View allAll Photos Tagged brooding
Finally I got to spend some hours opening and posing these figures, I use the word some with deadly accuracy. Time for me at the moment is precious.
I wanted to at least get them in a group shot and get a picture of the Brood Queen Assembled.
The nearly completed brooder. 3' by 4' made of select pine. A sixty watt lightbulb should provide enough warmth for the chicks to self-regulate their temperature. I still need to add the "chicken wire" to the top and bottom of the run and add handles and latches. About $40 worth of materials.
taken of the Solar Eclipse we had here in San Diego in May.... this image was done shooting through a piece of amber glass... it was about 6 in the evening and almost total darkness!
I'm not sure which film I used here - the negs don't provide any information - but I don't think the development was very good as it's quite cruddy and grainy for a 6x6. Nevertheless, I'm digging the moody blacks and, frankly, I'm just a fan of the Regent's Canal in all its guises.
Sterna sandvicensis
Geabhróg scothdhubh
spanwidth min.: 85 cm
spanwidth max.: 87 cm
size min.: 37 cm
size max.: 43 cm
Breeding
incubation min.: 21 days
incubation max.: 29 days
fledging min.: 28 days
fledging max.: 30 days
broods 1
eggs min.: 1
eggs max.: 2
[order] Charadriiformes | [family] Sternidae | [latin] Sterna sandvicensis | [UK] Sandwich Tern | [FR] Sterne caugek | [DE] Brandseeschwalbe | [ES] Gaviotín Brasilero | [IT] Beccapesci | [NL] Grote Stern
Status: Summer visitor to all Irish coasts from March to September. Winters in small numbers in Galway Bay and Strangford Lough.
Conservation Concern: Amber-listed in Ireland due to its localised breeding population. The European population has been assessed as Depleted, due to a moderate historical decline.
Identification: Usually seen over the sea. Relatively slender seabird with narrow, pointed wings, long, forked tail and long, pointed bill. Grey above and white below, dark cap to head. Flight light and buoyant, will hover briefly over the sea before diving in. The largest of the terns in Ireland, similar in size to Black-headed Gull. Told from other terns by its size and longer bill. Has a small yellow tip to its dark bill, which at closer quarters confirms identification. Distinct dark wedge to wing tip. Winter plumage, like all terns is different from breeding plumage, a white forehead develops in June/July. Juvenile plumage different from adult plumage with barred upperparts and darker wings.
Similar Species: Other tern species and Black-headed Gull.
Call: A loud grating call, heard from colonies and whilst in flight.
Diet: Mainly surface dwelling fish, taken from shallow dive.
Breeding: Nest colonially on the ground, mainly on the coast but with some colonies inland. Nests on islands, shingle spits and sand dunes. Populations of colonies fluctuate dramatically between years. Present in Ireland from March to September, with occasional winter records.
Wintering: Winters in southern Europe and Africa. Irish breeders have been recorded as far away as the Indian Ocean. About 10 to 15 birds winter in Galway Bay and Strangford Lough.
Where to See: The main colony in the Republic is at Lady's Island, near Rosslare, in County Wexford, with up to several hundred breeding pairs.
Monitored by: All-Ireland tern survey in 1995. Also through breeding seabird surveys carried out every 15-20 years, the last was Seabird 2000, which was undertaken between 1998 & 2002. Sandwich Terns are also monitored annually at Lady's Island Lake.
Physical characteristics
Medium-sized pale tern with black cap and crest. Long slender bill, long pointed wings and moderately long, and forked tail. back and upperwigs pale ash grey. Rump and tail white. underparts white, sometimes tinged with pink. Primaries with white inner webs and silvery outer webs. Bill varies from black with yellow tip. Legs black, Occasionally yellow. Races differ only slightly.eurygnatha is mainly yellow-billed, but often with dark bill base, legs sometimes partly yellow, rarely all yellow. acuflavidus slightly smaller, with outer tips of outer primaries grey rather than white.
Habitat
Strictly coastal and mainly a warm-water species. favoured breeding sites are low-lying and subject to inundation, wind-blown sand. Prefers open, unvegetated sandy, muddy or bare coral substrates. Late breeders forced to nest closer to high tide line. Outside breeding season frequents sandy or rocky beach fronts, mangrove flats, estuaries and harbours.
Other details
Sterna sandvicensis is a widespread but very dispersed breeder in coastal areas of Europe, which holds >50% of its global population. Its European breeding population is relatively small (<130,000 pairs), and underwent a moderate decline between 1970- 1990. Although there were declines in a few countries during 1990-2000, key populations in the Netherlands, Ukraine and Russia fluctuated, and the species declined only slightly overall. Nevertheless, its population still remains below the level that preceded its decline, and consequently it is evaluated as Depleted.
This tern is breeding along the coasts of western Europe, from Aquitaine to Scotland and Estonia, in the western Mediterranean, in the Black and Caspian seas and along the eastern coasts of the Americas. Birds of Europe winter along the Atlantic coasts of Africa, from Senegal to South Africa. The population of the European Union is estimated at 60000 breeding pairs. After a strong decline during last century, this species has recovered but it is still subject to important fluctuations
Feeding
Diet entirely on fish, mainly menhaden and anchovies, sometimes sardines (Flying-fish in Caribbean). Also swoops to pick up marine worms from mudflats, and takes shorebird chicks. Plunge-dives for small fish, from up to 10 m. Feeds over fishing nets. Scavenges over sea lions and sometimes feeds over porpoise pods. Sometimes defend feeding territories along shore.
Conservation
This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 100,000-1,000,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 460,000-500,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. [conservation status from birdlife.org]
Breeding
Start of breeding depend on geographical zone. May-June in Europe, May in Curacao, June in Brazil and December in Argentina. Usually nests next to other terns or gulls. Nest is a shallow scrape rimmed with excreta. 1-2 eggs are laid, incubation 21-29 days. Chicks are whitish to buff, grey or brown, with few or heavy black speckles.
Migration
Migratory throughout west Palearctic. West European and probably Estonian birds share similar winter quarters, mainly on west coast of Africa from Mauritania south to Cape of Good Hope. Birds from Black Sea winter principally in eastern Black Sea and central and south-east Mediterranean; also along coasts of Spain and Portugal, occasionally reaching West Africa. Caspian Sea population has separate winter quarters, mainly in Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Great majority of 1-year-olds remain in winter quarters during summer; small proportion move north, mainly to Mediterranean or Iberia, and a few further north. Some 2-year-olds remain in tropics throughout summer, but majority migrate to European waters, many reaching colonies about June when, exceptionally, they breed. At 3 years old, minority still summer in tropics, but majority migrate to breeding grounds, arriving at colonies from late April (Denmark) to May (Britain and Ireland). Most birds breeding by 4 years old, so full migration pattern shown from that age.
This is a photo of a red fox, taken at the British Wildlife Centre (www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk).
I really enjoyed taking photos of the foxes. This one looks like he's brooding, presumably because I'm invading his territory.
Red foxes prefer to hunt in the early morning hours before sunrise and late evening. When hunting mouse-like prey, they first pinpoint their prey's location by sound, then leap, sailing high above their quarry, steering in mid-air with their tails, before landing on target up to five metres away.
They typically only feed on carrion in the late evening hours and at night. They are extremely possessive of their food, and will defend their catches from even dominant animals.
Red foxes may occasionally commit acts of surplus killing; during one breeding season, four foxes were recorded to have killed circa 200 black-headed gulls each, with peaks during dark, windy hours when flying conditions were unfavourable. Losses to poultry and penned game birds can be substantial because of this. Red foxes seem to dislike the taste of moles, but will nonetheless catch them alive and present them to their kits as playthings.