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(Photos by Karl Weisel)
Community members join together to light up the season during the Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration on Wiesbaden's Clay Kaserne Dec. 6, 2013.
More info here: www.magic-tree.org/
Edit: This was the original Magic Tree. It has now been retired, and a new one at Cherry Hill has taken its place.
Beacon Fell, Lancs.
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Jas, Simon and myself know a beautiful young boy (5 yrs old) who unfortunately has Cerebral Palsy. He has just had a operation that hopefully will change his life, however the cost for this and the ongoing care/physio etc to enable him to have a normal life in the future costs a small fortune. We are hoping to help towards this cost, by cycling 180 Miles around London, to raise as much money as possible to help the family through these difficult times.
Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus)
The purple sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) is a small sunbird. Like other sunbirds they feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. They have a fast and direct flight and can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird but often perch at the base of flowers. The males appear all black except in some lighting when the purple iridescence becomes visible. Females are olive above and yellowish below.
The sunbirds and spiderhunters make up a family, Nectariniidae, of passerine birds. They are small, slender passerines from the Old World, usually with downward-curved bills. Many are brightly coloured, often with iridescent feathers, particularly in the males. Many species also have especially long tail feathers. Their range extends through most of Africa to the Middle East, South Asia, South-east Asia and southern China, to Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia. Species diversity is highest in equatorial regions.
There are 132 species in 15 genera. Most sunbirds feed largely on nectar, but will also eat insects and spiders, especially when feeding their young. Flowers that prevent access to their nectar because of their shape (for example, very long and narrow flowers) are simply punctured at the base near the nectaries, from which the birds sip the nectar. Fruit is also part of the diet of some species. Their flight is fast and direct, thanks to their short wings.
The sunbirds have counterparts in two very distantly related groups: the hummingbirds of the Americas and the honeyeaters of Australia. The resemblances are due to convergent evolution brought about by a similar nectar-feeding lifestyle. Some sunbird species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but they usually perch to feed.
The family ranges in size from the 5-gram black-bellied sunbird to the spectacled spiderhunter, at about 45 grams. Like the hummingbirds, sunbirds are strongly sexually dimorphic, with the males usually brilliantly plumaged in iridescent colours. In addition to this the tails of many species are longer in the males, and overall the males are larger. Sunbirds have long thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues, both adaptations to their nectar feeding. The spiderhunters, of the genus Arachnothera, are distinct in appearance from the other members of the family. They are typically larger than the other sunbirds, with drab brown plumage that is the same for both sexes, and long, down-curved beaks.
In metabolic behaviour similar to that of Andes hummingbirds, species of sunbirds that live at high altitudes or latitudes will enter torpor while roosting at night, lowering their body temperature and entering a state of low activity and responsiveness.
The moulting regimes of sunbirds are complex, being different in different species. Many species have no eclipse plumage, but do have juvenile plumage. Some species do show duller plumage in the off-season. In the dry months of June−August, male copper sunbirds and variable sunbirds lose much of their metallic sheen. In some instances different populations of the same species can display variation in different molting regimes.
period of travel: 11.05. - 27.05.2018
Flight from TXL via LHR to Los Angeles, from there roundtrip by car through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado Wyoming and South Dakota
stations were: Yoshua Tree NP (CA), Tucson (AZ), Carlsbad (NM), Taos Pueblo (NM), Rio Grande Gorge Bridge (NM), Great Sand Dune NP (CO), Colorado Springs, Top of the Peak Pike - 4200 meters (CO), Denver (CO), Badlands NP (SD), Rapid City (SD), Mount Rushmore NP (SD), Crazy Horse Memorial (SD), Rocky Mountains NP (CO), Canyonlands NP (UT), Flagstaff (AZ), Seligman (AZ), Los Angeles Harbour - USS Iowa (CA)
Italian Tree Cricket
(Oecanthus pellucens)
JardÃn Botánico Hoya de Pedraza,
Sierra Nevada,
Granada,
Spain
This tree impressed me with its determination to hang on where ever fate planted it. The roots are clinging on to the ledge, but the tree stands proud, apparently aware of its achievement.
47 828 heads 5Z60 Carnforth to Tyseley heading down the Sutton Park line with 57 315 on the opposite end of the train. The tree growth at this location has been phoenominal during the past 12 months with the shot of anything heading in the Park Lane direction nigh on impossible.
Part of the curious southern small tor in the copse to the north of Two Moors Way between Dog Marsh Bridge and Hunter's Tor East Dartmoor. This looks like a tree monster choking on a rock.