of Exeter, only Barnstaple still had a passenger service.

The name ‘The Withered Arm’ has been used to describe the former LSWR network in Devon and Cornwall for many years. However, the name actually dates from LSWR days: it is the name of a short story written by Thomas Hardy in 1888.

White-Tailed Deer.

From between 27 to 45 inches tall and 6 to 7 feet long and weighing 150-310 pounds (male) and 90 to 211 pounds (female). Tan or reddish brown in summer and grayish brown in winter. Belly, throat, nose band, eye ring and inside of ears are white. Tail brown and edged with white above often with a dark stripe down the center and white below. Black spots on side of chin. Buck's antlers can spread to 3 feet. Does rarely have antlers. Fawns are spotted.

The White-Tailed Deer inhabits farmlands, brushy areas, woods, suburbs and gardens.

They range throughtout the southern half of the southern tier of Canadian provinces and through most of the United States except for the Southwest.

Kensington Metropark, Livingston County, Michigan.

Railroading rarely comes to a standstill on account of bad weather. With Rio Grande engineer Bob Pace at the controls, SD9 No. 5312 makes a switch move in Provo, Utah the morning of Jan. 5, 1976.

I rarely get to play with teal colours in interiors, but when I do, it feels like such a banger :) Anyway, I really want a bottle of something cold and to lounge there!

credits. //

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