Identify this
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While its black plumage identifies it as a crow, the chough (pronounced 'chuff') has a red bill and legs unlike any other member of the crow family. It is restricted to the west of the British Isles.
It readily displays its mastery of flight with wonderful aerial displays of diving and swooping. This Schedule 1 species can be found in flocks in autumn and winter.
There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough that constitute the genus Pyrrhocorax of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), and the Alpine chough (or yellow-billed chough) (Pyrrhocorax graculus). The white-winged chough of Australia, despite its name, is not a true chough but rather a member of the family Corcoracidae and only distantly related.
The choughs have black plumage and brightly coloured legs, feet, and bills, and are resident in the mountains of southern Eurasia and North Africa. They have long broad wings and perform spectacular aerobatics. Both species pair for life and display fidelity to their breeding sites, which are usually caves or crevices in a cliff face. They build a lined stick nest and lay three to five eggs. They feed, usually in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly invertebrate prey, supplemented by vegetable material or food from human habitation, especially in winter.
Population:
UK breeding:
250-350 pairs in Great Britain; 120-150 pairs on the Isle of Man
A spectacular and distinctive flycatcher, the bright red Vermilion Flycatcher inhabits riparian areas and scrub in the southwestern United States and southward. It perches conspicuously, making periodic flights to nab insect prey.
The male Vermilion Flycatcher often seeks to initiate copulation by delivering a butterfly or other showy insect to the female.
The oldest recorded Vermillion Flycatcher was a male, and at least 4 years, 6 months old when he was shot in Mexico in 1972, the same country where he had been banded.
(Nikon 300mm + TC 1.7, 1/500 @ f8, ISO 200)
Thank You, Dianne and Julia, for Identifying this Bird !!
Florida’s Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) is a songbird found throughout rural areas of Florida. Its breeding range covers most of eastern North America and parts of South America. Experts say it is difficult to distinguish between the Eastern and Western species as it can be determined only by voice and location. Seventeen subspecies of the Eastern Meadowlark are documented.
Actually, the meadowlark is not a lark at all. It is a member of the blackbird family (Icteridae) which also includes cowbirds and orioles. Meadowlarks are easily identified by the bright yellow throat and belly. However, the most distinguishing mark in adults is the black “V” on its chest. It can often be seen on a fence post belting out its clear, melodious songs and whistles.
Adult birds weigh just over five ounces, are seven to ten inches tall with a wingspan of 14 to 16 inches. Both sexes are similar in size, although females are normally smaller with a shorter wingspan.
This bird prefers grassy fields, pastures, cultivated fields, golf courses and other open habitats. It is a good friend to the farmer/rancher and a bug-eating machine. Insects comprise more than 75 percent of its diet, with grains and seeds making up the balance. It is especially fond of grasshoppers and crickets, as well as insect larvae and grubs. It feeds on the ground, picking insects from the surface or probing the soil to reveal its prey. Meadowlarks also eat the seeds of many weeds.
Males have two, sometimes three, mates at a time. Females build nests on the ground using soft woven grasses and hide them in the taller grass of an open field. The nest usually has an arched “roof” with a side entrance. A clutch of two to six grayish-white eggs speckled with brown and lavender may be laid any time from late March through July. Eggs are incubated by the female for 13 to 15 days. The young fledge at 12 days. The parents continue to tend them for about two weeks until they are able to fly. Juveniles are similar to adults, but the black “V” becomes prominent in adulthood. The meadowlark has been known to live ten years in captivity.
I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida.
A large duck species easily identified due to their bright white and brown plumage. The birds are migratory from South Eastern Europe and much of Central Asia during winters to India. They are not so common in our state, but common in our neighbouring western state.
Found them in a shallow lake in the middle of a grassland where there was a group of 6 along with dozens of Pintails, Garganeys and Pochards. The rest of the ducks flew away by our presence, but these Shelducks stayed put cautiously and after a short while ignored us entirely. The birds were chasing each other and seemed to have fun for a short while. The presence of 3 large raptors distracted us and the birds which flocked together to probably feel more secure.
Thanks in advance for your wonderful feedback and likes.
in our garden... with such cute little pine cones!
Larch trees (botanical name Larix) are deciduous conifers with soft needle-like leaves growing radially in small tufts on branches. Larch trees are identified by their pyramidal growth, typical of most conifer species. However, unlike most conifers, larch trees turn golden yellow in the fall before dropping their leaves. Typically, larches are the first deciduous trees to grow leaves in the spring.
Identify plantnet wasn't very confident of its artificially intelligent identification, but we'll go with Filipendula ulmeria, and the rose family.
Thank you for looking! Isn't God a great artist?
Hyatt Lake - Cascade Mountains - Jackson County - Oregon - USA
Habitat : Shorelines
Food : Small Animals
Nesting : Ground
Behavior : Probing
Conservation : Low Concern
"The dapper Spotted Sandpiper makes a great ambassador for the notoriously difficult-to-identify shorebirds. They occur all across North America, they are distinctive in both looks and actions, and they're handsome. They also have intriguing social lives in which females take the lead and males raise the young. With their richly spotted breeding plumage, teetering gait, stuttering wingbeats, and showy courtship dances, this bird is among the most notable and memorable shorebirds in North America... Female Spotted Sandpipers sometimes practice an unusual breeding strategy called polyandry, where a female mates with up to four males, each of which then cares for a clutch of eggs. One female in Minnesota laid five clutches for three males in a month and a half. This odd arrangement does not happen everywhere and often they are monogamous, with the female pitching in to help a little."
- Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
La Ceja, Colombia; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Leiothlypis peregrina
(Tennessee warbler / Reinita de Tennessee)
The Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) is a New World warbler that breeds in eastern North America and winters in southern Central America and northern South America.
A small (4 ¾ inches) wood warbler, the male Tennessee Warbler is most easily identified by its dull green wings and body, pale gray breast, and conspicuous white eye-stripes. The female is similar to the male, but is darker yellow below and on the head, with less visible eye-stripes.
Nerium oleander is a shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, toxic in all its parts. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is most commonly known as nerium or oleander, from its superficial resemblance to the unrelated olive Olea. It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though southwest Asia has been suggested. Oleander is one of the most poisonous commonly grown garden plants. Oleander grows to 2–6 m tall, with erect stems that splay outward as they mature; first-year stems have a glaucous bloom, while mature stems have a grayish bark. The flowers grow in clusters at the end of each branch; they are white, pink to red. 33119
Tufted Titmice look large among the small birds that come to feeders, an impression that comes from their large head and eye, thick neck, and full bodies. The pointed crest and stout bill help identify titmice even in silhouette.
La Ceja, Colombia; 2.300 meters above sea level.
The Scrub Tanager is a common open country bird of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes. Due to its preference for scrub and bushy areas, it is most easily found in dry intermontane ‘rainshadow’ valleys but is expanding into more humid areas in the wake of human disturbance.
The Scrub Tanager is identified by its silvery greenish plumage, rust-colored cap and black mask. In further contrast to this typically gregarious genus, the Scrub Tanager most often is encountered as solitary pairs.
neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p...
The first time I saw a Short-tailed Hawk it was in a Cypress Tree having lunch. I looked and looked through my bird books and references online and couldn't identify it. It was a dark phased individual and everywhere I had been looking showed it in its light phase, like this one. When I saw this one soaring down in Miami, I was pretty sure that it was a Short-tailed. Looking at images online I believe that this one is a juvenile. The adult has a more distinctively dark head and whiter chest and belly. They eat smaller birds, like grackles, red-winged black birds and meadowlarks. I've read that they hunt from the air, often making a series of swoops down taking their prey off a perch or possibly in the air. It's a sight I've never seen and only rarely see this species. (Buteo brachyurus)
Correction. Thanks to the help of several folks and my own research I've determined that this is a Red-shouldered Hawk. (I hope I'm right.) Short tailed hawks have a cleaner belly and chest and the light phase has a very dark head and the white of the chest forms a thick line up to the bill. Learning is half the fun.
My best effort identifies this damselfly as a Powdered Dancer in blue form. Still with the morning's dew on its back, it rests upon the bloom of an American Water Willow. Water Willow is a perennial which commonly colonizes along the edges of Ozark streams and is a host to many dragonflies, damselflies, bees and butterflies. If you would like to see the colonization of water willow along a stream and discover some of an Ozark stream's beautiful and amazing inhabitants, above and below the water, I would be honored if you took a look at my latest blog post here: www.gmichaellewis.com/blog/2015/6/life-of-an-ozark-stream
ITALY 2000
We went to Italy for the first time on a two week vacation.
Week one, we visited Venice, The Dolomites and all over Lake Garda. We stayed in Riva and travelled to Malcesne, Limone, Sirmiome and Salo.
Week two, we stayed in Montepolciano and visited Montalcino, Orvietto, Sienna and Verona.
It was a fantastic time and a great memory of my wife’s 50th birthday. These images were recovered from over 6,000 negatives that I thought were lost but after scanning and editing, they are ready for posting. Not the best quality in the world but I’m glad I have found them again.
One thing though, I'm not sure that I have correctly identified the locations so if I have made a mistake please assist.
Den Helder - Zeepromenade
Copyright - All images are copyright © protected. All Rights Reserved. Copying, altering, displaying or redistribution of any of these images without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
A colorful bird that is common throughout the country and is the state bird for many South Indian States. These are found all the way to the Middle East and are easily identified by their unique colors. The are about 30-35 cms tall and often sighted perched on power lines, fence posts and sometimes on grass bales in the countryside.
The birds hunt insects like beetles, grasshoppers and dragonflies. Sometimes they are seen on the ground in the grass picking up insects. They are not social birds and sightings are of solitary birds or at best two of them. During our last weekend trip to a grassland, sighted one of them foraging in the grassland. It flew to various trees sometimes coming to the ground and catching insects.
Thank you very much in advance for your views, faves and feedback.
Thank you Richard et Diane for what you collectively bring to us all in the way of your expertise and bird knowledge.
I appreciate you both helping me to identify my last two posts!!!!
I could not have properly identified these without your help.
'Merlin' identifies this raptor as a Merlin. He was quite distant but luckily remained still for 10-15 shots, of which I picked 6 and ran them in Zerene Stacker. The shot was handheld and there was some movement (old shaky hands/arms), so first step in Zerene was to align all images.
The end result posted here is way better than any single image for amount of detail.
Don't we all wish they were closer!
Local birders identified both a Hermit Thrush and a Swainson's Thrush in the same area. As the apparently distinct tail colour of the Hermit Thrush can't be seen here, I am guessing. Either way, I'm happy as both are lifers for me.
The Zitting Cisticola or streaked Fantail Warbler (Cisticola juncidis) is a widely distributed Old World warbler whose breeding range includes southern Europe, Africa (outside the deserts and rainforest), and southern Asia down to northern Australia. A small bird found mainly in grasslands, it is best identified by its rufous rump; as well, it lacks any gold on the collar and the brownish tail is tipped with white. During the breeding season, males have a zigzagging flight display accompanied by regular "zitting" calls that have been likened to repeated snips of a scissor. They build their pouch nest suspended within a clump of grass.
Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)_w_2300
This now serves no useful purpose - if it ever did. But it still seems a shame that it is slowly disintegrating. (Like it's not that I am identifying or anything...😉)
The actual identify of this species remains under investigation. In the year that I first posted this situation, no new developments have appeared to have been finalized.
See - mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/84940/Papilio_.... At present the Pelham Cataloge IDs these as Dorcas Copper (Lycaena dorcas). A petition has been filed to have it recognized as Mountain Copper (Lycaena Florus). I will update to this once the Pelham Catalog reflects the new status. Clear Creek County, CO.
Blue-ringed octopuses, comprising the genus Hapalochlaena, are four extremely venomous species of octopus that are found in tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, from Japan to Australia. They can be identified by their yellowish skin and characteristic blue and black rings that can change color dramatically when the animal is threatened. They eat small crustaceans, including crabs, hermit crabs, shrimp, and other small sea animals.
They are one of the world's most venomous marine animals. Despite their small size—12 to 20 cm (5 to 8 in)—and relatively docile nature, they are very dangerous if provoked when handled because their venom contains a powerful neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin.
The species tends to have a lifespan of approximately two to three years. This may vary depending on factors such as nutrition, temperature, and the intensity of light within its environment. (Wikipedia)
Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
www.istockphoto.com/fr/portfolio/sonja-ooms
Characteristic herbal species in the Oka pineries near Protvino and Serpukhov in Moscow region. Unfortunately I've failed to identify the species
Identified by its most prominent field mark, an acorn in the beak, an Acorn Woodpecker removes a nut from its storage locker along the Boot Canyon Trail in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park.
I appreciate the help in identifying this as a Great egret. My initial thought was that it was a Snowy egret. They really are difficult to tell apart for a novice like myself.
AI is becoming more and more problematic. It's getting increasingly difficult to identify what is AI and what isn't.
This is true for photos, art, music, news, advertising, etc. Now the discerning eye can still identify AI, but eventually, the way it's improving, you won't be able to tell one from the other.
I spent some time having a discussion the other day with Google's GEMINI AI.
The AI attempted to dispense a fair amount of opinionated nonsense as cold hard facts. Each time, I would call it out on it, and eventually, every time, GEMINI would admit it was untrue, biased info, and it would apologize. When the AI is actually admitting this when pressed...well, what does that tell you? That old adage holds true: "Garbage in, garbage out."
A large problem is the "facts" provided by AI are procured from biased sources that align with its developers and aren't necessarily facts. During the extent of our "discussion" GEMINI would always eventually admit that what it was initially giving me as irrefutable facts, were no such thing.
In the words of CCR: I see a bad moon arising. I see trouble on the way.
The Halloween picture is of course created by me via AI prompts, and the accompanying song is also completely AI.
Be careful out there boys and girls, ghouls and goblins.
I'm off to retrieve my tinfoil hat.
Can anybody identify this animal print? Something has been walking around my backyard and making weird sounds in the middle of the night. It would be nice to know what's out there. Thanks!
Central Maryland
iPhone 5
2016
Pouvez-vous identifier deux comportements remarquables de la chouette épervière dans cette image ?🤔
En premier lieu, la chouette emploie sa queue comme un troisième point d'appui, de façon similaire à un pic-bois. Chose qui ne m'avait jamais frappée avant de regarder cette photo.
Secondo, si vous dirigez à nouveau votre regard vers le bas de la queue, à gauche, vous apercevrez la queue et la patte d'un campagnol qu'elle a dissimulées entre l'arbre et l'écorce. Comme c'est le cas pour de nombreux oiseaux, la chouette enfouit de la nourriture aux quatre coins de la forêt afin de se préparer à une éventuelle disette.
Nous saisissons désormais la raison pour laquelle on dit qu'on est jamais vraiment confortable lorsqu'on est "entre l'arbre et l'écorce"...😉
Can you identify two remarkable behaviors of the northern hawk owl in this picture?🤔
Firstly, the owl uses its tail as a third fulcrum, similar to a woodpecker. Something that had never struck me before looking at this photo.
Secondly, if you look again at the bottom left of the tail, you'll see the tail and leg of a vole that it has hidden between the bark and the tree. As is the case with many birds, the owl buries food in the four corners of the forest in preparation for a possible dearth.
Now we understand why it's said that you're never really comfortable when you're “between the bark and the tree...😉
Most of the December snow is now gone but it is still winter and the views outside are somewhat dreary. So it is time for me to long for spring and summer when I can hunt for wildflowers and chase after butterflies. The little skippers are especially fun to try to capture, but hard for me to identify correctly. Delaware Skipper is the best guess of my ID app.
Identifying between Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs isn’t easy, at least for me. Thanks to Marlin for help with this ID.
This cutie flew past and I was happy to capture a few photos of it with a nice reflection.
Merced National Wildlife Refuge.
In the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae (1758) great Linnaeus gave scientific binonial names to Butterflies (Papilio). He drew the specifics from six groups derived from Greek mythology virtually emptying out the list of possible names. Thus our Swallowtail was placed in the group Equites Achivi (=Greek Soldiers of the Trojan War). Demoleus was one of them; he was slain by Aeneas, important defender of Troy. It is unknown why Linnaeus chose that specific name for this Flier, as indeed the specifics for the 200 or so others that he identified.
The photo shows a male, which can be identified as such by the shape and color of the red tornal spots. Those of the females have a more blue border.