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WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre.
What3Words
///trailers.ripen.grownup
The Long-Tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) is a small, gregarious songbird found across Europe and Asia. Often described as a "flying lollipop" or "tiny ball of fluff," it is easily identified by its distinctive extraordinarily long tail, which accounts for over half its total length (up to 8–9 cm of its 14 cm body).
Key Identification & Physical Traits
Plumage:
A soft mix of white, black, and pink. Most individuals in Western Europe have a white head with broad black "eyebrows," pinkish-white bellies, and pink-dusted shoulders.
Northern Variation:
Subspecies in Northern Europe and Asia often have entirely pure white heads.
Weight:
They are incredibly light, often weighing just 7–10 grams—less than a £1 coin.
Scientific Note:
Despite their name, they are not closely related to the "true" tit family (Paridae, like Great or Blue Tits) but belong to the Aegithalidae family, more closely related to babblers.
Extraordinary Social Behavior
Communal Roosting:
Extremely vulnerable to cold, these birds form tight-knit family flocks of 6–30 individuals during winter. At night, they huddle together in a row on a branch to share body heat, which is essential for their survival.
Cooperative Breeding:
This species is famous for its "altruistic" behavior. If a breeding pair's own nest fails, they often do not try again but instead become "helpers" for a related pair, assisting in feeding and defending the other pair's chicks.
Constant Chattering:
They are highly vocal to maintain contact within their fast-moving flocks, using distinctive "tsee-tsee-tsee" and rattling "tsirrup" calls.
Master Architects: The Nest
The Long-tailed Tit builds one of the most complex nests in the bird world, often called an "avian architectural wonder":
Materials:
Both partners spend up to three weeks weaving together moss, lichen, and spider silk (specifically from egg cocoons).
Construction:
The spider silk acts like "natural Velcro," creating a flexible, dome-shaped sack that can expand as the chicks grow larger.
Insulation:
The interior is lined with an incredible number of feathers—sometimes over 2,000 for a single nest.
Camouflage:
The outside is decorated with lichen flakes to help the nest blend into the tree fork or thorny bush where it is hidden.
Habitat & Diet
Diet:
Primarily insectivorous, they specialize in eating the eggs and larvae of moths and butterflies. In winter, they increasingly visit garden feeders, showing a strong preference for suet balls and peanuts.
Habitat:
They favor deciduous and mixed woodlands with dense undergrowth, but they are also common in parks, hedgerows, and urban gardens.
Taken within the Mabula Game Reserve, Ouklip, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Giraffes can safely eat from spikey bushes like acacia trees due to their long, flexible tongues and thick saliva. These adaptations allow giraffes to strip leaves from spiky branches without causing harm to their mouths.
The tongue's prehensile nature enables them to hold leaves securely, while the saliva helps lubricate the spines, making it easier to swallow. This unique feeding behaviour is a key adaptation that allows giraffes to thrive in their natural habitat.
A Friends Dog.
Buckpool and Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve
What3Words
///thin.spill.bravo
The Greyhound is an ancient and noble breed renowned as the fastest dog on Earth, but also famous for being a docile "45-mph couch potato" in the home. They make calm, affectionate, and low-maintenance family pets for the right household.
Key Characteristics
Speed:
Greyhounds can reach speeds of up to 45 mph (72 km/h) in just a few strides, thanks to their unique, aerodynamic build, deep chest, flexible spine, and long, powerful legs.
Temperament:
Despite their athletic prowess, Greyhounds are gentle, sensitive, and quiet dogs. They are non-aggressive, typically get along well with people and other dogs, and are known for their calm, even-tempered nature indoors.
Exercise Needs:
They are built for sprinting, not endurance, and require surprisingly little exercise—around an hour of daily activity, ideally split into two shorter walks with the chance for a supervised sprint in a securely fenced area.
Prey Drive:
As sighthounds, they have a strong instinct to chase fast-moving objects (like squirrels or rabbits). For this reason, they should generally remain on a lead in open public spaces and a secure, high-fenced garden is essential.
Greyhounds are one of the oldest breeds in history, appearing in ancient Egyptian art dating back to 4000 BCE and the only dog breed mentioned by name in the Bible.
This week's Macro Mondays challenge: "flexible"
This is a CO2 purge hose for clogged hvac condensate lines.
Crazy Tuesday theme: Flexibles Thank you for your kind comments and favs. All are greatly appreciated. HCT
The pileated woodpecker's long neck is a fascinating part of its anatomy, combining strength, flexibility and durability. Here the woodpecker, after one strike on the log, is bending its neck in a backwards curve to prepare for the next strike, all in very short order.
Tricolored Heron showng long toes along Lust Road. Love the way the toes bend over the roots and reeds
🇫🇷 En fait , ce sont deux jeunes du village qui nous emmènent pour la visite . Les visites durent environ 2 à 3 heures mais sont flexibles. En plus , nous y prendrons notre déjeuner .
Nos guides ont à cœur de nous faire découvrir le mode de vie de ses habitants ...
Lors de notre visite, vous avons une bonne idée du côté social du village : les fermes, les écoles, les marchés et l'arbre à palabre. Nos guides se font un plaisir de répondre à toutes nos questions et de nous aider à comprendre le fonctionnement interne de cette communauté tanzanienne typique
.Sur le sentier de la bananeraie, nous découvrons les brasseurs de bière de bananes.
🇬🇧 In fact, two young people from the village are taking us on the tour. The tours last around two to three hours but are flexible. What’s more, we’ll be having our lunch there.
Our guides are keen to help us discover the way of life of the villagers...
During our tour, we get a good insight into the social side of village life: the farms, schools, markets and the palaver tree. Our guides are happy to answer all our questions and help us understand the inner workings of this typical Tanzanian community
. On the path through the banana plantation, we come across the banana beer brewers.
🇩🇪 Tatsächlich begleiten uns zwei junge Leute aus dem Dorf auf der Tour. Die Touren dauern etwa zwei bis drei Stunden, sind aber flexibel. Außerdem werden wir dort zu Mittag essen.
Unseren Reiseleitern liegt es sehr am Herzen, uns die Lebensweise der Dorfbewohner näherzubringen …
Während unserer Tour erhalten wir einen guten Einblick in das gesellschaftliche Leben des Dorfes: die Bauernhöfe, die Schulen, die Märkte und den Palaverbaum. Unsere Guides beantworten gerne alle unsere Fragen und helfen uns, die inneren Abläufe dieser typischen tansanischen Gemeinschaft zu verstehen
. Auf dem Weg durch den Bananenhain entdecken wir die Hersteller von Bananenbier.
🇪🇸 De hecho, son dos jóvenes del pueblo quienes nos acompañan en la visita. Las visitas duran entre dos y tres horas, pero son flexibles. Además, allí tomaremos el almuerzo.
Nuestros guías se esfuerzan por hacernos descubrir el modo de vida de sus habitantes...
Durante nuestra visita, nos hacemos una buena idea de la vida social del pueblo: las granjas, las escuelas, los mercados y el árbol de las reuniones. Nuestros guías están encantados de responder a todas nuestras preguntas y de ayudarnos a comprender el funcionamiento interno de esta comunidad tanzana típica
. En el sendero del plataneral, descubrimos a los elaboradores de cerveza de plátano.
🇮🇹 In realtà, sono due giovani del villaggio ad accompagnarci durante la visita. Le visite durano circa 2 o 3 ore, ma sono flessibili. Inoltre, pranzeremo lì.
Le nostre guide ci tengono molto a farci scoprire lo stile di vita dei suoi abitanti...
Durante la nostra visita, ci facciamo un'idea chiara della vita sociale del villaggio: le fattorie, le scuole, i mercati e l'albero delle riunioni. Le nostre guide sono liete di rispondere a tutte le nostre domande e di aiutarci a comprendere il funzionamento interno di questa tipica comunità tanzaniana
. Sul sentiero della piantagione di banane, scopriamo i produttori di birra di banana.
Sony FE 90mm Macro G f f/7.1
The brush body is 1" W, the tip of the brush is 1.5" W. Total image is 2" W.
The Great Horned Owl – large, powerful, and long-lived – is adapted by its anatomy, physiology, and behavior to survive in any climate but arctic-alpine regions. Equally at home in desert, grassland, suburban, and forest habitats, north to the tree line, it has a diverse prey base and the most extensive range with the most variation in nesting sites of any American owl. Its large eyes are equipped with many rods for night vision and pupils that open widely in the dark. Although its eyes do not move, flexibility in the atlanto-occipital joint enables this owl to swivel its head more than 180° and to look in any direction. Its hearing is acute, assisted by facial disc feathers that direct sound waves to its ears. Wild - at Pantanal - Brasil.
Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc. Very much appreciated!
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I was dealing with bad light here on another dark day, but loving the flexibility of this hooded merganser as she preened. Siskiyou County, California
HMM…..Lots of variations of this— It is the one that hasn’t “lost” the links and clasp and is just about 2 inches across. There are/will be other possibilities for MM but I like this for its simplicity and the red heart ❤️ .
…….💙❤️HMM❤️💙
The berries on this tree were harder to remove from the stem than the fruit on other trees. Contorting like this and then straightening up, while holding on to the berry, provides a bit of extra torque to twist the fruit off.
One of my attempts at the "Macro Mondays" theme "flexibles".
Small part of a silicone brush.
Shot with a Fuji "Fujinon-EFC II 64.5 mm F 6" (enlarging) lens on a Canon EOS R5.
Weather can be very unstable in Iceland which is great in a way for it demands more flexibility in your photographic endeavour and also offers completely different light scenarios. I LOVED this moment when we were driving along the Northfjords in relative darkness and all of a sudden that snowy mountain appeared from in between clouds.
L'unità 909 appartenente al gruppo di locomotive Elettriche 186 di proprietà di CrossRail Italia s.r.l. è qui ripresa poco prima di transitare attraverso la stazione di Camnago-Lentate in testa ad un convoglio di carri vuoti adibiti al trasporto di semirimorchi
"Macro Mondays" theme today: "Flexible"
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allen Besuchern und Freunden meines Fotostreams ein herzliches Dankeschön für eure Kommentare und Kritiken, Einladungen und Favoriten.
all visitors and friends of my photostream, a heartfelt thank you for your comments and reviews, invitations and favorites
Focus stack (33 images) Shot with single off-camera strobe (Godox AD200Pro/XPro II L trigger) , bare bulb, mounted on overhead boom, bounced off 32 inch white umbrella.