Crumbs on Earth
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My weakness is Chocolate Biscuits, my wife always knows when I have been eating them....... Because of all those pesky Crumbs!
This pileated woodpecker worked so hard to grab a piece of the bird suet cake, I guess persistence paid off.
Shot in Berwyn Illinois. Likely the last of the series on winter in the alley (tentatively titled Winter Shadows)
These Pies are small and perfectly formed......I have no Shame in telling you after the photo shoot ,with a dollop of Branston pickle, I ate it All,..... down to the last Crumb !!
Macro Monday ..... Theme " Bread "
Hot toasted currant bread dripping with melted butter. The delicious smell filling the air, golden and burnt, the crumbs falling on the textured chopping board.
Thanks for all the views, faves and comments, much appreciated.
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on from the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
Even close up, the camouflage of this Brown Creeper is remarkable.
This interesting little bird has become a regular but fleeting visitor to my yard in Chester County, PA. It flies in, very quickly grabs a suet crumb from the tree trunk then immediately flies off. I have never seen it visiting the actual suet feeder.
2020_12_04_EOS 7D Mark II_5210-Edit_V1
Robin (Erithacus rubecula) watching my wife and I whilst we sat with a flask of coffee and some biscuits. Didn’t taken much encouraging it off the branch with a few biscuit crumbs. Taken at Lathkill Dale, Derbyshire
Always welcome visitor Robin Redbreast taking a break from feeding from the bird feeders. You can see some crumbs on the tip of the beak. very determined little bird.
This Purple Napkin is perfect when I'm eating Toast........ You've guessed it..
There are. No crumbs on me.
Crumbs is always nibbling in my hair but never leaves any crumbs...
Rebirth Kyra Head ~ V3.0 Current Group Gift
-Belleza- Isis V6 BOM/BENTO updated and currently 50% off
Skin: REBIRTH head female CH skin tone3 Vanilla 2kBOM ***comes in the gift pack
Tville - Grace Eyes Sunset
Hair: pr!tty - Lazy Days & pr!tty - Lazy Days - :extra wisps:
Clothing
Hilly Haalan Sammy Sweater & Shirt ***50L pack from the current outlet
Addams // Zury Leggings // Isis Group Gift
Accessories
Necklace: Finer Threads - The Cross Necklace Group Gift
*SS* Star Sugar Love Doves necklace (Gold) available at the Free Dove
Ring: Chop Zuey Gift - Bling Ring - TxChnge
Ring: Belle Epoque - Patrizia Ring
Pets
from the JIAN Chipmunk Collection
JIAN Chipmunk Collection :: Head Sitter ***named Crumbs
Pose
Serendipity: cecily... (1)
Location
ROCKMEAD, RockMead (141, 25, 21)
The last piece of a home made chocolate cake for my eldest son's recent birthday. Obviously appreciated as it didn't take long for it to be reduced to crumbs. Long walks coming up to reduce the impact!
For this week's Snap Happy theme of "Homemade" set by Laszlo . An excellent theme!
This little scuffler couldn't resist the chocolate biscuits I had left out for my coffee break.
I was in the other room and on hearing a chomping noise went to investigate .... to my surprise I was astounded by what was nibbling my Leibniz dark chocolate covered biscuits ....
..... well I was flabbergasted to see my little ceramic hedgehog just snaffling .... chomping away on my delicious coffee time treats!!!!
It'll be after a milky coffee probably next?
Ha' ha' .... 😂
Just a little fun image for tomorrow's MM with a theme of biscuit.
Love & Peace everyone! ❤
The Chinese Garden in Montreal, Canada, is one of my favorite places in all of Montreal. When I visited the garden on this warm sunny afternoon, there was music playing and ducks anxiously awaiting bread crumbs.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include black-headed goldfinch, barley bird and aberdevine. It is very common throughout Europe and Eurosiberia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.
It can be distinguished from other similar finches by the colour of the plumage. The upper parts are greyish green and the under parts grey-streaked white. Its wings are black with a conspicuous yellow wing bar, and the tail is black with yellow sides. The male has a mainly yellow face and breast, with a neat black cap. Female and young birds have a greyish green head and no cap. It is a trusting, sociable and active bird. The song of this bird is a pleasant mix of twitters and trills. For these reasons it is often raised in captivity.
These birds have an unusual migration pattern as every few years in winter they migrate southwards in large numbers. The reasons for this behaviour are not known but may be related to climatic factors and above all the availability of food. In this way overwintering populations can thrive where food is abundant. This small finch is an acrobatic feeder, often hanging upside-down like a tit. It will visit garden bird feeding stations.
I know what it feels like to just be able to find a morsel. Today was one of those days, the old PC broke the video input jack, just as I had finally rounded up all the parts to do the mini pc. It was a wild day but this is the end results. I hope to get things all working by the weekend.
At one time, in the UK at least, biscuits were sold loose, from large tins. As you can imagine this resulted in broken biscuits (Even more so than the pre-packaged damage of today) left in the bottom of the tine. Instead of being thrown away, these remnants were sold as Broken Biscuits at a much reduced price. Often shoppers could be heard asking for " A pound (1lb) of broken biscuits please".
There are many recipes today that utilise broken biscuits, although I suspect biscuits are deliberately broken to produce the cakes etc.
123 Pictures in 2023, theme # 12 Biscuits
Macro Monday theme; Broken
Happy Macro Monday folks !!
persistence comes when nothing else matters
it's at the core of faith without any chatter
say what you want and say what you can
but even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master table
and that's no fable.
uno scatto "al volo" che coglie la prontezza di un cigno... mentre del cibo stava per rotolare via :)
Bisogna essere sempre pronti ;)
Buona serata
#padova #swan #crumb #cibo #food #brid #cigno #collo #neck #beak #becco
A reasonably tright crumb for my first 50:50 rye:wholemeal loaf. I included sesame seeds and chia seeds for a bit of interest.
On the right is the 'krunka' apparently. I drizzled it with some olive oil and salt, and ate it for tea. It was not bad.
Moraine boulders , a remnant of the retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age; stranded high in the Ochil Hills and surrounded by a smooth, heather and gorse-covered landscape. This is taken between Andrew Gannel Hill and the back of Elistoun Hill.
The beauty of this ever-varying range of hills is that, wandering among the high folds and fissures riven with streams , it is easy to feel as if one is away up in the Highlands and far away from any settlements, even though there is a string of villages along the "hillfoots" , as the area is called.
I didn't disturb this female bordered mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) when I found her having breakfast, but took this a few minutes later after she was done. If you look closely you'll see her face is covered in bug bits from her meal. She won't stay this way - like many insects, mantids are meticulous about hygiene, esp. on sensory organs like eyes, antennae, and mouthparts.
The remains of the day!
Created for the Macro Mondays challenge (November 16th 2015) "Bread"
To me the thing that divides 'real' bread from the mass produced kind is that real bread creates so many crumbs! Crust crumbs, and the softer bread crumbs. And the same goes for a real cheese - it too crumbles. So this is the remains of the Ploughman's Lunch (previous shot) once the mid-day meal is finished,
My 2015 Macro Mondays set: 2015 Macro Mondays
My Food and drink set: Food and Drink