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A somewhat different take on Windows Wednesday :-) A tractor ready for an early shift near Delft.
Happy Windows Wednesday!
Green Grass Dart (Ocybadistes walkeri)
I am still only seeing the one Skipper in the back garden. Today it was feasting on a Buttercup.
Happy Beautiful Bug Butt Thursday!
"I’ve spent my life looking into people’s eyes, it is the only part of the body where a soul might exist and if those eyes are lost …"
― Jose Saramago, Blindness
"Pasé mi vida mirando al interior de los ojos de la gente, es el único lugar del cuerpo donde tal vez exista un alma y si esos ojos están perdidos …"
― José Saramago, Ensayo sobre la ceguera
♫ Digging Deeper - Alison Goldfrapp & Claptone
♫ Reflections of My Life - Marmalade (Mick)
♫ In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel (Rubén)
♫ I Dig You - The Cure (Terry)
It was interesting watching the female dig a bed out of the snow each time they found a place rest. Here it almost looks like she is teaching the cubs how to make a cozy bed!
The Indian pangolin, thick-tailed pangolin, or scaly anteater (Manis crassicaudata) is a pangolin found on the Indian subcontinent. It is not common anywhere in its range. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. It can also curl itself into a ball as self-defence against predators such as the tiger. The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings.
It is an insectivore, feeding on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its fore limbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the day.
The Indian pangolin is threatened by hunting for its meat and for various body parts used in traditional medicine.
The Indian pangolin is a solitary, shy, slow-moving, nocturnal mammal. It is about 84–122 centimetres (33–48 in) long from head to tail, the tail usually being 33–47 cm long, and weighs 10–16 kg. Females are generally smaller than the males and have one pair of mammae. The pangolin possesses a cone-shaped head with small, dark eyes, and a long muzzle with a nose pad similar in color, or darker than, its pinkish-brown skin. It has powerful limbs, tipped with sharp, clawed digits. It is an almost exclusive insectivore and principally subsists on ants and termites, which it catches with a specially adapted long, sticky tongue.The pangolin has no teeth, but has strong stomach muscles to aid in digestion. The most noticeable characteristic of the pangolin is its massive, scaled armour, which covers its upper face and its whole body with the exception of the belly and the inside of the legs. These protective scales are rigid and made of keratin. It has 160–200 scales in total, about 40–46% of which are located on the tail. Scales can be 6.5–7 cm long, 8.5 cm wide, and weigh 7–10 grams. The skin and scales make up about one-fourth to one-third of the total body mass of this species.
The Indian pangolin has been recorded from various forest types, including Sri Lankan rainforest and plains to middle hill levels. The animal can be found in grasslands and secondary forests, and is well adapted to desert regions as it is believed to have a tolerance to dry areas, but prefers more barren, hilly regions. This pangolin species may also sometimes reach high elevations, and has been sighted in Sri Lanka at 1100 meters and in the Nilgiri mountains in India at 2300 meters. It prefers soft and semi-sandy soil conditions suitable for digging burrows.
Pangolin burrows fall into one of two categories: feeding and living burrows. Feeding burrows are smaller than living burrows (though their sizes vary depending on the abundance of prey) and are created more frequently during the spring, when there is a greater availability of prey. Living burrows are wider, deeper, and more circular, and are occupied for a longer time than feeding burrows, as they are mainly used to sleep and rest during the day. After a few months, the pangolin abandons the burrow and digs a new one close to a food source. However, it is not uncommon for the pangolin to shift back to an old burrow.
Unlike its African counterpart, the Indian pangolin does not climb trees, but it does value the presence of trees, herbs, and shrubs in its habitat because it is easier to dig burrows around them. Features that promote an abundance of ants and termites (grasses, bare grounds, bases of trees, shrubs, roots, leaf litter, fallen logs and elephant feces) are often present in pangolin habitats.
Few details are known about the breeding behaviour of the Indian pangolin. During the animal's mating period, females and males may share the same burrow and show some diurnal activities. Males have testes in a fold of the skin located in their groin areas. The female's embryo develops in one of the uterine horns. The gestation period lasts 65–70 days; the placenta is diffuse and not deciduate. Usually, a single young is born, but twins have been reported in this species. The young weigh 235–400 g at birth and measure roughly 30 cm. The newborn animals have open eyes, and soft scales with protruding hairs between them. The mother pangolin carries her young on her tail. When the mother and young are disturbed, the young pangolin is held against its mother's belly and protected by the mother's tail.
Hello Everyone,
I wonder how much time it takes for gulls to preen themselves everyday, it's probably substantial. If they're not preening, gulls are bickering with one another or trying to grab each other's meal! I really do get a kick out watching them.
Thanks a million for stopping by and for leaving a comment. I do love hearing from you!
Have a fantastic day!
©Copyright - Nancy Clark - All Rights Reserved
...or hidden treasure
18:52 Hidden Treasure
Dear all! I'm painfully behind right now due to other commitments. Hopefully I'll be catching up with you all very shortly 💕
Schubert died a bit over 3 years ago in 2017 at almost 15 years old. while weeding and planting today I dug up this polaroid of him from many years ago. dunno when.
it is a sweet memory of a sweet special dog.
Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris)
One of a pair that were digging for graas seeds while I waited for the steam train this morning. You can see by the mud on its beak that the ground is very wet still.
© All rights reserved
green woodpecker ~ picus viridis
The green woodpecker is on the RSPB Green status list.
PETER: (makes strange noises)
aahh...uuhh...pffff...
OLEG: (talks to himself)
What's that noise?
I hope Peter isn't in trouble again.
(Sees Peter standing in a deep hole)
Good heavens, Peter... what are you doing?
PETER:
Ugh... pfff... a... pfff... digging a hole... that ugh... pfff... as you see, Oleg.
OLEG:
But... why? I don't think Mummy Marian will like this.
PETER:
Ugh... pfff... well... Mummy Marian should be happy... pffff... about what I'm doing... pfff. There's... pffff.... a dead fly on the pffff... windowsill in the kitchen for a long time now. That's .... dis..dis..ou..... err.... pff.. not nice of her. I'm going to bury it now... pfff... in the... pfff... garden.
OLEG:
You're doing well, Peter, but you can't say that Mummy Marian isn't nice. She's busy as a grandmother with baby Rune.
PETER: (crying)
Sniff... I mean... sniff... it's not that I don't like Mummy Marian, Oleg... sniff...
I just feel so sorry for the fly... sniff...and...and...sniff...it deserves to be...sniff buried...sniff.
OLEG:
Don't cry, Peter...I know you mean well.
Come on, I'll help you bury the fly.
PETER:
Oleg... Would you like to make a wooden cross for the grave?
OLEG:
Well... um... I'll see what I can do.
PETER:
Thank you, Oleg (gives Oleg a snuffly kiss).
A bumble bee digging deep to get the rest of the pollen from a thistle already going to seed.
San Jose, California.
This Brunfelsia bloom is proving very popular with Orange Palm Dart Butterflies : this morning, after a heavy shower, this Skipper danced on the flower for quite some time, giving me lots of opportunities to capture him under many different angles. I found this pose aesthetic as well as amusing.
One from my archives today. I am about to go out and will catch up later. This is straight out of the camera only cropped.
#241 on Explore on 2nd May, 2008.
Despite the mixed bag of weather we've been getting lately - and a general feeling that the bird migration has been slowed by the cold nights and a couple of surprise snowfalls - there's no doubt that the spring resurgence of life on the northern prairie is underway. Therefore, over the next few days, we'll look at some signs of spring in and around Grasslands NP.
First up, this Black-tailed Prairie Dog with a mouthful of dried grass. The little rodents have been foraging now for several weeks, replacing fat reserves lost over the winter. I've watched them digging roots and clipping last year's grass, but recently they've been adding a little fresh salad to their diet.
Endless entertainment for a photographer visiting dogtown...
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.