View allAll Photos Tagged common
One of the pair of bridled common murres show here has just arrived back on a ledge of the nesting cliff, so a little vocalizing, mutual pecking, and wing flapping was in order.
Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male perched on a branch.
Samiec pleszki (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) siedzący na gałęzi.
RKO_7767. What's up there!
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This first-year Common Yellowthroat was flitting through the understory in the hardwoods along Horsepen Bayou but came down to work the reeds, posing just long enough for one quick snap.
Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male perched on a cut tree.
Samiec pleszki (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) siedzacy na urżniętym drzewie.
Scientific name: Plathemis lydia
Length: 42 – 48 mm
Description: eyes and face dark brown, male with white or powder blue abdomen, each wing with wide black patch near wingtip and narrower black stripe at base, female and immature male have brown abdomen with white or yellow triangular spots along sides, female with three black spots on each wing.
**I went to this conservation green land to photography damselflies, didn't catch any good one. Just when I was leaving, there was this dragonfly came to my sight, resting in front of me, that I was able to catch a few shots. There you have it. My 1st time to see one. My lucky day. :-))
One of 51 species of Mayfly in the UK. The Common Mayfly also known as the 'Green Drake Mayfly' sports 3 long tails. Found around unpolluted rivers and lakes from April to September Nymphs are present all year round, living under water and feeding on algea and plants. The adults are most prolific during May/June when they can emerge simultaneously in vast numbers to mate. Usually when May trees are in full flower hence the name. They have a very short life, only leaving the water and appearing as an adult in some species for just a few hours. During which its sole purpose is to display and mate. The females then returning to the water to lay her eggs before dying. The Males, having served their purpose mostly die away from the water.
Pachliopta aristolochiae, the common rose, is a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the genus Pachliopta, the roses, or red-bodied swallowtails. It is a common butterfly which is extensively distributed across south and southeast Asia.
Wikipedia: The common iora (Aegithina tiphia) is a small passerine bird found across the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with populations showing plumage variations, some of which are designated as subspecies. A species found in scrub and forest, it is easily detected from its loud whistles and the bright colors. During the breeding season, males display by fluffing up their feathers and spiral in the air appearing like a green, black, yellow, and white ball.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_iora
Conservation status: Least Concern
A common loon floats through dark shade but still is highlighted by a sliver of sunlight on a pond in New Hampshire.
Scientific name: Buteo buteo.
Feeding: Buzzards are big birds, more than capable of taking sizeable birds and animals but, more often than not, they will target smaller prey. Rabbits are an important food source, and the birds suffered during the height of myxomatosis, but they will also take smaller mammals. Compared to all other raptors, Buzzard’s digestive systems are able to deal with a poor-quality diet and, in winter when other prey is hard to find, they are able to feed mostly on earthworms, beetles and other small invertebrates. These will be hunted on foot, and you can find Buzzards regularly sitting on the ground. In favoured fields, large numbers can gather and, although somewhat tolerant of each other, disagreements will break out if individuals get too close to others. In certain areas, usually in the uplands, Buzzards may hover when searching for food. Info: Hawk and Owl Trust.
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Mara North Conservancy, Kenya
The Common Eland together with its very close relative the Giant Eland are the largest antelopes in the world. Males can weigh almost 1000kg ( 2200 lb ).
Taurotragus oryx
Elandantilope
éland ( du Cap )
Elenantilope oder Eland
antílope eland común o eland común
antilope alcina
elande
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Cordulephya pygmaea - female
Family: Cordulephyidae
Suborder Anisoptera (dragonflies)
Order: Odenata
These unique dragonflies are only found in Australia and have this unusual habit of holding the wings shut like Damselflies.
I am puzzled by the red wing tab (pterostigma). All the photos I have seen of this species have more muted colours for the wing tabs.
Location is the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens on the south coast of NSW, Australia.
This addition means I have now photographed 13 species of odenata at the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens this year. I think that is pretty remarkable since the gardens were burned completely in the 2019/2020 bushfires.
Jeff Melville has the following summary which is so concise I thought worth sharing :
“This Australian endemic species has so many peculiarities!
Most obviously atypical, it's a dragonfly (Anisoptera) that perches with wings closed; only the other three endemic Australian species of the genus also do that. The forward-facing eyes, meeting all along the midline above the frons, confirm that it's Anisopteran, and the presence of a single inferior terminal appendage in this male is definitive, although you might have to squint a little to see it in these views.
The wings contradict the Anisopteran stereotype most thoroughly. The forewings are almost identical to the hindwings in size, shape and venation, although it's difficult to see that when they are closed; these images from the wing scans taken by John Tann from museum specimens set with the wings open show the extent of the similarity:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordulephya_pygmaea#/media/File:Cor...(34928000211).jpg
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordulephya_pygmaea#/media/File:Cor...(34928003441).jpg
The most noticeable departure from the Anisopteran norm is that the hind wings are so narrow at the base, and reach their greatest width near the middle, like the forewings. The most specialised members of family Libellulidae, such as the Flutterers (Rhyothemis), have hindwings that are widest at the base and taper all the way to the tip; presumably this gives much better aerodynamic flow when moving at speed. You can see from the side-on views of C. pygmaea how much damage to the wing base might occur opening and closing such wings on a rocky substrate; the bases would trail on the ground in the closed position.
Cordulephya species seem to have taken the option of a damselfly lifestyle, while retaining the eye and appendage structure that identifies them as dragonflies, and the internal pumped larval gills that give them a metabolic advantage in waters with lower oxygen content. Does it help the adults to be able to crawl in more confined spaces than a species with permanently open wings? Does this harmonise with a flight time calendar that avoids the peak season for more voracious species that might prey on them? Interesting to speculate.”
DSC06027
Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male singing while perched on a branch.
Samiec pleszki (Phoenicurus phoeniurus) śpiewający na gałęzi.
Common Tern - Sterna Hirundo
It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are a number of similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
Breeding in a wider range of habitats than any of its relatives, the common tern nests on any flat, poorly vegetated surface close to water, including beaches and islands, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Population:
UK breeding:
12,000 pairs
Loons are water birds, only going ashore to mate and incubate eggs. Their legs are placed far back on their bodies, allowing efficient swimming but only awkward movement on land.
The European Kingfisher or Common Kingfisher, Alcedo atthis, is widely distributed in Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is resident except in northern areas where the rivers freeze. It will then move to milder regions. In most of its European range it is the only kingfisher.
The general colour of the upper parts of the adult bird is bright metallic blue, cobalt on the back, and showing greenish reflections on the head and wings. The ear coverts and under parts are warm chestnut, the chin and sides of neck white.
The bill is blackish and reddish orange at the base; the legs are bright red with a dark blue stripe. In the young the bill is black. Length averages 19 cm (7.5 inches) and wings average 7.5 cm (2.95 inches).
The flight of the Kingfisher is rapid, the short rounded wings whirring until they appear a mere blur. It usually flies near the water, but during courtship the male chases the female through and over the trees with loud shrill whistles.
From February onwards the male has a trilling song, a modulated repetition of many whistles. He also signals with a whistle to the female when he is feeding her, this being his share of the nesting duties. This whistle is produced even when his bill is loaded with food, yet is clear and distinct. The female will reply and emerge from the nesting hole, and may fly to meet him, take the fish from him in the air, and return to the nest.
The bird has regular perches or stands from which it fishes. These may be a few inches or many feet above the water. It sits upright, its tail pointed downwards. It drops suddenly with a splash and usually returns at once with a struggling captive.
Large fish are beaten on a bough or rail; small fish and insects are promptly swallowed. A fish is usually lifted and carried by its middle, but its position is changed, sometimes by tossing it into the air, before it is swallowed head downwards.
Male Common Merganser with poor little fishy !
Lake Parsippany, NJ
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Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) male perched on a branch.
Samiec pleszki (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) siedzący na gałęzi.
Common Tern - Sterna Hirundo
It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are a number of similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
Breeding in a wider range of habitats than any of its relatives, the common tern nests on any flat, poorly vegetated surface close to water, including beaches and islands, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Population:
UK breeding:
12,000 pairs