View allAll Photos Tagged brooding
This castle must have been quite spectacular in its day, the views from the ruin are quite magnificent. I would have hated to be an invading army, the climb up to it is rather steep and the thought of having to fight when you got to the top i would not like to have to do.
I decided to get out for a bit of a hike Wednesday afternoon, the weather look changeable and I didn't really feel like spending another day at home watching TV or messing about on the Computer. Starting from the Barbican I caught the ferry accross to Mount Batten and walked along the coast path.
Photography was never really the main idea, but I took my camara along with me but left my tripod at (which I regretted). I ended up at Bovisands and by now the weather was changing for the worse. Dark brooding clouds had came over and the wind had picked up. It was at this point I saw this scene. I tried to take the picture hand held, but it really didn't capture the movement in the ocean all that well. Luckily there was an old post box I was able to put my camera on to take this 5 sec long exposure.
My local lake, where every year there are swans nesting at this particular site. I have seen and photographed several broods previously and look forward to seeing new arrivals in a few weeks time…Watch this space!
The weather wasn't playing nice on the day we visited Tetons National Park...this is decidely NOT the view we were hoping for.
Many thanks for the visits, faves and comments. Cheers
Scarlet Honeyeater
Scientific Name: Myzomela sanguinolenta
Description: The adult male Scarlet Honeyeater is a vivid scarlet red and black bird with whitish underparts. The females and immature birds are dull brown with dull white underparts and a reddish wash on the chin. In both sexes the tail is relatively short, the bill strongly curved and the eye is dark. This species is a small honeyeater, usually seen alone or in pairs, but occasionally in flocks, high in trees.
Similar species: The male Scarlet Honeyeater can be confused with the male Red-headed Honeyeater, M. erythrocephala, where their ranges overlap (east coast of Cape York Peninsula). It can be distinguished by having more extensive red colouring over the back and down the breast. Female and immature Scarlet Honeyeaters may be confused with similarly coloured honeyeaters, including females and immatures of the Red-headed and the Dusky Honeyeater, M. obscura, as well as the Brown Honeyeater, Lichmera indistincta. They differ from the Red-headed in being more olive-brown and lack red on the forehead. They are smaller and more compact than the Dusky, with a shorter bill and tail, as well as having different calls. They are smaller than the Brown Honeyeater and lack this species' eyespot.
Distribution: The Scarlet Honeyeater is found along the east coast of Australia, from Cooktown, Queensland to Gippsland, Victoria, but it is less common south of Sydney, being a summer migrant in the south. It is also found in Sulawesi, the Moluccas and Lesser Sundas, Indonesia and in New Caledonia.
Habitat: The Scarlet Honeyeater lives in open forests and woodlands with a sparse understorey, especially round wetlands, and sometimes in rainforests. It can be seen in urban areas in flowering plants of streets, parks and gardens.
Seasonal movements: Resident in the north of its range, seasonally migratory in south, with movements associated with flowering of food plants. It is considered nomadic around Sydney, following autumn- and winter-flowering plants.
Feeding: The Scarlet Honeyeater feeds mainly on nectar and sometimes on fruit and insects. It tends to feed in the upper levels of the canopy, foraging in flowers and foliage, usually singly, in pairs or small flocks. Often evicted by larger, more aggressive honeyeaters such as friarbirds.
Breeding:
The Scarlet Honeyeater breeds in pairs, with the more conspicuous male calling and displaying to the quieter females. The small cup nest is suspended from a horizontal branch or in a fork, and is made from fine bark and grass bound with spider web and lined with fine plant materials. The female incubates the eggs alone, but both sexes feed the young. Up to three broods may be produced per season.
Calls: Males have a silvery tinkling song, which is sung from a prominent perch. Also, 'chiew chiew' contact calls made by both sexes.
Minimum Size: 9cm
Maximum Size: 11cm
Average size: 10cm
Average weight: 8g
Breeding season: July to January
Clutch Size: Usually 2
Incubation: 12 days
Nestling Period: 12 days
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)
© Chris Burns 2020
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All rights reserved.
This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.
Thank you very much for the visits, faves and comments. Cheers.
Australasian Darter
Anhinga novaehollandiae
Anhingidae
Description: The Darter is a large, slim water bird with a long snake-like neck, sharp pointed bill, and long, rounded tail. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upperwings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and immatures are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds. The Darter is often seen swimming with only the snake-like neck visible above the water, or drying its wings while perched on a tree or stump over water. While its gait is clumsy on land, it can soar gracefully to great heights on thermals, gliding from updraft to updraft. It has a cross-shaped silhouette when flying.
Distribution: In Australia, the Darter is found from Adelaide, South Australia, to Tennant Creek, Northern Territory and then to Broome, Western Australia. it is also found in south-western Australia, from Perth to Esperance. Worldwide, it has been thought of as one of two mainAnhinga species (the other, A. anhinga, is found in North America), found in the southern half of Africa, Madagascar, Iraq, Pakistan, India, south-east Asia, Indonesia and New Guinea. However, A. melanogaster is now considered to be further divided into three species, with rufa being found in Africa, melanogaster in south Asia and novaehollandiae in New Guinea and Australia (the Australasian Darter).
Habitat: The Darter is found in wetlands and sheltered coastal waters, mainly in the Tropics and Subtropics. It prefers smooth, open waters, for feeding, with tree trunks, branches, stumps or posts fringing the water, for resting and drying its wings. Most often seen inland, around permanent and temporary water bodies at least half a metre deep, but may be seen in calm seas near shore, fishing. The Darter is not affected by salinity or murky waters, but does require waters with sparse vegetation that allow it to swim and dive easily. It builds its nests in trees standing in water, and will move to deeper waters if the waters begin to dry up.
Feeding: The Darter catches fish with its sharp bill partly open while diving in water deeper than 60 cm. The fish is pierced from underneath, flicked onto the water's surface and then swallowed head first. Smaller items are eaten underwater and large items may be carried to a convenient perch and then swallowed. Insects and other aquatic animals, including tortoises, may also be eaten, as well as some vegetable matter. In hot weather, adult birds may pour water from their bills into the gullets of their young chicks when they are still in the nest.
Breeding: The Darter is usually a solitary bird, forming pairs only while breeding. Breeding is erratic, happening whenever water levels and food supplies are suitable, but most often occurs in spring and summer. Nests are usually solitary, but Darters may nest within loose colonies with other water birds that nest in trees, such as cormorants, spoonbills and ibis. The male decorates a nest-site with green leafy twigs and displays to attract a mate, with elaborate wing-waving and twig-grasping movements. The male carries most of the nest material to the nest-site, which is normally in the fork of a tree standing in water, usually about 3.5 m above the water's surface. Both sexes complete the nest, incubate the eggs and raise the young. Chicks are kept warm by brooding continously (or cooled down by shading with spread wings) for up to a week after hatching and both adults stay in the nest with the chicks overnight. In hot weather, the adults will even shake water over the chicks after a swim. Chicks can swim after about four weeks in the nest and start to fly at about 50 days.
(Source: www.birdlife.org.au)
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© Chris Burns 2025
All rights reserved.
This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.
After 17 years underground, the Brood X cicadas are coming
by Tim Pierce, Kathy Facklemann, George Washington UThe Symphony Beginsniversity
"Billions of Brood X cicadas will begin emerging within the next week or so in the Eastern United States after spending 17 years underground. They will sing mating calls, lay eggs, and then die. Once the eggs hatch sometime in August, the immature nymphs will burrow deep into the ground and this seventeen-year life cycle will start all over again."
Rest of article found here:
phys.org/news/2021-05-years-underground-brood-cicadas.html
Photo taken in VA, USA
2021 05 05_6054.jpgy.jpgu
The view from my window in Grenoble just after sunrise before a storm.
La chaine de Belledonne is a mountain range in the Dauphiné Alps in southeast France. The southern end of the range forms the eastern wall of the mountains that surround the city of Grenoble. The Belledonne range is approximately 60 km (37 mi) long by between 10 km (6.2 mi) wide. The highest point is the Grand Pic de Belledonne, 2,977 m (9,767 ft). The range is delineated by several valleys which lie at relatively low altitude, including the Grésivaudan Valley (which carries the Isère River) on the west, the Arc River to the north and the Romanche River to the south. The range counts dozens of peaks over 2,500 m (8,200 ft), more than 10 glaciers, and many alpine lakes, the highest of which is over 2,400 m (7,900 ft) above sea level.
A Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) broods her chick. After the eggs hatch, both parents warm the chicks underneath their feathers so they don't get cold. This is the mother plover. It was a joy to watch multiple plover families grow up this summer. I love them! Piping Plovers are true gems of nature. I wanted to capture this moment on video, so I set up my tripod and waited. The chick eventually emerged from underneath the mother!
Taken on Cape Cod.
Loving all of our babies this year. It seems that many of the young birds fledged well before the beginning of June. Hopefully the adults will go on to produce another brood before the season ends. This downy has been hanging around since fledging, feeding on the suet and seed that we provide. Of all the woodpeckers we have, the downy woodpeckers seem to be the most tolerant of human activity. #DownyWoodpeckers
Earlier this week our second brood fledged. Our Blackbirds dont hang about.
They must have been on eggs again within days of the last set fledging
The lodgers upstairs have had a successful brood and other families have joined them and are using the garden as a roost. Here's 3 of the 8 young seen. Surprisingly, no fighting at the bath!
Nearly everyone who is a Minnesota native eventually finds his or her own talisman that to them signifies winter has lost its battle to spring and that things will now return to normal.
For some, the appearance of the first robin is their favorite sign. Warm weather fishermen rejoice when the ice finally breaks up on their best fishing lake. Evidently for many of the younger generation seen on the streets of towns all over our state, wearing shorts when temps hit the mid-30s is their mode of showing victory.
For me, spotting the first bluebird of the season brings a warmth that no furnace can provide in January. The softness of the colors, the fragility of its body speak to a couple of brief seasons that restores my confidence that not all is lost by being a year-round resident of the northern tundra.
The Eastern Bluebird seen here shows up in southern Minnesota a little earlier than our area but when the calendar turns to April, you can start looking for these beautiful creations although late snowstorms can see them pack their little suitcases and fly south out of the snow for a couple of weeks.
Male bluebirds usually return first to establish and defend nesting sites. Soon they will seek to attract an unwary female and during our summers if the conditions are good for them, they can raise two or even three broods of young ones. The first eggs will be laid this month yet or early in May.
(Photographed near Cambridge, MN)
Thought I'd upload some pics taken at the refuge last week. These cute Tree Swallows were in a tree cavity -wooded area- with their parents nearby....very easy to miss. Looks like they're ready to fledge.
[3] more images below. Have a great Monday! "Hate to "post & go" ...but am trying to decide whether to clean house or go back to the refuge this morning now that Jasmine's hike is over.
An adult manu-o- Kū checks on its curious, newly hatched chick while providing shelter from a drenching storm. Less than a week old, the downy hatchling visually explores the world around its nest. The manu-o-Kū, or white tern, is an arboreal nesting pelagic seabird that doesn’t actually fabricate a nest; instead it uses a flat or hollow or fork in the tree to keep the egg from rolling away. The hatchling uses its strong, clawed, semipalmate feet to cling to the tree branch that will be its home until fledging. Parents alternate brooding duties until a week or two after hatching when the chick can thermoregulate and be left unattended for up to several hours. Then both parents engage in fishing and feeding, often alternating their arrival time back to the nest. Adults fish up to 120 miles offshore and provision the chick with fresh whole fish or squid rather than devouring then regurgitating a meal. This avian behavior was known to Polynesian voyagers and other seafarers. A landfall that may be out of view over the horizon could be located by following these birds conveying their catch back to their nestling.
Saturday Self Challenge: Beginletter B, in vierkant formaat
Brood (volkoren brood), broodmes, broodplank, en op de achtergrond een oude meelzak. Deze zakken werden in mijn opa’s bakkerij gebruikt.
Let erop dat het brood ook vrijwel vierkant is. Dit ligt aan het feit dat het brood in een gedekseld bus (bakblik) wordt gebakken.
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Saturday Self Challenge: Starts with a B, in square format
Bread (wholewheat bread), bread knife, breadboard. In the background an old bag of flour. This bag was used in my grandfather’s bakery.
Note the bread is also nearly in a square. This is because it is baked in a ‘bus’ (kind of baking tin) with a lid.
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The 17 year cicadas were everywhere in the game lands this morning. All were hanging on, or near their recently shed skin.