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Glacier travel in Huascarán National Park. Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range in the Peruvian Andes.
Converted from an old slide. July, 1983.
The average rate of income is $27,000 per household. 33% of Belle Glade residents reside below the poverty line
Unemployment is 40%
One of the most common civilian vehicles produced by Yugoslavia's Fabrika Automobila Priboj (FAP), the 2069 Serbo has been spotted in nearly every corner of the world. Originally designed as an affordable and highly adaptable 4x4 chassis for Yugoslav farmers and mountainfolk, the 2069 series gradually became Yugoslavia's frontrunner automobile due to its ease of maintenance, reliability, and general mobility.
Indeed, for the reasons listed above, the Serbo has come to be employed by all sorts of people: Bloody, reckless cartel bosses in Latin America; petty warlords in Central Asia running illegal mining operations; United Nations personnel seeking to keep the peace in the Sahel; and even Western special forces attempting to stifle the growth of terror organizations in Al Dabir. Although strange to see, it is not uncommon for images to emerge online depicting American operators cruising along in highly-modified 2069s. Given the ubiquity of the Serbo series in most developing states, finding trucks and spare parts for the cheap is quite easy. Again, Yugoslavia's emphasis on creating products for the average working person makes the vehicles both easy to maintain and modify. The Serbo has seen so much abuse by America's Special Operations Command that many crews have bestowed upon it the backronym UBER--Ugly But Extremely Rugged.
It would seem that despite Yugoslavia being a strategic competitor to the West and a revisionist power writ large, the Serbo's performance has earned the Socialist Republic a bit of soft power beyond its immediate sphere of influence in Southern and Eastern Europe. The industrial handlers stationed in Belgrade are more than overjoyed at this fact, especially since it means competing vehicles like the Nissan Rif are being forced from the limelight while the glory of Balkan socialism shines supreme.
Joint upload with my boy Evan's MTV cargo truck and Brian's Hisan Harb artillery tractor.
The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan. The two subspecies, which differ slightly in size, breed in Europe (north to Finland), northwestern Africa, southwestern Asia (east to southern Kazakhstan) and southern Africa. The white stork is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa from tropical Sub-Saharan Africa to as far south as South Africa, or on the Indian subcontinent. When migrating between Europe and Africa, it avoids crossing the Mediterranean Sea and detours via the Levant in the east or the Strait of Gibraltar in the west, because the air thermals on which it depends do not form over water.
A carnivore, the white stork eats a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and small birds. It takes most of its food from the ground, among low vegetation, and from shallow water. It is a monogamous breeder, but does not pair for life. Both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. Each year the female can lay one clutch of usually four eggs, which hatch asynchronously 33–34 days after being laid. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the young. The young leave the nest 58–64 days after hatching, and continue to be fed by the parents for a further 7–20 days.
The white stork has been rated as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It benefited from human activities during the Middle Ages as woodland was cleared, but changes in farming methods and industrialisation saw it decline and disappear from parts of Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Conservation and reintroduction programs across Europe have resulted in the white stork resuming breeding in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Sweden. It has few natural predators, but may harbour several types of parasite; the plumage is home to chewing lice and feather mites, while the large nests maintain a diverse range of mesostigmatic mites. This conspicuous species has given rise to many legends across its range, of which the best-known is the story of babies being brought by storks.
The white stork is a large bird. It has a length of 100–115 cm (39–45 in), and a standing height of 100–125 cm (39–49 in). The wingspan is 155–215 cm (61–85 in) and its weight is 2.3–4.5 kg (5.1–9.9 lb). Like all storks, it has long legs, a long neck and a long straight pointed beak.[11] The sexes are identical in appearance, except that males are larger than females on average. The plumage is mainly white with black flight feathers and wing coverts; the black is caused by the pigment melanin. The breast feathers are long and shaggy forming a ruff which is used in some courtship displays. The irises are dull brown or grey, and the peri-orbital skin is black. The adult has a bright red beak and red legs, the colouration of which is derived from carotenoids in the diet. In parts of Spain, studies have shown that the pigment is based on astaxanthin obtained from an introduced species of crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the bright red beak colours show up even in nestlings, in contrast to the duller beaks of young white storks elsewhere.
In flight. White storks fly with their necks outstretched.
As with other storks, the wings are long and broad enabling the bird to soar. In flapping flight its wingbeats are slow and regular. It flies with its neck stretched forward and with its long legs extended well beyond the end of its short tail. It walks at a slow and steady pace with its neck upstretched. In contrast, it often hunches its head between its shoulders when resting. Moulting has not been extensively studied, but appears to take place throughout the year, with the primary flight feathers replaced over the breeding season.
Head, neck and upper body of a white stork with a long beak with is reddish at the base fading to black at the tip
An older juvenile at Vogelpark Avifauna, Netherlands. Beaks turn red starting at the base.
Upon hatching, the young white stork is partly covered with short, sparse, whitish down feathers. This early down is replaced about a week later with a denser coat of woolly white down. By three weeks, the young bird acquires black scapulars and flight feathers. On hatching the chick has pinkish legs, which turn to greyish-black as it ages. Its beak is black with a brownish tip. By the time it fledges, the juvenile bird's plumage is similar to that of the adult, though its black feathers are often tinged with brown, and its beak and legs are a duller brownish-red or orange. The beak is typically orange or red with a darker tip. The bills gain the adults' red colour the following summer, although the black tips persist in some individuals. Young storks adopt adult plumage by their second summer.
Just your average unstable housewife in her kitchen hiding a bread knife in her hand. Will you mess with her?
Just a little miffed I was going to have a cheese toasty but the bread had seen better days 😞
Oh well will have to go shopping.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence
Florence (Italian: Firenze; Tuscan: Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,084 inhabitants in 2013, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.
Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861). The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy due to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini.
The city attracts millions of tourists each year, and UNESCO declared the Historic Centre of Florence a World Heritage Site in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments. The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florence's artistic and architectural heritage, Forbes has ranked it as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Florence plays an important role in Italian fashion, and is ranked in the top 15 fashion capitals of the world; furthermore, it is a major national economic centre, as well as a tourist and industrial hub. In 2008 the city had the 17th-highest average income in Italy.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral
Florence Cathedral, formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (English "Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower"), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy (Italian: Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink, bordered by white, and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.
The cathedral complex, in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major tourist attraction of Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until the development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.
The cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence.
15 April 2021: Between 5 and 11 April 3,435 new cases were reported each day on average, 19 percent less than the week before that. 3,127 patients are currently in hospital with Covid. 945 are in intensive care, the highest level since the UK variant hit our shores.
Despite the fact that the pressure on hospitals remains extremely high, and that of all the patients who are admitted, about one-third of them go on to intensive care, the government announced yesterday a strategy for relaxation of the coronavirus-fighting measures.
From Monday 19 April, schools will reopen but pupils in the second and third grades of secondary education (aged 15-18) will only be able to physically attend school half-time, with half-time distance learning still in place. Also, the ban on non-essential travel to and from Belgium will be lifted. Travelers returning from a red zone will still have to quarantine and will be required to get tested on day 1 and 7 of their return.
From Monday 26 April, non-essential shops and non-medical contact professions can reopen fully again and our “outdoor bubble,” will be increased from four to ten people.
The next two milestones will be based on the progress of the vaccination campaign. The first milestone is when seven out of ten people over 65 years old will have received their first vaccine dose, and two to three weeks will have seen the optimal effect on their immune system. This is expected around 8 May. From then on, the terraces of the hospitality sector will be able to reopen, and customers can be served outside. The same day, the curfew will be lifted.
The second milestone will be when almost all over-65s and vulnerable people have been vaccinated. This is expected in early June. From then on, events will again be possible and more will also be possible indoors.
Net-net, a very ambitious plan that triggered mixed reactions. Subject experts would have preferred a more cautious plan with relaxation dates pegged to thresholds that take account of the number infections and bed occupancy whilst others would have preferred a more aggressive deconfinement strategy.
On display today is another vignette of Ghent during this unprecedented crisis – Ghent, Belgium.
✧˖ ° Aurora ✧˖ °
Maid set
LaraX (Update) Reborn / Waifu (Update) Maitreya / Lara Petite/ Maitreya Flat Legacy/ Perky / Perky Petite Kupra / Bimbo
Includes texture packs: Fabric/Latex/Plastic
Located @ Mainstore
Taxi:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Veles%202/128/172/21
✧˖ ° SugaCosmetics ✧˖ °
WHITE & NUDE
LEGACY MAITREYA KUPRA BELLEZA
BELLEZA GEN X EBODY REBORN PEACH
Located @ Mainstore
Taxi:
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jacksonville%20Island/11/9...
MP:
VIEW IN ORIGINAL SIZE
Hope to god I didn't make a typo in this one.
Hi res pdf db.tt/nrw9Q6qJ (dropbox).
edit: thanks for spotting typos, all gone now :)
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)
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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.
Best viewed in Original Size.
I captured this image of the American White Pelican at the "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island, on the southwestern coast of Florida. These pelicans were joining a portion of the flock resting on a sand bar exposed only during the low tide. With a wing span of about 10 feet (3m) and an average length of 62 inches (1.6m) they make for an impressive aerial sight and like other large birds, they fly slowly and thus make easier targets for in-flight shots. On this visit to Ding Darling, the winds were blowing from an unusual direction and it moved the birds' fight paths much further away from the tower from where I get most on my in-flight close-ups. I thus had to settle for distant shots, certainly away from my comfort zone.
Explored December 26, 2016.
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.
Walking across San Francisco California's famous Golden Gate Bridge doing some depth-of-field creative experiments. Not your average tourist photo...Anthony Maw
SN/NC: Cariama Cristata, Cariamidae Family
The Siriema (or seriema) is a cariamiform bird in the Cariamidae family. Its scientific name is Cariama cristata. This bird has already given meaning to traditionalist and regionalist songs and is much appreciated for its appearance. The siriema has gray plumage and red legs and beak, in addition to having eyelashes. Originally from the cerrados, it has become naturalized throughout the southeast and southern regions and is now seen in cities, no longer surprising people, it is now friendly. It is a tall, relatively large bird weighing an average of 1.4 kg. It has no predators, just some hawks and certain large snakes. They fly high, protecting themselves. It builds nests out of clay and twigs and lays two eggs that are hatched by the couple and within 4 months the chicks become independent. Siriemas have preferentially carnivorous eating habits, but they can be omnivorous, eating fruits, vegetables and grains, as well as small animals. They are beneficial for livestock, capturing insects that occur in the field, on pastures. These animals prefer dry land to the air, despite being able to fly perfectly. The song of the siriema is one of the attractions of ecotourism, being unmistakable. They can repeat their scream for minutes on end, in pairs or alone. This song is mainly used during reproductive seasons. It can exterminate some species of birds by eating their eggs and chicks. You have to pay a lot of attention to this beautiful bird so that there is a healthy balance in the ecosystem where it is present. It is also present in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, but predominantly in Brazil.
A siriema (ou seriema) é uma ave cariamiforme da família Cariamidae. Seu nome científico é Cariama cristata. Também é conhecida como sariema (no Ceará) e seriema-de-pé-vermelho. Esta ave já deu sentido a músicas tradicionalistas e regionalistas e é muito apreciada por sua aparência. A siriema possui plumagem grisalha e pernas e bico vermelhos, além de possuir pestanas. Natural dos cerrados, se naturalizou em todo o sudeste e região sul e já é vista nas cidades não mais estranhando as pessoas, ela é amigável já. É uma ave alta,relativamente grande pesando em média 1,4Kg. Não tem predadores, apenas alguns falcões e certas cobras de grande porte. Elas voam alto, se protegendo. Faz ninhos de barro e gravetos e coloca dois ovos que são chocados pelo casal e em 4 meses os filhotes já se tornam independentes. As siriemas possuem hábitos alimentares preferencialmente carnívoros, mas podem ser onívoras, comendo frutas, verduras e grãos, além de pequenos animais. Quando capturam suas presas, uma das técnicas para imobilizá-las é bater contra a superfície. São benéficos para o gado,capturando insetos que têm incidência no campo, sobre as pastagens. Estesanimais preferem a terra firme aos ares, apesar de conseguirem exercer seu voo perfeitamente. O canto da seriema é uma das atrações do ecoturismo, sendo inconfundível. Podemrepetir por minutos a fio o seu grito, em pares ou sozinhos. Esse canto é principalmente empregado para épocas reprodutivas. Ela pode exterminar algumas espécies de pássaros comendo os ovos e filhotes. Tem que se ter muita atenção com esta linda ave para que haja um equilíbrio saudável no ecossistema onde ela esteja presente. Também está presente na Argentina, Paraguai, Uruguai e Bolívia,mas predominantemente no Brasil.
Le Siriema (ou seriema) est un oiseau cariamiforme de la famille des Cariamidae. Son nom scientifique est Cariama cristata. Cet oiseau a déjà donné sens aux chants traditionalistes et régionalistes et est très apprécié pour son apparence. Le siriema a un plumage gris et des pattes et un bec rouges, en plus d'avoir des cils. Originaire des Cerrados, il s'est naturalisé dans toutes les régions du sud-est et du sud et on le voit désormais dans les villes, il ne surprend plus, il est désormais amical. C'est un oiseau grand et relativement gros pesant en moyenne 1,4 kg. Il n'a pas de prédateurs, juste quelques faucons et certains gros serpents. Ils volent haut et se protègent. Il construit des nids avec de l'argile et des brindilles et pond deux œufs qui sont couvés par le couple et, au bout de 4 mois, les poussins deviennent indépendants. Les Siriemas ont des habitudes alimentaires préférentiellement carnivores, mais ils peuvent être omnivores, mangeant des fruits, des légumes et des céréales, ainsi que de petits animaux. Ils sont bénéfiques pour le bétail, capturant les insectes présents sur le terrain, dans les pâturages. Ces animaux préfèrent la terre ferme à l’air, bien qu’ils soient capables de voler parfaitement. Le chant de la seriema est l'un des attraits de l'écotourisme, étant indubitable. Ils peuvent répéter leur cri pendant des minutes, à deux ou seuls. Ce chant est principalement utilisé pendant les saisons de reproduction. Il peut exterminer certaines espèces d’oiseaux en mangeant leurs œufs et leurs poussins. Il faut accorder beaucoup d’attention à ce bel oiseau pour qu’il y ait un équilibre sain dans l’écosystème où il est présent. Il est également présent en Argentine, au Paraguay, en Uruguay et en Bolivie, mais majoritairement au Brésil.
La Siriema (o seriema) es un ave cariamiforme de la familia Cariamidae. Su nombre científico es Cariama cristata. Esta ave ya ha dado significado a cantos tradicionalistas y regionalistas y es muy apreciada por su apariencia. La siriema tiene plumaje gris y patas y pico rojos, además de tener pestañas. Originario de los cerrados, se ha naturalizado en las regiones sureste y sur y ahora se ve en las ciudades, ya no sorprende a la gente, ahora es amigable. Es un ave alta y relativamente grande que pesa una media de 1,4 kg. No tiene depredadores, sólo algunos halcones y ciertas serpientes de gran tamaño. Vuelan alto, protegiéndose. Construye nidos con arcilla y ramitas y pone dos huevos que la pareja empolla y en 4 meses los polluelos se independizan. Los siriemas tienen hábitos alimentarios preferentemente carnívoros, pero pueden ser omnívoros y comer frutas, verduras y cereales, además de animales pequeños. Son beneficiosos para el ganado, capturando insectos que se encuentran en el campo, en los pastos. Estos animales prefieren la tierra firme al aire, a pesar de poder volar perfectamente. El canto de la seriema es uno de los atractivos del ecoturismo, siendo inconfundible. Pueden repetir su grito durante minutos, en parejas o solos. Este canto se utiliza principalmente durante las épocas reproductivas. Puede exterminar algunas especies de aves comiéndose sus huevos y polluelos. Hay que prestarle mucha atención a esta hermosa ave para que haya un equilibrio saludable en el ecosistema donde está presente. También está presente en Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay y Bolivia, pero predominantemente en Brasil.
DerSiriema (oder Seriema) ist ein kariamiartiger Vogel aus der Familie derCariamidae. Sein wissenschaftlicher Name ist Cariama cristata. Dieser Vogelhat bereits traditionellen und regionalistischen Liedern Bedeutung verliehenund wird wegen seines Aussehens sehr geschätzt. Das Siriema hat ein grauesGefieder, rote Beine und einen roten Schnabel und außerdem Wimpern.Ursprünglich aus den Cerrados stammend, hat es sich in den gesamtensüdöstlichen und südlichen Regionen eingebürgert und ist nun in Städtenanzutreffen, was die Menschen nicht mehr überrascht, sondern mittlerweilefreundlich ist. Es ist ein großer, relativ großer Vogel mit einemDurchschnittsgewicht von 1,4 kg. Es gibt keine Raubtiere, nur einige Falken undbestimmte große Schlangen. Sie fliegen hoch und schützen sich. Es baut Nesteraus Lehm und Zweigen und legt zwei Eier, die vom Paar ausgebrütet werden, undinnerhalb von 4 Monaten werden die Küken unabhängig. Siriemas haben bevorzugtfleischfressende Essgewohnheiten, können aber auch Allesfresser sein und Obst,Gemüse und Getreide sowie kleine Tiere fressen. Sie sind nützlich für Nutztiereund fangen Insekten, die auf dem Feld und auf der Weide vorkommen. Diese Tierebevorzugen trockenes Land gegenüber der Luft, obwohl sie perfekt fliegenkönnen. Das Lied der Seriema ist einer der Reize des Ökotourismus, da esunverkennbar ist. Sie können ihren Schrei minutenlang wiederholen, zu zweitoder alleine. Dieses Lied wird hauptsächlich während der Fortpflanzungssaisonverwendet. Es kann einige Vogelarten ausrotten, indem es deren Eier und Kükenfrisst. Man muss diesem schönen Vogel viel Aufmerksamkeit schenken, damit imÖkosystem, in dem er lebt, ein gesundes Gleichgewicht herrscht. Es kommt auchin Argentinien, Paraguay, Uruguay und Bolivien vor, überwiegend jedoch inBrasilien.
De Siriema (of seriema) is een kariamiforme vogel uit de familie Cariamidae. De wetenschappelijke naam is Cariama cristata. Deze vogel heeftal betekenis gegeven aan traditionalistische en regionalistische liederen enwordt zeer gewaardeerd om zijn uiterlijk. De siriema heeft grijs verenkleed enrode poten en snavel, naast wimpers. Oorspronkelijk afkomstig uit de cerrados,is het genaturaliseerd geworden in de zuidoostelijke en zuidelijke regio's enwordt het nu gezien in steden, niet langer verrassend voor mensen, het is nuvriendelijk. Het is een lange, relatief grote vogel met een gewicht vangemiddeld 1,4 kg. Het heeft geen roofdieren, alleen enkele haviken en bepaaldegrote slangen. Ze vliegen hoog en beschermen zichzelf. Hij bouwt nesten vanklei en twijgen en legt twee eieren die door het koppel worden uitgebroed enbinnen 4 maanden worden de kuikens onafhankelijk. Siriema's hebben bij voorkeurvleesetende eetgewoonten, maar ze kunnen ook alleseters zijn en fruit, groentenen granen eten, maar ook kleine dieren. Ze zijn gunstig voor vee en vangeninsecten die in het veld en op weilanden voorkomen. Deze dieren geven devoorkeur aan droog land boven de lucht, ondanks dat ze perfect kunnen vliegen.Het lied van de seriema is een van de trekpleisters van het ecotoerisme en isonmiskenbaar. Ze kunnen hun schreeuw minutenlang herhalen, in tweetallen ofalleen. Dit lied wordt voornamelijk gebruikt tijdens reproductieve seizoenen.Het kan sommige vogelsoorten uitroeien door hun eieren en kuikens op te eten. Jemoet veel aandacht besteden aan deze prachtige vogel, zodat er een gezondevenwicht ontstaat in het ecosysteem waar hij aanwezig is. Het is ook aanwezigin Argentinië, Paraguay, Uruguay en Bolivia, maar voornamelijk in Brazilië.
Il Siriema (o seriema) è un uccello cariamiforme della famiglia dei Cariamidae. Il suo nome scientifico è Cariama cristata. Questo uccello ha già dato significato ai canti tradizionalisti e regionalisti ed è molto apprezzato per il suo aspetto. Il siriema ha piumaggio grigio e zampe e becco rossi, oltre ad avere ciglia. Originario dei cerrados, si è naturalizzato in tutte le regioni del sud-est e del sud e ora lo si vede nelle città, senza più sorprendere la gente, ora è amichevole. È un uccello alto e relativamente grande che pesa in media 1,4 kg. Non ha predatori, solo alcuni falchi e alcuni grandi serpenti. Volano in alto, proteggendosi. Costruisce nidi con argilla e ramoscelli e depone due uova che vengono covate dalla coppia ed entro 4 mesi i pulcini diventano indipendenti. I Siriema hanno abitudini alimentari preferenzialmente carnivore, ma possono essere onnivori e mangiare frutta, verdura e cereali, nonché piccoli animali. Sono utili per il bestiame, catturando gli insetti che si trovano nei campi, sui pascoli. Questi animali preferiscono la terraferma all'aria, nonostante siano in grado di volare perfettamente. Il canto della seriema è una delle attrazioni dell'ecoturismo, essendo inconfondibile. Possono ripetere il loro grido per minuti interi, in coppia o da soli. Questa canzone viene utilizzata principalmente durante le stagioni riproduttive. Può sterminare alcune specie di uccelli mangiandone le uova e i pulcini. Bisogna prestare molta attenzione a questo bellissimo uccello affinché ci sia un sano equilibrio nell'ecosistema in cui è presente. È presente anche in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay e Bolivia, ma prevalentemente in Brasile.
シリエマ (または seriema) は、カリアミ科に属するカリアミ目の鳥です。学名は Cariama cristata です。この鳥はすでに伝統主義者や地域主義者の歌に意味を与えており、その外観が高く評価されています。シリエマは、まつ毛に加えて、灰色の羽と赤い足とくちばしを持っています。元々はセラードに生息していましたが、南東部と南部地域全体に帰化して、今では都市でも見られるようになり、人々を驚かせることはなくなり、友好的になりました。背が高く、平均体重は1.4kgの比較的大きな鳥です。捕食者はなく、数羽のタカと特定の大きなヘビがいるだけです。彼らは身を守るために高く飛びます。粘土や小枝で巣を作り、夫婦が孵化した卵を2個産み、4か月以内にヒナが独立します。シリアマは優先的に肉食の食習慣を持っていますが、果物、野菜、穀物、さらには小動物も食べる雑食性の場合もあります。それらは家畜にとって有益であり、野原や牧草地で発生する昆虫を捕らえます。これらの動物は完全に飛ぶことができるにもかかわらず、空気よりも乾燥した土地を好みます。セリエマの歌は、紛れもなくエコツーリズムの魅力の一つです。彼らは、ペアまたは単独で、何分間も叫び声を繰り返すことができます。この歌は主に繁殖期に使用されます。一部の種の鳥は、卵や雛を食べることで絶滅する可能性があります。この美しい鳥が存在する生態系の健全なバランスを保つために、この美しいに細心の注意を払う必要があります。アルゼンチン、パラグアイ、ウルグアイ、ボリビアにも存在しますが、主にブラジルに存在します。
السيريما (أو السيريما) هو طائر كاريامي الشكل من فصيلة كارياميدا. اسمها العلمي Cariama cristata. لقد أعطى هذا الطائر بالفعل معنى للأغاني التقليدية والإقليمية ويحظى بتقدير كبير لمظهره. السيريما لها ريش رمادي وأرجل ومنقار أحمر، بالإضافة إلى وجود رموش. في الأصل من منطقة سيرادوس، أصبحت متجنسة في جميع أنحاء المناطق الجنوبية الشرقية والجنوبية ويتم رؤيتها الآن في المدن، ولم تعد تفاجئ الناس، فهي الآن صديقة. وهو طائر طويل القامة وكبير الحجم نسبياً ويصل وزنه في المتوسط إلى 1.4 كجم. ليس لديها حيوانات مفترسة، فقط بعض الصقور وبعض الثعابين الكبيرة. إنهم يطيرون عالياً ويحمون أنفسهم. يبني أعشاشه من الطين والأغصان ويضع بيضتين يفقسهما الزوجان وخلال 4 أشهر تصبح الكتاكيت مستقلة. تتمتع السيريما بعادات غذائية تفضيلية آكلة اللحوم، لكنها يمكن أن تكون آكلة اللحوم، وتأكل الفواكه والخضروات والحبوب، وكذلك الحيوانات الصغيرة. إنها مفيدة للماشية، والتقاط الحشرات التي تحدث في الميدان، على المراعي. تفضل هذه الحيوانات الأرض الجافة على الهواء، على الرغم من قدرتها على الطيران بشكل مثالي. تعتبر أغنية السيريما إحدى عوامل الجذب في السياحة البيئية، فهي لا لبس فيها. يمكنهم تكرار صراخهم لمدة دقائق متتالية، في أزواج أو بمفردهم. تستخدم هذه الأغنية بشكل رئيسي خلال مواسم الإنجاب. يمكنه إبادة بعض أنواع الطيور عن طريق أكل بيضها وفراخها. عليك أن تولي الكثير من الاهتمام لهذا الطائر الجميل حتى يكون هناك توازن صحي في النظام البيئي الذي يتواجد فيه. وهي موجودة أيضًا في الأرجنتين وباراغواي وأوروغواي وبوليفيا، ولكن في الغالب في البرازيل. Já ia
I don’t know the story behind the giant tree lying in the middle of this photograph, but I can tell you about the rest of the image . . .
Built in 1935 by Company 1770 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the stone Dam and Spillway in the Hatchery Area at Montauk State Park was constructed as part of a trout hatchery development project that still stands today. During the depression, thousands of federal relief workers engaged in construction projects in Missouri’s park lands. Spurred on by New Deal program funding, much of this work was supervised by the National Park Service.
Early residents came to the area in the early 1800’s from New York and named their first post office after Montauk in Suffolk County, Long Island. Because of its proximity to several natural springs, including Montauk Spring with a daily average flow of 53 million gallons of water, four mills were constructed in the area. The last one, a gristmill built in 1896, still stands today and retains much of its original machinery. In 1926, the area became a Missouri state park, and many of the structures still standing were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Montauk State Park is located on 633 acres of land in the southern portion of Dent County, Missouri, and is one of three “trout parks” in the Missouri state park system.
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7 February 2021: Yesterday’s numbers show slight increases in the 7-day rolling averages for hospitalisations and people testing positive for the virus. Meanwhile the number of deaths among people with COVID-19 continues to fall. In the week to 3 February on average 2,339 people tested positive each day in Belgium. The figure is up 3% on the week. Also, yesterday, the vaccination taskforce announced that the first shipment of 443,000 AstraZeneca has been delivered. As the British-Swedish vaccine will not be administered to people over 55 years old for the time being, Belgium had to slightly adapt its vaccination strategy. The vaccine will be given to people between 18 and 55 years old of following groups: healthcare workers, residents and staff of care institutions (i.e., rehabilitation centers, psychiatric institutions, etc.), high risk groups with underlying conditions and police officers. People over 55 will receive a Covid-19 vaccine by Pfizer/BioNtech or Moderna. The government claims that it will accelerate the vaccination of the more vulnerable people but I’m still unclear what it exactly means for the timing of the roll-out of the vaccination campaign in the various age groups. I guess I should no longer worry about it and continue to enjoy documenting how life unfolds during these unprecedented times. I don’t know why this street corner in disrepair caught my attention. I decided to label it as an abstract urban composition – Rembert Dodoensdreef, Ghent, Belgium
It takes 2 days driving in an all wheel drive from Nairobi to arrive in Loiyangalani on the Turkana lake shores… you have never heard about this place? And yet it’s here that they filmed « The Constant Gardener » with Ralph Fiennes.
The Lake Turkana region presents a lunar landscape, somewhat desert, covered in black volcanic rocks. It’s an extremely inhospitable environment for humans and their livestock. There is no potable water and limited pastures. The rainfall averages is less than 6 inches a year. During the day the high temperatures (up to 45°C) are come with strong winds (up to 11 meters per second), pushing dust. But it’s just a magical place on earth !
No human should be able to live in these conditions and yet 250,000 Turkana people are living here. Their territory extends to northern Kenya around Lake Turkana, and on the boundaries with south Sudan and Ethiopia. In 1975, the lake (400 km long, 60 large) was named after them.
Herders Above All Else : The importance of livestock
They are a traditionally pastoralist tribe, moving their livestock (goats, sheep, camels, cattle, and donkeys) and their homes to search water for their animals. Turkana have not been affected by western civilization yet and live in a very traditional way. The number of animals and the diversity of the herd are closely linked to a family’s status in the community. The herds are their bank account.
They depend on the rain to provide grazing for their animals, and on their animals for milk and meat. Because water is so hard to find in the area, they often fight with other tribes like Dassanech. Their main concerns are land and how to win it or to keep it!
The Turkana place such a high value on cattle that they often raid other tribes to steal animals. These razzias have become more dangerous as they now use guns. As the Turkana are one of the most courageous groups of warriors in Africa, fights are serious!
After a raid, the robbers ask some friends from neighboring villages to keep some cows. Their herd is scattered between several places to reduce the risk of being stolen the whole.
The Turkana choose their good friends as neightbors more so than people they share kinship ties with. The clans (ekitela), 28 in number, no longer have a social function. Each clan owns water wells dug in the dried river beds. Unless an explicit request is made, the community can deny water to those passing by.
Even today, the Turkana never kill their livestock to sell their meat. They only kill for celebrations. The Turkana need their animals since they use them as currency in marriage or various social transactions. If a man loses his livestock to drought, he is not only impoverished but shamed. In these cases, NGOs often help get him back on his feet but he can’t reclaim his pride until he has reestablished his herd.
The animals are given very poetic names which the owners often take on as well. It’s common to call a good friend the name of his favorite bull. The Turkana even write songs for their favorite animals. Once a young man has selected his favorite bull, he shapes its horns into bizarre forms to make it stand out. Many tribes use to do this in the area.
The Fish is Taboo for the Herdsmen
Turkana people traditionally do not fish and do not eat fish. But during the droughts, Turkana people are encouraged to fish to get some food. Fishing has been regarded as something of a taboo, a practice reserved for the very poorest in Turkana society.
Social Structure
The Turkana are organized into generational classes. All males go through three life stages (child, warrior, and elder).
To become a man, the turkana teen must go through a ceremony where he will have to kill an animal with a spear, but he must kill it in one throw! Once done, the old men will open the stomach of the animal and put the content on the body of the new adult. It is the way they bless him.
For women, the process is different. They become adult when they reach puberty. Unlike many other tribes in Kenya, the Turkana do not practice FGM and circumcision.
The Turkana live in small households. Inside live of a man, his wives !as he can marry more than one), their children and sometimes some dependent old people. The house is called « awi ». It is built with wood, animal skin, and doum palm leaves. Only the women build the houses!
Herding is a family affair. The father assigns various tasks to his children depending on their age. It’s common to see kids walking long distances with the cattle. Later they will take care of sheep and goats. The girls carry water and collect wood.
Newborns receive their names in a unique way. They take the name of a parent who has huge prestige and add the name of the most beautiful animal in the herd.
Parents learn very early to the kids the taboos: you must not lie, be coward, steal, neglect elders…
Turkana have their own justice and the revenge system is working well: if a crime is committed, the family of the victim will try to kill the murderer or someone from its close family. They also can steal to the suspect a large amount of cattle. Usually, the elders try to make a reconciliation ceremony. It is an never ending story as the family will also want to make a vandetta of the vendetta !
If the homicide was an accident, it can be solved by giving a daughter in marriage.
Marriage
When a man wants to marry a girl, he must ask his own parents if they agree. His mother will have to check if the girl he wants is a good worker! The blood relationship between the families is forbidden, so the elders will check the family links before any agreement.
The man must pay the bride parents (30 cattle, 30 camels and 100 small stock minimum, sometimes a gun is added). It means that a man cannot marry until he has inherited livestock from his dead father. It also means that he collects livestock from relatives and friends. This strengthens social ties.
Daily life
Cattle dungs are used as fuel to cook the food, the urine is used as soap for washing when chemical soap is not available. I saw people using the urine to wash the milk containers, so I always refused to drink milk!
Camels are used for transportation of goods and are well adapted to the very arid climate of Turkana and the lack of water. They are also used in transactions for weddings, or economics deals.
Donkeys have a special status in Turkana tribe: the people do not drink its milk. They use them to carry their houses when they move or weak people with a special wood saddle. But even if donkeys are very useful, they are mocked by the turkana people. Donkey meat is eaten only in the Turkana, where it is savored as a delicacy while others tribe hate it!
They like chewing tobacco and often walk around with a chewed up ball of it on their ear. They also like snorting powdered tobacco.
Danses and songs are important in the social life. Dances allow the people to meet and to flirt. Circle dances are are performed by group of young unmarried girls. The men and young girls join hands and the circles move around. The men may then jump into the centre of the circle raising their arms to imitate the cow horns.
Spirituality, Superstitions, Beliefs
In 1960, a famine started in Turkana area, and so the « Africa Inland Mission » established a food-distribution centre in Lokori, bringing also christianity. But conversion did not meet a huge success (5 % may be converted) as Turkana are nomadics and still have strong believes in their own god. Some Turkana elders even told me :
« I wear a christian cross around my neck and go to the church to get an access to the help provided by the the missionaries for food and clothes! »
The majority of the Turkana still follow their traditional religion. There's one supreme God called Akuj, who is associated with the sky. If God is happy, he will give rain. But if he is angry with the people, he will punish them. In the old believings, giraffes were supposed to tickle the clouds with their high heads, and make the rain come !
Four million years ago, the Lake Turkana bassin may have been the cradle of mankind. You can spot some very nice engraving sites showing a mixture of giraffes and geometrics patterns made around 2000 years ago close to the lake.
Deviners, called the « emuron » are able to interpret or predict Akuj's plans through their dreams, or through sacrificed animal's intestines, tobacco, and through the tossing of …sandals ! Sandals are very important for the oracle. He blesses the sandals by spitting on them. He throws them up into the air and gives a meaning to the patterns they create when they fall on the ground.
When someone dies, the Turkana only hold funerals and burry the body. In the old times, people were were not given a burial, but were abandoned to hyenas.
As I was taking pictures of an old Turkana lady, after 3 pictures, she asked me to stop, and started to shout : « You’re sucking my blood, you make me feel weak » and she left. I was explained by a young boy that the old people believe that pictures are taking their blood away.
Medecine
Scarifications on the belly are made by traditional doctors to cure ill people: it is a way to put out the illness from the body. Scarification is practiced for aesthetic reasons too. Scars are a sign of beauty or to show how many people he has killed, if he is a man.
The skin is cut with an acacia or a sharp razor blade that may be shared by the people and bring diseases.
Turkana believe that a person who experienced illness and recovered from it can treat someone else who’s suffering from the same illness. This means that everybody can be a doctor ! If this does not work, they say that the animal slaughtered was the wrong one.
A good Turkana tip : if you suffer from a severe headache, you just have to take out the brain from a living animal, like a goat, and put it on your head !
Or, another solution : to lift a sheep over the patient, to cut the throat so that the blood strickles on the patient’s head.
The Turkana have the highest instance in the world of echinoccocus (7%) due to their proximity with dogs, who live and defecate everywhere. The dogs lick up blood and vomit and the women use the dog’s excrement as a lubricant for the necklaces that touch their neck.
This parasite has three hosts : sheep, dogs, and humans. In Turkana, these three species live very close, surrounded by little else in the vast desert, ideal conditions for the proliferation of the parasite. The diease causes huge cysts that can be removed by surgery. The locals believe that this "disease of the large belly" is due to a spell cast by the neighboring enemy tribe: the Toposa.
Beauty
Turkana girls and women love to adorn themselves with a lot of necklaces. Beads can be made of glass, seeds, cowry shells, or iron. They never remove them! This can only happen when they are ill or during a mourning time. It means they sleep with those huge necklaces… A married Turkana woman will also wear a plain metal ring around the neck. This is a kind of wedding ring (alagama). A Turkana man will do all he can to make sure that his women folk are dressed in beads of class. Even if some are not able to take their girls to school, they will still ensure that they have beads. By the quantity and style of jewelry a woman wears, you can guess her social status.
Beads colors have specific meaning. Yellow and red beads are given to girl by a man when they are fiancé. If a woman wears only white beads, it means she is a widow. Little girls wear few beads, usually given to them by their mothers, but the older ladies and women wear many, which are in sets rows.
A woman who cannot move her neck is envied! The big necklaces are heavy, like 5 kilos.
A woman without beads is bad, men will ignore her. « You look like an animal without beads! »
Young children only wear a simple strand of pearls. Adolescents wear small articles of clothing to cover their sex. These articles are often decorated with mulitcolored pearls or ostrich egg shells. They wear more and longer clothing as they approach puberty.
NakaparaparaI are the famous ear ornaments. They are made by the men of the tribe in aluminium most of the time and look like a leaf.
Men love to make an elaborate mudpack coiffures called emedot. It is a kind of chignon: the hairstyle takes the shape of a large bun of hair at the back of the head. They decorate it with ostrich feathers to show they are elders or warriors. 2 ostrich feathers costs 1 goat.
Men use a wood pillow (ekicolong) to sleep on it and protect the bun. It can last 2 months and must be rebuild after.
Tattooing is also common and usually has special meaning. Men are tattooed on the shoulders and upper arm each time they kill an enemy — the right shoulder for killing a man, the left for a women.
Lower incisors are removed in childhood, with a tool called « corogat », a finger hook. The origin of this practice was against tetanus, as people are lock-jawed, so they can feed them with milk through the hole. It is also a way to force the teeth at the top to stand out and not interfere with the labret many put on the lower lip. The is useful to spit through the gap of the teeth, without even opening the mouth. The Turkana enjoyed to have labrets, but nowadays, only the elders can be seen with on. They used to put an ivory lip plug, then a wood one, and for some years, they use a lip plug made of copper or even with plaited electric wires.The hole between the lower lip and chin is pierced using a thorn.
The finger hook is also used as a weapon, for gouging out an ennemy’s eye !
Hygiene
Since water is so rare, it’s used only for drinking, never for washing. The Turkana clean themselves by rubbing fat all over their skin.
Turkana women put grease paint on their bodies which is made from mixing animal fat with red ochre and the leaves of a tree to have nice perfume. They say it is good for the skin and it protects from the insects.
Women also put animal fat all around their neck and also on their huge necklaces to prevent from skin irritation.
They also use dog shit as a medicine and lubrificant for their neck.
Both men and women use the branch of a tree called esekon to clean their teeth. You can see them using it all day long…The Turkana people have the cleanest bill of dental health in the country.
For long, Turkana people did not use latrines because it is a taboo for men and women to share same facilities like a latrine. Campaigns have now been initiated to sensitize people on the importance of using latrines for hygiene.
Animal fat is considered to have medicinal qualities, and the fat-tailed sheep is often referred to as "the pharmacy for the Turkana. »... when they do not grill it to eat it!
Futur
Recently, oil has been found on their territory… many fear Turkanas people may loose their traditions, but the Turkana succeeded in maintaining their way of life for centuries. Against all odds they manage to raise livestock in the confines of the desert. Their knowledge allows them to live where most humans could not.
The recent discovery of massive groundwater reserves in the ground (3 billion cubic meters, nearly three times the water use in New York City) could allow them to keep their traditions for a long time.
© Eric Lafforgue
$353,600 (average US home price, Aug 2016)* Could be a little less in Cuervo, NM.
*https://ycharts.com/indicators/average_sales_price_for_new_houses_sold_in_the_us
RLF_8471
Siproeta epaphus epaphus
(Rusty-tipped Page / Epafos Puntas Oxidadas)
Taken in La Ceja, Colombia; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Siproeta epaphus is distributed from Mexico to Argentina. This species is scarce in lowland areas, but commonly seen in two's and three's in disturbed habitats at elevations between 400-2.300m, favouring forest edges and clearings, well vegetated riverbanks, roadsides and pastures.
The Rusty-tipped Page has large wings, averaging 7.0–7.5 cm (2.8–3.0 in).
www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Andes%20-%20Siproeta%20epap...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a completely separate body of water.
The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning "inland" or "in the middle of the land" (from medius, "middle" and terra, "land"). It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km² (965,000 sq mi), but its connection to the Atlantic (the Strait of Gibraltar) is only 14 km (8.7 mi) wide. In oceanography, it is sometimes called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere.[3][4]
The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 m (17,280 ft) in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea.
It was an important route for merchants and travellers of ancient times that allowed for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region. The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies.
Name
The term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning "in the middle of earth" or "between lands" (medi-; adj. medius, -um -a "middle, between" + terra f., "land, earth"): as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Greek name Mesogeios (Μεσόγειος), is similarly from μέσο, "middle" + γη, "land, earth").[5]
The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names. For example the Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum (Latin, "Our Sea"), and occasionally Mare Internum (Sallust, Jug. 17).
In the Bible, it was primarily known as הים הגדול (HaYam HaGadol), the "Great Sea", (Num. 34:6,7; Josh. 1:4, 9:1, 15:47; Ezek. 47:10,15,20), or simply "The Sea" (1 Kings 5:9; comp. 1 Macc. 14:34, 15:11); however, it has also been called the "Hinder Sea", due to its location on the west coast of the Holy Land, and therefore behind a person facing the east, sometimes translated as "Western Sea", (Deut. 11:24; Joel 2:20). Another name was the "Sea of the Philistines" (Exod. 23:31), from the people occupying a large portion of its shores near the Israelites.
In Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon (הַיָּם הַתִּיכוֹן), "the Middle Sea", reflecting the Sea's name in ancient Greek (Mesogeios), Latin (Mare internum) and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East (Mediterranean, etc.). Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr [al-Abyaḍ] al-Mutawassiṭ (البحر [الأبيض] المتوسط), "the [White] Medium Sea", while in Islamic and older Arabic literature, it was referenced as Baḥr al-Rūm (بحر الروم), or "the Roman/Byzantine Sea." In Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz,[6] "the White Sea" since among Turks the white color (ak) represents the west.
History
Several ancient civilizations were located around its shores; thus it has had a major influence on those cultures. It provided routes for trade, colonization and war, and provided food (by fishing and the gathering of other seafood) for numerous communities throughout the ages.[7]
The sharing of similar climate, geology and access to a common sea led to numerous historical and cultural connections between the ancient and modern societies around the Mediterranean.
Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilizations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states and the Phoenicians. When[citation needed] Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean Sea began to be called Mare Nostrum (literally:"Our Sea") by the Romans.
Darius I of Persia, who conquered Ancient Egypt, built a canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Darius's canal was wide enough for two triremes to pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse.[8]
The western Roman empire collapsed around AD 476. Temporarily the east was again dominant as the Byzantine Empire formed from the eastern half of the Roman empire. Another power soon arose in the east: Islam. At its greatest extent, the Arab Empire controlled 75% of the Mediterranean region.
Europe was reviving, however, as more organized and centralized states began to form in the later Middle Ages after the Renaissance of the 12th century.
Ottoman power continued to grow, and in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was extinguished with the Conquest of Constantinople. Ottomans gained control of much of the sea in the 16th century and maintained naval bases in southern France, Algeria and Tunisia. Barbarossa, the famous Ottoman captain is a symbol of this domination with the victory of the Battle of Preveza. The Battle of Djerba marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the Mediterranean. However, as naval prowess of the European powers grew, they confronted Ottoman expansion in the region when the Battle of Lepanto checked the power of the Ottoman Navy. This was the last naval battle to be fought primarily between galleys.
The Barbary pirates of North Africa preyed on Christian shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea.[9] According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th century, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves.[10]
The development of oceanic shipping began to affect the entire Mediterranean. Once, all trade from the east had passed through the region, but now the circumnavigation of Africa allowed spices and other goods to be imported through the Atlantic ports of western Europe.[11][12][13] The Malta president described the Mediterranean sea as a "cemetery" due to the large amounts of migrants who drown there.
Geography
With its highly indented coastline and large number of islands, Greece has the longest Mediterranean coastline.
The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar in the west and to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, in the east. The Sea of Marmara is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is generally not. The 163 km (101 mi) long man-made Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
Large islands in the Mediterranean include Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Rhodes, Lesbos, Chios, Kefalonia, Corfu, Limnos, Samos, Naxos and Andros in the eastern Mediterranean; Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Cres, Krk, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korčula and Malta in the central Mediterranean; and Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca (the Balearic Islands) in the western Mediterranean.
The typical Mediterranean climate has hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Crops of the region include olives, grapes, oranges, tangerines, and cork.
Extent
The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Mediterranean Sea as follows:[15]
Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in the West to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the East, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia, and is divided into two deep basins:
Western Basin:
On the west: A line joining the extremities of Cape Trafalgar (Spain) and Cape Spartel (Africa).
On the northeast: The West Coast of Italy. In the Strait of Messina a line joining the North extreme of Cape Paci (15°42'E) with Cape Peloro, the East extreme of the Island of Sicily. The North Coast of Sicily.
On the east: A line joining Cape Lilibeo the Western point of Sicily (37°47′N 12°22′E), through the Adventure Bank to Cape Bon (Tunisia).
Eastern Basin:
On the west: The Northeastern and Eastern limits of the Western Basin.
On the northeast: A line joining Kum Kale (26°11'E) and Cape Helles, the Western entrance to the Dardanelles.
On the southeast: The entrance to the Suez Canal.
On the east: The coasts of Syria, Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza Strip.
Oceanography
Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, tides are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean is characterized and immediately recognised by its deep blue colour.
Evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation and river runoff in the Mediterranean, a fact that is central to the water circulation within the basin.[16] Evaporation is especially high in its eastern half, causing the water level to decrease and salinity to increase eastward.[17] This pressure gradient pushes relatively cool, low-salinity water from the Atlantic across the basin; it warms and becomes saltier as it travels east, then sinks in the region of the Levant and circulates westward, to spill over the Strait of Gibraltar.[18] Thus, seawater flow is eastward in the Strait's surface waters, and westward below; once in the Atlantic, this chemically distinct Mediterranean Intermediate Water can persist thousands of kilometres away from its source.
Coastal countries
Twenty-two countries have a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. They are:
Northern shore (from west to east): Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey.
Eastern shore (from north to south): Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Flag of Palestine.svg Palestine (limited recognition).
Southern shore (from west to east): Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt.
Island nations: Malta, Cyprus, Flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.svg Northern Cyprus (limited recognition).
Several other territories also border the Mediterranean Sea (from west to east): The British overseas territory of Gibraltar, the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and nearby islands, and the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus
Major cities (municipalities) with populations larger than 200,000 people bordering the Mediterranean Sea are:
CountryCities
AlbaniaDurrës
AlgeriaAlgiers, Annaba, Oran
CroatiaSplit, Rijeka
EgyptAlexandria, Port Said
FranceMarseille, Nice
GreeceAthens, Patras, Thessaloniki
IsraelAshdod, Haifa, Tel Aviv
ItalyBari, Catania, Genoa, Messina, Naples, Palermo, Rome, Taranto, Trieste, Venice
LebanonBeirut, Tripoli
LibyaBenghazi, Khoms, Misrata, Tripoli, Zawiya, Zliten
MoroccoTétouan, Tangier
SpainAlicante, Badalona, Barcelona, Cartagena, Málaga, Palma, Valencia
State of PalestineGaza City
SyriaLatakia
TunisiaBizerte, Sfax, Tunis
TurkeyAntalya, İskenderun, İzmir, Mersin
Subdivisions
According to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), the Mediterranean Sea is subdivided into a number of smaller waterbodies, each with their own designation (from west to east):[15]
the Strait of Gibraltar;
the Alboran Sea, between Spain and Morocco;
the Balearic Sea, between mainland Spain and its Balearic Islands;
the Ligurian Sea between Corsica and Liguria (Italy);
the Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by Sardinia, Italian peninsula and Sicily;
the Ionian Sea between Italy, Albania and Greece;
the Adriatic Sea between Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania;
the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey.
Other seas
Although not recognised by the IHO treaties, there are some other seas whose names have been in common use from the ancient times, or in the present:
the Sea of Sardinia, between Sardinia and Balearic Islands, as a part of the Balearic Sea
the Sea of Sicily between Sicily and Tunisia,
the Libyan Sea between Libya and Crete,
In the Aegean Sea,
the Thracian Sea in its north,
the Myrtoan Sea between the Cyclades and the Peloponnese,
the Sea of Crete north of Crete,
the Icarian Sea between Kos and Chios
the Cilician Sea between Turkey and Cyprus
the Levantine Sea at the eastern end of the Mediterranean
Other features
Many of these smaller seas feature in local myth and folklore and derive their names from these associations. In addition to the seas, a number of gulfs and straits are also recognised:
the Saint George Bay in Beirut, Lebanon
the Ras Ibn Hani cape in Latakia, Syria
the Ras al-Bassit cape in northern Syria.
the Minet el-Beida ("White Harbour") bay near ancient Ugarit, Syria
the Strait of Gibraltar, connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco
the Bay of Gibraltar, at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula
the Gulf of Corinth, an enclosed sea between the Ionian Sea and the Corinth Canal
the Pagasetic Gulf, the gulf of Volos, south of the Thermaic Gulf, formed by the Mount Pelion peninsula
the Saronic Gulf, the gulf of Athens, between the Corinth Canal and the Mirtoan Sea
the Thermaic Gulf, the gulf of Thessaloniki, located in the northern Greek region of Macedonia
the Kvarner Gulf, Croatia
the Gulf of Lion, south of France
the Gulf of Valencia, east of Spain
the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and the toe of Italy
the Gulf of Genoa, northwestern Italy
the Gulf of Venice, northeastern Italy
the Gulf of Trieste, northeastern Italy
the Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy
The Adriatic Sea contains over 1200 islands and islets.
the Gulf of Salerno, southwestern Italy
the Gulf of Gaeta, southwestern Italy
the Gulf of Squillace, southern Italy
the Strait of Otranto, between Italy and Albania
the Gulf of Haifa, northern Israel
the Gulf of Sidra, between Tripolitania (western Libya) and Cyrenaica (eastern Libya)
the Strait of Sicily, between Sicily and Tunisia
the Corsica Channel, between Corsica and Italy
the Strait of Bonifacio, between Sardinia and Corsica
the Gulf of İskenderun, between İskenderun and Adana (Turkey)
the Gulf of Antalya, between west and east shores of Antalya (Turkey)
the Bay of Kotor, in south-western Montenegro and south-eastern Croatia
the Malta Channel, between Sicily and Malta
the Gozo Channel, between Malta Island and Gozo
Sea temperature
Mean sea temperature (°C)
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecØ/Year
Marseille[21]13131314161821222118161416.6
Venice[22]11101113182225262320161417.4
Barcelona[23]13131314172023252320171517.8
Valencia[24]14131415172124262421181518.5
Málaga[25]16151516172022232220181618.3
Gibraltar[26]16151616172022222220181718.4
Naples[27]15141415182225272522191619.3
Athens[28]16151516182124242421191819.3
Heraklion[29]16151516192224252422201819.7
Malta[30]16161516182124262523211819.9
Larnaca[31]18171718202426272725221921.7
Limassol[32]18171718202426272725221921.7
Antalya17171718212427282725221921.8
Alexandria[33]18171718202325262625222021.4
Tel Aviv[34]18171718212426282726232022.1
Geology
The geologic history of the Mediterranean is complex. It was involved in the tectonic break-up and then collision of the African and Eurasian plates. The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred in the late Miocene (12 million years ago to 5 million years ago) when the Mediterranean dried up. Geologically the Mediterranean is underlain by oceanic crust.
The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,267 m (17,280 ft) in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for 46,000 km (29,000 mi). A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of Sicily and the coast of Tunisia divides the sea in two main subregions (which in turn are divided into subdivisions), the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Western Mediterranean covers an area of about 0.85 million km² (0.33 million mi²) and the Eastern Mediterranean about 1.65 million km² (0.64 million mi²). A characteristic of the Mediterranean Sea are submarine karst springs or vruljas, which mainly occur in shallow waters[35] and may also be thermal.
Tectonic evolution
The geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean Sea was provided by the convergence of European and African plates and several smaller microplates. This process was driven by the differential seafloor spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which led to the closure of the Tethys Ocean and eventually to the Alpine orogenesis. However, the Mediterranean also hosts wide extensional basins and migrating tectonic arcs, in response to its land-locked configuration.
According to a report published by Nature in 2009, some scientists think that the Mediterranean Sea was mostly filled during a time period of less than two years, in a major flood (the Zanclean flood) that happened approximately 5.33 million years ago, in which water poured in from the Atlantic Ocean and through the Strait of Gibraltar, at a rate three times the current flow of the Amazon River.[37] However, the sea basins had been filled for many millions of years before the prior closure of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Eastern Mediterranean
In middle Miocene times, the collision between the Arabian microplate and Eurasia led to the separation between the Tethys and the Indian oceans. This process resulted in profound changes in the oceanic circulation patterns, which shifted global climates towards colder conditions. The Hellenic arc, which has a land-locked configuration, underwent a widespread extension for the last 20 Ma due to a slab roll-back process. In addition, the Hellenic Arc experienced a rapid rotation phase during the Pleistocene, with a counterclockwise component in its eastern portion and a clockwise trend in the western segment.
Central Mediterranean
The opening of small oceanic basins of the central Mediterranean follows a trench migration and back-arc opening process that occurred during the last 30 Myr. This phase was characterised by the anticlockwise rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block, which lasted until the Langhian (ca.16 Ma), and was in turn followed by a slab detachment along the northern African margin. Subsequently, a shift of this active extensional deformation led to the opening of the Tyrrenian basin.
Western Mediterranean[edit]
The Betic-Rif mountain belts developed during Mesozoic and Cenozoic times, as Africa and Iberia converged. Tectonic models for its evolution include: rapid motion of Alboran Domain, subduction zone and radial extensional collapse caused by convective removal of lithospheric mantle. The development of these intramontane Betic and Rif basins led to the onset of two marine gateways which were progressively closed during the late Miocene by an interplay of tectonic and glacio-eustatic processes.
Paleoenvironmental analysis
Its semi-enclosed configuration makes the oceanic gateways critical in controlling circulation and environmental evolution in the Mediterranean Sea. Water circulation patterns are driven by a number of interactive factors, such as climate and bathymetry, which can lead to precipitation of evaporites. During late Miocene times, a so-called "Messinian Salinity Crisis" (MSC hereafter) occurred, where the Mediterranean entirely or almost entirely dried out, which was triggered by the closure of the Atlantic gateway. Evaporites accumulated in the Red Sea Basin (late Miocene), in the Carpatian foredeep (middle Miocene) and in the whole Mediterranean area (Messinian). An accurate age estimate of the MSC—5.96 Ma—has recently been astronomically achieved; furthermore, this event seems to have occurred synchronously. The beginning of the MSC is supposed to have been of tectonic origin; however, an astronomical control (eccentricity) might also have been involved. In the Mediterranean basin, diatomites are regularly found underneath the evaporite deposits, thus suggesting (albeit not clearly so far) a connection between their geneses.
The present-day Atlantic gateway, i.e. the Strait of Gibraltar, finds its origin in the early Pliocene. However, two other connections between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea existed in the past: the Betic Corridor (southern Spain) and the Rifian Corridor (northern Morocco). The former closed during Tortonian times, thus providing a "Tortonian Salinity Crisis" well before the MSC; the latter closed about 6 Ma, allowing exchanges in the mammal fauna between Africa and Europe. Nowadays, evaporation is more relevant than the water yield supplied by riverine water and precipitation, so that salinity in the Mediterranean is higher than in the Atlantic. These conditions result in the outflow of warm saline Mediterranean deep water across Gibraltar, which is in turn counterbalanced by an inflow of a less saline surface current of cold oceanic water.
The Mediterranean was once thought to be the remnant of the Tethys Ocean. It is now known to be a structurally younger ocean basin known as Neotethys. The Neotethys formed during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic rifting of the African and Eurasian plates.
Paleoclimate
Because of its latitudinal position and its land-locked configuration, the Mediterranean is especially sensitive to astronomically induced climatic variations, which are well documented in its sedimentary record. Since the Mediterranean is involved in the deposition of eolian dust from the Sahara during dry periods, whereas riverine detrital input prevails during wet ones, the Mediterranean marine sapropel-bearing sequences provide high-resolution climatic information. These data have been employed in reconstructing astronomically calibrated time scales for the last 9 Ma of the Earth's history, helping to constrain the time of past Geomagnetic Reversals.[38] Furthermore, the exceptional accuracy of these paleoclimatic records have improved our knowledge of the Earth's orbital variations in the past.
Ecology and biota
As a result of the drying of the sea during the Messinian salinity crisis,[39] the marine biota of the Mediterranean are derived primarily from the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic is considerably colder and more nutrient-rich than the Mediterranean, and the marine life of the Mediterranean has had to adapt to its differing conditions in the five million years since the basin was reflooded.
The Alboran Sea is a transition zone between the two seas, containing a mix of Mediterranean and Atlantic species. The Alboran Sea has the largest population of Bottlenose Dolphins in the western Mediterranean, is home to the last population of harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean, and is the most important feeding grounds for Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Europe. The Alboran sea also hosts important commercial fisheries, including sardines and swordfish. The Mediterranean monk seals live in the Aegean Sea in Greece. In 2003, the World Wildlife Fund raised concerns about the widespread drift net fishing endangering populations of dolphins, turtles, and other marine animals.
Environmental threats
Biodiversity
Invasive species
The Reticulate whipray is one of the species that colonised the eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and Red Sea. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a tidal strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes, which are hyper-saline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalized with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonise the Eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor Eastern Mediterranean. Accordingly, Red Sea species invade the Mediterranean biota, and not vice versa; this phenomenon is known as the Lessepsian migration (after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer) or Erythrean invasion. The construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich silt from the Nile into the Eastern Mediterranean, making conditions there even more like the Red Sea and worsening the impact of the invasive species.
Invasive species have become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem and have serious impacts on the Mediterranean ecology, endangering many local and endemic Mediterranean species. A first look at some groups of exotic species show that more than 70% of the non-indigenous decapods and about 63% of the exotic fishes occurring in the Mediterranean are of Indo Pacific origin,[40] introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. This makes the Canal as the first pathway of arrival of "alien" species into the Mediterranean. The impacts of some lessepsian species have proven to be considerable mainly in the Levantine basin of the Mediterranean, where they are replacing native species and becoming a "familiar sight".
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature definition, as well as Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Ramsar Convention terminologies, they are alien species, as they are non-native (non-indigenous) to the Mediterranean Sea, and they are outside their normal area of distribution which is the Indo-Pacific region. When these species succeed in establishing populations in the Mediterranean sea, compete with and begin to replace native species they are "Alien Invasive Species", as they are an agent of change and a threat to the native biodiversity. In the context of CBD, "introduction" refers to the movement by human agency, indirect or direct, of an alien species outside of its natural range (past or present). The Suez Canal, being an artificial (man made) canal, is a human agency. Lessepsian migrants are therefore "introduced" species (indirect, and unintentional). Whatever wording is chosen, they represent a threat to the native Mediterranean biodiversity, because they are non-indigenous to this sea. In recent years, the Egyptian government's announcement of its intentions to deepen and widen the canal have raised concerns from marine biologists, fearing that such an act will only worsen the invasion of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, facilitating the crossing of the canal for yet additional species.
Arrival of new tropical Atlantic species
In recent decades, the arrival of exotic species from the tropical Atlantic has become a noticeable feature. Whether this reflects an expansion of the natural area of these species that now enter the Mediterranean through the Gibraltar strait, because of a warming trend of the water caused by Global Warming; or an extension of the maritime traffic; or is simply the result of a more intense scientific investigation, is still an open question. While not as intense as the "lessepsian" movement, the process may be scientific interest and may therefore warrant increased levels of monitoring.
Sea-level rise
By 2100, the overall level of the Mediterranean could rise between 3 to 61 cm (1.2 to 24.0 in) as a result of the effects of climate change.[42] This could have adverse effects on populations across the Mediterranean:
Rising sea levels will submerge parts of Malta. Rising sea levels will also mean rising salt water levels in Malta's groundwater supply and reduce the availability of drinking water.[43]
A 30 cm (12 in) rise in sea level would flood 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) of the Nile Delta, displacing over 500,000 Egyptians.[44]
Coastal ecosystems also appear to be threatened by sea level rise, especially enclosed seas such as the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. These seas have only small and primarily east-west movement corridors, which may restrict northward displacement of organisms in these areas.[45] Sea level rise for the next century (2100) could be between 30 cm (12 in) and 100 cm (39 in) and temperature shifts of a mere 0.05-0.1°C in the deep sea are sufficient to induce significant changes in species richness and functional diversity.
Pollution
Pollution in this region has been extremely high in recent years.[when?] The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650,000,000 t (720,000,000 short tons) of sewage, 129,000 t (142,000 short tons) of mineral oil, 60,000 t (66,000 short tons) of mercury, 3,800 t (4,200 short tons) of lead and 36,000 t (40,000 short tons) of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year.[47] The Barcelona Convention aims to 'reduce pollution in the Mediterranean Sea and protect and improve the marine environment in the area, thereby contributing to its sustainable development.'[48] Many marine species have been almost wiped out because of the sea's pollution. One of them is the Mediterranean Monk Seal which is considered to be among the world's most endangered marine mammals.[49]
The Mediterranean is also plagued by marine debris. A 1994 study of the seabed using trawl nets around the coasts of Spain, France and Italy reported a particularly high mean concentration of debris; an average of 1,935 items per km². Plastic debris accounted for 76%, of which 94% was plastic bags.
Shipping
Some of the world's busiest shipping routes are in the Mediterranean Sea. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 merchant vessels of more than 100 tonnes cross the Mediterranean Sea each year—about one third of the world's total merchant shipping. These ships often carry hazardous cargo, which if lost would result in severe damage to the marine environment.
The discharge of chemical tank washings and oily wastes also represent a significant source of marine pollution. The Mediterranean Sea constitutes 0.7% of the global water surface and yet receives seventeen percent of global marine oil pollution. It is estimated that every year between 100,000 t (98,000 long tons) and 150,000 t (150,000 long tons) of crude oil are deliberately released into the sea from shipping activities.
Approximately 370,000,000 t (360,000,000 long tons) of oil are transported annually in the Mediterranean Sea (more than 20% of the world total), with around 250-300 oil tankers crossing the Sea every day. Accidental oil spills happen frequently with an average of 10 spills per year. A major oil spill could occur at any time in any part of the Mediterranean.
Tourism
With a unique combination of pleasant climate, beautiful coastline, rich history and diverse culture the Mediterranean region is the most popular tourist destination in the world—attracting approximately one third of the world's international tourists.
Tourism is one of the most important sources of income for many Mediterranean countries. It also supports small communities in coastal areas and islands by providing alternative sources of income far from urban centres. However, tourism has also played major role in the degradation of the coastal and marine environment. Rapid development has been encouraged by Mediterranean governments to support the large numbers of tourists visiting the region each year. But this has caused serious disturbance to marine habitats such as erosion and pollution in many places along the Mediterranean coasts.
Tourism often concentrates in areas of high natural wealth, causing a serious threat to the habitats of endangered Mediterranean species such as sea turtles and monk seals. Reductions in natural wealth may reduce incentives for tourists to visit
Overfishing
Fish stock levels in the Mediterranean Sea are alarmingly low. The European Environment Agency says that over 65% of all fish stocks in the region are outside safe biological limits and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, that some of the most important fisheries—such as albacore and bluefin tuna, hake, marlin, swordfish, red mullet and sea bream—are threatened.[date missing]
There are clear indications that catch size and quality have declined, often dramatically, and in many areas larger and longer-lived species have disappeared entirely from commercial catches.
Large open water fish like tuna have been a shared fisheries resource for thousands of years but the stocks are now dangerously low. In 1999, Greenpeace published a report revealing that the amount of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean had decreased by over 80% in the previous 20 years and government scientists warn that without immediate action the stock will collapse.
Aquacultur
Aquaculture is expanding rapidly—often without proper environmental assessment—and currently accounts for 30% of the fish protein consumed worldwide. The industry claims that farmed seafood lessens the pressure on wild fish stocks, yet many of the farmed species are carnivorous, consuming up to five times their weight in wild fish.
Mediterranean coastal areas are already over exposed to human influence, with pristine areas becoming ever scarcer. The aquaculture sector adds to this pressure, requiring areas of high water quality to set up farms. The installation of fish farms close to vulnerable and important habitats such as seagrass meadows is particularly concerning.
The visit to the Tiger’s Nest takes a full day. On average, it takes between four and five hours to do the round trip hike, plus one more hour to visit the monastery.
Taktsang Palphug Goemba (Tiger's Nest):
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The lappet-faced vulture is a huge species, ranking as the longest and largest winged vulture in its range behind the closely related cinereous vulture, although some co-occurring Gyps vultures tend to be heavier on average, especially the Cape vulture and Eurasian griffon. This species measures around 95–115 cm (37–45 in) in body length, with a wingspan of 2.5–2.9 m (8.2–9.5 ft). Among the standard measurements, the wing chord is 71.5–82.5 cm (28.1–32.5 in), the tail is 33–36 cm (13–14 in) and the tarsus is 12.2–15 cm (4.8–5.9 in). The bill, at up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long and 5 cm (2.0 in) deep, ranks as one of the largest of any accipitrid, although a reported culmen length of 7.2 cm (2.8 in) is slightly less than the culmen length of the cinereous vulture. Wild vultures, of the subspecies T. t. tracheliotus, range from 4.4 to 9.4 kg (9.7 to 20.7 lb) and, in East Africa, average only 6.2 kg (14 lb). On the other hand, captive vultures of the larger T. t. negevensis subspecies, weighed 6.5–9.2 kg (14–20 lb) in males and 10.5–13.6 kg (23–30 lb) in females.
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After I finished my holidays photos of Thailand and Myanmar it's time to make a backup of my processed photo's. I even have a backup of my backup. Please note the average lifetime of a harddisk is only 5 years. So do not forget to renew your harddisk. Regular backup protects your data. My digital photo backup started in 1998. My photo's are precious to me. My photo's are not yet all in the cloud. Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future. You need to take time to make a backup. You realize that you need it when it is too late. Photo of my portable Seagate hard drive. It offers an easy-to-use solution when you need to instantly add storage to your computer and take files on the go. It's as big as you'd imagine a squarish plastic box holding a standard 2.5-inch hard drive on the inside would be. Basically, it's small enough to be easily tucked in inside a purse or your back pocket.
Macro photo taken with a modified Canon EF35-80mm f/4-5.6 lens. Turn your old Kit Lens into a superb Macro lens by removing the front element. Give this old lens a new life. It's a macro shot of my 2.5" portable Seagate hard drive.
At first glance, the Canon EF35-80mm f/4-5.6 seems like a very average lens. However, if you can look past the plastic mount, slow aperture, and cheap build quality, this lens is by far the best macro lens out there for its price. A simple modification is needed to turns this otherwise ordinary lens into a super-macro lens that works in a similar fashion to the Canon MP-E 65mm. I removed the front sticker, unscrewed 3 retaining screws, and removed the front 3 elements (the AF elements). Please check youtu.be/5a6n_OAmjSg With these elements removed, the lens is focused by either zooming it in/out or by moving the camera back/forth, just like one would do with the MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens. The loss of autofocus is hardly a concern since the camera will still tell you when you hit the currently selected focal point, so I tend to use those and shoot as soon as you hear the beep of your camera. After the mods, I would say that this lens goes from around 1:1.5 to ~2:1 life size magnification. Truly amazing results for something I bought for less than 25 EUR in an Used Product store. Indeed, even dedicated macro lenses can't exceed 1:1 magnification without using extension tubes. And, to make the deal even sweeter, you still get full electronic metering and aperture controls just like you would with any other EF lens. The focussing distance is tiny, at 35mm you have maybe 5cm and more like 2cm at 80mm, it's not a very easy lens to use, but this is what makes getting the good shots so much more rewarding! More 35-80 macro's can be found: www.flickr.com/groups/3580macro/
A quiet moment in a frenzy of crowd activity on the beachfront.
9 Exposures in average mode - in camkera multiple exposures
Tonight's collection of average Wheeling shots were taken on the way home from the assisted care center in Massillon. As soon as I got to the car, the dispatcher was giving 214 a TW east from Brewster. Had a pretty good plan it could be caught but road work put a dent in Plan A but Plan B came through with about 2 minutes to spare. The other posting shows it by the cemetery across from Ft Laurens at around 4:20. From there the route home for National Hot Dog Day takes me through Akron where 291 is often ready to depart around 5:30 and it was today. This second shot is coming by North Akron. Unfortunately, the frequent problem of switching the lumber yard in Copley prevents a second shot in Medina.
Many thanks for the visits, faves and comments. Cheers
Jacky Winter
Scientific Name: Microeca fascinans
Description: The Jacky Winter is a small grey-brown flycatcher with a faint pale eye-line and white underbody. The dark tail has prominent white outer feathers which are obvious when it lands, wagging his tail from side to side. The Jacky Winter typically sits upright on a bare branch or perch, wagging its tail and uttering its 'peter-peter' call. There are three sub-species, with slight geographical variation, darker in the south and paler in the far north and inland. This species is also known as the Brown Flycatcher, Postboy, White-tail or Peter-Peter.
Similar species: The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Microeca flavigaster, is slightly smaller, with a longer tail, lacking the white edge. Female and immaturePetroica robins are similar, but have a distinctive light bar in the wing.
Distribution: The Jacky Winter is widely distributed in mainland Australia and in south east New Guinea.
Habitat: Jacky Winters prefer open woodland with an open shrub layer and a lot of bare ground. They are often seen in farmland and parks.
Seasonal movements: Resident and in some places a seasonal visitor.
Feeding: Jacky Winters dart out from a perch to snatch at flying insects, returning to the same perch again. They dive and twist in the air, hovering and grabbing at insects.
Breeding: During breeding, the Jacky Winter sings constantly and has high, slow song-flights. The cup-shaped nest is very small and made from grass and strips of bark, bound with spiders web on the fork of a dead branch. The female incubates the eggs and probably broods the young, fed by the male. They may raise several broods in a season. Their nest is always in an exposed position, clear of leaves.
Calls: The call is clear and carries far, a rapid 'chwit-chwit-chwit-peter-peter-peter'.
Minimum Size: 12cm
Maximum Size: 14cm
Average size: 13cm
Average weight: 15g
Breeding season: August to January
Clutch Size: 2
Incubation: 17 days
Nestling Period: 17 days
© Chris Burns 2016
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10 August 2020: On average the rise in the number of new infections in Belgium continues to slow. The figures give the impression that the curve is flattening. Is this really the case? I’m choking in my morning coffee if I take a look at individual cities and/or areas. The epidemic is definitely spreading in certain parts of the country. Nevertheless, there are still people that fail to adhere to the basic measurements to fight the virus. Blankenberge, a popular coastal town, has brought in local police to stop day trippers entering the city following a massive brawl on the beach between police and trouble-makers who refused to obey the rules. We all should realize that our challenges fade away if we compare our situation with the disastrous explosion of tons and tons of NH4NO3 in Lebanon. While fighting the coronavirus crisis, Lebanon is facing a deep economic crisis, with protests against the political establishment for its corruption and mismanagement of the economy. Therefore, let’s hang in there and continue to stay out of each other’s way, to stay in our bubble and to behave responsibly. It’s not all that difficult and as you can see in the picture it even can be fun – Provinciaal Domein De Gavers, Harelbeke, Belgium
Another average day for the local NYSW crew. SD45-2 # 3618 leads a cut of tankers and hoppers into Oakland, New Jersey. The trains stops here to set cars on the main, to then clear the switch to drill the industry.
The mountains average 300+ inches of snow a year. The valley, in the immediate rain shadow of the mountains, averages about 40 inches a year. Because the sun 'burns' the valley snow off rather quickly, the valley is often open and without much snow cover. Winter pasture!
In the late 1950s, Wolverhampton Council proposed a controversial and costly project to build a ring road around the town, to divert ‘through traffic’ away from the town centre. As with most towns in Britain, the huge increase in private car ownership was becoming a headache for the town’s planners.
As part of the town’s future road planning, it was decided that the building of the ‘Ring Road’ would also force the abandonment of the town’s trolleybus system, as the council wanted ‘no trolleybuses or trolleybus infrastructure’ to encounter the new Ring Road! This commitment would become a huge finical burden on the local rate-payers, so budgetary restraints were made where possible. Construction of the Ring Road began in 1961, but took almost three decades to complete.
Between June 1963 and March 1967, Wolverhampton Corporation Transport purchased 146 new double-deck motorbuses to replace the post-war trolleybus fleet. The financial enormity of funding the conversion program impacted on the quality of the new motorbus purchases, with savings having to be made. From 1965 – 1967, the Transport Department’s budget constraints forced them to opt for cheaper bus bodies to be fitted to the locally built Guy Arab V motorbus chassis that the council were duty-bound to purchase. Strachan (Coachbuilders) Ltd of Hamble, Hampshire became the new bus body supplier, but these budget built bus bodies for the Guy Arabs would soon prove to be sub-standard, resulting in short service lives due to structural fatigue.
On the demise of the town's last trolleybuses in March 1967, came the news that twelve high-capacity single-deck buses had been ordered. In July 1967, the ‘Transport Department’ took delivery of six AEC Swifts (708-713) and six Daimler Roadliners (714-719), all having Strachan built dual-doored bodies. This may have been seen as an extravagant purchase in lieu of the tax payers money recently spent on the trolleybus replacement fleet?
The buses appeared very modern looking, with large windows and spacious high-roofed interiors, being very similar in design to London Transport’s Strachan bodied ‘Red Arrow’ buses that had been new to the capital in 1966. The intension from the outset was to trial the concept of ‘pay-on-entry’ buses, with passengers paying the driver on boarding the bus.
The new buses were initially put to work on the No1 Tettenhall service to gauge public reaction to 'pay-on-entry, and assessing operational issues. However, after a few weeks the experiment was ended and crew-operated double-deckers reinstated to the route. Against all expectations, the costly experiment hadn’t been a success, having been met with mixed reactions from the travelling public who were not used to paying the driver on boarding, much preferring bus conductors to take their fares. It was also found that the ‘Cummins V6’ engined Daimler ‘Roadliners’ in particular, didn’t like the intense ‘stop and start’ work on this short urban service. Therefore a decision was made to redeploy these buses to rural services, such as the lengthy No17 and No31 routes to Bridgnorth in Shropshire. In this setting, the stops were fewer and the average speeds were higher, but as a cost saving measure the buses continued to be used as ‘pay-on-entry’ vehicles.
In October 1969, 708-719, along with the rest of the former Wolverhampton Corporation bus fleet, became part of the newly formed West Midlands PTE, whereupon they were renumbered 708N - 719N.
The first victim to early withdrawal was Roadliner 714N, which was lost to fire when working the No17 Bridgnorth service in November 1971. The following year, AEC Swifts 708, 711 were withdrawn and sold to Northampton Transport for further use.
The remaining buses continued to be allocated to Wolverhampton’s Bilston Garage, their duties staying much the same until the loss of the rural bus network in December 1973. The Midland Red taking over these services from WMPTE as part of a wider operational agreement between the two concerns.
Being relatively modern buses and suitable for one-man-operation, WMPTE continued to use the remaining Roadliners and Swifts, but with an eye to disposing of them when the opportunity arose as they did not fit the general fleet profile. Despite the Roadliners continuing to be mechanically troublesome, 716-719 received repaints into WMPTE livery in 1972 and 1973, and may have received body strengthen modifications in preparation? However, the AEC Swifts were never repainted out of their Wolverhampton colours.
Following the premature exit of 708N, 711N (pictured) and 714N, the next to go was Roadliner 715N in July 1973 suffering structural faults to its Strachan built body. It was sold for scrap in May 1974 still wearing WCT green and yellow.
The remaining AEC Swifts came out of service between 1973 to 1974, and the last Roadliners were finally withdrawn between the end of 1974 and January of 1975. Some of these buses found new owners, but all eventually ended up being scrapped with the exception of 719N. Today, 719(N) survives at the Transport Museum Wythall, restored into WCT livery.
The picture taken by the late Dave Everitt, show AEC Swift 711N pulling out onto Railway Drive, as it departs Victoria Square Bus Station for Cheslyn Hay in July 1970.
As for the previously mentioned ‘Ring Road’, that has further relevance to this picture, as part of its Eastern section runs right through the location where this picture was taken.
Image scanned from the original 35mm colour slide.
See my story about this
Lahti. Lakhta ?This small village on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, about 15 km northwest of the city, is home to human settlements on the banks of the Neva. It was on the territory of Lakhta that the remains of a man’s parking site of three thousand years ago were found.
In official documents, a settlement named Lakhta dates back to 1500. The name is derived from the Finnish-speaking word lahti - "bay". This is one of the few settlements that has not changed its name throughout its 500-year history. Also known as Laches, Lahes-by, Lahes and was originally inhabited by Izhora. In the last decades of the 15th century, Lakhta was a village (which indicates a significant population) and was the center of the eponymous grand-parish volost, which was part of the Spassko-Gorodensky graveyard of the Orekhovsky district of the Vodskaya Pyatina. In the village, there were 10 courtyards with 20 people (married men). In Lakhta, on average, there were 2 families per yard, and the total population of the village probably reached 75 people.
From the notes on the margins of the Swedish scribe book of the Spassky graveyard of 1640, it follows that the lands along the lower reaches of the Neva River and parts of the Gulf of Finland, including Lakhta Karelskaya, Perekulya (from the Finnish “back village”, probably because of its position relative to Lakhti) and Konduy Lakhtinsky, were royal by letter of honor on January 15, 1638 transferred to the possession of the Stockholm dignitary, Rickschulz general Bernhard Sten von Stenhausen, a Dutchman by birth. On October 31, 1648, the Swedish government granted these lands to the city of Nyuen (Nyenschanz). With the arrival of the Swedes in Prievye, Lakhta was settled by the Finns, who until the middle of the 20th century made up the vast majority of the villagers.
On December 22, 1766, Catherine 2 granted Lakhta Manor, which was then in the Office of the Chancellery from the buildings of palaces and gardens, "in which and in her villages with courtyards 208 souls," her favorite Count Orlov. Not later than 1768, Count J.A. Bruce took over the estate. In 1788, Lakhta Manor was listed behind him with wooden services on a dry land (high place) and the villages Lakhta, Dubki, Lisiy Nos and Konnaya belonging to it also on dry land, in those villages of male peasants 238 souls. On May 1, 1813, Lakhta passed into the possession of the landowners of the Yakovlevs. On October 5, 1844, Count A.I. Stenbok-Fermor entered into the possession of the Lakhtinsky estate, which then had 255 male souls. This clan was the owner of the estate until 1912, when its last representative got into debt and noble custody was established over the estate. On October 4, 1913, in order to pay off his debts, he was forced to go for corporatization, and the Lakhta estate passed into the ownership of the Joint Stock Company “Lakhta” of Count Stenbock-Fermor and Co.
After the revolution, Lakhta was left on its own for a while, here on the former estate of the counts Stenbock-Fermorov on May 19, 1919, the Lakhta excursion station was opened, which existed there until 1932. In the early 1920s, sand mining began on Lakhta beaches, and the abandoned and dilapidated peat plant of the Lakhta estate in 1922 took over the Oblzemotdel and put it into operation after major repairs. In 1963, the village of Lakhta was included in the Zhdanovsky (Primorsky) district of Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
At the beginning of Lakhtinsky Prospekt, on the banks of the Lakhtinsky spill, there was the village of Rakhilax (Rahilax-hof, Rahila, Rokhnovo). Most likely, under this name only one or several courtyards are designated. There is an assumption that the name of the village was formed from the Finnish raahata - “drag, drag,” because there could be a place for transportation through the isthmus of the Lakhtinsky spill (we should not forget that not only the bridge over the channel connecting the spill with the Gulf of Finland was not yet here, the duct itself was many times wider than the current one). The search book of the Spassko-Gorodensky graveyard of 1573, describing the Lakhta lands, mentions that there were 2 lodges in the “Rovgunov” village, from which we can conclude that we are talking about the village of Rohilaks, which the Russian scribes remade into a more understandable to them Rovgunovo. The village was empty in Swedish time and was counted as a wasteland of the village of Lahta.
On the banks of the Lakhtinsky spill, near the confluence of the Yuntolovka River, from the 17th century there existed the village of Bobylka (Bobylskaya), which merged into the village of Olgino only at the beginning of the 20th century, but was found on maps until the 1930s. It is probably the Search Book that mentions it Spassko-Gorodensky churchyard in 1573 as a village "in Lakhta in Perekui", behind which there was 1 obzh. With the arrival of the Swedes by royal letter on January 15, 1638, the village was transferred to the possession of the Stockholm dignitary, Rickshaw General Bernhard Sten von Stenhausen, a Dutchman by birth. On October 31, 1648, the Swedish government granted Lahti lands to the city of Nyuen (Nyenschanz). On the Swedish map of the 1670s, in the place of the village of Bobylsky, the village of Lahakeülä is marked (küla - the village (Fin.)). The village could subsequently be called Bobyl from the Russian word "bobyl."
The owners of Bobylskaya were both Count Orlov, and Count Y. A. Bruce, and the landowners Yakovlev. In 1844, Count A.I. Stenbok-Fermor entered into the possession of the Lakhtinsky estate (which included the village of Bobyl). This family was the owner of the estate until 1913, when the owners, in order to pay off their debts, had to go for corporatization, and the Lakhta estate was transferred to the ownership of the Lakhta Joint-Stock Company of Count Stenbock-Fermor and Co. By the middle of the 20th century, the village merged with the village of Lakhta.
The name Konnaya Lakhta (Konnaya) has been known since the 16th century, although earlier it sounded like Konduya (Konduya Lakhtinskaya) or just Kondu (from the Finnish kontu - courtyard, manor). Subsequently, this name was replaced by the more familiar Russian ear with the word "Horse". In the Search Book of the Spassko-Gorodensky Pogost in 1573, it is mentioned as the village "on Kovdui", where 1 obzh was listed, which indicates that there most likely was one yard. On January 15, 1638, together with neighboring villages, it was transferred to the possession of the Stockholm dignitary, Rickschulz General Bernhard Steen von Stenhausen, of Dutch origin. On October 31, 1648, the Swedish government granted these lands to the city of Nyuen (Nyenschanz). In a deed of gift, Konduya Lakhtinskaya is called a village, which indicates a noticeable increase in its population. Later, on the Swedish map of the 1670s, on the site of the present Horse Lahti, the village of Konda-bai is marked (by - village (sv)).
The owners of Konnaya Lakhta, as well as the villages of Bobylskaya and Lakhta, were in turn Count Orlov, Count Ya. A. Bruce, and the landowners Yakovlev. In 1844, Count A.I. Stenbok-Fermor entered the possession of the Lakhta estate (which included Konnaya Lakhta. This family was the owner of the estate until 1913, when the owners had to go to corporations to pay off their debts, and the Lakhta estate became the property of Lakhta Joint Stock Company of Count Stenbock-Fermor and Co. In 1963, Horse Lahta was included in the Zhdanov (Primorsky) district of Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
As the dacha village of Olgino appeared at the end of the 19th century and initially consisted of both Olgin itself and the villages of Vladimirovka (now part of Lisiy Nos) and Aleksandrovka. In the first half of the 18th century, this territory was part of the Verpelev palace estate, which in the second half of the 18th century was granted to Count G. G. Orlov, then it was owned by the family of landowners the Yakovlevs, in the middle of the 19th century the estate was transferred to the counts of Stenbock-Fermor. In 1905 A.V. Stenbok-Fermor, the then owner of Lakhta lands, divided the lands around Lakhta into separate plots with the intention of selling them profitably for dachas. So there were the villages of Olgino (named after the wife of Olga Platonovna), Vladimirovka (in honor of the father of the owner; the coastal part of the modern village of Lisy Nos) and Alexandrov or Aleksandrovskaya (in honor of Alexander Vladimirovich himself). It is likely that on the site of the village was the village of Olushino (Olushino odhe) - a search book of the Spassko-Gorodensky churchyard in 1573 mentions that there were 1 obzh in the village of Olushkov’s, which suggests that at least one residential the yard. On behalf of Olushka (Olpherius). Most likely, the village was deserted in Swedish time and then was already listed as a wasteland belonging to the village of Lahta. Thus, the name of the village could be given in harmony with the name of the mistress and the old name of the village.
The villages were planned among a sparse pine forest (the layout was preserved almost unchanged), so there were more amenities for living and spending time there than in Lakhta. A park was set up here, a summer theater, a sports ("gymnastic") playground, a tennis court, and a yacht club were arranged.
In the 1910s about 150 winter cottages were built in Olgino, many of which are striking monuments of "summer cottage" architecture. In 1963, the village of Olgino was included in the Zhdanovsky (Primorsky) district of Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
Near Olgino, in the area of the Dubki park, there was a small village Verpeleva (Verpelevo), which consisted of only a few yards. In the first half of the XVIII century. this territory was part of the palace estate "Verpeleva", which in the second half of the XVIII century. It was granted to Count G. G. Orlov, then passed to the Counts of Stenbock-Fermor. The village has not existed for a long time, but the entire reed-covered peninsula (barely protruding above the water of the Verpier-Luda peninsula (Verper Luda (from the Finnish luoto - “small rocky island”)) still existed, and there was another spelling the name of this island is Var Pala Ludo).
Kamenka. The Novgorod scribal book mentions two villages in the Lakhta region with a similar name, referring to the possessions of Selivan Zakharov, son of Okhten, with his son and 5 other co-owners. On the lands of this small patrimony, which, unlike the estate was inherited, peasants lived in 3 villages, including: the village "Kamenka in Lakhta near the sea" in 5 yards with 5 people and arable land in 1,5 obzhi, the village "on Kamenka "in 2 courtyards with 2 people and arable land in 1 obzhu. For the use of land, the peasants paid the owners of the patrimony 16 money and gave 1/3 of the rye harvest. Thus, in the 16th century on the Kamenka River (another name for the Kiviyoki River, which is the literal translation of kivi - "stone", joki - "river") there was one large village of Kamenka near its confluence with the Lakhtinsky spill and the second, smaller, somewhere upstream. On the drawing of Izhora land in 1705, a village under this name is depicted in the area of the modern village of Kamenka. The village of Kamennaya in the middle reaches of Kamenka and on the map of 1792 is designated. Other name options are Kaumenkka, Kiviaja.
In the second half of the 18th century, Kamenka became a vacation spot for Russian Germans. Here in 1865, German colonists founded their "daughter" colony on leased land. Since then, the village has received the name Kamenka Colony (so called until the 1930s). In 1892, a colony near the village of Volkovo "budded" from it. The inhabitants of both colonies belonged to the Novo-Saratov parish and since 1871 had a prayer house in Kamenka, which was visited by 250 people. He maintained a school for 40 students. The house was closed in 1935 and later demolished.
Currently, Kamenka exists as a holiday village, located along the road to Levashovo. Since 1961 - in the city, part of the planning area in the North-West, from the mid-1990s. built up with multi-storey residential buildings and cottages.
Volkovo. The settlement is about southeast of the village of Kamenka - on the old road to Kamenka, on the bank of a stream that flows into Kamenka between the village of Kamenka and the Shuvalovsky quarry. In 1892, a German colony emerged on the territory of the village, "budding" from a nearby colony in the village of Kamenka. The origin of Volkovo is not clear, the village is found only on maps of 1912, 1930, 1939, 1943. and probably appeared no earlier than the 19th century.
Kolomyagi. Scribe books of the XV — XVI centuries and Swedish plans testify that small settlements already existed on the site of Kolomyag. Most likely, these were first Izhora or Karelian, then Finnish farms, which were empty during the hostilities of the late XVII century.
The name "Kolomyag" connoisseurs decipher in different ways. Some say that it came from the "colo" - in Finnish cave and "pulp" - a hill, a hill. The village is located on the hills, and such an interpretation is quite acceptable. Others look for the root of the name in the Finnish word "koaa" - bark - and believe that trees were processed here after felling. Another version of the origin of the name from the Finnish "kello" is the bell, and it is associated not with the feature of the mountain, but with the "bell on the mountain" - a tower with a signal bell standing on a hill.
The owners of Kolomyazhsky lands were Admiral General A.I. Osterman, Count A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, a family of Volkonsky. In 1789, the Volkonskys sold these lands to retired colonel Sergei Savvich Yakovlev. On his estate S. S. Yakovlev built a manor and lived in it with his wife and seven daughters. The once-Finnish population of Kolomyag was “Russified” by that time - it was made up of descendants of serfs resettled by Osterman and Bestuzhev-Rumin from their villages in Central Russia (natives of the Volga and Galich) and Ukraine. Then the name "Kellomyaki" began to sound in Russian fashion - "Kolomyagi", although later the old name also existed, especially among local Finns. And not without reason the indigenous Kolomozhites associate their origin with the Volga places, and the southern half of the village is now called “Galician”.
Yakovlev died in 1818. Five years after his death, a division of the territory of the manor was made. The village of Kolomyagi was divided in half between two of his daughters. The border was the Bezymyanny stream. The southeastern part of the village of Kolomyagi beyond Bezymyanny creek and a plot on the banks of the Bolshaya Nevka passed to the daughter Ekaterina Sergeevna Avdulina.
Daughter Yakovleva Elena Sergeevna - the wife of General Alexei Petrovich Nikitin, a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, who was awarded the highest military orders and twice a gold sword with the inscription "For courage", died early, leaving her daughter Elizabeth. The northwestern part of Kolomyag inherited the young Elizabeth, so this part of Kolomyag was practically inherited by the father of Yakovlev’s granddaughter, Count A.P. Nikitin, who in 1832 became the owner of the entire village. It is his name that is stored in the names of the streets - 1st and 2nd Nikitinsky and Novo-Nikitinsky. The new owner built a stone mansion on the estate’s estate - an excellent example of classicism of the first third of the 19th century, which became his country house and has survived to this day and has been occupied until recently by the Nursing Home. It is believed that this mansion was built according to the project of the famous architect A.I. Melnikov. The severity and modesty of the architectural appearance of the facades and residential chambers of the Nikitin mansion was opposed by the splendor of ceremonial interiors, in particular the two-light dance hall with choirs for musicians. Unfortunately, with repeated alterations and repairs, many details of the decor and stucco emblems of the owners disappeared. Only two photographs of the 1920s and preserved fragments of ornamental molding and paintings on the walls and ceiling show the past richness of the decorative decoration of this architectural monument. The mansion was surrounded by a small park. In it stood a stone pagan woman brought from the southern steppes of Russia (transferred to the Hermitage), and a pond with a plakun waterfall was built. Near the pond there was a "walk of love" from the "paradise" apple trees - it was called so because the bride and groom passed through it after the wedding. Here, in the shadow of these apple trees, young lovers made appointments.
Under the Orlov-Denisov opposite the mansion (now Main Street, 29), the structures of an agricultural farm were erected, partially preserved to this day, and the greenhouse. Behind the farm were the master's fields. On them, as the New Time newspaper reported in August 1880, they tested the reaping and shearing machines brought from America.
In the 19th century, the provincial surveyor Zaitsev submitted for approval the highway called the Kolomyagskoye Shosse. The route was supposed to connect the village, gradually gaining fame as a summer residence of the "middle arm", with St. Petersburg. The construction of the road ended in the 1840s, and then horse-drawn and country-house crafts became the most important articles of peasant income. In addition, peasants either built small dachas in their yards, or rented their huts for the summer. Located away from the roads, surrounded by fields, the village was chosen by multi-family citizens.
The income from the summer cottage industry increased from year to year, which was facilitated by the summer movement of omnibuses that opened on the new highway from the City Council building. They walked four times a day, each accommodated 16 people, the fare cost 15 kopecks. Even when the Finnish Railway with the nearest Udelnaya station came into operation in 1870, the highway remained the main access road through which public carriages pulled by a trio of horses ran from the Stroganov (now Ushakovsky) bridge.
The importance of the highway has decreased since 1893, when traffic began along the Ozerkovskaya branch of the Primorsky Railway, built by the engineer P.A. Avenarius, the founder of the Sestroretsky resort.
The Cattle Egret averages 17-21 inches in length with a wingspan just over three feet. Often observed feeding in open pastures & fields away from water. Follows grazing animals and tractors, feeding on disturbed insects.
Distinguished from the Great Egret & White Heron by its much smaller size, from immature Little blue Herons by having an orange bill.
In the United States, they are common year-round in Florida.
I found this one at Dinner Island Ranch WMA in Hendry County, Florida.
As common as the ore trains on the Missabe is the fleet of northbound intermodal trains that use this line as part of directional running in conjunction with the former DWP used by southbounds. On this specific northbound we see ES44DC 2266 on the head end while another modern GE works as a mid train DPU about 2/3rds of the way through the train. Once they hit Shelton Jct a few miles north, this train will hop onto the DWP mainline to continue north towards the crew change point at Rainer, Minnesota
The African hoopoe has the average size of 25 to 29 cm (9.8 to 11.4 in), with a wingspan between 44 and 48 cm (17 and 19 in).[4] The weight is between 38 and 67 g when fully grown.[3] This is about the size of the average American robin. African hoopoes have a crest which is chestnut coloured with black on the tips. It is raised when the bird has been startled or disturbed, especially when eating.[4] No eyerings or eye-stripes are present, but the bill is long, dark and narrow and slightly down curved.[4] The male is typically fully chestnut colored, whereas the female has a grayer body.[5] Both males and females have black and white stripes on their wings and tail which are rounded.[6] This black and white striped pattern leads to a V-formation on their backs. Juveniles are similar in appearance to females except that they have a shorter beak.[7] In adults, the beak is about as long as the head with lowered crest.
When these birds are in flight, they flap between 4 and 5 beats, then pause in which their body drops, and then continue to beat their wings 4 to 5 times.[7] When in the air, you'll notice the same black and white striping on the wings and tail on their underside as when they are perched.
The African hoopoe differs from the Eurasian hoopoe in having plumage which is deep rufous rather than pale sandy buff.[8]