Birds of the world checklist
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Experience is the best teacher of all. And for that, there are no guarantees that one will become an artist. Only the journey matters...
Harry Callahan
HMM! Justice Matters! Indict Trump!
prunus mume, white japanese flowering apricot, 'Big Joe', j c raulston arboretum, ncsu, raleigh, north carolina
We spent a few glorious hours at the Avenal Ranch wildflower hotspot straddling Shell Creek Road in eastern SLO County. A well-known early spot for flowers, and it was busy yesterday (Sunday).
Here we have: Baby Blue Eyes! are one of the highlights @Shell Creek, and here are a few. Sadly, my DOF wasn't quite up to getting them all in focus in the photo plane, but a later photo will make up for that. Goldfields are the little golden-yellow guys, and Tidy-tips always put on a good show here. More Filaree than I recall in previous good years. One Calif gold-poppy, partly open (as were most, cool day for them, around 50 F), and a cheerful "yellow composite" between two Baby Blues, that I should know but don't recall.
Here's our local Native Plant society's checklist for the whole county. Scroll down to find Shell Creek:
Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)
Dark-morph Adult
Family: Herons
Little Estero Lagoon
Lee County, FL
2017/04/10
"As far as color terms go, vermilion is a winner, reeking of exoticism and antiquity. As fine as this color feels tripping off the tongue, it’s even easier on the eyes. Vermilion refers to a specific shade of reddish-orange washed with ashy gray, reminiscent of an overripe beefsteak tomato. This is the pigment derived from cinnabar, which is both the natural ore of mercury and another word worth working into conversation whenever possible. ..."
1000birds.com
hinterautalkette seen from hoher gleirsch (2492m)
the only peak that is not hidden by clouds here is the only one i haven't been on yet :-)
left to right, mostly in clouds:
riedlkarspitze
breitgrieskarspitze
große seekarspitze
marxenkarspitze
ödkarspitzen (westliche, mittlere und östliche)
birkkarspitze
kaltwasserkarspitze (visible)
Tortugero National Park, Costa Rica
While visiting Tortugero NP, we took an early morning boat trip through some of the canals to look for wildlife. Off and on we experienced downpours that soaked us and filled the bottom of the boat with rainwater. As we were cruising along during a dry moment, I spotted this kingfisher working hard at drying itself off oblivious to the fact that a boat full of people were observing it only feet away. It was so close that I had to lean back to try to keep it all in the frame. How I wished I’d brought my full-frame camera that morning instead of the crop-frame that I was using.
Out of all the birds I expected to see on a cold, frosty December morning, this White-eyed vireo was definitely not what I would've guessed me and another birder would have seen! This is a crop, but the full frame photo from the series is great too!
ISO: 800
F-stop: f/6.3
Exposure: 1/160
Bullock's Oriole
1st-Summer Male
Family: Blackbirds
S. Meridian Rd.--Hanover Rd. to Pueblo Co. line
El Paso County, CO
2016/07/01
Arguably the rarest bird in the State of Florida on this particular day, Bicknell's Thrush is a medium-sized thrush, at 17.5 cm and 28 g. One of North America's rarest and most localized breeders, it inhabits coniferous mountain tops and disturbed habitats of the Northeast.
Bicknell's Thrush Bicknell's Thrush _MG_8172-Edit
Victoria's Riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae), Crater Lakes, Tablelands, Queensland, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S123536467
Victoria's riflebird (Lophorina victoriae), also known as the lesser riflebird, Queen Victoria riflebird, Queen Victoria's riflebird, or Victoria riflebird, is a bird-of-paradise endemic to the Atherton Tableland region of northeastern Queensland, Australia where it resides year-round.
Source: Wikipedia
Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varius), Castlereagh Nature Reserve, Penrith, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S102539113
The painted buttonquail (Turnix varius) is a species of buttonquail, the family Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. This species is resident in Australia where numbers are believed to be in decline. A subspecies, the Abrolhos painted buttonquail (Turnix varius scintillans), is endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos islands.
Source: Wikipedia
White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), Bushells Lagoon, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S63783597
The pied stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), also known as the white-headed stilt, is a shorebird in the family Recurvirostridae. It is widely distributed with a large total population size and apparently stable population trend, occurring in Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Brunei, Christmas Island, Indonesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand.
Source: Wikipedia
Checklist:
Sunshine,
Still water,
Reflection,
Inquisitive (not to say vain) Border Terrier,
Towels in Car,
Floor mop back home…
This Yellow-crowned Night Heron is looking for a mate. Amazingly, a group of Yellow-crowned Night Herons gather in a rookery in the trees above a neighborhood in the middle of Topeka, Kansas, every year. ebird.org/checklist/S168909753
SW Vesper Avenue & SW 7th Street, Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas.
ebird rarity, SF, high count (105)
ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25323532
The habitat is ideal at Shirley's Bay and these migrating White-rumped Sanpiper are taking advantage of it! This is the largest single flock of White-rumped ever documented on ebird for Ottawa County - 3 different observers estimated its numbers to be between 103 and 108 birds.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varius), Scheyville National Park, Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/checklist/S100312815
The painted buttonquail (Turnix varius) is a species of buttonquail, the family Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. This species is resident in Australia where numbers are believed to be in decline. A subspecies, the Abrolhos painted buttonquail (Turnix varius scintillans), is endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos islands.
Source: Wikipedia
Before each dive I go through a checklist to ensure my underwater rig is working properly - did I take the lens cap off, is the autofocus switch properly set on the lens, are the o-rings clean, is the battery sufficiently charged, etcetera. But on this dive, I failed to check everything ... the switch on the strobe trigger was not turned on. Above water this error takes just a moment to correct. The only solution underwater is to end the dive.
And of course, we find a frogfish. So I did a custom white balance on my white fins and took the shot. (Maybe not needed because the WB could be adjusted in post, but I figure I would try it out.) Much to my pleasant surprise, the image isn't dominated by blue (which usually happens underwater). Amazingly, what little red was down there was still captured by the camera. And, the look of the image is different than one taken with strobes.
So I learned something - maybe sometimes I should experiment to see what can be done without strobes. Always using strobes might get in the way of some creativity.
This orange frogfish is about 6cm long. I returned several weeks later (with strobes working) and it had doubled in size.
It's home is an elephant ear sponge (Agelas clathrodes). They are estimated to live up to 2,000 years. So in this image, the sponge is probably the more interesting living creature!
Things may be looking brighter for Clyde. This evening, I witnessed a frenzied interaction with what appeared to be a fourth year female. There was much vocalizing and interaction. More information and additional photos are contained in this eBird checklist: ebird.org/checklist/S180506186.
This photo was taken of Clyde after the interaction, and he appeared to be feeling pretty chipper.
Longview Lake, Grandview, Jackson County, Missouri.
This wasn't the ideal scenario during the day before we were going away. Usually, I'd be doing the final bits of packing, taking another look through the holiday checklist on my phone, coming to a final decision on which camera and lenses were coming with me and making sure the passports were in the bag. And with a 7am flight the next morning, from an airport that's three hours drive away, I'd be getting plenty of rest too. I thought the days of arriving sleepily at the frantically charged Silver Zone car park desk long before the first cock had crowed were a thing of the past, but this latest escapade seemed to have crept under the radar. There was a time when we'd run the gauntlet of exhaustion to maximise the amount of hours of hard won leave under the sun, but since we put ourselves out to grass, we're generally content to turn up at the airport after the initial tsunami of budget flights have carried their passengers off to Faliraki, Torremolinos and Magaluf. I'm always amazed at how many people can be found swilling pints of lager in the departure lounge at five thirty in the morning. Beer? I like it, but I don't n-n-n-need it. Coffee? Yes, I definitely do.
But today, a little over twelve hours before setting off to drive through the night in the direction of Bristol Airport, I was at the top of a ladder, balanced precariously against the leaning poplar of the back garden, that had very suddenly lurched to an even more acute angle than before, the result of a storm that had rattled through the neighbourhood the previous night. As far as I knew, the old wooden ladder in the garage hadn't been used for at least twenty years, but it seemed to have retained its structural integrity and held firm as I chopped away at the most troublesome branches, catching them as they fell and dropping them to the grass below. Ali had been adamant for several years that the tree, which had been very gradually toppling towards the greenhouse, needed to go, while I continued to rabbit on about carbon stores and campaigned for its salvation. Now, finally, I had to admit defeat and accept that the sorry looking poplar would probably have to be felled. Another lively tempest and it would almost certainly go crashing through the greenhouse, and while bringing it down safely would need a professional, I could at least remove the branches that were hanging over the topmost panes. Up a ladder with a chainsaw when you're supposed to be bringing the suitcases downstairs. Not ideal really.
Enter James, our caped crusader with a bigger chainsaw than mine. No sniggering at the back please Brian! James was a young tree surgeon, recommended by my brother, with a special emphasis on the word “surgeon.” Well, “tree” as well really I suppose. If the poplar could be saved, James, I was assured, wasn't a man for indiscriminate arboreal armageddon without good reason, and would do everything within his power to rescue it. And to our lasting surprise, he was able to come over from Falmouth today and take a look. Usually when we want anyone to come round and install, repair or remove things that are beyond our comprehension, they seem to need at least three weeks’ notice. In fact, at the time of writing we are still waiting for the electrician, the man who's going to paint the fascia boards and the guttering, and her nephew who is supposed to be fitting a new chimney cowl to replace the one that was blown off in a later autumn storm. But James was here within hours, inspecting the leaning specimen and immediately declaring that yes indeed, it did need to come down. He'd be back tomorrow and while he was here, he'd prune the sycamore that was making a bid for the roof of the house and bring down the long expired elm by the boundary wall. The magpies weren't going to be very happy about that. With the poplar no longer an immediate threat to the greenhouse, we could move on with our day. Ali told James we were about to go on holiday and then added I'd be doing some photography while we were there. Usually people just nod and move the conversation on at this point, but he was genuinely interested and asked if I could show him some of my pictures. So I introduced him to my wall. And a book. Yes, that one with the pink swirling clouds was taken in Iceland. He seemed quite impressed. What a nice young man! As long as the tree stayed upright (or as upright as it could manage) for one more night, we could relax and enjoy the holiday without worrying about what we might be returning to three weeks later.
A little more than twenty-four hours afterwards, as we dozed under a warm Mediterranean October sun on the beach, a message and accompanying video clip came through. “All done,” the message said, as we watched a short video of our hero abseiling up the tree on a rope with all the agility of a particularly large squirrel, a huge chainsaw dangling menacingly from his utility belt. Pictures followed showing a neatly stacked pile of logs as agreed, ready for the splitter and a year or two of seasoning. The poplar was no more, reduced to a fresh supply of winter fuel, and the greenhouse had survived, standing proudly in the autumn sunshine to see another day. Maybe the tomato plants will actually pay for themselves now they're no longer mostly in shadow. Last year's dismal sun starved crop worked out at about a pound for each ripened fruit.
Harsh as it sounds, I don't miss that tree. It was a continual source of discord in the household, and the back garden seems so much more spacious without it. Even in our own little world at home, the landscape is ever changing. Maybe we can mark its demise with a few extra tomatoes in the salad this summer.
Pheasant Coucal (Centropus phasianinus), Pickford Road, Two Mile Creek, Tablelands, Queensland, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/checklist/S112643876
The pheasant coucal (Centropus phasianinus) is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Timor and New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It has adapted well to canefields in northern Australia.
Source: Wikipedia
Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis), Wianamatta Nature Reserve, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S66026359
The bar-shouldered dove (Geopelia humeralis) is native to Australia and southern New Guinea.
Source: Wikipedia
Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varius), Scheyville National Park, Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/checklist/S100312815
The painted buttonquail (Turnix varius) is a species of buttonquail, the family Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. This species is resident in Australia where numbers are believed to be in decline. A subspecies, the Abrolhos painted buttonquail (Turnix varius scintillans), is endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos islands.
Source: Wikipedia
Metallic Starling (Aplonis metallica), Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/checklist/S123717619
The metallic starling (Aplonis metallica), also known as the shining starling, is a bird in the starling family native to the Moluccas, New Guinea, Queensland and the Solomon Islands.
Source: Wikipedia
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Nurragingy Reserve, Blacktown, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S118941336
The Australasian grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) is a small waterbird common on fresh water lakes and rivers in greater Australia, New Zealand and on nearby Pacific islands.
Source: Wikipedia
Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus), Stockton Sandspit, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S123838207
Their breeding habitat is grassy wetlands in inland Siberia and Manchuria. They migrate to southeast Asia as far south as northern Australia, although both the breeding and wintering areas are poorly known. This bird is always found on coasts during migration and wintering.
These birds forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud. They mainly eat insects, mollusks, crustaceans and marine worms, but also eat some plant material.
Source: Wikipedia
A Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) on migration in Bhaktapur, Nepal. #championofmigration
Story behind the shot: www.ianhearn.com/post/manohara-1
eBird: ebird.org/checklist/S73447255
My website: www.ianhearn.com/
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), Bushells Lagoon, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S60539232
The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.
Source: Wikipedia
Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusillus), Daintree Village River Cruise, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/checklist/S112643773
The little kingfisher is found in open forest, woodland, swamps, and mangroves of Australia (northern Queensland and coastal Northern Territory), Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
Source: Wikipedia
Azure Kingfisher (Ceyx azureus azureus), Nurragingy Reserve, Blacktown, NSW, Australia
Ebird checklist:
ebird.org/australia/checklist/S86872706
The azure kingfisher is found in northern and eastern Australia and Tasmania, as well as the lowlands of New Guinea and neighbouring islands, and out to North Maluku and Romang.
Source: Wikipedia