Kids Naturally (Active)
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Blondie brought her kids around last night for the first time. She has five of them. Now we know why she was always resting when she got here. Five kids will definitely tucker you out. This one was very adventurous. Mom had to come to the rescue a few times. This one walked right up to another adult and did not heed the growls it was getting as a warning so it got swatted in the face. Blondie came running to the little ones rescue and flattened the other adult and that basically was the end of that. Hopefully lesson learned by all.
Back in 2007 I was traveling through Barbados, stopped for a moment take some pictures, when all of these kids got off the bus and got my attention. So I took the picture. As you can see, they loved the moment, and so did I.
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...
More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...
If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...
My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY
If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.
It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.
But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).
Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.
One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).
But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.
When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).
I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.
It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.
I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on in the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.
My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.
However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).
Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).
Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).
A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.
It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.
Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.
When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.
From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊
Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!
It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.
I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!
P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊
Juvenile Black Crowned Night Herons at a rookery in Tampa, FL.
This photograph/image is copyrighted and may not be used in any way without my permission. If you would like to use it, please contact me via Flickr mail.
Thanks for visiting and for your faves and comments.
Jamie was pouting and in a bad mood here. Our entire neighborhood lost power for several hours, so he had no TV or video games.
Then he got upset because I told him he couldn't play with the hose. Never mind that it was almost dark outside.
So, he went and stared out the window for a while.
While at a baseball game some friends brought their daughters to their first baseball game. They asked lots of questions and seemed to really enjoy the day.
Nikon D850 & Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8, wide open
Stacking every little pretty penny that I'm getting
And I'm never giving in to anybody, always winning
Never kidding when I die, I'm taking everybody with me
You're never gonna get me 'cause you'll never see it simply
I'm a motherfucking god, you're a light yawn, I'm a time bomb
And the vibes wrong, is this mic on?
I'm killing the syllables with a loaded refillable
I'm a lyrical, typical super villain, I'm venomous
And I'm never gonna stop until they put me on top of the list
I can't control the monster any longer that's inside
These kids were getting ready for school. Look at the uniform and all the other things kept on the "Charpai" .
Simple village shots give you so much of what happens in life.
Happy Independence Day
Best Viewed BLACK
Taken this morning at wells International School Fun Fair.. for kids and adults.. LOL.. Max had a field morning.. and it was all fun and lots of giggles.. :-)
Nice way to start the weekend I was thinking.. so have a good one.. Cheers :-)
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Prise ce matin sur le vif ..du sujet a l'ecole de Maxsim c'etait des couleurs plein la vue.. Je me suis dit que c'etait bien de commencer le weekend comme ca..
Donc a bon entendeur Salut et passer tous un excellent weekend.. :-)
ここの猿は人を恐れません。
しかし、人が餌を与えていないので、人から食べ物を奪ったり、攻撃したりしません。
人も野生動物に餌をあげるべきではないですね。
上高地にて
The monkey here is not afraid of people.
But, people are not feeding, they do not steal food or attack them.
People should not feed wild animals.
As a few of you already know...
Edgar and me are in this photography business called " Kids-Pics " and we have launched our website recently. Check it out and let us know what you think of it...
Its so cool to see how things can work out..!
First you post some pictures here...and before you know...you're in business
with a dear Flickr friend...!
So this is kind of an invite for visiting our website (smile) and at the same time an explanation why I haven't been a regular visitor at your streams as I would like to be...
This whole new adventure is taking a lot of time and I still have my office job for three days a week and that can be to much sometimes...(I am not complaining ;-))
I also have a few weddings to do ahead...But I haven't forget you all and I try to keep my eye on your pictures whenever I can.... And please know that I really appreciate all your support and the nice words for my work... and for liking my Wildbunch as much as I do....(Grins)
From the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU....!!!!
--x--
This guy was so quiet, but not 20 meters away two juveniles were piping up a storm. Unfortunately the kids were deeper into the trees and heard my approach on the kayak and flew away before I could capture them.
Jordan Lake, North Carolina, USA
Playing along with the kids
Snapping photos of them when they don't see
Laying on the floor with them
Painting and chatting
You see their personality so well when you are on the same level
How lucky I am to experience this
So this was one of those fluke pictures taken during a friend's kid's birthday. But I like it a lot because it's like the progression of how to go down a slide (in case you didn't know)... Anywho, yeah, wasn't planned like that and almost got deleted but then I was like "Hmmm... what if I can't get the three babies to sit together for a picture, at least I'd have one with them all in it!" (uh, to explain the three babies would be Reese (Billy & mine), Brenden (Billy's BFF Brandon's) and Jovie (Billy and Brandon's other buddy's) -- they were all born within a 2 month span).
School starts tomorrow so I'll be trolling flickr like an 80s slasher flick villian during the day again...