Peregrine Falcon, West of England UK

Common Kingfisher after a successful dive

also called Eurasian Kingfisher

alcedo atthis

ijsvogel

martin-pêcheur d'Europe

Eisvogel

Nikon D850 at 1/6400

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My photos may not be used on websites, blogs or in any other media without my written and explicit permission.

acquiring the sight and sounds of movement...ms. tiger Lily zero's in with her wondrous keen sense of awareness :))

OLYMPUS EM-1 Mark II

A lot of times Jasper will outrun the ball, but a quick turn in a flurry of fur allows him to acquire the target and chomp. Good athlete.

White-tailed eagle in the Feldberger Seenlandschaft

Airtia had acquired a new book during her . . . excursions the other night. Surely she may intend to bring it back but, for now, it was time to read . . .

//Taken at Forest of Calduhr maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20shadowfell/85/194/0

Canon AE-1 PROGRAM + Canon FD 35mm 2.8 + expired Kodak Color Plus 36 + Fujifilm Frontier SP3000 Scanner to acquire the film

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None of my work is Ai assisted and is copyright Rg Sanders aka Ronald George Sanders.

Forsters Tern

Interested in acquiring my work?

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None of my work is Ai assisted and is copyright Rg Sanders aka Ronald George Sanders.

I thought I'd flashback to a photoshoot I did with fellow members of a local organization I am involved with called the Westmoreland Conservancy: a non-profit organization whose purpose is to "acquire and preserve rural and rustic lands for the public good".

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After acquiring the line as part of a massive selloff from CN, Watco had a good start to their version of the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. The color on the line was excellent for the passengers and everything seemed to go well for the railroad. On the second to the last day of the season, the train passes through Northland with some vibrant color showing through.

I acquired a Contax Sonnar 85mm lens recently and the first adapter to hand to attach it to my X-T1 happened to be a version with helicoid for variable close focusing. This has converted the lens into a telephoto macro with surprisingly good results.

Spotted this Great Egret at the arboretum this weekend. We decided to take a short trip for a change of scenery and it was a perfect sunny, winter's afternoon. And actually the first weekend of winter, so our timing could not have been better.

This Egret kept to the other side of the lake, hunting in the overgrown, marshy area making it difficult to get any clear shots. At one point it flew way to the other end of the lake but was finally out in the open.

Alas, it was also jut a tad bit too far away but I couldn't resist trying to get some shots. As they say, target acquired for both the Egret and me.

Cedar Waxwings

Radnor Lake, Nashville, Tennessee

A flock of Waxwings were jumping on and off branches in pursuit of insects that were flying around. The Waxwing in front is pouncing towards a bug that appears as a black speck on the left.

A brightly coloured bird, the golden-browed chlorophonia is distinctive within its range. The male is bright green above and yellow below, with a wide golden-yellow eyebrow stripe and a violet-blue cap. It has a narrow blue eye ring and a thin blue line extending from its nape to its breast. The female is similar, but without the golden brown and yellow breast; these are both replaced with green. They average 13 cm (5.1 in) in length.

Recently acquired LSRC SD70Ms 6431 and 6432 are doing every bit of 25mph with an impressive 143 car Y119 on the drawbar. While not the inaugural run of these two, this was the first daylight run they've had there was quite a crowd on hand to see this train. Rolling by the depot at North Clio, the train is graced with some wonderful evening sunlight as they head for Saginaw with traffic for the HESR and points north.

Target Acquired - Male Allen's Hummingbird preparing to attack an intruder to his patch.

Species: Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)

Location: Northern California, CA, USA

Equipment: Canon EOS R5 + EF 100-400mm IS II + EF 1.4x III Extender, On Tripod

Settings: 1/250s, ISO: 1250, f/8 @560mm, Electronic Shutter

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) @ Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, Lake Clark National Park on the coast of Cook Inlet. Alaska. Conservation status: Least Concern

Acquired by the NYSE in 2008. AMEX once was the the third largest stock exchange in U.S.

acquiring nesting materials, Vancouver, B.C.

* I acquired a new lens a couple of weeks ago but due to constant rain this was its first outing . The lens is the Nikon Z 28-400mm its fairly light and much easier to hold than the Nikon 200-500 that I have struggled to use while my shoulder is painful . Its a full frame lens so on my camera it is effectively a 42-600mm so it has a pretty good range

Anyway its first outing was to photograph Marble White butterflies. I deliberately shot butterflies that were some distance away to test out the lens. I must say I was pleased with the results. This was taken using the fullest extent of the lens and the camera was hand held, its a pretty big crop too .

A question can you call a shot using a telephoto lens a macro.

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Texel acquired a lighthouse in 1864, following many years of campaigning by Texel civil-law notary Kikkert. The seas around the island were so dangerous that many ships sank before the lighthouse was finally built. You can learn more about this in a brief exhibition in the lighthouse.

During the Second World War, the lighthouse was the site of a major part of the action of the Georgian Rebellion, or Russian War; in fact, the bullet holes are still visible in the walls of the tower.

TEXEL.NET

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An Australian native bee (much smaller than a European honey bee) sampling a camellia flower

Another shot taken during the storm with the blue clouds. Taken at Panama City Beach, FL. For all of us who are God's remember whenever we are tempted, He always provides a way out, He is a guiding Light in our lives! Thanks for stopping by and God Bless you!!

Red-Shouldered Hawk ~ (Buteo Lineautus)

A young Red-Shouldered Hawk leaps from its perch and dives to attack prey that it has spotted on the ground.

Thanks for visiting!

Young Bald Eagle, Conowingo Dam, Maryland

acquired some years ago on a visit to my dear Auntie Betty in Cornwall (not from the beach!)

posting for Saturday Self-Challenge: rock and stone

thank you for all visits, faves and comments

Testing my recently acquired Canon EF100 f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens with these cute white summer flowers I found in a park near home.

The first sensations are good, although I must continue practicing and looking for new subjects.

Taken in the morning taking advantage of the good light and pleasant conditions before the intense heat at noon.

Best viewed large.

Enjoy the weekend, my friends!

________________________________

Probando mi recientemente adquirida lente Canon EF100 f/2.8L Macro IS USM con estas lindas flores blancas de verano que encontré en un parque cerca de casa.

Las primeras sensaciones son buenas, aunque debo seguir practicando y buscando nuevos sujetos.

Tomada por la mañana aprovechando la buena luz y las condiciones agradables antes del intenso calor al mediodía.

Mejor visualizar en grande.

¡Disfrutad el fin de semana, amigos!

Whilst eating his lunchtime grass and backing into his favourite tunnel, Jack acquired a new, if temporary punk hairdo.

Photo taken on January 17, 2025, at 17:20:54 op.m.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Lao Tzu

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

William Arthur Ward

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Anon

Together we can change the world, just one random act of kindness at a time.

Ron Hall

With all of the bad things that are happening in the world right now, I think we need a message of togetherness and true unity. I believe that starts with personal reflection and then we can find kindness toward each other. Marielle Heller

I have long believed that there are fundamentally two forces or emotions that drive our decisions - love and fear. Love has its many manifestations: compassion, gratitude, kindness, and joy. Fear often manifests in cynicism, anger, jealousy, and anxiety. I worry that many of our communities are being driven by fear.

Vivek Murthy

Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows.

Robert Green Ingersoll

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness. George Sand

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.

Marcel Proust

You don't teach morals and ethics and empathy and kindness in the schools. You teach that at home, and children learn by example.

Judy Sheindlin

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

Shortly after Canadian Pacific acquired the Delaware & Hudson, trains 557 and 558 between Buffalo and a new intermodal facility in Philadelphia were instituted. Here the power for Train 557 is putting together its train along Columbus Avenue in Philadelphia.

Bald eagle on approach for pickup in north Idaho.

Building from the past.

More views from walking around Portmeirion.

There was some colour in the gardens and borders. Here we saw a lovely Magnolia tree.

In 1925, Welsh architect Clough Williams-Ellis acquired the site which was to become Portmeirion. He had been searching for a suitable site for his proposed ideal village for several years and when he heard that the Aber Iâ estate near Penrhyndeudraeth was for sale, he did not hesitate to make an offer.

He wanted to show how a naturally beautiful location could be developed without spoiling it, and that one could actually enhance the natural background through sympathetic development. The Aber Iâ estate had everything he had hoped for as a site for his architectural experiment: steep cliffs overlooking a wide sandy estuary, woods, streams and a nucleus of old buildings.

But the history of Portmeirion started long before 1925. The construction of Castell Deudraeth was recorded in 1188 by Gerald of Wales, who wrote: "We crossed the Traeth mawr and the Traeth Bychan. These are two arms of the sea, one large and one small. Two stone castles have been built there recently. The one called Castell Deudraeth belongs to the sons of Cynan and is situated in the Eifionydd area, facing the northern Mountains."

Castell Deudraeth was referenced again by the 17th century philologist, geologist, natural historian and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Edward Lhuyd in 1700. Lhuyd recorded the name as Aber Iâ, stating " The Castle of Aber Iâ yet stood in ruined form overlooking the south western extremity of the peninsula".

In 1861, Richard Richards wrote a description: "Neither man nor woman was there, only a number of foreign water-fowl on a tiny pond, and two monkeys, which by their cries evidently regarded me as an unwelcome intruder. The garden itself was a very fine one, the walls of which were netted all over with fruit trees...Aber Iâ, then, gentle reader, is a beautiful mansion on the shore of Traeth Bach, in Merionethshire."

When Williams-Ellis acquired the land in 1925 he wrote, "a neglected wilderness - long abandoned by those romantics who had realised the unique appeal and possibilities of this favoured promontory but who had been carried away by their grandiose landscaping...into sorrowful bankruptcy." Clough immediately changed the name from Aber Iâ (Glacial Estuary) to Portmeirion; Port because of the coastal location and Meirion as this is Welsh for Merioneth, the county in which it lay.

His first job was to extend and convert the old house on the shore into a grand hotel. The concept of a tightly grouped coastal village had already formed in Clough's mind some years before he found the perfect site and he had quite a well-defined vision for the village from the outset.

Portmeirion was built in two stages: from 1925 to 1939 the site was 'pegged-out' and its most distinctive buildings were erected. From 1954-76 he filled in the details. The second period was typically classical or Palladian in style in contrast to the Arts and Crafts style of his earlier work. Several buildings were salvaged from demolition sites, giving rise to Clough's description of the place as "a home for fallen buildings".

"An architect has strange pleasures," Clough wrote in 1924. "He will lie awake listening to the storm in the night and think how the rain is beating on his roofs, he will see the sun return and will think that it was for just such sunshine that his shadow-throwing mouldings were made."

The first article about Portmeirion appeared in The Architects' Journal (January 6 1926) with photographs of scale models and preliminary designs prepared by Clough to impress potential investors. In this article, John Rothenstein writes: "On the sea-coast of North Wales, quite near his own old home, Plas Brondanw, he has acquired what he believes to be an ideal site, and he is engaged upon plans and models for the laying out of an entire small township. The results of his scheme will be significant and should do much to shake the current notion that although houses must be designed with due care, towns may grow up by chance."

The Hotel Portmeirion officially opened for the Easter Weekend, on 2nd April 1926. The last building, the Tollgate, was built in Clough's 93rd year.