Trying to find a warbling vireo eating their favorite local berries was not hard.

Trying to get a photo of one that did not have twigs or leaves between me and them was hard.

One interesting note I read about this little songbird is that

Brown-headed Cowbirds frequently deposit their own eggs in the nests of Warbling Vireos. In some instances, the vireo pair incubates the alien egg and raises the young cowbird until it fledges. YET female vireos in some eastern populations, however, tend to puncture and eject interlopers’ eggs.

-Vireo gilvus

It appears that an interloper is in this eagle pair's territory and the female (the larger of the two) doesn't like it. Bald eagles are very posessive of their riverfront, and each resident pair along this stretch of the James River "owns" about a half-mile of it. ©2015 | John M. Hudson

Something isn't quite the same as all the others in this photo. During this trip the MK units would make themselves known on Soldier Summit. Seen between Colton and Kyune on an empty coal train.

Woke up to find another of our neighbour's cats making herself at home. This is Fifi and she seemed very keen to watch me whilst I drank my cup of tea in bed. She is quite the madam, hissing at all our cats even though she is the interloper.

This little smart ass showed up one day, and decided to stay. No one seems to be missing him, so apparently he is now part of this family.

Happy Slider Sunday!

Oops, I mean an aggressive Canada Goose defending its territory against an interloper. But that is one big goose; I wouldn't tangle with him.

Morning light on Huff Lake, one of two reservoirs created by damming the Frenchman River to regulate water allocation for spring irrigation. Both lakes are a haven for wildlife, as is the entire valley.

Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

said the White Egret, slowly backing away from the two new, approaching Canada Geese. Of course they swam right up to where he was! The weather has made delicious fresh treats for the waterfowl and turtles :-))

I frequent a small pond at a local college campus. I do well there with green herons, Great Blue Herons, Egrets, other birds and turtles. For the second time in almost three years a solitary White Pelican stops in. They are amazing fishers and can pretty well vacuum up this pond in a few hours. This one was more interested in drying out and preening. He had the real estate to himself. The other birds carefully gave the odd looking interloper lots of room

Click on pic for best view

At this time of the year the Tansey is normally covered in Solitary Bees but my eye was drawn to this interloper the other day. If anyone can identify it, I'd be most grateful. It's quite small, approx 5-6mm long.

Taken just after a shower, which is why there are white speckles in the foreground where the water has reflected the flash.

The American Goldfinch (m) was perched on some thistle blossums (Teasel), when the Apian interloper made a bee-line towards him.

Thankfully, they avoided "beeing" involved in a collision.

Canatara Park, Sarnia, ON

*** Thank You to all for the views, faves, visits and comments. Very much appreciated ***

Some old Norfolk and Western Railway equipment have a brief reunion at the old Southern Railway shops in Spencer, NC.

Thanks to Philip Banks for providing the two 600W strobes for the shot and Mark Ragan for getting the all-clear to shoot after dark at NCTM.

Rounding the broad curve leaving Maxwell, Utah, is Union Pacific’s LJP45 “dirt train” on a pretty May 4, 2004. On this day, three Rio Grande Tunnel Motors bracket a UP SD60M as power on this local out of Helper returning from East Carbon on the Sunnyside Branch. The next day, the accommadating crew of the local cut out the yellow interloper for “some maintenance”.

Two of the freshest KCS Shreveport repaints rest overnight on the railroad's isolated Gulfport terminal on a frigid December 2019 night. Pre-CPKC, Gulfport, Mississippi, was the big show for 6 axle 16-645 engine blocks on the system. Since the CPKC takeover in 2023 the typical power has been flung system wide, and oftentimes the power set runs with a Canadian Pacific interloper along for the ride.

Getting behind the scenes for these shots was an opportunity not taken for granted. It feels all the more sweet looking back now that this is almost all gone, and certainly the terms of shooting here aren't as friendly as they were on this frigid night 7 years ago.

Thanks for looking!

Holywell Bay, Cornwall, UK

So the interloper from the foreign land of Hampshire was invited by The King of Godrevy to meet up again on my last night in the land of the pasty and cream tea - yes I traditionally put the jam on first although if in Devon I may have to hide the scone when I do so there.....but I digress!

Dom Haughton & I had agreed to shoot Holywell bay as it was a location near where I had moved onto. Tide was due to be low around sunset so I had an expectation that the beach would be fairly busy but hoped given the schools were back I might be able to get something usable.

This time I was in the car park first and it was Dom striding across the car park with his lightweight camera bag in tow this time. "Only got one lens" seems to be his normal greeting but this time he had his 80D with the fully articulated screen with him so I thought silently he must be planning some low level shooting and wanted to save his joints from the extra stress😃

It was a while before Golden Hour so we thought we would adjourn to a local pub to discuss the relative merits of mirrorless v DSLRs, what I thought of Ann's pasties (Get in touch!) and our preferences in beverages. Dom had some brand of lager that was unknown to me (but supposedly popular locally) whilst I reacquainted myself with a pint of Old Rattler Cider.

After a pleasant interlude we set off initially to shoot a scene with the soft light falling on the grasses as mentioned in Dom's post www.flickr.com/photos/126574513@N04/53196008728/in/datepo...

I'm still wondering what to do about the tent and various other things in that scene so I'll skip the commentary on that section of our meet-up for another time.

Eventually Dom set off down to some point on the beach only he knew where and I trailed along envious that he could pretty much return here whenever he wanted whilst i had to make do.

part way down the beach the shot above popped into my head and it took a few mins to find a spot with no humans lying on it that I could set up and get that rock on the left not touching the others.

I had to do multiple sets of bracketed shots and then time blend them to remove most of the interlopers! I decided to leave the person to the left of the rock, a swimmer in the sea and a certain Tog (doing some sort of contortion) just to the right of the rock.

If that bank of cloud on the horizon had not been present I was hopeful the sun would have set in the V in Gull Island but decided to shoot it whilst visible to get the colours and silhouette. I also liked that cloud at the top of the image.

More to come from Holywell bay and thanks again to Dom for an entertaining and hospitable visit.

Thanks for viewing.

© All rights reserved Steve Pellatt. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.

Interlopers on the moat at Dunham Park this morning. Clyde being Clyde made short shrift of reclaiming his territory and Bonnie did her bit too

It was the solitary interloper of a leaf, apparently suspended in mid-air, that caught my attention here.

Three UP SD70Ms and a CN Dash 9 lead a southbound down the UP Chester Sub at Valmeyer, IL on July 10, 2022.

Theo the Blue pointed ragdoll kitten checking out the interloper in his basket

Despite all the signs by the road advising visitors not to enter this thermal area, this man stands in the middle of a field of fumaroles at Steamboat Point above Yellowstone Lake along the E. Entrance Road In Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. He peers down into one of the steam vents. He has been walking around through the fumaroles, making a video on his cell phone. Walking through thermal areas is foolhardy and dangerous. On a slope like this one, a trip or loss of footing could cause the interloper to fall into one of the vents. The ground in thermal areas can be a thin crust and one's weight can cause it to break away and allow the visitor to come in contact with thermal fluids and/or steam. Thermal burns are extremely painful and have been fatal to several Yellowstone Park Visitors. It's amazing the risks some individuals will take in order to post a video to their social media.

The fumaroles at Steamboat point are the first major thermal features a visitor will encounter when entering Yellowstone from the east. Fumaroles are vents or openings at the surface where volcanic gases and vapors are emitted. Faint to loud roars and hissing can be heard as the gas escapes some of the vents. Most of the vapor emitted by fumaroles is steam, formed as groundwater circulates deeply through heated rock. The water vapor mixes with volcanic gases given off by magma deep below in Yellowstone’s caldera. These volcanic gases include sulfur compounds, such as various sulfur oxides and hydrogen sulfide which accounts for the sulfur or “rotten egg smell” visitors may notice. There are no geysers that erupt water here. The fumaroles at Steamboat Point are some of the thermal features associated with the Marys Bay hydrothermal explosion crater that forms this rounded bay on the northeast side of Yellowstone Lake. There are several such hydrothermal explosion craters scattered across Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. They range from tens of feet to more than a mile across. This one at Marys Bay is not only the largest hydrothermal explosion crater documented in Yellowstone but it is also the largest in the world. It measures 1.5 miles (2.6 km) in diameter and forms an embayment on the north side of Lake Yellowstone. The crater, which formed 13,800 years ago, may have been the result of several separate explosions over a short period of time. The cause or trigger for these hydrothermal explosions are not fully understood but pressure release due to glacial melting, earthquakes, or rapid changes in lake levels could be significant factors. Geological studies have found that these large, violent hydrothermal events are independent of associated volcanism. In the past 16,000 years, none of these events have been followed by an eruption of magma. The deeper magma systems seen unaffected by these sometimes spectacular steam explosions in their overlying hydrothermal systems.

I know Tree Swallows are a sociable lot but my sense was that this was not a mutually appreciated interaction with one of the two arrivals being an interloper at the nest cavity. At Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge near Stevensville, Montana.

Clumps of Scots pines were first ordered to be planted here in 1825 by Elzabeth, Countess De La Warr whose descendants owned the forest until 1988. Outraged locals cut down many of the 'interloper' trees, but the existing group was planted in 1973 to commemorate the 'year of the tree'.

Another shot of that Big, confident, laid back male leopard, protecting his territory from an interloper who was passing through (a glimpse of him was our first sighting of the day).

Kwara Camp, Botswana, Nov 2019

Nikon D500, 300mm PF F4 & TC1.4iii @F5.6, 1/1000, ISO 280

Actually, I now believe this may be a Yellow Warbler. Due to two great Flikrites I actually did some looking in my bird book and came up with my best guess. I do at least know that it is not a Goldfinch. Cute though.

"you may finally proceed with your report on the attack on the Opera House. What have you discovered?"

This young hawk was sitting in one of T4's favorite perches behind the museum early this morning. The head looks too dark (and small) and the chest too streaky to be F2.

This is the "Boss Bird" of my hummingbird feeders. I'm pretty sure I've got the right guy as I just watched him chase off the last 3-4 interlopers from the feeders, then land in the Guava bush that is next to the house. Gotta admit he is a handsome devil but I am not sure how he survives the activity he expends while seeming to never leave the feeder area. However, he has it worked out because he has been doing it for several months and still looks pretty healthy!

plus an early instar interloper, keeping watch.

There's always one interloper that sneaks into the tulip bed of orange.

Looking forward to spring, I posted this one from last year's visit to Wisley Gardens.

Keeping a territory clear of interlopers is hard work. Here, an immature male rufous hummingbird sits for a brief moment before he's off, back on the chase!

Taken in Colorado.

My sincere thanks to all who spend the time to view, like or comment on my photos. It is much appreciated!

© 2024 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited.

Also visiting the lodge feeders where a gaggle of coal tits, who had a couple interlopers mixed in. I was very pleased to see the crested tits and especially happy to get a photo.

June 2021, SoCal. I had seen coyotes here but never in a pond. Shallow water is no deterrent. It ambled slowly around and I was told it had taken a chick. As can be seen with the stilts in the background, some of the birds appeared curiously undisturbed by the coyote's presence. I didn't know until I uploaded this shot, that it was a female, likely with pups. I had been visiting this pond regularly to observe a nesting avocet. The nest, which was temporarily abandoned during the coyote's visit, was unharmed.

After helping trains up the grueling 2.2 percent grade of Mullan Pass west of Helena, Montana, two sets of manned helpers roll back to town together on July 10, 2024. The BNSF coal train grinding west through Austin in the background has the third set. Of the twelve locomotives being used in Helena helper sets this day, only a single BNSF SD70MAC interloper was seen—all eleven other units were hard-working Montana Rail Link EMD SD70ACes.

Ever vigilant, the male was always close by, defending against any interlopers.

I did pose/stack these myself, but just as I was ready to snap away, a centipede approached the stack like it was his new home! Those little things were EVERYWHERE at the beach :-) He's a little blartsy, though with the shallow DoF

For Monday Night Combat.

Fires special incendiary rounds.

c'mon, you can't expect me to go into a fight without bringing a ridiculously huge pistol with me?

Did I ever mention that I love getting comments? I don't get out much >.<

Comments and notes are very welcome.

Austin, TX

I appreciate each and every visit, comment and fave here on my little corner of the world as seen through my lens. Have a evening!

As seen through one of the gun positions at Castillo de San Cristobal also known as Fort San Cristóbal, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was built by Spain to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan.

Castillo San Cristóbal is the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World. When it was finished in 1783, it covered about 27 acres of land and basically wrapped around the city of San Juan. Entry to the city was sealed by San Cristóbal's double gates. After close to one hundred years of relative peace in the area, part of the fortification (about a third) was demolished in 1897 to help ease the flow of traffic in and out of the walled city.

This fortress was built on a hill originally known as the Cerro de la Horca or the Cerro del Quemadero, which was changed to Cerro de San Cristóbal in celebration of the Spanish victories ejecting English and Dutch interlopers from the island of this name in the Lesser Antilles, then forming part of the insular territorial glacis of Puerto Rico.

Castillo de San Cristóbal (Fort San Cristóbal) also contains cisterns, that were used for the transport of water during the ages of the Spanish Colony. They are extremely huge (30ft tall, 60ft wide and 100ft long) and were used as bomb shelters during World War II. They could be used for a future war again with some refurbishments. From Wikipedia

"The Battery"

There was a 17th century fishing room, known as “One a’ Clock,” at the Outer Battery. The earliest list of “Planters and Interlopers” at St. John’s (Yonge 1669) list a number of names, from west to east, and includes five names “east” of the Bickfords (who we place at Maggotty Cove): Jno Woods, Old Mr Cullen, Roger Andrews, Tho Griggs and Old Churchwood (this last probably at Quidi Vidi).

Newfoundland, Canada

I'm happy to see these cheery flycatchers back for the breeding season, filling the forest air with their simple little song. A pair I've known for a little while now has returned to territory where they nest inside an abandoned shack, and they were both active this morning. The bird pictured here is the female, keeping a wary eye on me while watching as her mate knocks around a migrating interloper who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.