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Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The average temperature is between 68 and 83 degrees. As of July 1, 2015 Hollywood has a population of 149,728. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the twelfth largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

Joseph W. Young founded the city in 1925. He dreamed of building a motion picture colony on the East Coast of the United States and named the town after Hollywood, California. Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York

 

Young had a vision of having lakes, golf courses, a luxury beach hotel, country clubs, and a main street, Hollywood Boulevard. After the 1926 Miami hurricane, Hollywood was severely damaged; local newspapers reported that Hollywood was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. Following upon Young's death in 1934, the city encountered more terrific hurricanes and not only that, but the stock market crashed with personal financial misfortunes. It felt as though the city was tumbling slowly piece by piece with all of those tragic events taking place.

 

Hollywood is a planned city. On Hollywood Boulevard is the Mediterranean-style Joseph Young Mansion, built around 1921, making it one of the oldest houses in Hollywood.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

Average Holiday Moors and Christians Elda 2012 * Mitja Festa Moros i Cristians Elda 2012

 

Art Digital

Program:Aperture-priority AE

Lens:AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED

F:5.6

Speed:1/250

ISO:160

Focal Length:75.0 mm (35 mm equivalent 112.0 mm)

Focus Mode:AF-A

AF Area:Single Area

Shooting Mode:Single-Frame, [9]

VR:On

Metering Mode:Center-weighted average

WB:Auto

Focus Distance:4.22 m

Dof:0.70 m (3.89 - 4.60)

HyperFocal:49.92 m

 

Dombes, France

(Aythya ferina)

 

Beautiful flowery (Nuphar lutea) setting of La Dombes for this male. La Dombes is a plateau of around 1000km² with over 1000 ponds created to drain the clay soils and develop fish farming. With their shallow depth (70cm on average), they form an ecosystem rich in bird life (250 species visible throughout the year).

 

Beau cadre fleuri (Nénuphar jaune) de La Dombes pour ce mâle. La Dombes est un plateau d'environ 1000km² qui compte plus de 1000 étangs créés pour drainer les sols argileux et pour développer la pisciculture. Avec leur faible profondeur (70cm en moyenne), ils constituent un écosystème très riche en oiseaux (250 espèces visibles pendant l'année).

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 28 miles (45 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty-six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

  

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

floridayimby.com/2021/08/bank-of-america-provides-84-mill...

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

At the west end of Rocky, an eastbound UP oil train takes the siding, meeting a westbound oil empty. These oil trains have truly given new life to the Moffat over the last 1-2 years. Granted they are not nearly as common as coal trains once were, but they have increased the average number of trains in a 24 hour period from 5-6 to 7-8. UP 5919 is taking the siding not only to meet the empty on the main, but also to meet the westbound Zephyr, currently around Utah Jct.

 

©2024 ColoradoRailfan.com

Gyps himalayensis

 

The Himalayan Griffon Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is closely related to the European Griffon Vulture, G. fulvus.

 

Adults average 106 cm (42 inches) in length and 272 cm (108 inches) across the wings; they weigh 9.7 kg (21.4 lbs). They are the second largest Old World vulture, behind only the Eurasian Black Vulture in size.

 

It breeds on crags in mountains in the Himalayas and Tibet, laying a single egg. Birds may form loose colonies. The population is mostly resident.

 

Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of animals, which it finds by soaring over open areas and mountains. These birds often move in flocks.

 

The Himalayan Griffon Vulture is a typical vulture, with a bald white head, very broad wings, and short tail feathers. It is even larger than the European Griffon Vulture. It has a white neck ruff and yellow bill. The whitish body and wing coverts contrast with the dark flight feathers.

 

This vulture grunts and hisses at roosts or when feeding on carrion.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Average red-bellied trogon of subtropical forests. Male is iridescent green on breast, head, and back; female is brown. Namesake dark mask is usually obvious, especially on females. Nearly identical to Collared Trogon but very little overlap; Masked is almost always found at higher elevations. Where both are possible, look especially at tail pattern on males: large white tips on underside of tail feathers, otherwise dark with very fine white barring. On females, look for evenly barred undertail with large white tips combined with contrasting black face. Usually found singly or in pairs, perched quietly from the understory to the subcanopy.

Nothing to see here just your average day on the Rivanna

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 28 miles (45 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty-six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

  

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

Average seeing 3/5. Mewlon 210 with QHY5lll 290C. Stacked and processed with RegiStax.

LZOS 175mm refractor, 3x ES extender, ASI290MM, red filter. Seeing average.

On average, a total lunar eclipse occurs just once every 2.5 years and last night was the night! The weather looked sketchy at sunset but the clouds parted 'round midnight, well before totality, slated for around 3 am. local time.

 

In a total lunar eclipse, the sun casts Earth’s shadow on the moon causing it to glow with an etherial red hue. Blue wavelengths of light scatter readily in our atmosphere making the sky blue but during an eclipse, red wavelengths pass through and cast a red shadow resulting in the blood-moon effect.

A floating island in Lake Titicaca, Peru. It is made with ancient techniques by the Uru people from Totora reeds found in the lake (which sits at 12,000 ft elevation). On average, about 20 people live on each floating island.

 

zoom in to see more detail

Average weight of a Greylag goose: 3.3 kilograms

Average weight of a Great Crested Grebe: 0.9 Kilograms

 

Clearly a mismatch., and so it proved....

The Grebe easily saw off the goose!

 

So why all the aggression?

See the next picture for the answer...

 

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 28 miles (45 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty-six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

  

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

Location: Sri Lanka

Average length: 40 cm

Also known as hump-nosed viper or locally as Sinhala Polon Thelissa.

 

Behavior: Nocturnal and terrestrial occasionally ascend to slower shrubs. Easily agitated and bite viciously if provoke.

Distribution: Common in wet zone.

Ovoviviparous, giving birth to 3-18 young.

©Lela Bouse-McCracken ::: "The Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, is a medium-sized shorebird of the family Scolopacidae. The name of this bird can be somewhat misleading, as its bill is only short in comparison with the Long-billed Dowitcher. Its long, straight, dark bill is longer than the average shorebird." ~Wikipedia

 

I appreciate the thought, but ***Please no group or personal icons in the comments.***

You may see my profile for an explanation. Thank you.

As I live in the south of my country, our average temperature is about 30-35 degrees C (summer all the time lol), but I love the fact that we are near our beautiful mountains (45 minutes driving), with pine tress, fog and with a temperature between 18-25 degrees, and if we want to go to the beach, just drive 30 minutes and there we are! enjoying our Pacific Ocean!! So I always say, we are so blessed here! :)

Thank you in advance for your visit. Cheers from Honduras!

 

Mis amadas montanas del Sur

Como yo vivo en el sur de mi pais, nuestra temperatura promedio anda entre 30-35 grados C (todo el tiempo es verano), pero me encanta el hecho que estamos tan cerca de nuestras montanas, con arboles de pino, neblina y con una temperatura entre 18-25 grados C, si queremos ir a la playa, solo manejamos 30 minutos y ahi estamos! disfrutando nuestro Oceano Pacifico!! Siempre digo, que somos muy bendecidos aca!

Gracias de antemano por su visita, saludos desde Honduras! :)

Sony FE 20mm F1.8 G, developed in Affinity, video of this photo shoot here: youtu.be/SbSQiGcHN7A

For my video; youtu.be/hSnBoT-gR88 ,

 

Off of, Lulu Island,

North arm, of the, Fraser River,

Taken from, Riverfront park,

Victoria-Fraserview, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

 

Ship Type: Tug,

Length x Breadth: 16 m X 7 m,

Speed recorded (Max / Average): 10.8 / 7.4 knots,

The average for the month of November in Gothenburg is 58 hours of sunlight. It may not sound like much, but so far this year the sun shone very small - just over seven hours. This report P4 Gothenburg who studied the statistics from SMHI.

Gothenburg may be heading for a new record. The sun has been absent in November and has only been reached in 7.2 hours. In Stockholm it is even darker with two hours of sunshine.

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2019 census, the city has an estimated population of 182,437. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people in 2018.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

 

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control, operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

Average red-bellied trogon of subtropical forests. Male is iridescent green on breast, head, and back; female is brown. Namesake dark mask is usually obvious, especially on females. Masked (male) has large white tips on underside of tail feathers, otherwise dark with very fine white barring. On females, look for evenly barred undertail with large white tips combined with contrasting black face. Usually found singly or in pairs, perched quietly from the understory to the subcanopy.

 

This one was photographed in Ecuador on a photography tour led by Juan Carlos Vindas of Neotropic Photo Tours.

The southern royal albatross or toroa (Diomedea epomophora) is a large seabird from the albatross family. With an average wingspan of above 3 m (9.8 ft), it is one of the two largest species of albatross, together with the wandering albatross.

 

The southern royal albatross has a length of 112 to 123 cm (44–48 in)[ and a mean weight of 8.5 kg (19 lb). At Campbell Island, 11 males were found to have a mean mass of 10.3 kg (23 lb) and 7 females were found to have a mean mass of 7.7 kg (17 lb), thus may be heavier on average than most colonies of wandering albatross.

 

Males are about 2 to 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lb) heavier than females. Average wingspan has been reported from 2.9 to 3.28 m (9.5 to 10.8 ft), with an upper limit of about 3.50 m (11.5 ft). The wandering albatross can exceed this species in maximum size and averages slightly larger in linear dimensions if not bulk, but the two species are close enough in dimensions that size cannot be used to distinguish between them.

 

The juvenile has a white head, neck, upper mantle, rump, and underparts. There are black speckles on the mantle, and dark brown or black wings with white flecks on coverts. The tail is white except for the black tip as is the under-wing. Young birds soon lose the black on their tail and backs. White appears on the upperwing gradually, as speckles starting from the leading edge.

 

All ages have a pink bill with black on the cutting edge on the upper mandible, and the legs are flesh-coloured. Young birds with all-dark upperwings can be hard to differentiate from the northern royal albatross. There are clear but subtle differences from the wandering albatross, with the southern royal having a clean black and white appearance, lacking the peach neck spot often found on the wandering albatross.

 

Most wandering albatrosses have dark feathers in the tail and crown and the white in this species expands from the middle of the wing, in larger blotches. The bill is also slightly paler, as well as the dark cutting edge along the middle. The average lifespan is 58 years.

 

This image was taken in the South Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Argentina.

 

Eyed Hawk-moth, Smerinthus ocellata.

 

Wingspan; 70 – 80mm, females being on average larger than males.

 

Flight period; May – July ( in one generation ).

 

Caterpillar food plants; Willows, Apple (Malus domestica), wild and ornamental Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris), less common on poplars and Aspen (Populus tremula).

 

Habitat; Gardens, orchards, woodland, suburban localities and places where willows grow.

 

UK Status; Common. Well distributed throughout England and Wales as far north as Cumbria, local on Isle of Man, widely distributed but occasional in Channel Isles.

 

They overwinter as shiny black/brown pupae, below or near the larval food plant. The caterpillars can be seen from June to September and resemble the Poplar Hawk-moth caterpillar.

Fairly well distributed throughout England and Wales, this species has a sombre, camouflaged appearance at rest, but if provoked, flashes the hindwings, which are decorated with intense blue and black 'eyes' on a pinkish background. The ‘eye’ markings and thick black line extending down the thorax behind the head make it an easily identified Hawk-moth.

Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The average temperature is between 68 and 83 degrees. As of July 1, 2015 Hollywood has a population of 149,728. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the twelfth largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

Joseph W. Young founded the city in 1925. He dreamed of building a motion picture colony on the East Coast of the United States and named the town after Hollywood, California. Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York

 

Young had a vision of having lakes, golf courses, a luxury beach hotel, country clubs, and a main street, Hollywood Boulevard. After the 1926 Miami hurricane, Hollywood was severely damaged; local newspapers reported that Hollywood was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. Following upon Young's death in 1934, the city encountered more terrific hurricanes and not only that, but the stock market crashed with personal financial misfortunes. It felt as though the city was tumbling slowly piece by piece with all of those tragic events taking place.

 

Hollywood is a planned city. On Hollywood Boulevard is the Mediterranean-style Joseph Young Mansion, built around 1921, making it one of the oldest houses in Hollywood.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2019 census, the city has an estimated population of 182,437. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people in 2018.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

 

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control, operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

That's an average of about 260 views per image.

 

Thanks to all my flickr contacts for pushing me over the million views mark. I've made some really great friends and contacts on flickr and a there is not a day that goes by that I don't check flickr first thing in the morning and last thing before I go to bed (and as often as possible in between) to see what you all are up to.

 

I've learned a lot from all the other photographers on flickr and I've been inspired to try new things and expand my skills more than a few times by my flickr friends and I thank you for that.

 

Happy new year to all my great flickr friends.

 

• LUXECODE x Tres Chic Event

Lipstick Bag FP by @itslc.sl

📍—> @treschic_sl (Tres Chic 155, 139, 134)

• SCENERY x Scenery Mainstore

Residential Luxe Garage by @scenery.sl

📍—> Scenery Mainstore (Exxotica 189, 89, 2835)

 

#MSPRETTY♡

On a typical day, Where I'm standing is full of cars and if I was standing where I was, I'd be run over.

However this day is not your average day, and 6167 is not your average vehicle.

6167 was moved from its home near Guelph Central Station to John Galt Park, to make way for expansions at the station.

6167 was built in 1940 for the Canadian National Railway. It travlled over 1 million miles in its lifetime and after being retired was brought back to run excursion trains for the Canadian National. It was in excursion service from 1960 to 1964, when it was retired for good. In 1967 it was donated to the city of Guelph, where it has remained on display ever since.

Average Holiday Moors and Christians Elda 2012 \_|_/ Mitja Festa Moros i Cristians Elda 2012

 

Art Digital

Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The average temperature is between 68 and 83 degrees. As of July 1, 2015 Hollywood has a population of 149,728. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the twelfth largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

Joseph W. Young founded the city in 1925. He dreamed of building a motion picture colony on the East Coast of the United States and named the town after Hollywood, California. Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York

 

Young had a vision of having lakes, golf courses, a luxury beach hotel, country clubs, and a main street, Hollywood Boulevard. After the 1926 Miami hurricane, Hollywood was severely damaged; local newspapers reported that Hollywood was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. Following upon Young's death in 1934, the city encountered more terrific hurricanes and not only that, but the stock market crashed with personal financial misfortunes. It felt as though the city was tumbling slowly piece by piece with all of those tragic events taking place.

 

Hollywood is a planned city. On Hollywood Boulevard is the Mediterranean-style Joseph Young Mansion, built around 1921, making it one of the oldest houses in Hollywood.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida

It is a medium-sized francolin with males averaging 11.6–13.4 in (29–34 cm) and females averaging 10.2–11.9 in (26–30 cm). The males weigh 9–12 oz (260–340 g) whereas the weight of the females is 7–11 oz (200–310 g). The francolin is barred throughout and the face is pale with a thin black border to the pale throat. The only similar species is the painted francolin, which has a rufous vent. The male can have up to two spurs on the legs while females usually lack them. Subspecies mecranensis is palest and found in arid north-western India, Eastern Pakistan and Southern Iran. Subspecies interpositus is darker and intermediate found in northern India. The nominate race in the southern peninsula of India has populations with a darker rufous throat, supercilium and is richer brown. They are weak fliers and fly short distances, escaping into undergrowth after a few spurts of flight. In flight it shows a chestnut tail and dark primaries. The race in Sri Lanka is sometimes given the name ceylonensis or considered as belonging to the nominate.

Please visit my YouTube, 500px & new Instagram channels www.youtube.com/channel/UCt5wf3DvvWAqgUd9NMUItVw

500px.com/p/svive1?view=photos

www.instagram.com/viv_vivekananda/

  

Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short, thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they comprise the family Otariidae, eared seals, which contains six extant and one extinct species (the Japanese sea lion) in five genera. Their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. They have an average lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about 300 kg (660 lb) and is about 2.4 m (8 ft) long, while the female sea lion weighs 100 kg (220 lb) and is 1.8 m (6 ft) long. The largest sea lion is Steller's sea lion, which can weigh 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) and grow to a length of 3.0 m (10 ft). Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their body weight (about 6.8–15.9 kg (15–35 lb)) at a single feeding. Sea lions can move around 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) in water and at their fastest they can reach a speed of about 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Three species, the Australian sea lion, the Galápagos sea lion and the New Zealand sea lion, are listed as endangered. 61535

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Rannoch

  

LocationPerth and Kinross

Coordinates56°40′59″N 4°18′50″WCoordinates: 56°40′59″N 4°18′50″W

Typefreshwater loch

Primary outflowsRiver Tummel

Max. length15.69 kilometres (9.75 mi)[1]

Max. width1.21 kilometres (0.75 mi)[1]

Average depth51.1 metres (167.5 ft)[1]

Max. depth130 metres (440 ft)[1]

Water volume0.97 cubic kilometres (0.23 cu mi)[1]

  

Loch Rannoch (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Raineach) is a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is over 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) long in a west-east direction with an average width of about 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi), and is deepest at its eastern end, reaching a depth of 130 metres (440 ft).[1] The River Tummel begins at its eastern end, where the small village of Kinloch Rannoch can be found, whilst the wild expanse of Rannoch Moor extends to the west of the loch.[2] The area surrounding Loch Rannoch, along with Rannoch Moor itself, was formerly part of the native Caledonian Forest that stretched across much of Northern Scotland.[1] Native forest is now largely absent from much of area, due partly to logging, and partly to the climate becoming wetter,[1] and Loch Rannoch is now largely surrounded by commercial forestry and open hillsides,[2] although a small area remains at the Black Wood of Rannoch on the southern shore of the loch.[3]

 

Loch Rannoch forms part of the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development by restricting certain forms of development.

  

Tourism

  

The area around is full of things to do which you can find on the Rannoch and Tummel Tourist Association site which has a wealth of information about this beautiful glen. The loch offers good sport fishing, with brown and ferox trout, arctic charr, pike and perch all present, although there are no salmon in the loch. Fishing is managed by the Loch Rannoch Conservation Association, who issue permits and control catches in accordance with the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.[1][5]

 

Areas of forestry around Loch Rannoch owned by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) form part of the Tay Forest Park, a network of FCS forests spread across the Highland parts of Perthshire that are managed to provide walks and amenities for visitors

  

Historical sites

  

A crannog (an example of an artificial island used as a dwelling for over five millennia)[7] is present at Eilean nam Faoileag in the western half of the loch. A folly was constructed on the island in the nineteenth century, reputedly by a Baron Granbley. The folly, which is still standing, takes the form of a tower, and may be based on the design of a small island prison.[8] There may also be crannog at Eilean Beal na Gaoire at the very western end of the loch, however the level of the loch has been raised causing the island to become submerged, and so its status as a crannog was regarded as uncertain when surveyed in 1969.[9]

  

Transport

  

The historic route of the Road to the Isles went along Loch Rannoch as part of the route between Pitlochry on the main Stirling to Inverness road, and Lochaber,[10] and Loch Rannoch is one of the places mentioned in the Scottish folk song named after the road.[11] The road is now classified as the B846, which runs along the north shore of the loch. The road terminates at Rannoch railway station on the West Highland Line, some 9 km west of Loch Rannoch. The route of the Road to the Isles continues only as a untarmaced track from here to the west.[2]

  

Hydro-electricity

  

Rannoch Power Station, on the northern shore of the loch, is part of the Tummel hydro-electric power scheme, which is operated by SSE. The power station has a vertical head of 156 m and a total generating capacity of 44 MW, and uses water fed by pipeline and tunnel from Loch Ericht which is discharged into Loch Rannoch.[12]

  

Black Wood of Rannoch

  

The Black Wood of Rannoch, a fragment of the Caledonian Forest, lies on the southern shore of Loch Rannoch. It is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC),[3] and is the largest remaining area of Caledonian Forest in Perth and Kinross.[13] The forest supports a number of rare plants including species such as coralroot Corallorhiza trifida and serrated wintergreen Orthilia secunda. It also supports populations of Scottish crossbill and capercaillie.[13]

 

The Black Wood of Rannoch had been used to provide timber for nearly 200 years, and during the Great War, there were plans to fell it completely. The wood has been owned and managed

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2019 census, the city has an estimated population of 182,437. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people in 2018.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

 

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control, operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The average temperature is between 68 and 83 °F (20 and 28 °C). As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the twelfth-largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

 

Joseph Young arrived in South Florida in 1920 to create his own "Dream City in Florida." His vision included the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean stretching westward with man made lakes, infrastructure, roads and the Intracoastal waterway. He wanted to include large parks, schools, churches, and golf courses; these were all industries and activities which were very important to Young's life. After Young spent millions of dollars on the construction of the city, he was elected as the first mayor in 1925.

 

This new town quickly became home to northerners known as snowbirds. These snowbirds flee the north during the winter and then escape the south during the summer to avoid the harsh climates. By 1960, Hollywood contained more than 2,400 hotel units along with the construction of 12,170 single family homes. Young bought up thousands of acres of land around 1920, and named his new town "Hollywood by the Sea" to distinguish it from his other real estate venture, "Hollywood in the Hills", in New York.

 

The Florida guide, published by the Federal Writers' Project, describes the early development of Hollywood, an early example of a planned community that proliferated in Florida during the real estate boom of the 1920s:

 

During the early days of development here, 1,500 trucks and tractors were engaged in clearing land and grading streets; two yacht basins, designed by General George Washington Goethals, chief engineer in the construction of the Panama Canal, were dredged and connected with the Intracostal Waterway. A Large power plant was installed, and when the city lights went on for the first time, ships at sea reported that Miami was on fire, and their radio alarms and the red glow in the sky brought people to the rescue from miles around.

 

— Federal Writers'Project, "Part III: The Florida Loop", Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (1947)

 

Prospective purchasers of land were enticed by free hotel accommodation and entertainment, and "were driven about the city-to-be on trails blazed through palmetto thickets; so desolate and forlorn were some stretches that many women became hysterical, it is said, and a few fainted. Young had a vision of having lakes, golf courses, a luxury beach hotel (Hollywood Beach Hotel, now Hollywood Beach Resort), country clubs, and a main street, Hollywood Boulevard. After the 1926 Miami hurricane, Hollywood was severely damaged; local newspapers reported that Hollywood was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. Following Young's death in 1934, the city encountered other destructive hurricanes and the stock market crashed with personal financial misfortunes.

 

Following the damage inflicted by Hurricane Irma in 2017, an initiative called Rebuild Florida was created by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to provide aid to citizens affected by the natural disaster. The initial focus of Rebuild Florida was its Housing Repair Program, which offered assistance in rebuilding families' homes that were impacted by Hurricane Irma. The program priorities low-income vulnerable residents, such as the disabled, the elderly and those families with children under five.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

  

♫ When I heard this, I knew it was perfect for this shot and story ♫

  

Bass Wheeler was an inspiring figure as he walked slowly down Main Street that morning. He was of average height and build but the way he filled out his dark wool suit would make about any woman's head turn.

 

The old boards of the sidewalk creaked under his polished Hyer Brother's boots as the handsome man made his way toward the Jailhouse. Passing by the McKenzie Mercantile, he caught a glimpse of himself in the pane glass window. Stopping for a moment, he looked himself over, reaching up to straighten his tie and brush a hint of dust off the pin striped coat. Bass thought of the first day his wife had seen him in this suit, and a slight smile came across his face. He'd ordered it out of a catalogue there at the mercantile. Old man McKenzie's wife, Cora had helped him pick it out. The first time he'd worn it was on his wedding day and the last time was at his wife's funeral. He hadn't worn it since. Not until today. Refitting the derby that covered a bountiful head of dark hair, Bass eased his finger around the silk brim of his hat then brushed each side of his mustache. Turning once more toward the jail house, he reached in his pocket for his tobacco pouch and some paper and began to roll a cigarette together as he made his way to work.

 

There was a slight breeze this morning. The sun barely crested the Meadow Valley Range when Dan Buckley waved at Bass from the sidewalk in front of the Jail. Dan and his brother Jason were twins and if Dan had not sported a full beard, you'd never be able to tell the two apart. Dan's whiskers shown well however from under the banister where he stood holding a Springfield rifle. Bass waved back at the younger deputy, finished rolling the cigarette, and crossed the dusty street.

 

"Pretty quiet this morning." Bass said as he stepped up in the boardwalk shaking Dan's hand.

 

"That it is Bass. But it's sure workin' out to be one beautiful Sunday morning." Dan stood there looking Bass up and down then blurted out. "Gawl damn Bass you smell like a rose garden and you're all dressed up! You goin' to a funeral or somethin'?" The younger deputy threw his head back laughing as Bass stood there saying nothing. It was clear the older man didn't much care for his jest and in a hurry, Dan cleared his throat, nodded, and decided to let it go. Bass Wheeler was a pal and Dan had a lot of respect for him. Besides, you didn't want to get on Bass Wheeler's bad side. Switching back to the original topic he said, "Now tomorrow morning, well that'll be a different story all together, you can bet the farm on that. With the hangin' and all."

 

Bass nodded and slid the cigarette into his breast pocket and turned to look back down Main Street and then back up Meadow Valley Street toward the Hanley Opera House. He squinted as the breeze that flew off the vast expanse of prarie whipped in some sand and dust. Continuing to survey the area, Bass picked back on his coversation with Dan who'd eased himself into a chair there on the porch.

 

"Yea, I'm surprised old Judge Parker went through with it and sentenced her to hang."

 

Dan nodded leaning back in the chair, his rifle straddled across his lap, and responded.

 

"And a woman to boot! Kinda gets in my crawl Bass but she sure deserves it I guess. Bein' she's wanted and all. I didn't begrudge her defending herself from those men what attacked her, but then shootin' that kid!

Well, that just takes it all don't it?"

 

Bass nodded again as he turned. "Yea Dan, it was damned unfortunate. That poor kid. You know, when she got on the stand and told her side of it, how she'd just reacted in the moment and the kid startled her, hell I believed her. I still do! But that jury didn't care. One way or the other somebody was gonna pay for that kid's death and that was it."

 

With that, Bass turned toward the door grabbing the knob. "I'm gonna check on her. She had breakfast yet?"

 

No Bass, I'll run down to Henry and Martha's and see if she's got a plate for her."

 

That'd be fine Dan, thanks."

 

Dan Buckley jumped up to make his way down to the Calhoun's place when Bass stopped in the doorway, and yelled out. "By the way, you seen Henry yet this morning?"

 

Dan stopped, the oil lamp along the dusty street still casting a dim glow on the side of his face, "Naw, I ain't seen him. But you know him. He'll be around directly to check on the prisoner before he goes to church."

 

Bass smiled and nodded and thanked Dan again, motioning for him to continue on his way down the street to the Calhoun's cottage.

 

The old jail house smelled of old wood, cigar smoke, bourbon, and gun powder. Bass had always liked the smell of the jail. He'd always liked his job too. He was a respected member or the community even if he didn't attend church services. People tended to over look it since Bass Wheeler had done so much to protect the town and their interest. He sometimes wondered if they'd be so cordial and forgiving toward him if they'd known about his past. How he'd been a ruffian after the war and how he'd been on the end of a rope more than once, suspected of steeling cows, horses and even murder. Henry Calhoun was the only man in town who did know, and he'd forgiven Bass and placed all his confidence in the man years ago. For Sheriff Henry Calhoun it was a forgotten memory.

 

Bass grabbed the keys from the desk drawer and a gun and holster that hung on the wall. He slung the holster over his shoulder and proceeded to push the key in the lock. The latch bolt let out a clank when he turned it and pushed the door open. The cells were still very dark as they were on the west side of the building. The sparse amount of the sun's rays that actually got through the tiny windows in each cell were a long way off from making their way into old calaboose. Bass lit an oil lamp and held it up to see. The brightness of the burning wick was more blinding then helpful as he approached the young woman's cell and whispered out in a hushed voice.

 

"Millie! Millie you awake?!"

 

Just then Millie popped up rushing toward the iron bars and grabbed Bass. Bass used his free arm and held her up close to him leaning in to kiss her. She giggled a little when she leaned back from the kiss, still running her hands over him seemingly starved for affection. Bass pulled away a little and reached in his pocket to get her the cigarette he'd rolled on the way over.

 

"Dang girl you beat all! Look now, aint no time to lose! I got the horses in the back. If we're gonna go, we got to go now. And I mean right now!"

 

Millie reached in Bass' jacket pocket for a match and scraped the end across the course wood of the cell. The flame ingnited, and she lit the end of the cigarette looking at him. Bass noticed how lovely she was in the warm glow of the fire. How could a woman that was so good to look at be such a dammed bad desperado? And just maybe that was part of her allure. It was hard to say, and right now wasn't the time to figure it out. Taking another draw she winked at him and nodded, blowing out a trail of inhaled smoke.

 

"Well then hell Deputy, lets get the fuck out of this shit horse town! Open this damned door Bass."

 

Deputy Bass Wheeler did just that, and it was a decision that would change his life forever. When the door swung open he handed Millie the holster and gun, and she quickly strapped it around her tiny waist.

 

Millie Keller was small woman. The word they used back east was petite, but what she lacked in stature she made up for in ruthlessness, intelligence, and the art of manipulation. She had a scar along your left eye and cheek from a lashing she'd taken from her father years before and her long hair, even dirty, looked like the gold silk of corn husk. By all accounts she wasn't your run-of-the-mill whore.

 

Millie smirked at Bass and then with the skill and sleight of hand of a seasoned gunslinger she pulled the gun, rolled the chamber across her arm to be sure it was fully loaded, and shoved the colt back in its holster. Her hands were so fast even Bass Wheeler was impressed. He motioned toward the back door of the jail when they heard Dan Buckley walking up to the front door of the Pioche Jail calling for Bass.

 

"Hey Bass, I got the young ladies breakfast! Martha had it waitin' for me. She kept it warm in the oven. Sheriff's on his way to check on things! Hey Bass, you there?!"

 

Bass nervously pushed Millie out of the door way and into the lot behind the jail.

 

"Get on the damned horse Millie! Come on!"

 

She gave him a look as he pushed her into the dark bay but didn't say a word and quickly mounted. Bass noticed it, he'd have to apologize later. For now, he just needed to get them out of here so they'd avoid any gun play. These were his friends afterall, and he wasn't about to shoot anybody! It was then he saw Jason Buckley looking at them from the other side of the street. The expression on Jason's face was nothing short of terror and shock as Bass whirled the palomino around. Bass saw Millie reach for her colt and quickly grabbed her forearm. Looking back at him, Millie cursed Bass screeching out.

 

"What the hell are you doin' Bass? He's gonna kill us!"

 

Bass responded with a screech of his on. "Don't you shoot that kid! Now lets get the fuck out of here Millie. Let's go!"

 

Both of them kicked their mounts turning them down the street to the quickest way out of town. They had to gallop past Jason Buckley running toward them on their right, and out of the corner of his eye, Bass saw Dan Buckley rush out of the front door of the jail on his left, holding his Springfield. The horses would be way too fast for the boys to get a good shot off Bass thought to himself, but what happened next was the one thing he hadn't counted on.

 

Sheriff Henry Calhoun had seen the commotion on his way up the street and rushed up to fire his gun. He gave the warning shot he would have never given anyone but Bass, and it was the mistake that would cost him his life. Startled, Bass turned his shotgun and more out of instinct than anything else, pulled the trigger. Henry Calhoun's legs buckled. He grimaced in pain, his eyes glared at Bass in despair and disbelief as the blood splattered out of his back like a burst onto the dusty street.

 

Jason Buckley managed to run across the street to get off a shot as he aimed for Millie, missing when her horse reared up. Millie grabbed her gun's handle pulling it with lightning speed and aimed. She shot, hitting Jason Buckley across the right side of his face. His ear flung off like a bullet, and by the time it landed on the ground they were on the outskirts of town.

 

A huge cloud of dust swirled around in the air as the morning sun finally rose up past the top of the mountains. With their horses in a full gallop, Bass looked back over his shoulder. The picture of his friend Henry Calhoon's face staring at him, fading into oblivion, and the dark blood that splattered into the street, played again and again in his mind. It was over, and he was wrong. He'd ruined the rest of his life and he knew it. Worse than that, he'd betrayed men, a whole town, who'd placed their confidence in him.

 

Bass faced forward to the prarie in front of them when the bells of the church began to ring, not for Sunday service but to alert the town. He yanked the star from his breast shirt pocket and flung it into some chollas and thought about what Dan Buckley had said earlier. "It's sure workin'out to be one beautiful Sunday morning."

  

Big thank you to my friend Morgan Talbot for helping me with this shot and posing. You're the best Morgan!!♥

 

This shot was taken at Terlingua Texas. The folks there role playing were very curious about what we were up to and equally as nice and accommodating. Thank you guys.

 

This story takes place in Pioche, Nevada around 1876. I did a little research on Pioche and may have taken some liberties for the sake of the story when it comes to the layout of the town etc. For anyone who lives around Pioche or has visited this historic town I hope you'll forgive me for any historical inaccuracies.

  

That was the average I saw quoted on a tide-time site for East Fife. From the shore it looked less, but from past experience I knew that having your feet on dry land always shrinks apparent wave heights... When your boat is at the nadir of the wave trough and you've lost sight of land till the following swell rides your boat up to the next crest, those waves look like boat eaters and every mile separating you from home harbour seems to take an hour to be covered, the moment of crossing the bar and feeling the deck level out under your feet - is welcome beyond compare.

Before I forget - the bird's a winter-plumaged Black Headed Gull. In the glow of the afternoon sunshine their legs and bills looked strongly orange, not the deep red I'm more used to seeing. Fooled me into thinking the storm had blown a fleet of different birds ashore from those normally seen.

Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, 25 miles (40 km) north of Miami. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2019 census, the city has an estimated population of 182,437. Fort Lauderdale is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people in 2018.

 

The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.8 million international visitors. The city and county in 2012 collected $43.9 million from the 5% hotel tax it charges, after hotels in the area recorded an occupancy rate for the year of 72.7 percent and an average daily rate of $114.48. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.

 

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

 

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

 

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

 

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. The fort was abandoned in 1842, after the end of the war, and the area remained virtually unpopulated until the 1890s. It was not until Frank Stranahan arrived in the area in 1893 to operate a ferry across the New River, and the Florida East Coast Railroad's completion of a route through the area in 1896, that any organized development began. The city was incorporated in 1911, and in 1915 was designated the county seat of newly formed Broward County.

 

Fort Lauderdale's first major development began in the 1920s, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused a great deal of economic dislocation. In July 1935, an African-American man named Rubin Stacy was accused of robbing a white woman at knife point. He was arrested and being transported to a Miami jail when police were run off the road by a mob. A group of 100 white men proceeded to hang Stacy from a tree near the scene of his alleged robbery. His body was riddled with some twenty bullets. The murder was subsequently used by the press in Nazi Germany to discredit US critiques of its own persecution of Jews, Communists, and Catholics.

 

When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became a major US base, with a Naval Air Station to train pilots, radar operators, and fire control, operators. A Coast Guard base at Port Everglades was also established.

 

On July 4, 1961, African Americans started a series of protests, wade-ins, at beaches that were off-limits to them, to protest "the failure of the county to build a road to the Negro beach". On July 11, 1962, a verdict by Ted Cabot went against the city's policy of racial segregation of public beaches.

Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's largest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division with 1.8 million people.

 

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lauderdale,_Florida

 

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

 

Trincomali Channel, Gulf Islands,

North Galiano, British Columbia, Canada

 

MMSI: 316018117,

Flag: Canada [CA],

AIS Vessel Type: Pleasure Craft,

Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 23m × 6m

Draught 2.5m,

Speed recorded (Max / Average) 20 / 17.4 knots,

Sarek National Park (Swedish: Sareks nationalpark) is a national park in Jokkmokk Municipality, Lapland in the north of Sweden. Established in 1909–1910, the park is one of the oldest national parks in Europe. The shape of the Sarek park is roughly circular with an average diameter of about 50 km (31.07 mi). The park has about 200 peaks over 1,800 m (5,900 ft), 82 of which have names. There are approximately 100 glaciers in the Sarek National Park.

 

Sarek is a popular area for experienced hikers and mountaineers. There are no marked trails or accommodations and only two bridges aside from those in the vicinity of its borders. The area is among those that receives the heaviest rainfall in Sweden, making hiking dependent on weather conditions. It is also intersected by turbulent streams that are hazardous to cross without proper training. The delta of the Rapa River is considered one of Europe‘s most noted views and the summit of mount Skierfe offers an overlook of that ice-covered, glacial, trough valley.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

-----

 

In 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020, we pursued four 10+ days long autumn hikes across the unspoiled wilderness of Sarek national park, Lapland, Sweden - definitely one the most beautiful and remote regions in Europe and a true incarnation of the "deep north" expression.

 

It's difficult to describe Sarek and what it may mean for anyone who hasn't been there yet. It's a special place. A hidden gem. A delight. It's a place where adventure is not only ensured; it's an unavoidable and essential part of the trip. Remote areas, mighty peaks, glaciers one may see only from hills and not from valleys. Unmarked trails, cold glacial rivers, birch woods, reindeer, moose, and other animals.

 

Some call it the last European wilderness. I don't give a nickname; it would be incomplete and not fitting. Sarek is unique.

 

Your comments and faves are greatly appreciated.

 

Splendid Fairy-wren

Scientific Name: Malurus splendens

Description: The breeding plumage of the male is predominantly blue, varying from cobalt-blue in the east of its range to violet-blue in the west.It has black bands at the base of the tail (absent in the violet-blue birds), across the breast and from the beak, through the eyes to join a band across the back of its neck. Its crown and cheek patches are paler blue. Wings and long tail are brown with a blue wash. His beak is black and his legs and feet are brown-grey. In non-breeding plumage, called eclipse, he is very similar to the female, being pale brown above and buff to white underneath although he retains the blue wash on wings and tail. The female does not have the blue wash on her wings, but does have a reddish-tan line from beak to eye that extends into a ring around her eye. Her beak is reddish-tan.

Similar species: The male in breeding plumage is quite distinct but in eclipse he is similar to the males of other fairy-wrens in eclipse. A faint wash of blue on male wings during eclipse distinguishes this species from others. The female is similar to females of other fairy-wren species, but has a bluer tail than most.

Distribution: These birds are widely distributed across Australia in two areas. One area is from about Shark Bay south through WA, through SA except the coast to about the Flinders Ranges and the southern and central parts of NT. The eastern area include SA from the Flinders Ranges, the far north-western tip of Vic, NSW east to about Moree and Balranald and south central Qld.

Habitat: These birds live in arid to semi-arid areas, in mostly dense shrublands or woodlands of acacia, and mallee eucalypt with dense shrubs.

Seasonal movements: These birds are mostly sedentary, defending a territory all year, but the younger females may disperse to another territory. In some areas they are semi-nomadic, depending on local conditions.

Feeding: Like most of the fairy-wrens, Splendid Fairy-wrens eat mostly insects and forage on both the ground and in shrubs. They live in groups which forage together.

Breeding: The Splendid Fairy-wren female builds an oval domed nest of dry grass, strips of bark and rootlets, with an entrance two thirds of the way up one side. The female is the only member of the group to incubate the eggs, but all members of the group feed the chicks.

Calls: A rapid series of slightly metallic, high-pitched pips that blend into an "undulating" call.

Minimum Size: 12cm

Maximum Size: 14cm

Average size: 13cm

Average weight: 9g

Breeding season: mostly September-December, but can extend from August to April

Clutch Size: 2 to 4, mostly 3

Incubation: 15 days

Nestling Period: 11 days

(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)

 

© Chris Burns 2018

__________________________________________

 

All rights reserved.

 

This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.

Your comments and faves are greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

 

Masked Lapwing

Scientific Name: Vanellus miles

Description: Masked Lapwings are large, ground-dwelling birds that are closely related to the waders. The Masked Lapwing is mainly white below, with brown wings and back and a black crown. Birds have large yellow wattles covering the face, and are equipped with a thorny spur that projects from the wrist on each wing. The spur is yellow with a black tip. The Masked Lapwing has two subspecies resident in Australia. The southern subspecies has black on the hind neck and sides of breast, and has smaller facial wattles. Northern birds are smaller, without the partial black collar, but have a much larger wattle, which covers most of the side of the face. The sexes are similar in both subspecies, although the male tends to have a larger spur. Young Masked Lapwings are similar to the adult birds, but may have a darker back. The wing spur and facial wattles are either absent or smaller in size. The southern subspecies is also known as the Spur-winged Plover.

Similar species: The Banded Lapwing, V. tricolor, is much smaller (25 cm to 29 cm). It has a mostly black head and upper breast, with a distinct white eyestripe and bib. It also has a distinctive red patch at the base of the bill.

Distribution: The Masked Lapwing is common throughout northern, central and eastern Australia. Masked Lapwings are also found in Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand. The New Zealand and New Caledonian populations have been formed from birds that have flown there from Australia.

Habitat: The Masked Lapwing inhabits marshes, mudflats, beaches and grasslands. It is often seen in urban areas. Where this bird is used to human presence, it may tolerate close proximity; otherwise it is very wary of people, and seldom allows close approach.

Feeding: Masked Lapwings feed on insects and their larvae, and earthworms. Most food is obtained from just below the surface of the ground, but some may also be taken above the surface. Birds are normally seen feeding alone, in pairs or in small groups.

Breeding: Masked Lapwings may breed when conditions are suitable. Both sexes share the building of the nest, which is a simple scrape in the ground away from ground cover. This nest is often placed in inappropriate locations, such as school playing fields or the roofs of buildings. Both sexes also incubate the eggs and care for the young birds. The young birds are born with a full covering of down and are able to leave the nest and feed themselves a few hours after hatching.

 

The Masked Lapwing is notorious for its defence of its nesting site. This is particularly the case after the chicks have hatched. Adults will dive on intruders, or act as though they have a broken wing in an attempt to lure the intruder away from the nest.

Minimum Size: 33cm

Maximum Size: 38cm

Average size: 36cm

Breeding season: At any time of the year

Clutch Size: 3 to 5

(Source: www.bridsinbackyards.net)

 

© Chris Burns 2018

__________________________________________

 

All rights reserved.

 

This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.

A deposit of copper bearing ore 14km southeast of Duchess at Trekelano was exploited by the Hampden Co for use at its Kuridala smelter. The ore body was one of the richer ones in the Cloncurry area, averaging around 13% copper and lesser amount of silver and gold. Trekelano ore was particularly valuable as a smelting aid.

 

The deposit was first worked in about 1906 in a small way, mostly for development work, and gradually increased its output of economical volumes by 1915. In time, the mine was equipped with a semi-marine type Babcock & Wilcox boiler, a Walker geared winding engine, Fraser & Chambers compressor, electric light from a 40hp Hornsby gas engine and wood producer, a picking plant, and ore bins. Narrow gauge tramways were used to move the ore to the dumps to the loading state and to fart firewood to the boiler house. Associated facilities were a change room, an engine room, a boiler shed, magazines, offices, stores, and staff quarters. At its peak, the mine employed 60 men. A school and post office were provided from 1918 and these remained viable until 1928.

 

When the railway was extended from Malbon to Duchess, the company began sending Trekelano ore to Duchess using a traction engine and wagons. This arrangement was not satisfactory in the long term so as soon as the railway was extended from Duchess to Dajarra, the company immediately took steps to lay a connecting tramway. The link was 12.3km in length.

 

The line was funded and built by the company under the Tramways Act. Engineering specifications were based on QR standards but were more economical in regard to the road bed and ballasting. The company sourced the rails and sleepers from QR and secured them on time payment based on a rebate from a premium placed on every ton carried. The company also paid the line maintenance fees.

 

Construction commenced on the 10th of September 1917 some 7.5km from Duchess at 553 miles and 21 chains, later known as Juenburra. Accommodation comprised a loop siding on the left from which was laid the branch proper which consisted of a curve to the southeast where another loop was placed on the right. From here the line continued southeast to the mine, which was 130 rail kilometres from Cloncurry.

 

A passenger service was offered but it was minimally supported because the Trekelano community had a road coach service to Duchess station. The coach departed Duchess at 7am on Monday and Friday for a same day return. Passenger rail journeys were around 200 per year to 1921 and then tailed off to virtually nothing, ceasing altogether soon after.

 

From 1941 the train day became a Monday and was worked by the Cloncurry-Dajarra-Cloncurry weekly mixed running on a Sunday-Monday overnight rest schedule. Ore loadings had dropped by half at this time to around 3500 tons due to shortages of labour and machinery spare parts. One train a week sufficed. Loadings diminished even further to less then 2000 tons by 1943. The mine closed that year and the train service ceased at this time. A small community remained until the end, and this included several school aged children who were driven to Duchess each day for their education.

 

The mine owners retired to the coast and after the war put the mine and tramway on the market. There were no takers for the assets as a going concern so the plant was sold for scrap. The rails were purchased by the North Eton Sugar Mill and were removed by 1947. The telephone pole line was dismantled at the same time. The sleepers had no value and were left in situ. The official closure of the tramway is the 14th of May 1947.

 

The original Trekelano mine produced 220 000 tons of ore over its lifetime to yield 20 000 tons of copper and 3000 oz of gold. In the 1990s the site was gone over by the drivers of Mineral Commodities NL to locate and estimated 400 000 tonnes of 2.2% copper and 0.6 grams/tonne of gold. The deposit was reopened in 2005 by Osborne Mines and worked as a massive pit, this development swallowing the remains of the original mine and tramway. The Trekelano ore was carted to a concentrating plant at Mount Osborne, south of Selwyn, and the treated ore despatched by rail through to Phosphate Hill.

 

The mine is no longer in use.

 

Source: Copper in the Curry by Norman Houghton.

Especially in harsher-than-average winters such as the current 2022-2023 year, many Yellowstone bison migrate to lower, more protected areas where snow is not deep (or sometimes, not persistently present, as in these photos) making it easier to find food. These bison are in an area encompassing the northern-most section of the national park (where hunting is never permitted) and the southern reaches of Custer-Gallatin National Forest (where hunting is permitted under specific conditions).

 

Each winter, the park, the Forest Service, and Montana Wildlife, Fish and Game collaborate to allow specific indigenous tribes and a small number of non-tribal hunters to harvest a limited number of bison. The hunt is part of a policy to keep a lid on the population of Yellowstone bison. It is not without controversy though I do not object to allowing native people to hunt bison as has been their tradition for uncounted generations.

 

One of the most controversial aspects of this hunt is of course the risk of unintended/accidental injury to bison, other wildlife, and of course, to human life and property. In this instance, a bison calf (centered in the photo) has suffered a wound, possibly from a stray shot, to its left front fetlock. It was completely unable to bear weight on the leg. Living as a wild bison in Yellowstone with only three functional legs is not a long term proposition. If the poor thing doesn't die of infection first, it will be easy pickins' for predators that will doubtless notice its compromised condition. It's all part of the circle of life but nonetheless heart-rending to witness.

 

As I waited in my car while the last shots were fired, streams of bison headed past me back towards the park. They of course cannot understand where the park boundary is, but they knew where to head to get away from danger.

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