View allAll Photos Tagged iridescence!
Urbanus proteus, Zilker Botanical Garden, Austin. Sometimes when the light is right you can see the green iridescence on the back and head. More common southeast of Austin.
I looked out the window and there they were the band of bachelor turkeys just passing through. The light was perfect to show off the iridescence and beautiful colors in their feathers.
Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna) is a medium-sized stocky hummingbird native to the west coast of North America. This bird was named after Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli. In the early 20th century, Anna's hummingbird bred only in northern Baja California and southern California. The transplanting of exotic ornamental plants in residential areas throughout the Pacific coast and inland deserts provided expanded nectar and nesting sites, and the species was able to expand its breeding range greatly.
Anna's hummingbird is 3.9 to 4.3 in (9.9 to 10.9 cm) long. It has an iridescent bronze-green back, a pale grey chest and belly, and green flanks. Its bill is long, straight and slender. The adult male has an iridescent crimson-red derived from magenta to a reddish-pink crown and gorget, which can look dull brown or gray without direct sunlight and a dark, slightly forked tail. Female Anna's hummingbirds also have iridescent red gorgets, though they are usually smaller and less brilliant than the males'. Anna's is the only North American hummingbird species with a red crown. Females and juvenile males have a dull green crown, a grey throat with or without some red iridescence, a grey chest and belly, and a dark, rounded tail with white tips on the outer feathers.
These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue. They also consume small insects and other arthropods caught in flight or gleaned from vegetation. A PBS documentary shows how Anna's hummingbirds eat flying insects. They aim for the flying insect, then open their beaks very wide. That technique has a greater success rate than trying to aim the end of a long beak at the insect. On rare occasions, bees and wasps may become impaled on the bill of an Anna's hummingbird, causing the bird to starve to death.
Los Angeles. California.
One more from a magical evening in the hazy tropical Bangkok sky.
This happens here in warm humid conditions with aerosols to facilitate condensation and gentle lateral winds. Rising cumulus cloud - in this case a relatively stable anvil cloud - acts like a mountain and the wind gently takes humid air upwards and over the top. As that happens the pressure drops and the moving air cools below the dew point to form a cap cloud. Air flows through this cap cloud as condensation forms on the up-side and evaporates on the down-side. The recently formed water droplets are tiny and more or less uniform in size. If the condensation was truly uniform a multi-ring diffraction halo would forms around the sun. Conditions are less uniform in this cloud so the diffraction forms coloured patches and not a regular halo. The colours appear within 15 degrees of the sun. A huge anvil cloud with a very deep cap cloud like the one in the image is seen for 50-100 km in all directions but the colours are seen only against the setting sun. We get only one or two displays a year like this June-September (always slightly different) and it's easy to miss them.
Common Loon swimming through some beautiful green/blue water. I love the beautiful colors & patterns from the reflections on the water.
Camera Settings; f/4 - 1/320 - 222mm - ISO 320
High clouds provided the perfect opportunity for a nice iridescence to form around the full moon. Note contrail below and stars on the right edge.
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This loon loved to give me lots of exercise. It would go from one end of the lake to the other. I would work in close, get a few shots and it would dive. It was feeding and was diving repeatedly. They average about 60 seconds underwater, before they pop up. Sometimes, if it is real calm, I can track their movements as the bubbles come to the surface when they are going through the aquatic weeds on the bottom. You have to always figure that they are quite a ways ahead of the rising bubbles. But, at least it gives you an idea of which way you should be looking. They like to come up behind you. Sometimes, when the water is clear I can see them swim under the raft and check it out.
I love it when I can get a shot where the beautiful iridescence shows up.
Camera Settings: f/7.1 - 1/800 - 280mm - ISO 640
"Iridescence"
Pont Saint Esprit (Gard)
Pont médiéval à 25 arches sur le Rhône : le pont mesure 919 mètres de long construit de 1265 à 1309. (Wikipédia)
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So close, my lens wouldnt focus! I had to back up! Tame little bugger...
If you look closely, you can see my reflection in his eye
This back lit towering cumulus cloud displayed nice iridescence, shadow cast on to higher clouds, and a bird of prey (although it might just be a raven).
Picture of the Day
This has to be my favourite day in Finland. It was my birthday and the day started with an aurora at 5am, then a 12 mile solo snow shoe to Kesänki Fell and another aurora at 11pm. I loved the trip up the fell and a bonus for me was my first sight of Polar stratospheric clouds (nacreous) as the sun was setting. Amazing place and amazing vistas.
Woke up early enough the other day before work to get a few shots of these lilies in the morning sun.
Love how tall and beautiful these lilies are, lining the edges of our gardens. They really make a statement.
This young magpie and another were scouring the neighbours yard for a possible scrap or two, but did not seem to be having much luck. I say young only because of how short the tailfeathers are. Although I do miss many of the sweet songs that are heard around the yard in Spring and early Summer, I have to say that I have come to accept the sounds of the magpies in late summer, which are not always sweet sounding. Sometimes their squawking can be down right annoying, but on the other side of the coin it can be much fun to hear them converse with each other, or listen in on one of their squabbles they may have with the Crows.
Amazing how a spot of winter sunshine can bring out the iridescence in birds feathers, making even a common pesky Feral Pigeon look beautiful!
Orchid bees (Euglossa spp.) typically spend their time in the canopy where they collect plant fragrances with specialized brush-feet on their forelegs. These are then transferred to into slits on the highly modified hind-legs wherein lies an absorbant, spongy material which sequesters the volatile esters. The males, the only ones to engage in this behaviour are thought to subsequently release these fragrances to attract females in the understory. Methyl salicylate and cineole present in some essential oils were used to attract the bees for these photos in the Brazilian Amazon.
Backyard
Florida
USA
Juvenile grackle begging for food. Taken on my fence in the back yard.
The common grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) is a large icterid which is found in large numbers through much of North America.
Adult common grackles measure from 28 to 34 cm (11 to 13 in) in length, span 36–46 cm (14–18 in) across the wings and weigh 74–142 g (2.6–5.0 oz). Common grackles are less sexually dimorphic than larger grackle species but the differences between the sexes can still be noticeable. The male, which averages 122 g (4.3 oz), is larger than the female, at an average of 94 g (3.3 oz). Adults have a long, dark bill, pale yellowish eyes and a long tail; its feathers appear black with purple, green or blue iridescence on the head, and primarily bronze sheen in the body plumage.
The breeding habitat is open and semi-open areas across North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The nest is a well-concealed cup in dense trees (particularly pine) or shrubs, usually near water; sometimes, the common grackle will nest in cavities or in man-made structures. It often nests in colonies, some being quite large. Bird houses are also a suitable nesting site. There are four to seven eggs.
This bird is a permanent resident in much of its range. Northern birds migrate in flocks to the southeastern United States.
White-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) shows the slight iridescence of its wing plumage as it hunts in the early morning light.
Cloud iridescence is the occurrence of colors in a cloud similar to those seen in oil films on puddles, and is similar to irisation. It is a fairly uncommon phenomenon, most often observed in altocumulus, cirrocumulus, lenticular clouds and cirrus clouds. The colors are usually pastel, but can be very vivid. Iridescence is generally produced near the sun, with the sun's glare masking it, so it is more easily seen by hiding the sun behind a tree or building. Other aids are dark glasses, or observing the sky reflected in a convex mirror or in a pool of water.
Iridescent clouds are a diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. Larger ice crystals produce halos.
If parts of clouds have small droplets or crystals of similar size, their cumulative effect is seen as colors. The cloud must be optically thin, so that most rays encounter only a single droplet. Iridescence is therefore mostly seen at cloud edges or in semi-transparent clouds, and newly forming clouds produce the brightest and most colorful iridescence. When a thin cloud has droplets of similar size over a large extent, the iridescence takes on the structured form of a corona, a central bright disk around the sun or moon surrounded by one or more colored rings. In one instance a lunar corona was observed, with the iridescent cirrus cloud 11–13.6 km (36,000–45,000 ft) above the mean sea level at a temperature of −70 °C (−94 °F). The pure corona was 9.5 km (31,000 ft) above the mean sea level, at a temperature of −60 °C (−76 °F).
Source: Wikipedia
Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird visiting my Lantana bush.
Fairly Uncommon. Instead of normally green iridescence in its feathers, the sun angle produced gold, this time.
I don't know what is going with this photo or flickr. I tried uploading it yesterday and it wouldn't let me, then about 3 copies appeared and I deleted them all and left it. Then I get up this morning and find that flickr had added one of them again. I've deleted it and started again proper. Sorry if I lost some of your comments.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my stream, all your comments are appreciated.
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Lovely to get this old magpie stretching his wings and showing the iridescence in its plumage.
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For more on this one, you could have a look at my blog: davewhatt.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/but-its-just-a-bit-of-...
I photographed this pair of American Wigeon in San Diego with the sunshine showing off the iridescence of the male's head. They are very closely related to Eurasian Wigeon, and are very similar from the neck down: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/31066477864/in/photolist Increasing numbers of American Wigeon are seen in Britain each year (c20) and it was removed from the rarities list in 2002. Eurasian Wigeon is a scarce but regular wintering bird in North America and each species associates with its close cousins whenever they find themselves on the wrong continent. Almost all dabbling ducks used to be in the genus Anas but a molecular study in 2009 resulted in 5 species (American, Eurasian and Chiloe Wigeon, Gadwall and Falcated Duck) being placed in a resurrected genus Mareca, which comes from a Portuguese word Marreco, which is a general word for smaller kinds of duck. An old vernacular name for American Wigeon is Baldpate (pate is head) though bald originally mean white (as in Piebald, and Bald Eagle).
One final thing, an American Wigeon was reported near Barnsley this week. It turned out to be a hybrid Wigeon x Chiloe Wigeon, which had thrown up a bird that superficially resembled a drake American Wigeon. Interestingly the bird itself wasn't sure what it was as it was associating with Gadwall, rather than the nearby flock of Eurasian Wigeon. I couldn't find a photo of the actual bird but here's an excellent Wigeon x Chiloe hybrid taken by my Flickr friend Bill Richmond: www.flickr.com/photos/126355457@N02/52731623096/in/photolist