I was able to pass under this massive structure and get a perspective from an isolated public viewing area.

Getting close to the north support base, I was able to use an ultra-wide focal length to capture this powerful composition. Of all the images I made during the brief stop we had on Battery Road, this is my favourite.

blogged here: djenglandphotography.blogspot.com/2024/10/photo-of-week-2...

It's nice just to build. This engine was made from table scraps using some BBB medium wheels. The Pistons work and it's able to go around corners. I especially loved creating the front of this engine with all the small details!

Able Seaman Arthur Thomas Wood was born 21 April 1921 at Berry in New South Wales, and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 at the age of 17. After training at HMAS CEREBUS he joined HMAS SYDNEY in early 1939. When World War II was declared, SYDNEY was ordered to serve in the Mediterranean for escort duty. Wood was aboard SYDNEY when it sank the Italian cruisers ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in July 1940.

These photographs and postcards depict some of the sailors, equipment and activities of HMAS SYDNEY in the months prior to the sinking of the vessel. They provide an interesting commentary of the operations and work carried out aboard HMAS SYDNEY prior to its fateful end, such as the sinking of Italian ships ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in the Mediterranean.

The Australian National Maritime Museum undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collection. If you can identify a person, vessel or landmark, write the details in the Comments box below.

Thank you for helping caption this important historical image.

Object number ANMS0845[011].

Elephant & Castle, 3rd February 2016.

On May 13, 2013 I was able to visit and go photo shooting with my best friend, The DrgnMastr.

He was kind enough to show me around the fair city of Moncton, New Brunswick and we got to photograph Ducks, the Tidal Boar, a number of gulls and off course the ever present Bald Eagles.

Upon returning home and reviewing the photographs taken they couldn't come close to the post of

The DrgnMastr. so I decided to go out and photograph the Nova Scotia Osprey.

Thanks DM for the great time. See you in a couple of weeks.

HI ALL, To my AMAZEMENT!! I was able to get on the internet right now!! No clue why I haven’t been able to for more then a month. No clue how long I can stay on or if I will be able to get back on anytime soon.

My health is oretty lousy with allergies on top and pretty bad to. No covid I have been tested more then once. The guy in the next apartment seems likely to have covid, but refuses to be tested or mask up or isolate and the building doesn’t seem to be able to do anything. Guy next door says it isn’t his problem if anyone gets it they were ment to get it.

Anyway I have been stuck in my apartment due to health so I haven’t encountered him much so that is a good thing.

How are you all doing?? I hope well!! Enjoying life?? Doing anything fun this summer??

I better send this while I hopefully can.

Please take care and prayers for you all.

I hope you are all well. :)

Charles.

I do force this old body out for walks when i can and of course I need food so to get grocerys a very painful difficult thing to do. Ordering them to be dilivered is not affordable for me and not have internet accesse makes that not possible even if i could. But getting out some is good and thus these two pictures.

Hugs all. No clue when I'll be on again.

Charles.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here! I wasn’t able to sleep prior to the Unveiling as I was too busy day dreaming. In fact I still haven't recovered. Can you believe it’s been a year since FR Classic was unveiled? Anyways… As usual I am doing a review. Pardon me as this is going to be yet another intense critique coming from me, and this Flickr layout is not helping in any way. So here it goes…

Elusive Creature Natalia - *Roll eyes* First thing I could think of is “body donor”. I mean, this is the exact hairstyle that Brazen Beauty Natalia had from The Premiere Convention last year. The similarity between the two and her previous versions is bugging me. I also think that her lip color doesn’t go with everything. I do like her outfit but these aren’t must-have pieces. I love her accessories and most especially her snake-skin purse. That is the one item I want to have from her.

On The Rise Elise - Lovely doll isn’t she? I totally love her color palette which reminds me a bit of FR:16’s Main Feature Elsa Lin. The only thing I don’t like about her is her top. I feel that the plunging neckline is so passé (been there done that) and I feel that the folds on her top looks sloppy in the promos. I wished her dress was as polished as Veronique’s, and that brooch on her belt is not helping at all. There are so many possibilities that the top could have been more interesting that will off-set the wrap skirt. I was thinking that her top could have the same neckline and style as Vero’s but with sleeves and an open back, or a top with cut-out details, or a similar deep neckline but with sleeves, or a racer front, or even a sheer fabric incorporated to it. Just something that will make her chicer and will bring the look to 2014. Now I wish that skirt was a separate piece from that top so I can do some modifications to it. Again, like Natalia, her accessories are to-die-for. That gold faux-croc clutch is amazing!

Faded Desert Kyori - Boy, Kyori could not get past that pink lipstick. Some of The Premiere dolls I felt were rehashed. Improved versions of their previous incarnations, and the way I feel about this Kyori is no different. I think she’s just a better version of last year’s upgrade doll, Love The One Kyori. If only she had a different lip color, then she would have been perfect. I feel that with that make-up it seems that she just came from the Jem and the Holograms movie audition.:) Kidding aside, I think she’s pretty and I don’t mind having her in my collection. Again, I’m annoyed by the absence of sleeves. I do love the pop of colors on her look, but I wished she wasn’t wearing that skirt. None of these dolls are wearing trousers. Where are the trousers?! Where’s my jumpsuit!?! Sigh... (breathe in breathe out)… I’m also wishing, with this theme, they could have darkened her skintone. Think of the new FR:16 Cosmetic Surrender Elsa Lin. She looks phenomenal with a tan and blonde hair. With this theme they could have taken the opportunity to darken her skintone. Oh well, there’s always a next time…

Full Spectrum Veronique - *Gay gasp* This version of Vero is exceptional! You see, this is one of the looks that I’ve been dying to see on Vero. I’ve been thinking she could rock either a do with full bangs or a short hairdo which gives her a bit of an edge to other dolls... And when they give her that look she becomes the stand out. This time she didn’t fail. I live for that dress. Live! If the other dolls had that similar chic dress she’s wearing (I’m looking atchoo Elise!), I would be in dolly heaven. Sadly that’s not the case. I forgive Vero for not being theme appropriate because again, she came out to the top. Fortunately there’s a pair of shoes from the shoe pack with a faux-croc material that can go with the dress. So I’m looking forward to that.

High Visibility Agnes - I didn’t fall in love right away with this version of Agnes. In fact, I was a bit disappointed at first. But the more I look at her, the more that I like her. It’s nice to see her as a redhead again but I feel that her lip color is too bright at first. Maybe because I’m not a fan of that pale pink leopard print bustier and skirt. It might look great in person but not in the promos. I feel that it’s too subdued. This Agnes will look great redressed though. Richer colors and jewel tones like Emerald will look great on her I think. You know, Jason Wu’s Spring 2014 Ready-to-Wear, aside from neutrals, had a lot of dark blue and tan colors and right now he has deep burgundy, grape and lilac in his current collection. I would have loved to see those colors instead.

Vivid Encounter Adele - Alright… Here we go. You know, I’m not really disappointed with the fact that her face sculpt remains the same. It’s the fact that Adele is losing her spark with every incarnation IT puts out. Her face screening is an improvement from the last one, let’s give her that, but I can’t help but notice how similar they look. Adele has lost her allure and that sex appeal that she’s giving me more of a Disney Princess vibe in this look. The moment I saw her, the word ”Swampy” came to mind. Her dress has a lot of potential but I’m not too crazy about the color. The construction on that top is impressive though. They gave her bubble gum pink lips again… Haven’t IT learned from this? That lip color is not helping. There were so many potential looks embedded in my mind for Adele in this Urban Safari theme, and sadly this isn’t one of those. When we anticipate something, and when that something is stamped in our head and it takes on an odd turn, we get disappointed. That’s what happened here.

Fashion Explorer Vanessa - I’m thankful with the fact that I was able to pre-order this W Club Upgrade doll because as it turned out she’s one of the prettiest from this collection. I’m still not crazy with her boots though. A little bit of restyling is needed.

City Prowl Eugenia - *Another gay gasp* Seeing Eugenia in a gorgeous blonde hair is one of moments I’ve been waiting for. The whole look speaks for itself. All she needs is a whip! She has smokey eyes and nude lips… and that yellow eyeshadow is unexpected. I love that. If only Adele could have been this sexy… I’m team Eugenia! She deserves a happy dance.

Montaigne Market Elise - I included MM Elise in this photo to see how well she blends in with the rest. I think she remains outstanding in that gold sequined dress. I’m glad I have her in my collection.

I get that in this collection the Safari theme inspiration shouldn’t be taken literally. Once again, IT pulled out something unexpected. In every look there are bits and pieces that incorporates the Safari theme but then again, we have seen that before from past collections where some dolls have bags or shoes with animal print and faux croc textures that I felt this theme could have gone all out. I would have loved to see menswear inspired suits, trousers and again, jumpsuits. I was also expecting something tribal. Each of the dolls seem to have their own take of Urban Safari so in a way I was expecting one of them to have some ethnic inspired jewelry. The opportunity to have gone wild is somehow missed in this collection.

Here one is able to see all the various attributes of the M-208 at work: The articulation between the two modules; the pontoons unfolded on the rear module; the deployment of the additional deck slats; and the liftarm up and at 'em.

As always, huge ups to Wayne for rendering this huge mofo!

Just three photos from my archives this evening. I am adding the description that I wrote under a different image taken on the same outing.

After endless emails and phone calls, the work on my car is finally about to start, four and a half weeks after I dropped it off at the dealership. It has now been decided that both the slight hail damage and the peeling paint repair will be done at one location, not two different ones. The hail damage repair should be starting straight away. It could still be maybe two or two and a half weeks (or more) before all the work is completed. Will it be done before Christmas?

"FINALLY, I was able to take my daughter out for the day on 17 June 2021, after a year and a half of keeping separate because of COVID-19. Only once during that time, have we met up for an afternoon of being out in the country. Both of us have done all we could to avoid the risk of catching COVID and, worst of all, passing it on to others. My daughter has been fully vaccinated for a few months (Health Care worker) and I had my second shot two months ago. My opinion is simply that if one really cares about people, one doesn't take risks.

Anyway, we had such an amazing day! Heading south of the city and eventually turning eastwards, we covered quite a large area, some of which I had driven before, but other places were new to both of us. Twelve hours of driving and 490 km were hot and tiring, made more challenging by the fairly strong wind. Two or three minutes before I arrived home after dropping my daughter back home, the orange Low Gas light came on, on the dashboard of my car. I hadn't expected the drive to consume almost the whole of a full tank of gas, but I am just so thankful that I didn't run out when we were in the middle of nowhere.

My daughter deserves credit for most of the bird finds! She has 'eagle eyes' and I appreciate that so much. One of the highlights for us was a pair of Long-billed Curlews that were mainly hidden in tall grass. They were wandering about, keeping an eye on a tiny, adventurous chick.

Another totally unexpected thing happened when we were looking at a cluster of small trees. My daughter had noticed that there were two deer walking around the base of the trees, so we pulled over. Everything suddenly 'exploded', and a pair of Great Horned Owls and one owlet burst out of the leaves and perched on different branches. We took a few quick shots and then left them, not wanting to cause them any extra stress. I can't remember what the birds were that were harassing the owls, too.

We had quite a few sightings of Hawks throughout the day. Some stayed, others flew. Both species of Kingbird were seen, Eastern and Western. A Mourning Dove standing on a picnic table was good to see, plus an American Robin, a Great Blue Heron, and various 'usual' species were seen along the back roads. Two Swainson's Hawks were nesting, with one nest having three little ones that we could see from a huge distance.

Another special sighting was a Shrike that was originally perched high up in a distant tree. My daughter pointed out the small bird, but didn't know what it was. When I zoomed in, I was happy to see that it was a Shrike, sometimes known as the Butcher bird. A bit later, when I pulled over to wait for my daughter, the Shrike suddenly flew down and was eating some prey that it had skewered on the barbed-wire fence. Such a treat to see for the first time, and I was able to take a bit of video.

"The Loggerhead Shrike is a songbird with a raptor’s habits. A denizen of grasslands and other open habitats throughout much of North America, this masked black, white, and gray predator hunts from utility poles, fence posts and other conspicuous perches, preying on insects, birds, lizards, and small mammals. Lacking a raptor’s talons, Loggerhead Shrikes skewer their kills on thorns or barbed wire or wedge them into tight places for easy eating. Their numbers have dropped sharply in the last half-century.

A Loggerhead Shrike can kill and carry an animal as massive as itself. It transports large prey in its feet and smaller victims in its beak." From AllAboutBirds.

The final treat of the day was when my daughter found a Common Nighthawk. We had checked a spot where I had seen them before, but we were out of luck. So happy to see one lone bird, after thinking that we were not going to see any.

A ghost town and various old barns that I had seen before, but wanted to show my daughter, added to a great day. Even yellow and pink Cacti flowers, that came as a surprise. So lucky to have such a great day."

With 26 acres of lush tropical plants and some 1,600 animals, the Gladys Porter Zoo is a zoological and botanical park nestled in the center of Brownsville, Texas. It is known for its successes in breeding endangered species of wildlife.

Of all the zoos I have visited, I found this zoo the best as far as being able to view the animals, birds and such without having to look through wire mesh and the like. (14-01-21-3442)

I wasn't able to see the eclipse this year, but I took this eclipse photo through the glass of a welding helmet when I was living in Minneapolis in 2017

Was able to try out the new 100mm lens at a wedding yesterday. The bride was a close friend of my youngest daughter from high school, and the groom was a son of a friend of my wife and I. Mrs. Krach was able to introduce bring the two of them together several years ago.

Captured here at ISO 4000 without any flash.

Able Body Sales refurbished and repainted by Amrep in 2013. this was taken before CNG tanks or signboards were attached. note the barn doors, probably the only existing natural gas truck them

new (2013) Mack LEU chassis

www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/southstackcliffs/seasona...

About South Stack Cliffs

Enjoy a close-up view onto a wonderful cliff-side nesting colony, with binoculars and telescopes provided. You'll be able to watch guillemots, razorbills and puffins all raising their young, while live television pictures give you an even closer view of the nests! Rare choughs can also be seen on the reserve.

In spring and summer, the heathland becomes a riot of colour. Look closely and you may see a basking adder, while out to sea there may be porpoises and dolphins.

Opening times

The RSPB reserve is open year round; Ellins Tower, the RSPB visitor centre, is open from Easter to September.

Entrance charges

Free, but donations to help us continue our work here are welcome.

If you are new to birdwatching...

This reserve is good for birdwatching in the summer only.

Information for families

Some interactive materials in Ellins Tower Information Centre.

Information for dog owners

Some access for dogs. Please contact the reserve office for more information

Star species

Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.

Chough

The chough is the rarest member of the crow family in the UK. They can be found feeding in fields around South Stack, probing for invertebrates with their curved, red bill.

Guillemot

Guillemots look ungainly when they shuffle around on their nesting ledges on the cliffs, but underwater their streamlined shape comes into its own and they become agile and manoeuvrable.

Peregrine

Keep an eye out for a commotion among birds on the cliffs - a peregrine may be making a fly past. They are a regular sight overhead when a pair is nesting in the area.

Puffin

Enjoy the comical antics of puffins in spring and early summer from the viewing points on the cliffs. Watch the adults returning from fishing forays at sea with sandeels hanging from their colourful beaks.

Razorbill

Very similar to guillemots, razorbills spend most of their lives at sea in the Atlantic, only coming to land to breed between March and July.

Seasonal highlights

Each season brings a different experience at our nature reserves. In spring, the air is filled with birdsong as they compete to establish territories and attract a mate. In summer, look out for young birds making their first venture into the outside world. Autumn brings large movements of migrating birds - some heading south to a warmer climate, others seeking refuge in the UK from the cold Arctic winter. In winter, look out for large flocks of birds gathering to feed, or flying at dusk to form large roosts to keep warm.

Spring

Marvel at the wildflowers including kidney vetch, thrift and scurvey grass amid the cliff top grassland and heathland. Particularly eyecatching is the spring squill, which carpets areas of heathland that have recently been burnt. Look out for stonechats and linnets perched on top of bushes and listen out for the first skylarks. As spring takes hold, watch out for choughs and ravens collecting material to build their nests and don't miss the breeding seabirds crammed onto the narrow ledges on the cliffs in front of Ellins Tower.

Summer

Ellins tower provides excellent views of the seabird city with guillemots, razorbills, puffins, fulmars and gulls. Try to spot razorbill and guillemot chicks on the narrow cliff ledges, but don't leave it too late as these seabirds will be leave for the open ocean in July. Listen for the distinctive calls of choughs. They will be active gathering food for their ever growing young. Look out for the endemic spatulate fleawort amongst the cliff top grassland where you might be lucky and see an adder basking in the sun. Search out the rare silver-studded blue butterflies amid the shorter heathland.

Autumn

The heathland will be ablaze with colour as the mauves and purples of the heather flowers mingle with yellow gorse flowers. Look out for family groups of choughs. You will probably hear them first as the newly-fledged youngsters beg noisily for food from their parents. In the tidal races just offshore, look out for feeding gannets, passing shearwaters, porpoises and dolphins.

Winter

Look out for flocks of feeding choughs. These comprise of the newly-independent first year birds along with sub-adult birds from the last couple of years. A good place to search them out is the RSPB managed farmland (from the permissive path). This land is managed to provide foraging opportunities for chough throughout the year. Listen and look out for ravens as they begin to display, a sure sign that spring is round the corner.

Facilities

Facilities

•Information centre

•Car park : RSPB car park located at SH211818, complete with three marked disabled car parking bays and cycle racks.

•Binocular hire

•Group bookings accepted

•Guided walks available

•Remote location

•Good for walking

•Pushchair friendly

Viewing points

Spectacular views of the breeding seabird colonies from Ellins Tower visitor centre (open Easter to September) with binoculars and telescopes provided.

Nature trails

The South Stack reserve is very popular with visitors for many reasons. Visitor activity is concentrated around Ellins Tower (the RSPB information centre), where the paths are maintained to a higher standard than elsewhere on the reserve. The heathland areas and their network of paths are open to the public (on foot) at all times. These paths cross a mix of coastal and heathland terrain and some pass close to cliff edges. There are no specific RSPB trails, but the route of the Ynys Gybi circular walk and the Isle of Anglesey Coastal footpath are waymarked along with the routes of the public footpaths. The nature of the terrain makes many of the paths steep and rocky, making access difficult for anyone with impaired mobility. However, a well-surfaced, high-quality 2 m wide track with benches runs from the RSPB car park (complete with three disabled parking bays) into the heathland and onto a viewpoint in front of Ellins Tower. Access to Ellins Tower is via a steep flight of stairs. The permissive path through the farmland connects the two areas of heathland. This path is open to the public (on foot) at all times (except 10 December each year). Grazing animals are present, so please take care and keep dogs under close control. Access to the Isle of Anglesey Council's 'South Stack Island and the Lighthouse' visitor attraction is via approximately 400 steps of variable rise and tread width down the cliff (not part of the RSPB reserve).

Tearoom

Fantastic News! We are delighted to announce we have just taken over the ownership of South Stack Kitchen Café. The staff and builders at South Stack have been working furiously over the last 2 weeks since being handed the keys to carry out essential work needed to open the Café with a fresh, vibrant feel and we hope to reopen by the 28 May (sooner if we can) Once open the Café will be serving a range of hot and cold drinks, light bites and snacks for your enjoyment.

Refreshments available

•Hot drinks

•Cold drinks

•Hot meals

•Cold meals

•Snacks

Accessibility

The majority of visitor activity at the RSPB South Stack nature reserve is concentrated around Ellins Tower, the RSPB information centre, and occurs during the summer months. South Stack reserve comprises a mix of coastal and heathland terrain with steep sea cliffs which support breeding seabirds.

Nature trails

The nature of the terrain makes many of the paths steep and rocky making access difficult for anyone with impaired mobility. In view of the visitor pressure, the paths in the vicinity of Ellins Tower are maintained to a higher standard than elsewhere on the reserve.

The most accessible path for people of impaired mobility runs from the RSPB car park into the heathland and onto a viewpoint in front of Ellins Tower. The track is well-surfaced and high quality (2 m wide) with benches and leads from three marked disabled car-parking bays in the RSPB car park.

Visitor centre

From Easter to September, Ellins Tower is open daily from 10 am to 5.30 pm. Access to Ellins Tower, which is a Grade 2 Listed castellated folly near to the cliff edge, is via a steep flight of stairs. Views of the dramatic seascape and some of the breeding seabird colony can be gained from the viewpoint by those who are unable to gain access to Ellins Tower.

Our work here

Our South Stack reserve on Anglesey comprises heathland, farmland and offshore stacks and caves. The RSPB is managing these habitats for the benefit of their breeding seabirds and choughs, as well as a wide variety of other fauna and flora. We are also working to provide an excellent wildlife and landscape experience for visitors.

Chough haven

The reserve is especially important for its breeding choughs, with our nine pairs representing 2% of the UK population. We are maintaining the heathland and farmland to provide suitable nesting and feeding conditions for this rare bird.

Healthy heath

The reserve’s heathland is part of the largest area of maritime heath in North Wales. Besides choughs, this important habitat supports the endemic plant spatulate fleawort, and the uncommon silver-studded blue butterfly, plus adders, common lizards and a range of other flora and fauna. Controlled burning helps us to manage this habitat for the benefit of all its wildlife.

Seabird spectacular

The sea cliffs provide nest sites for around 4,000 seabirds, including puffins, guillemots, razorbills and fulmars. Other birds to use this habitat include peregrines and ravens. We are monitoring our seabird populations and working to minimise any disturbance to the colony.

Visitor value

The scenic beauty of the reserve, together with its seabird spectacle, operational lighthouse, and many sites of geological and archaeological interest, make it very popular with visitors. Around 35,000 people visit our information centres each summer.

We are maintaining and enhancing our facilities, including our visitor centre at Ellins Tower and our network of paths. We are also providing more information to help people to get the most from their visit, while promoting the aims of the RSPB. We run seven events per year and encourage an active volunteer programme.

Community care

South Stack is a major tourist attraction on Anglesey and plays a significant part in the local economy. We will continue to advertise the site to enhance the flow of tourist income to the island and, where possible, will support local communities and business in developing the reserve.

I finally got internet in my new place so I should be able to get on Flickr much more frequently now.

Anyways, after Yosemite we went to San Francisco for the day and saw the Giants win in walkoff fashion. The next day we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and had a ton of fun playing in the park and in the ocean. However, my camera really never made it out in those places so we fast forward to the day we flew from Sacramento to New York City. The last time I was there I was six years old, so this really was a whole new experience for me. I loved New York and can't wait to see this city again!

View this shot and others from New York on SmugMug here.

Rinko-able split cable hanger with barrel adjuster. Folks like their barrel adjusters..

It's really great to be able to go to a new place with friends and fellow photography enthusiasts. To be able to travel to places with the sole purpose of following my passion for landscape and coastalscape photography is truly an exhilarating experience. And to think I almost didn't join my friends at the Pipho Photo Club on this trip because I didn't know much about Taiwan. After doing some research online, I saw how perfect the Taiwan coastline is for the kind of photography I love.

Our first stop, sunrise at the sea-eroded coral coastline of Nanya.

Location: Nanya, Taiwan

Photographed at UCSC Arboretum in Santa Cruz, California

I was able to spend 3 lively hours at UCSC Arboretum on 03/30/18 and love was in the air. There were so many courtship flights of male Allen's hummingbirds taking place that I'm surprised there were no collisions.

Note the large amount of pollen on the hummingbird's bill resulting from all of the visits to the various flowering bushes in the arboretum to obtain nectar. Hummingbirds, not just bees, are great pollinators.

Our local hummingbird species is the Anna's Hummingbird but for several months every year, the arboretum is a great place to see and photograph the Allen's Hummingbirds that show up after their winter migration to Mexico. There's a detailed description of the male's courtship flight under the "Behavior" section of the Wikipedia information I included below.

======================

From Wikipedia: Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) is a species of hummingbird. It is a small bird, with mature adults reaching only 3 to 3.5 in (76 to 89 mm) in length. The male has a green back and forehead, with rust-colored (rufous) flanks, rump, and tail. The male's throat is an iridescent orange-red. The female and immature Allen's hummingbirds are similarly colored, but lack the iridescent throat patch, instead having a series of speckles on their throats. Females are mostly green, featuring rufous color only on the tail, which also has white tips. Immature Allen's hummingbirds are so similar to the female rufous hummingbird, the two are almost indistinguishable in the field. Both species' breeding seasons and ranges are common factors used to differentiate between the two species in a particular geographical area.

Distribution:

Allen's hummingbird is common only in the brushy woods, gardens, and meadows of coastal California from Santa Barbara north, and southern coastal Oregon. The nominate race of Allen's hummingbird, S. s. sasin, is migratory, and winters along the Pacific coast of central Mexico. A second, S. s. sedentarius, is a permanent resident on the Channel Islands off southern California. This population colonized the Palos Verdes Peninsula of Los Angeles County in the 1960s and has since spread over much of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, south through San Diego County, and east to the western end of Riverside County.

Behavior:

The courtship flight of male Allen's hummingbirds is a frantic back-and-forth flight arc of about 25 ft (7.6 m) similar to the motion of a swinging pendulum, followed by a high-speed dive from about 100 ft (30 m) during which tail feathers emit a characteristic sharp flutter to further attract attention of the female. Aggressive and territorial, male Allen's hummingbirds will chase any other males from their territory, as well as any other hummingbird species, and have even been known to attack and rout predatory birds several times larger than themselves, such as kestrels and hawks.

Allen's hummingbird constructs its nest out of plant fibers, down, and weed stems, coating the nest with lichens and spider webs to give it structure. The nest is placed above ground on a tree branch or the stalk or stem of a plant. The female lays one or two white eggs, which she incubates for 15 to 17 days. The young leave the nest about three weeks after hatching. The mother continues to feed the fledglings for several more weeks, then the young are left to fend for themselves.

Like all hummingbirds, Allen's hummingbird's high rate of metabolism requires it to feed frequently. It drinks nectar from flowers and eats any small insects in flight or on flower blossoms, providing needed protein.

AB2A1088-1_fCAFlkr

St Andrew and St Patrick, Elveden, Suffolk

As you approach Elveden, there is Suffolk’s biggest war memorial, to those killed from the three parishes that meet at this point. It is over 30 metres high, and you used to be able to climb up the inside. Someone in the village told me that more people have been killed on the road in Elveden since the end of the War than there are names on the war memorial. I could well believe it. Until about five years ago, the busy traffic of the A11 Norwich to London road hurtled through the village past the church, slowed only to a ridiculously high 50 MPH. If something hits you at that speed, then no way on God's Earth are you going to survive. Now there's a bypass, thank goodness.

Many people will know St Andrew and St Patrick as another familiar landmark on the road, but as you are swept along in the stream of traffic you are unlikely to appreciate quite how extraordinary a building it is. For a start, it has two towers. And a cloister. And two naves, effectively. It has undergone three major building programmes in the space of thirty years, any one of which would have sufficed to transform it utterly.

If you had seen this church before the 1860s, you would have thought it nothing remarkable. A simple aisle-less, clerestory-less building, typical of, and indistinguishable from, hundreds of other East Anglian flint churches. A journey to nearby Barnham will show you what I mean.

The story of the transformation of Elveden church begins in the early 19th century, on the other side of the world. The leader of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh, controlled a united Punjab that stretched from the Khyber Pass to the borders of Tibet. His capital was at Lahore, but more importantly it included the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. The wealth of this vast Kingdom made him a major power-player in early 19th century politics, and he was a particular thorn in the flesh of the British Imperial war machine. At this time, the Punjab had a great artistic and cultural flowering that was hardly matched anywhere in the world.

It was not to last. The British forced Ranjit Singh to the negotiating table over the disputed border with Afghanistan, and a year later, in 1839, he was dead. A power vacuum ensued, and his six year old son Duleep Singh became a pawn between rival factions. It was exactly the opportunity that the British had been waiting for, and in February 1846 they poured across the borders in their thousands. Within a month, almost half the child-Prince's Kingdom was in foreign hands. The British installed a governor, and started to harvest the fruits of their new territory's wealth.

Over the next three years, the British gradually extended their rule, putting down uprisings and turning local warlords. Given that the Sikh political structures were in disarray, this was achieved at considerable loss to the invaders - thousands of British soldiers were killed. They are hardly remembered today. British losses at the Crimea ten years later were much slighter, but perhaps the invention of photography in the meantime had given people at home a clearer picture of what was happening, and so the Crimea still remains in the British folk memory.

For much of the period of the war, Prince Duleep Singh had remained in the seclusion of his fabulous palace in Lahore. However, once the Punjab was secure, he was sent into remote internal exile.

The missionaries poured in. Bearing in mind the value that Sikh culture places upon education, perhaps it is no surprise that their influence came to bear on the young Prince, and he became a Christian. The extent to which this was forced upon him is lost to us today.

A year later, the Prince sailed for England with his mother. He was admitted to the royal court by Queen Victoria, spending time both at Windsor and, particularly, in Scotland, where he grew up. In the 1860s, the Prince and his mother were significant members of London society, but she died suddenly in 1863. He returned with her ashes to the Punjab, and there he married. His wife, Bamba Muller, was part German, part Ethiopian. As part of the British pacification of India programme, the young couple were granted the lease on a vast, derelict stately home in the depths of the Suffolk countryside. This was Elveden Hall. He would never see India again.

With some considerable energy, Duleep Singh set about transforming the fortunes of the moribund estate. Being particularly fond of hunting (as a six year old, he'd had two tutors - one for learning the court language, Persian, and the other for hunting to hawk) he developed the estate for game. The house was rebuilt in 1870.

The year before, the Prince had begun to glorify the church so that it was more in keeping with the splendour of his court. This church, dedicated to St Andrew, was what now forms the north aisle of the present church. There are many little details, but the restoration includes two major features; firstly, the remarkable roof, with its extraordinary sprung sprung wallposts set on arches suspended in the window embrasures, and, secondly, the font, which Mortlock tells us is in the Sicilian-Norman style. Supported by eight elegant columns, it is very beautiful, and the angel in particular is one of Suffolk's loveliest. You can see him in an image on the left.

Duleep Singh seems to have settled comfortably into the role of an English country gentleman. And then, something extraordinary happened. The Prince, steeped in the proud tradition of his homeland, decided to return to the Punjab to fulfill his destiny as the leader of the Sikh people. He got as far as Aden before the British arrested him, and sent him home. He then set about trying to recruit Russian support for a Sikh uprising, travelling secretly across Europe in the guise of an Irishman, Patrick Casey. In between these times of cloak and dagger espionage, he would return to Elveden to shoot grouse with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. It is a remarkable story.

Ultimately, his attempts to save his people from colonial oppression were doomed to failure. He died in Paris in 1893, the British seemingly unshakeable in their control of India. He was buried at Elveden churchyard in a simple grave.

The chancel of the 1869 church is now screened off as a chapel, accessible from the chancel of the new church, but set in it is the 1894 memorial window to Maharaja Prince Duleep Singh, the Adoration of the Magi by Kempe & Co.

And so, the Lion of the North had come to a humble end. His five children, several named after British royal princes, had left Elveden behind; they all died childless, one of them as recently as 1957. The estate reverted to the Crown, being bought by the brewing family, the Guinnesses.

Edward Cecil Guinness, first Earl Iveagh, commemorated bountifully in James Joyce's 1916 Ulysses, took the estate firmly in hand. The English agricultural depression had begun in the 1880s, and it would not be ended until the Second World War drew the greater part of English agriculture back under cultivation. It had hit the Estate hard. But Elveden was transformed, and so was the church.

Iveagh appointed William Caroe to build an entirely new church beside the old. It would be of such a scale that the old church of St Andrew would form the south aisle of the new church. The size may have reflected Iveagh's visions of grandeur, but it was also a practical arrangement, to accommodate the greatly enlarged staff of the estate. Attendance at church was compulsory; non-conformists were also expected to go, and the Guinnesses did not employ Catholics.

Between 1904 and 1906, the new structure went up. Mortlock recalls that Pevsner thought it 'Art Nouveau Gothic', which sums it up well. Lancet windows in the north side of the old church were moved across to the south side, and a wide open nave built beside it. Curiously, although this is much higher than the old and incorporates a Suffolk-style roof, Caroe resisted the temptation of a clerestory. The new church was rebenched throughout, and the woodwork is of a very high quality. The dates of the restoration can be found on bench ends up in the new chancel, and exploring all the symbolism will detain you for hours. Emblems of the nations of the British Isles also feature in the floor tiles.

The new church was dedicated to St Patrick, patron Saint of the Guinnesses' homeland. At this time, of course, Ireland was still a part of the United Kingdom, and despite the tensions and troubles of the previous century the Union was probably stronger at the opening of the 20th century than it had ever been. This was to change very rapidly. From the first shots fired at the General Post Office in April 1916, to complete independence in 1922, was just six years. Dublin, a firmly protestant city, in which the Iveaghs commemorated their dead at the Anglican cathedral of St Patrick, became the capital city of a staunchly Catholic nation. The Anglicans, the so-called Protestant Ascendancy, left in their thousands during the 1920s, depopulating the great houses, and leaving hundreds of Anglican parish churches completely bereft of congregations. Apart from a concentration in the wealthy suburbs of south Dublin, there are hardly any Anglicans left in the Republic today. But St Patrick's cathedral maintains its lonely witness to long years of British rule; the Iveagh transept includes the vast war memorial to WWI dead, and all the colours of the Irish regiments - it is said that 99% of the Union flags in the Republic are in the Guinness chapel of St Patrick's cathedral. Dublin, of course, is famous as the biggest city in Europe without a Catholic cathedral. It still has two Anglican ones.

Against this background then, we arrived at Elveden. The church is uncomfortably close to the busy road, but the sparkle of flint in the recent rain made it a thing of great beauty. The main entrance is now at the west end of the new church. The surviving 14th century tower now forms the west end of the south aisle, and we will come back to the other tower beyond it in a moment.

You step into a wide open space under a high, heavy roof laden with angels. There is a wide aisle off to the south; this is the former nave, and still has something of that quality. The whole space is suffused with gorgeously coloured light from excellent 19th and 20th century windows. These include one by Frank Brangwyn, at the west end of the new nave. Andrew and Patrick look down from a heavenly host on a mother and father entertaining their children and a host of woodland animals by reading them stories. It is quite the loveliest thing in the building.

Other windows, mostly in the south aisle, are also lovely. Hugh Easton's commemorative window for the former USAAF base at Elveden is magnificent. Either side are windows to Iveaghs - a gorgeous George killing a dragon, also by Hugh Easton, and a curious 1971 assemblage depicting images from the lives of Edward Guinness's heir and his wife, which also works rather well. The effect of all three windows together is particularly fine when seen from the new nave.

Turning ahead of you to the new chancel, there is the mighty alabaster reredos. It cost £1,200 in 1906, about a quarter of a million in today’s money. It reflects the woodwork, in depicting patron Saints and East Anglian monarchs, around a surprisingly simple Supper at Emmaus. This reredos, and the Brangwyn window, reminded me of the work at the Guinness’s other spiritual home, St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, which also includes a window by Frank Brangwyn commisioned by them. Everything is of the highest quality. Rarely has the cliché ‘no expense spared’ been as accurate as it is here.

Up at the front, a little brass plate reminds us that Edward VII slept through a sermon here in 1908. How different it must have seemed to him from the carefree days with his old friend the Maharajah! Still, it must have been a great occasion, full of Edwardian pomp, and the glitz that only the fabulously rich can provide. Today, the church is still splendid, but the Guinesses are no longer fabulously rich, and attendance at church is no longer compulsory for estate workers; there are far fewer of them anyway. The Church of England is in decline everywhere; and, let us be honest, particularly so in this part of Suffolk, where it seems to have retreated to a state of siege. Today, the congregation of this mighty citadel is as low as half a dozen. The revolutionary disappearance of Anglican congregations in the Iveagh's homeland is now being repeated in a slow, inexorable English way.

You wander outside, and there are more curiosities. Set in the wall are two linked hands, presumably a relic from a broken 18th century memorial. They must have been set here when the wall was moved back in the 1950s. In the south chancel wall, the bottom of an egg-cup protrudes from among the flints. This is the trademark of the architect WD Caroe. To the east of the new chancel, Duleep Singh’s gravestone is a very simple one. It is quite different in character to the church behind it. A plaque on the east end of the church remembers the centenary of his death.

Continuing around the church, you come to the surprise of a long cloister, connecting the remodelled chancel door of the old church to the new bell tower. It was built in 1922 as a memorial to the wife of the first Earl Iveagh. Caroe was the architect again, and he installed eight bells, dedicated to Mary, Gabriel, Edmund, Andrew, Patrick, Christ, God the Father, and the King. The excellent guidebook recalls that his intention was for the bells to be cast to maintain the hum and tap tones of the renowned ancient Suffolk bells of Lavenham... thus the true bell music of the old type is maintained.

This church is magnificent, obviously enough. It has everything going for it, and is a national treasure. And yet, it has hardly any congregation. So, what is to be done?

If we continue to think of rural historic churches as nothing more than outstations of the Church of England, it is hard to see how some of them will survive. This church in particular has no future in its present form as a village parish church. New roles must be found, new ways to involve local people and encourage their use. One would have thought that this would be easier here than elsewhere.

The other provoking thought was that this building summed up almost two centuries of British imperial adventure, and that we lived in a world that still suffered from the consequences. It is worth remembering where the wealth that rebuilt St Andrew and St Patrick came from.

As so often in British imperial history, interference in other peoples’ problems and the imposition of short-term solutions has left massive scars and long-cast shadows. For the Punjab, as in Ireland, there are no simple solutions. Sheer proximity has, after several centuries of cruel and exploitative involvement, finally encouraged the British government to pursue a solution in Ireland that is not entirely based on self-interest. I fear that the Punjab is too far away for the British to care very much now about what they did there then.

I was able to attend a night shoot with the ATSF No. 5704 organized by Eric Goodman along with the folks at Class-One Model Works The numberboards, headlight and class lights were lit up for the event. Most of the people here were locals, but there were some from out of town. Though it was a very warm evening, it was definitely fun being there.

Making it's public debut on Track 27 at Kansas City's Union Station is the recently restored Bicentennial Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway EMD SD45-2 No. 5704. The locomotive is on display at KCUS starting on display for six days starting on Flag Day, June 14. This also coincides with the Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society's convention being held at Overland Park, KS this same week.

Built in May of 1973 at LaGrange, IL, this was originally delievered in the standard yellow and blue "yellowbonnet" paint scheme. In January of 1976, this was one of five SD45-2's (5700-5704) that were painted at San Bernardino, CA in a special paint scheme to commemorate America's Bicentennial that same year. While wearing this scheme, these five units were found on high priority freights including the "Super C" and helped with the American Freedom Train while it ran on Santa Fe rails.

The 5704 was repainted back to the "Yellowbonnet" scheme in 1978 and rebuilt to an SD45-2u at San Bernardino in 1986, where it was renumbered to 5834. After the merger with BN in 1995, it eventually became BNSF No. 6484 in 2000, and while in storage pending retirement, it became GN No. 6484.

Eventually, it was slated for scrap, and it actually made it all the way to Memphis, TN where it was pulled from the deadline literally one day from being scrapped.

Why was it saved? Due to the efforts of a few determined people, the former ATSF No. 5704 had been donated to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA. Now that the 5704 was been repainted in its former Bicentennial paint scheme, BNSF will soon move this California where the SCRM, where many of their volunteers worked on Santa Fe's SD45-2's at the San Bernardino shops, will have this restored to operation.

Thanks to BNSF for donating the locomotive, and a big thank you to Mid-America Car, Sherwin-Williams Paint, Eagle Graphics and Class-One Model Works for all their time and effort. It was literally unbelievable to see this in person, especially after growing up seeing dozens of photos of Santa Fe's Bicentennial fleet. 6/14/22.

I haven't been able to build much recently for two main reasons:

A ridiculous amount of homework in preparation for a ton (10+) tests over the next month, and a recent infestation of carcinogenic mold in my room, which made me move all my LEGO stuff and lose tons of progress on things.

This was really my first dabble in LEGO steampunk, though I made a painting in the theme a while back. I didn't have a specific goal in mind when I began building, but as the build continued it just sort of became this. It actually started with the greebles on the underside, and evolved from there-- some of the other views will help explain how it all works, though I do consider this to be the best shot (it's more a vig than a ship, at least in my mind). Once I'd built the greebles, I played around in some concept sketches with ideas for a final build before deciding to try to use the preformed boat hull and make a one-man airship. From there, it evolved based on a unique blend of my own sailing experience and some thoughts about the physics of a ship so highly asymmetrical into it's current form, with the pilot hiked way out over the rail.

Backstory:

Though born to a poor family, James Lucius Charon had always dreamed of being someday able to join the vast airborne fleets. Normally restricted to those financially capable of purchasing a production airship model, pilot licenses were rarely given, and even just a minor position aboard an Arcadian naval vessel required years of higher education (discounting, of course, the conscript vessels). Desperate to reach his goal, James assembled his own compacted engine based on reverse-engineered wrecks and eventually cobbled together a functional vessel. Though perhaps in retrospect he took the concept of airship a bit too literally, his one-of-a-kind craft is remarkably capable: it has an extremely high thrust-mass ratio, high fuel efficiency, and excellent midair agility. However, due to the asymmetrical distribution of engine components, starboard turns are substantially wider in radius than those to port.

More pics here: www.flickr.com/photos/tobyhein/4548924022/

Fun videos are posted on their YouTube Page.

A link for my mom.

Fan them on Facebook.

I was not able to travel to the path of totality for this year's eclipse so we watched the partial eclipse from the office parking lot. We used a pinhole viewer to watch, with a sheet of copier paper with a small hole projecting onto another piece of white paper. I'm not sure where the two "ghost" images are coming from, possibly from an uneven pinhole edge. This was taken at the peak, we only got 62% obstruction here.

Our big dog Glory was extremely ill for the first time ever. Without going into the gory details, she became very weak at one point, not even able to keep water down and we didn't think she would make it. She's only 4 years old and very trim and active. It turned out to be a bad batch of dog food. I had purchased a different brand of dog food when my usual was out of stock. Only Glory ate it but picky Bean would not. The food is -- Purina ONE Beyond -- their premium and supposedly natural, health conscious recipe. It sounds good on paper and the ingredient list is very impressive but the reality is something different.

Checking online revealed some very disturbing things...recalls of dog and cat food, recalls of soy products used in pet foods due to contamination and hundreds of complaints for Purina dog and cat food in the past few months alone. And very sad and tragic stories...pets were dieing. They were getting sick, exactly like Glory, recovering and then going back on the food! These unfortunate people didn't suspect it could be the food. It was heartbreaking.

My daughter was distraught and when Glory was at the very worst she took it upon herself to send Purina a message via twitter "Purina you bastards, you're killing my dog, how do you put this crap in the stores!!!" I asked her not to send any more messages to large corporations like that without telling me first but what was done was done. She received a lot of replies from people who felt the same way - And minutes later a reply from good old Purina. "We care please call us at our toll free number..."

I put a call in to Purina that morning, I was told they have not had any complaints about the food. I said come on, there are hundreds if not thousands of complaints online in recent months, do you mean to tell me, mine is actually the first complaint to Purina, ever?!! He replied, it was the first complaint that HE personally had received THAT DAY! I didn't need that kind of doubletalk or free coupons. I just want you not to put garbage in a bag labeled dog food. Good luck Purina. I hope the information I gave you helps you solve your problem, but I doubt it.

Glory is now doing well and I'm just happy I realized it was the food and stopped giving it to her. My kids have a new appreciation for their dogs and how fragile life is, so that is one good thing to come from this ordeal. I'm sorry this is so long but maybe it will help save a few pets. If your pet suddenly becomes sick please consider the food.

You can join a mailing list at this website to get notifications of any pet food recalls

www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

What was the hardest part of this capture?

It was not the exposure. With a solid cloud cover, I was able to lock in a manual exposure for perfect results on every shot. In this case, I chose a 1/1000 shutter speed (the bird was moving a lot and quickly), an f/5.6 aperture (to isolate the bird using shallow depth of field) and ISO 160 to bring the brightest whites up to near RGB 255,255,255.

The challenge was not the tight framing of the bird. I was able to slowly belly-crawl close to the small flock of terns. So close that I only needed a 234mm focal length in front of the 7D II's APS-C sensor. I should have used a slightly wider angle still as I added a small amount of canvas on the left in post, providing additional breathing room for the wing.

The challenge was also not the low shooting position. Using the NatureScapes Skimmer Ground Pod II (www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/NatureScapes-Skimmer-...), I was able to push the camera forward as I crawled in the sand. Shooting from on the ground gave me a clean background (only sky) and the remaining land in the frame is primarily a blur of texture.

The big challenge? Timing the shutter release in conjunction with using the proper AF tactics to get this specific composition with the head included in focus. The sandwich tern cleaning process involved a wide array of moves, few of which I was able to predict and all of them fast. The head was constantly moving in what seemed like all directions and fast framing adjustment with a properly-selected AF point proved very challenging. A narrower aperture would have reduced the AF task, but the result would have been more ground in focus for a different look.

One aspect of this image that I like is the complete separation of the head from the body. Many of the preening positions did not have this attribute (and many had a completely hidden head). I also like the balance. While I don't often place my subject in the center of the frame, I felt that centered worked best in this case. The wing and tail balance the bird over the dark, eye-catching legs. The head extended to the right caused me to want the legs shifted just left of center to get what I felt was the right overall balance. My shooting position was low enough that only the legs intersected the color of the sand. The small amount of feather pulling through the bill is the bonus feature. I'll credit the 7D II's short shutter lag for enabling that timing.

This sandwich tern was on the gulf shores of Captiva Island, just north of Blind Pass. This location in southwest Florida is ideal for expanding one's bird photography portfolio.

Gear Used:

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens

NatureScapes Skimmer Ground Pod II

Camera and Lens Settings:

234mm f/5.6 1/1000s, ISO 160, 5622 x 3648px

Click on the image to view large. Get more camera gear and photo information at www.the-digital-picture.com/

#Canon #CanonPhotographers #Canon7DMarkII #Telephoto #Bokeh #Sand #SandwichTern #Nature #NaturePhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhoto #WildlifePhotography #Bird #Birds #BirdPhotography #BirdPhoto #BirdsUnlimited #SeaBirds #Shorebirds #Birding #BirdWatching #USA #UnitedStates #Florida #Captiva #SanibelIsland #BlindPass #Photo #Photography

Yeah I did not know I was able to fit all of them in there.

If you are reading this first of all thank you, I always appreciate it when people actually read the description. I actually have left florida yesterday and hopefully I get my stuff back. I know I make a lot of jokes and stuff on here, in fact i'm probably one of the most immature people on flickr but I act serious when I have to. I just reached 200 followers recently so thanks for that.

This was a really lazy photo.

Ending our sessions we were able to see one of the most amazing sunsets ever. We were located in the Forte de Cabedelo and from there you can actually see the sun going down. Great moment and amazing capture.

Thank you all for your appreciation.

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Amazingly, we were able to get parking at Lake Louise, and had a great walk to the summit of Mt Fairview. We haven't been very speedy of late, but today, we managed the 1000 m elevation, with a return distance of 10 km's, just over 4 hours!

This late bloom of Hydrangea gave me all the wonderful colours of Autumn, the flower spoke to me of fading light...

I obliged!

Lead and enjoy a good life, do and say things that enrich... and do not forget to tell the people close to you, how much you love them! You'll be able to live a life with few regrets!

With love to you and thank you for ALL your faves and comments, M, (* _ *)

photographershalloffame.blog.com/?s=Magda+Indigo

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

Also I often upload more than one image at the same time, I see a tendency to only view the last uploaded...

by by able bodied seaman-AB

Was able to 'catch' this beautiful finch Friday 20 oct 2023, at Kirstenbosch along some other little birds although there was not much light since the weather got worse. Typically is their bicolored beak.

I finally was able to put together a group shot of all my Classic Space models built so far in the real world, all assembled in one place. This includes the following, plus around 25 mini-figures that are not shown:

- giant robot

- security jeeps (x2)

- Benny's car

- Conveyex transporter front unit

- Conveyex transporter rear unit

- Conveyex transporter middle sections (x2)

- space fighters (x2)

- space cruiser

- modular wall straight sections (x12)

- modular wall corner sections (x4)

- modular wall gate section

- ground control building

...plus two of the TLM2 Space Squad gray-scale "rover" vehicles that got left out of the frame by accident.

Liège is the center of the largest Walloon agglomeration, and the cultural center of the Walloon region of Belgium. The city, with a population of about 200.000, is located at the confluence of the Ourthe and Meuse rivers.

Around 705, Saint Lambert of Maastricht is credited with completing the Christianization of the region, but conversion may still not have been quite universal, since Lambert was murdered in Liège. To enshrine his relics, the successor, Hubertus (later St. Hubert), built a basilica which became the nucleus of the city.

In 1468, following an uprising of the inhabitants against Burgundian rule, xof Burgundy had the city plundered and systematically destroyed. The few survivors who had fled into the forests—Charles the Bold allegedly had more than 5,000 inhabitants murdered—were only able to return to the city for reconstruction after seven years.

In 1789, partly in connection with the French Revolution, the Liège Revolution occurred. It was directed against the absolutist rule of the Prince-Bishop and was crushed in early 1791 by troops commissioned by the Holy Roman Empire. In 1795, Liège was occupied by French troops and became part of the First French Republic. The Congress of Vienna annexed it to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which in 1830 became the Kingdom of Belgium, to which Liège has belonged ever since.

The Collegiate Church of St. John the Evangelist was founded as a collegiate church by Notker of Liège around 980, and consecrated in 987. The church was a kind of replica of Charlemagne's Aachen Cathedral. It was suppressed in 1797 during the French Revolution, the building being confiscated and sold in 1798.

The center, originally an octagonal building in Mosan Romanesque style, incorporating elements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the church was completely rebuilt in a late Baroque style in 1754–1784. It has been in use as a parish church since 1809.

The church is currently being restored.

I have been promoting noise reduction by stacking for years, but while I was able to recommend "Starry Landscape Stacker" for MAC users, there was no easy to use Software for Windows.

This has changed lately, with the release of SEQUATOR, a very easy to use program for stacking untracked nightscapes (for noise reduction) and the best of all: It is freeware!

sites.google.com/site/sequatorglobal/home

So far, I have been using fitswork, a dedicated software for stacking tracked star images. While I learned to use it for untracked images as well, this process is painfully slow. It would therefore be immensely helpful if SEQUATOR was able to perform as beautifully as fitswork, without all the slow manual interventions needed…

Today, I was able to do my first test of SEQUATOR. To see how it performs, I did a side by side comparison with an image I already processed with fitswork.

First I had to find an untracked image sequence. I have been doing mainly tracked shots lately, but I found my Bisti Eggs image which I shot from a fixed tripod:

flic.kr/p/W6mNUk

To get a meaningful comparison, I decided run SEQUATOR with the same preprocessed TIFFs I have used for stacking in fitswork and publish some 100% crops taken from the resulting TIFFs right out of SEQUATOR and fitswork and without further processing. SEQUATOR has several options for stacking, but I found that “Freeze Ground”, “Auto Brightness OFF” and “High Dynamic Range ON” worked best for me.

As you can see, SEQUATOR does an extremely nice job. There are no star trails and no stacking errors and I really like how the foreground and the horizon are razor sharp. Very impressive indeed!

On closer scrutiny, the SEQUATOR result has a tad more saturated colors than my fitswork resut, but selecting “High Dynamic Range ON” avoided burning the stars. The increased saturation leads to slightly increased color fringes around the brighter stars, but this would have happened with the fitswork image as well during post processing and there are techniques to reduce this effect during processing.

SEQUATOR is really easy to use and it took me less than 5 minutes to produce the result, while my normal workflow in fitswork takes about 3 hours to arrive at the same stage.

Conclusion:

I can highly recommend SEQUATOR! If I ever have to process an untracked image sequence again, I use SEQUATOR instead of my fitswork workflow.

On Windows, it is by far the easiest to use and fastest stacking software for nightscapes and produces very good results. Even beginners can immediately produce excellent results. There are no excuses anymore for noisy single shot nightsapes… ;-)

PS:

1. Of course I still highly recommend using a tracking mount to achieve “deeper” sky exposures, by using lower ISO and higher exposure times. This means that you have to shoot the foreground separately with your tracker off and merge the two exposures during post processing. For this techique SEQUATOR might not be the best software out there, but to stay fair, that is not what it was built for…

2. Here is a very nice quick tutorial for SEQUATOR. The only point where I disagree with Mike, is that for better sharpness and no burned highlights, I recommend to use HDR instead of Auto Brightness.

youtu.be/C-MCvbYj-hA

Rogue Disposal got three Bridgeport MSL's two Trinity and one ribbed, probably an old Able Body truck that they sold under Bridgeport. They ran those three trucks for about two years before going automated with the Heil STARR system and used the conversion kits offered by Bridgeport.

LeicaM4 + Summicron 50mm/f2.0 1st Rigid

KODAK Tri-X400

D-76

Having been very lucky over the past few months, i've been able to put together the sort of film camera bag i never thought i'd be able to.

Today it was finished off with an excellent Outfit Case in the form of a classic Billingham L2 in weatherproof canvas, tan leather and brass.

I chose this one because it perfect fits my 3 camera setup, while still offering space for a 4th camera, film and, of course, my wallet.

Inside we have the following

Leica M6TTL + Voigtlander 50mm Nokton f1.1

Leica CL + Voigtlander 15mm Super Wide Heliar f4.5 + 15mm viewfinder

Leica M2 + Leica 35mm Summaron f3.5 (waiting to be repaired and recovered, so not taken out atm)

Lomo LCA (Lomo Compact Automatic) 32mm f2.8

Film box + 6x 35mm rolls

Aaaaand my wallet

The films are:

Kodak Ultramax 400 Colour

Kodak Ektar 100 Colour

Kodak Elite Chrome Extra Colour 100 Color Slide

Lomography Redscale XR 50-200

Fuji Neopan Acros 100 Black and White

Kodak Tri-X 400 Black and White

Needless to say, i'm thoroughly chuffed with this setup and while i won't always fill the outfit case with everything shown here, i almost certainly always go out with at least 2 bodies and some cash.

Still not been able to go out and get some new shots, so another visit to the archives.

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November 21st, 2042

A couple of hours after getting taken away by the Court of Owls, Batman awakens in a cell at an unknown location. Before he’s able to recover from the effects of the sedatives he got hit with and regain his strength two people dressed in black clothes, wielding sharp and gold-colored weapons, enter his cell and order him to follow them. As he struggles to stand up he notices that the exoskeleton from his suit has powered down, making it much more difficult to move around at all and leaving him in no shape to stand up against them. He complies and follows the one figure as the other one takes position behind him. After walking for a short while they end up in a long hallway, with a red carpet on the floor, expensive furniture on either side of the hall and large paintings hanging from the walls. Batman takes a look at the wall decorations and notices that every single painting features a person holding a strange owl-shaped mask in front of their face. There’s a door at the end of the hallway, guarded by two people wearing the same outfit as the ones escorting him. They open the door for them, giving way to a spacious and empty courtroom. Behind the judge’s desk stands a giant wooden statue of an owl, decorated with gold accents and lit with candles around it. On the sides of the room are several giant windows, all covered with dark red curtains which prevents any natural light from entering the place. Only Helena is sitting in the room, tied to a chair at the defendant’s table.

Batman gets escorted into the room and forced to sit on the chair next to Helena as he gets restrained as well. Before he can ask his daughter if she’s okay, the gates of the courtroom swing open as a group of masked individuals march into the room. They all silently take a seat on the public benches behind the two right as the jury enters the room as well, conveniently all wearing the same owl-shaped mask too. As they all sit down at the exact same time Helena begins nervously looking around her, intimidated by the situation she is now in. A door inside the giant owl statue opens, out of which a judge appears. Batman notices the judge seems to be the same person who appeared in the Wayne Tower and ordered them to come to the Court in the first place. He takes a seat, breaks the silence by slamming his hammer on the table and demands order in the courtroom, starting their trial against Batman and Robin.

The judge starts by telling about the Court of Owls, explaining how they have been around since Gotham was established decades ago. For years they managed to rule the city from the shadows, killing anyone who found out about their existence or opposed them using a group of specifically trained assassins called the Talons. When a certain masked vigilante began running around Gotham they didn’t see him as a threat at first. Finding that having him assassinated by the Talons would be a bit excessive they instead opted to orchestrate a series of events which would lead to a deranged serial killer by the name of Zsaz escaping from Arkham. Knowing that the Batman would take it upon himself to go after him, they hoped that he wouldn’t stand a chance against the killer and get killed while fighting him. However, they found themselves astonished as Batman managed to defeat Zsaz with ease, something they had not taken into consideration. Realizing the danger of him running around Gotham they considered ordering the Talons to murder him, but changed their mind after he coincidentally started targeting several of their opponents. The Court then decided to willingly let Batman fight the criminal world of Gotham without interfering, only stepping in if he accidentally stumbled upon them or started targeting them. All the while, the Court continued to influence the city from the shadows.

Roughly 5 years later, a long series of unfortunate events led to the Dark Knight retiring. With the Batman no longer being a possible threat to the Court, they decided to start spreading out their influence more while making certain their existence was kept a secret. Over the decades, dozens of wannabe vigilantes hoping to step into the footsteps of the Dark Knight started to make their way onto the streets. As rumors of a secret underground society who are secretly controlling Gotham started leaking, many of them started to seek them out and found their way right on the doorstep of the Court. In order to preserve their secret they were forced to murder everyone who stood in their way, having to cover up the assassinations to not arouse any suspicions. After decades of doing this the Court of Owls decided they could not continue covering up the disappearances of teen vigilantes, deciding to take action by making a statement by taking down the Dark Knight. Upon discovering his identity and tracking him down using the help of a deranged Edward Nigma and a frail Hugo Strange, they began orchestrating a long plot in order to get him to put on the suit again. One of the Talons assassinated Selina and left behind evidence to make him suspect the Joker, knowing this would motivate him to return to Gotham to investigate. By using a tiny improvised explosive device hidden within the playing card they hoped to detonate it while he was holding it within Arkham. However, they did not account for Batman giving the card to Joker himself, which allowed him to survive the blast and only killed the Clown Prince of Crime along with the other Arkman inmates. After so many years, they decided enough was enough; it was time to put him on trial in front of the Court of Owls for standing in their way too much.

Batman barely has any time to process what he just heard as the crowd and jury start shouting how they think they are guilty. There’s no way they would win a case against a kangaroo court like this; their decision was already made way before the trial started. The judge slams his hammer down again, silencing the chaos as he prepares to read his verdict. Due to being found guilty of interfering with the plans of the Court of Owls, Batman and Robin get sentenced to death at the hands of the Talons right now. The judge asks if he has anything to say about his verdict, but cuts him off right as he is about to speak up. The spectators and jury start cheering and clapping as two of the Talons walk into the courtroom, each entering on opposite sides of the room. They take their positions in front and behind the two, unsheathing their golden weapons to prepare for battle. One member of the Court gets ordered to untie the Dynamic Duo in order to make the odds more fair as the rest of the crowd prepares to watch as the Batman finally gets taken down by the Court of Owls after so many years.

The Talon behind Batman strikes first and stabs him in the back, but his armor prevents the blade from piercing through his skin. He manages to reactivate his exosuit and turns around, ready to fight again as he pulls out a Batarang from his belt. His enemy strikes again, aiming for the exposed skin around his mouth instead, but Batman manages to deflect it with his own weapon. He uses the opportunity to slice the Talon in the arm, although this doesn’t phase him. Batman holds his hand in front of his face and casts a glance at the spectators, seeing they are all silently toasting for their demise with expensive drinks in their hands. His short distraction gives the Talon an opportunity to successfully hit him, but Helena deflects the attack at the last moment with her own weapon stick. He compliments her for being able to stand her ground against their opponents before continuing the battle. The Talon starts attacking more and more fiercely, slowly managing to weaken Batman’s defenses while coming closer to getting a successful strike on him. He tries his best to keep up with him, but Batman slowly starts to become weaker and weaker with every attack. Right as he is about to slash the Dark Knight in the face, the leader of the Court suddenly commands the assassins to stop attacking. Unsure of what to do, the Talons lay down their weapons for a moment as they watch what their leader’s intentions are right now. He mutters something about hearing a weird noise outside as he walks towards the window and lifts up the curtains. Batman tries to get a glimpse of the outside world to locate their hideout if they manage to get out, but he soon picks up the sound outside too; he hears the loud revving of an engine in the distance slowly coming towards them, accompanied by the sound of a car horn. The crowd gathers around the window to see what the commotion is about, but quickly runs away in terror as the Batmobile crashes through the wall at full speed.

Pieces of debris rain down everywhere as the vehicle comes to a screeching halt right in front of Batman and Robin. Chaos ensues in the room as each member of the Court desperately tries to make their escape, terrified of the imposing black vehicle which just crashed through the wall of their hideout. The door opens as the person driving the Batmobile beeps the horn, prompting them to jump inside. Batman kicks the Talon in front of him to the ground and hits the other one in the chest with several batarangs to give them a window to escape. He and Helena jump inside the Batmobile as he takes control of the steering wheel, closing the door right before the Talons can make their way inside. He puts his boot on the gas pedal and activates the rocket booster in order to make their escape from the Court. As they are driving through the streets of Gotham early in the morning, Barbara appears on one of the screens of the console, asking if they are alright. She explains that she left the Wayne Enterprises building for a short moment to check up on her case at the GCPD, but when she returned she saw the camera footage of them getting abducted. Although it was impossible for her to track them down at first since the Court of Owls covered up almost all of their tracks, Batman reactivating his high-tech suit set off a GPS signal which allowed her to pinpoint their location. With the help of a new modification to the Batmobile she was able to remotely control the armored vehicle for a while to reach the place and to help them escape.

Helena sighs of relief, tired of the confrontation they just went through when she says that they must’ve escaped the Court by now. However, right after she says this the two feel something landing on the roof of the Batmobile. Before they can react, one of the Talon’s golden weapons cuts through the armored material like butter, making an opening for himself to enter the vehicle. Batman stands up from his seat and orders Helena to drive despite her not having any driving experience yet as he deals with the Talon standing in the cramped open space in the back of the Batmobile. He makes his way towards him, feeling the cold morning air cut through his skin while he begins punching his enemy. After hitting him a couple of times the Talon catches his fist inside his hand, landing a couple of strikes on his face and damaging his cowl before Batman kicks him right in the stomach. The impact of the kick makes him land hard on the cold floor of the Batmobile, but before he can recover Batman leaps on top of him and starts pounding him in the head. He stops for a short moment to charge up his exosuit for a bigger punch, but the vehicle suddenly making a sharp turn to get outside of Gotham, makes him miss the Talon and denting the floor instead. While he recovers and tries to get another punch in, the other Talon lands on the front of the car and begins damaging the engine. Helena makes a couple more sharp turns in an effort to get him off the car but all it does is make Batman lose his balance, giving him a disadvantage in the fight. As smoke begins coming from the engine Helena loses control of the vehicle, prompting Batman to abandon the fight to prevent them from going off the road. However, he is too late; before he can do anything, the Batmobile crashes through the guardrail on the ride of the road, sending them all tumbling down a hill.

When Helena regains consciousness, she feels herself getting dragged out of the wreckage which was once the Batmobile. Pieces of wreckage are scattered everywhere as the smell of smoke fills her nose. Once she is at a safe distance away from the wreck, she is able to properly see the damage; the Batmobile is laying upside down with a fire having erupted in the engine as several important components of the car have been damaged or broken off. Suddenly, she notices one of the Talons crawling away from the wreck. His outfit has been torn and burned, with him being unable to walk because of the crash. Batman sees him too, and begins slowly walking towards him. The Talon notices this and for the first time he hears one of them speak as he begins pleading for him to put him out of his misery. Batman stays silent for a while before telling him to go back to the Court. He wants him to relay a message to them, warning that it will take much more than this to take down Batman. They tried their best to get rid of him, and they failed. If they try this again, he won't be taken by surprise like this time and warns that he will do whatever it takes to take down the entire Court by himself. The Talon begins crying out that the Court of Owls will just murder him for this fiasco, but Batman ignores him and turns around leaving him on his own. He calls Barbara to pick them up as he puts an arm around Helena, complimenting her for what she did today as the Batmobile continues to burn down behind them.

Roughly a week has passed since the incident with the Court. Despite Bruce and Barbara’s best efforts, they haven't managed to track down the Court again; upon returning to the place where he was taken to to be put on trial, he only found an empty and abandoned building with all of the furniture and decorations taken away. Barbara has taken the wreckage of the Batmobile back to the Wayne Enterprises building, developing plans to rework the vehicle into something else instead of simply rebuilding it.

During a boring evening at the Wayne Building, the regularly scheduled tv programme gets interrupted by a newsflash; A terrorist going by the name of Bane, suspected to be the person responsible for getting a majority of Gotham addicted to Venom, has attacked the Gotham Stock Exchang. In a publicly broadcasted video he revealed to have gotten his hands on a decaying neutron bomb which is set to detonate this Christmas Eve. In his video he directly challenged the Dark Knight, saying that he is only willing to stop the bomb from exploding if he manages to defeat him. Confident that he can save Gotham once more, Bruce suits up and sets out to bring down Bane. Helena offers to join to help take him down, but Batman declines as he fears not going to him alone could have severe consequences. Without being able to use the Batmobile to get around for the time being, he climbs to the top of the building and decides to make use out of his new experimental cape glider. He leaps off the structure as he spreads out his cape, which folds out in the shape of the wings of a bat allowing him to glide to the financial district.

After gliding for a while, Batman lands on top of the glass roof of the Stock Exchange building giving him a good look at the situation. Right below him he can make out the figure of Bane, surrounded by several of his goons, all guarding the neutron bomb. He uses a Batarang to cut a hole into the glass to grant him access into the building. After jumping down the hole he lands right in front of Bane, quickly alerting him of his presence. This is the first time he has gotten a good look at the terrorist; before him stands a very big and muscular man, wearing a black luchador-esque mask which conceals his face. Batman catches a glimpse of a big tank filled with Venom on his back with tubes attached to it, all injected straight into his skin and mask. His goons, all having taken some of the strength-enhancing drugs as well, point their guns at the Dark Knight but Bane tells them to lower their weapons. After telling them to step back he stretches out his arms, challenging the Dark Knight to a one-on-one fight. Batman agrees, taking off his utility belt and preparing for the fight. He laughs, his voice muffled by the mask, asking himself if he will be a match to him or if he will go down as easily as his other opponents as Batman charges towards him.

Batman strikes first, getting in several powerful blows, but it doesn’t even seem to phase his opponent. He pauses for a short moment and tries to continue the fight, but Bane catches his hand before it can hit him. Batman hears something crack when he clenches his fist, feeling that his glove has been damaged. Before he can recover, Bane grabs him with both arms and headbutts him with a lot of force. The blow almost makes him lose his balance, but his opponent grabs him by the throat before he falls to the ground and punches him right in the face several times. Batman starts to taste blood in his mouth but is unwilling to give up so easily. He releases himself from Bane’s grip and tackles him to the ground, using all his strength to kick him in the face several times. Again, his opponent is unperturbed by his attempts to fight back, simply taking the blows without flinching. As Bane doesn't fight back Batman becomes overconfident for a moment, not noticing as his arm reaches out for his leg. He grabs a hold of it and janks it towards him, making him fall to the ground again.

‘’You know, I used to admire you. Hearing all about your heroics back when I was growing up motivated me to be better than I already was. But now that I am not a bright-eyed and naive child anymore, I’m finally able to see you for what you really are; A pathetic elderly man, having to rely on some high-tech suit to even attempt to compete with me!’’

Bane raises his fists in the air, bringing them down with full force on the chest of the Dark Knight. Although his suit absorbs most of the strike to prevent his ribs from breaking upon impact, Batman still feels the pain from his attack and notices the armor on his chest having shattered.

‘’Over the years, I've dreamt of being the one who would kill the legendary Batman. However, I have recently come to the conclusion that killing you would only end your agony and silence your shame.’’

He attempts to fight back again and gathers his strength to reply to his opponent’s comments, but Bane silences him with a nasty kick in the gut before he can do so.

‘’I don't think you quite know who I am. I’m not some scarecrow or a riddler. I’m not a jester or a clown! I’m not a flightless bird nor a cryogenic scientist! And most importantly, i am not some rich guy playing dress-up!’’

Bane begins continuously stomping Batman in the face, slowly cracking open his mask more and more with each kick. By the time his cowl has been completely destroyed Batman has been knocked unconscious, having collapsed after all of the attacks.

‘’ I AM BANE! AND I WILL BREAK YOU!’’

As his goons cheer him on, Bane picks up the defeated body of the Dark Knight and raises it over his head. He slowly spins around like he’s showing a trophy to his friends, reveling as the realization that he has become the one to truly break the Bat begins to set in. Batman regains consciousness, but only just in time to feel himself getting driven down towards the ground as he collides with Bane’s knee.

With one nasty snap, he quickly finds his body in anguish as his spine has completely shattered. Bane drops him to the ground and commands his henchmen to take the bombs and go away, taking the broken mask of the Dark Knight with him as a trophy before leaving himself as well. Batman tries to move, but becomes terrified when he notices that he is unable to even move. With this one attack, Bane has paralyzed the Bat.

Quite some time passes before someone arrives to pick up the wounded Bruce. He gets taken to the Wayne Building instead of a hospital in order to preserve his secret identity, where he gets hooked up to some medical equipment to keep him alive. As the days pass by, Gotham begins to decay more and more into chaos as the threat of a neutron bomb decimating the city gets closer. Each attempt made by the police force to disarm the explosive has led to nothing, leading to many of the city’s residents deciding to get out while they still can. Despite Bruce being in no state at all to fight back against Bane, he stubbornly refuses to leave the city as he believes his back will he recovered enough before the bomb is set to go off. Along with this he also feels personally responsible for letting this happen and does not want Gotham to fall under his watch.

Less than a week is now left before the bomb is set to go off. Bane had taken his bomb to the city centre, where his henchmen are guarding him all day to prevent anyone from interfering with his plan. With no sign of his spine recovering in the slightest, Helena and Barbara are urging Bruce to leave the city with them, as they know nobody else is left to stop him. Barbara is close to converting the damaged Batmobile to an airborne vehicle and tells him it could be fit to get them out of there. However, he does not want to hear any of it and keeps insisting that he can find a solution. In an old scientific report about the Venom drug he read some time ago, he noticed it stating that taking the drug can completely heal severe wounds within moments. With his mind set on this new opportunity to save Gotham he asks Barbara to get him a sample of the substance, hoping this will put him in a position to fight back again. Despite her hesitation she agrees to do so, although she warns him that this is only a short-term solution for a permanent problem for him.

When she returns, Bruce has removed the armor from his arms and prepared a new suit to help him control himself while under the effects of the drug. Barbara reluctantly hands him a syringe filled with Venom, but before she does so she tells him that the scientific reports he read left out some important details. It's true that taking Venom can heal severe and permanent injuries in a matter of moments, but the catch is that once the drug’s effects have worn off the injuries will just return, sometimes getting even worse as a result. Bruce tells her he is more than willing to sacrifice himself if it means that he is gonna be able to save Gotham once more as he grabs the syringe out of her hand. Before any of them can react, he slams the needle into his skin and presses the plunger down allowing the substance to enter into his bloodstream. Bruce feels the effects hitting him almost instantly, and before he knows it he finds himself able to stand on his own again. While he struggles to keep himself from succumbing to the drug’s effects he puts on a new suit; an outfit plated with a gold-colored metal and with a reinforced cowl and cape. Ready for battle, he makes his way to the newly designed Batwing to take himself to the city center to face off against Bane.

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Panelists include Joumanna Bercetche, Reporter, CNBC, David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director, IMF, Hélène Rey, Lord Bagri Professor of Economics, London Business School, Philip Lane, Governor, Central Bank of Ireland, Agustin Carstens, General Manager, Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and Gene Frieda, Executive Vice President and Global Strategist, PIMCO during the seminar Booms and Busts: Are We Better Able to Deal with Them Today? at the 2018 IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings on Saturday, April 21 in Washington, D.C. Ryan Rayburn/IMF Photo

Prague

I was fortunate to be able to visit this church immediately at the opening time. So I was alone for sometime before the hordes of tourists armed with any kind of photo taking gadgets arrived to crowd the place, make noise and, most annoying, destroy my shot standing in front of my camera field of view

Prague is a city full with numerous baroque churches, this being one of the most beautiful.

The building of Loreta, started in the early 17th century and is actually the result of numerous additions and modifications of the building surrounding a small courtyard

inside the courtyard is the "santa casa" (holy house): a small cottage copy of what is believed to be the house of Virgin Mary

Loreta hosts a large museum full of (rather interesting) pieces of religious art ( reliquary cases, candleholder, ostensories, jewels) dating back from the 17th century.

Well, everything was very rich and decorated by gold, silver, precious stones etc, that I could hardly believe they belongt to church rather than to a king

Able Seaman Arthur Thomas Wood was born 21 April 1921 at Berry in New South Wales, and joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1938 at the age of 17. After training at HMAS CEREBUS he joined HMAS SYDNEY in early 1939. When World War II was declared, SYDNEY was ordered to serve in the Mediterranean for escort duty. Wood was aboard SYDNEY when it sank the Italian cruisers ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in July 1940.

These photographs and postcards depict some of the sailors, equipment and activities of HMAS SYDNEY in the months prior to the sinking of the vessel. They provide an interesting commentary of the operations and work carried out aboard HMAS SYDNEY prior to its fateful end, such as the sinking of Italian ships ESPERO and BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI in the Mediterranean.

The Australian National Maritime Museum undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collection. If you can identify a person, vessel or landmark, write the details in the Comments box below.

Thank you for helping caption this important historical image.

Object number ANMS0845[013].

Able EMS.

"don't leave me alone"

a project for the lonely elderly people in our city. People that doesn't have the means or are able to get out and make contacts.

I was able to order my Feepl60 Chloe today! I am so excited, I made a video about it as well and I'm uploading it right away :)

For those wondering, her name is going to be Aline <3 I've gone way too crazy ordering stuff for her *-* I think I'm even more excited for her than I was for Lena! :O

(Photo credit to Fairyland, and Andreja for giving me the idea ^-^~)

For much of the 20th Century nobody had been able to find a nest of Marbled Murrelet. The Audubon Society was even offering $100 reward for the finder of the first documented nest as all other nests of North American birds had been found. The mystery was finally solved in 1974 when a tree-trimmer in California's Big Basin Redwood State Park discovered a nest. It was 148 feet off the ground on a mossy branch of an old growth Douglas Fir. They only nest in old growth forests and have become a flagship species for forest conservation in North America.

Most seabirds have a similar colour pattern; light below, dark above so predators cannot see them from above against a dark sea, and fish prey cannot see them looking up through the water. Marbled Murrelets have the typical black and white pattern for most of the year but unusually become mottled brown top and bottom when they are nesting. Camouflage against the tree branches.

They are easy enough to see off America's west coast but they are fiendishly difficult to photograph as they either dive or fly away if anything approaches within 100m or so. This one was taken less than a second after it had emerged, and less than a second before it dived again. I took many pictures of splashes before I managed to get this close picture of an adult in non-breeding plumage. They are brown all over in breeding plumage but many of the birds we saw in mid May were still in their winter garb. I took the photograph in Alaska's Prince William Sound where a significant proportion of the world population breeds.