Bits And Pieces
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This is what a visitor sees when exits from the other side of the upper Antelope Canyon. I've made this photo for the second time after seven years and the result is almost the same; but this time I was more prepared to capture its stunning textures details; then I underexposed a little in order to capture all blue and purple hues that the sensor was able to register, maintaining the strong light coming from the outside. The result is something that I printed on a metal surface like aluminium in a vertical, supersaturated composition.
It rained a bit last night (a rarity in Southern California) so I headed out to a local park to see if the rain had instigated some wildlife action. I spotted this Acorn Woodpecker Chasing Bugs. Didn’t take him long to make a catch…. Life is Good !!
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Acorn Woodpecker
Reminiscent of a troupe of wide-eyed clowns, Acorn Woodpeckers live in large groups in western oak woodlands. Their social lives are endlessly fascinating: they store thousands of acorns each year by jamming them into specially made holes in trees.
A group member is always on alert to guard the hoard from thieves, while others race through the trees giving parrot-like waka-waka calls. Their breeding behavior is equally complicated, with multiple males and females combining efforts to raise young in a single nest.
Acorn Woodpeckers are medium-sized woodpeckers with straight, spike-like bills and stiff, wedge-shaped tails used for support as the birds cling to tree trunks.
These striking birds are mostly black above with a red cap, creamy white face, and black patch around the bill. In flight, they show three patches of white: one in each wing and one on the rump. Females have less red on the crown than males.
Acorn Woodpeckers are very unusual woodpeckers that live in large groups, hoard acorns, and breed cooperatively.
Group members gather acorns by the hundreds and wedge them into holes they’ve made in a tree trunk or telephone pole. Acorn Woodpeckers also spend considerable time catching insects on the wing.
These woodpeckers live in oak and mixed oak-conifer forests on slopes and mountains in the Southwest and West Coast. They’re tolerant of humans, and you can find them in towns where there are acorns and suitable places to store them.
(Nikon, 500/4 + TC 1.4, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 100)
(Edited to Taste)
Der Meerstrandläufer ist etwas größer als der Alpenstrandläufer. Meerstrandläufer sind in Mitteleuropa nur Durchzügler, ihre Brutgebiete liegen im arktischen Amerika, Grönland, Jan Mayen, Island und Spitzbergen sowie im nördlichen Skandinavien und Asien.
The Purple sandpiper is a bit larger than the Dunlin. Their breeding habitat is the northern tundra on Arctic islands in Canada and coastal areas in Greenland and northwestern Europe. In Central Europe they are sometimes recorded on their migration.
Looking a little bit tacky here but this Robin is over two years old now which is a good age for a Robin. Always hanging around in the same area in one of my nature reserves I often go to visit. Ever since I first spotted this as a juvenile there has always been a dark patch below the right eye that is still there to this day. My little friend here has become very tame and always so very photogenic and hopefully will be around a bit longer yet. In the 1400's when the Robin was named the colour orange had not been classified and this is why we say that the Robin has a red breast and not orange. America has an eagle so it's about time the UK had the Robin as its national bird !!!!!!
Available on Getty Images' Catalogue
... or is it a bit of Paradise in the Swiss Italy?
In Ticino's Canton, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.
@ Lugano, Switzerland
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Pentax K-5
Vivitar 80-200mm F4 MACRO FOCUSING ZOOM MC
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© 2020 stefanorugolo | All rights reserved.
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Thank you for your visit, most appreciated!
Small Skipper | Thymelicus sylvestris | Hesperiidaee On Orange Hawk Bit | Pilosella aurantiaca | Asteraceae
Samsung NX1 & Kiron 105mm f/2.8 Macro
f/4 | Manual Focus | Available Light | Handheld
All Rights Reserved. © Nick Cowling 2020.
I had a bit of rare time to try an experiment for Macro Mondays yesterday. The theme is 'Reflection.' Not sure the reflection here is good enough, so I probably won't use this shot, but I had so much fun, I couldn't resist uploading one ahead of time...
(Well, I decided this one was the best of the lot. Feather is just under or just over 2" in it's curled state, depending on how 'loose' the tips are in the breeze etc., which makes this frame barely in the 3" limit. If the moderators want me to crop it more, or upload another, I will comply....).
I sprayed the hood of our vehicle with water, stuck the feather on, hoping to get a clear shot and it wouldn't fly away in the slight afternoon breeze. It was wonderful to see how the image changed depending where one was in the light, the POV and where on the hood it was, as sometimes the reflection of nearby trees added some different colour.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs, etc. without my permission.
Wish you all a lovely Wednesday! Being a bit off and on at the moment because of vacation.
Have a lovely week!
If you decide to travel along this highway into the bowels of the Universe, carry enough fuel to cover the billions of light years ahead of you. You won't find a place to refuel. When you have travelled this distance without finding anything, not even a little bit of intelligent life and you reach the far reaches of the Universe... don't be scared... there's nothing there, either. Only the "nothing". Or since everything is cyclical, perhaps you have returned to the place where you started, full of wisdom from your long trip. It's probably better to look for intelligent life on Earth, but it's also very likely that you'll have a hard time finding it. Don't worry about not understanding the Universe or the reason for its existence... you're not Einstein, but one day you'll understand that... The Universe is wounded, but it still has infinity ahead of it. It still has you and me. Merry Christmas to all and to the infinite Universe that is within you.
Gregory Alan Isakov - The Universe
Y el Universo está susurrando tan suavemente que puedo oírlo todo... el zumbido de los insectos, todos los taxis, todo el cambio gastado de los vagabundos, todos los chicos jugando a la pelota en los callejones. Son sólo pliegues en su vestido. El Universo, está herido, pero aún tiene el infinito por delante. Todavía nos tiene a ti y a mí. Y todos dicen que es hermoso. Y todos dicen...
Image dédiée à Pat. Joyeux Noël. Bisou, jolie.
..........
Music for your trip to the Universe:
Ground Control to Major Tom. Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on. Ground Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six)... Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three)... Check ignition and may God's love be with you (two, one, liftoff...)
Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts VI–IX
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond", was written as a tribute to Syd Barrett, one of the founders of Pink Floyd. He was also known as "The Crazy Diamond Syd". Barrett was a very creative musician and is considered one of the rock icons, with a strong influence on many artists, very especially to David Bowie. Syd Barrett is a key piece to understand the evolution of rock in the 70s.. Excessive drug use, especially LSD, caused him serious mental health problems. Syd Barrett died in 2006 at the age of 60. Always shine diamond.
The Universal is a science fiction song written as a tribute to two films by film director Stanley Kubrick. In the video, the Blur members wear outfits similar to Alex and his gang of thugs, the protagonists of the movie "A Clockwork Orange." The image used for the cover of the single alluded to what is possibly Kubrick's best film: "2001: To Space Odyssey."
We haven't changed that much in 300,000 years of evolution.
Moby - We Are All Made of Stars
Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien
Smash Mouth - Walkin' On The Sun
PS: Electronic - Can't Find My Way Home Just a recommendation. It is important to learn the road signs of the Universe... happy return.
PS: Ground Control to Major Tom. Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong. Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you...
"Here am I floating 'round my tin can, far above the moon. Planet Earth is blue. And there's nothing I can do" (Major Tom)
PS: Merry Christmas to all Flick(e)r users... and to the Universe full of crazy diamonds that shine... And Major Tom
Vancouver has hit the rainy season and all that mist up in the mountains makes for dreary days. A bit of colour still hangs on in the leaves of some of the trees. A crow on one of the branches seems to survey the scene. They come to our balcony now and beg for peanuts! Smart birds!
Thought I'd share a not so perfect window shot with you. My friend comes along every day with his friends and makes life a bit happier for winter.
The animals, the animals
Trap, trap, trap 'til the cage is full
The cage is full
Stay awake
In the dark, count mistakes
The light was off but now it's on
Searching underground for a bit of sun
The sun is out, the day is new
And everyone is waiting, waiting on you
And you've got time
And you've got time
And you've got time
Taken in a far out place in a far out world....
came a bit as a shock to me...
I find it the hardest time of the year
it 's just so dark, cold and bare outside
makes me really long for the new year
when the days are getting longer again
Mulholland on left was a rescue Thoroughbred (mine at the time) - Bits on right - stablemate friends to the end.
Wood Pigeon (Columba palumbus). This wood pigeon was trying to keep cool by oscillating his throat. However, he just looked a bit deranged to me!
It's a good thing foil came up as a theme for Macro Mondays because now I have a reason for keeping a bag of multicolored foil bits! Perhaps they'll make it into ice cubes some day but for now it's a foil abstract.
The image area measures about 1.5 inches X 1.5 inches.
Nikon 55mm f/2.8 NIKKOR Micro, 9 image photo stack shot at f/11.
I have a bit of time this morning, so I will tell the start of this magnificent day; the first day we, (a photographer friend, my younger two sons, and I), saw two owls in this park together.
We had not been in the park long, when this owl flew over our heads. We stayed put, and several minutes later it came back and landed in a Western Red Cedar right next to us. (The moment of this portrait).
Again, it didn't stay long, when it decided to fly right over my friend's head!
Another relocation, (we were staying put, watching the owl fly to and fro), and suddenly the second owl joined the first. The 'original' owl left it's perch moments before the second owl reached it, and they joined in the air in what looked like a brief scuffle with talons, before they both landed on the same branch.
They stayed there for less than a minute before the two of them joined ranks in chasing a Gray Squirrel that was jumping tree to tree, then spiralled down a nearby tree and off across a log over the creek and into the forest with one of the owls inches behind it in a graceful swoop.
We marvelled at this action right in front of us, all happening too fast and too close to even attempt a picture. Leaving the owls to finish their hunting in peace, we once again stayed put talking about the experience and occasionally seeing one of the owls zig-zagging through the woods in the distance.
Some ten minutes later one of the owls came back and landed in a nearby moss covered Big Leaf Maple tree and started preening. Minutes later the second owl joined it and they participated in allopreening. (The greeting that proceeded this mutual grooming session I have already uploaded).
...and that is only the beginning of a most remarkable morning spent with them.
I am making a semi-educated guess that the two owls involved are last years siblings. That was one story I heard from people who live nearby and frequent this park. The large female who used to 'rule' this park had disappeared, and I found out that she had been hit by a car and killed on a nearby road.
The other story I came across was that they are a mated pair. I spent many hours observing and keeping an eye open for a possible active nest site, and never found one, if there ever was one. Neither did I find any young owlets.
I will continue this story with more photos and at least one video link when time allows.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs, etc. without my permission.
Three Mile Island
This plant will close soon. I remember visiting it when it had a partial meltdown years ago. To say it's eerie, out in the night - is a bit of an understatement. You can hear the machinery softly whirring.
Knowing a bit more about photography makes it easier to understand how and why some oil paintings, say the impressionist, abstract or even watercolour paintings, came into being.
"A beautiful closeup of delicate orchid blossoms and a kaleidoscope of background colors. Great depth and soft light."
A review by Flickr friend/Connoisseur Gertrud Klopp
This male bufflehead had been diving recently, and had the evidence in drops all over. At Commonwealth Lake.
Maybe a bit dated now but it's always been one of my favorite walkways. I'm usually running from Terminal C to E which is about a mile so I don't have much time to explore this rainbow wonder. This week our connection left without us and caused a seven hour layover, so I had plenty of time to explore.
The hill as seen over the River Cannich, Scottish Highlands.
A fair bit of cloud movement here so opted for a long exposure.
Think I will have a "Bit of Something on Blue week" (bound to be fairly minimal so no offence if you decide to pop back when it's all over :-)
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Thanks for all the faves and kind comments!
A plain white cloudy background was replaced by one a bit more pleasing! ;)
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A Bit of a Blustery Start to the weekend at Boulmer, Northumberland, managed to keep the wind off with me Brolly for this LE of " The Fence" Thank you for looking and have a Great Weekend :)
Brownie-bear had a bit of a fright, but he was saved by his great friends Oleg and Peter all the way from Groningen.
Harm and M. Jean are comforting him. He will be okay in no time and up to new mischief I fear..
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Brownie-beer is erg geschrokken, gelukkig werd hij snel gered door zijn vrienden Oleg en Peter uit Groningen.
Harm en M. Jean proberen hem te troosten. Hij zal in een mum van tijd in orde zijn en en nieuw kattekwaad verzinnen.
Haven't added to my weed series in a bit so I thought I'd add the Winter versions of these roadside beauties.
Textures by JoesSistah and Skeletalmess.