Australasian Cuckoos, Channel Bills & Koels
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Brant/Brent Goose - Branta bernicla
The brant, or brent goose (Branta bernicla), is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The black brant is a pacific North American subspecies.
It used to be a strictly coastal bird in winter, seldom leaving tidal estuaries, where it feeds on eel-grass (Zostera marina) and the seaweed, sea lettuce (Ulva). On the east coast of North America, the inclusion of sea lettuce is a recent change to their diet, brought about by a blight on eelgrass in 1931. This resulted in the near-extirpation of the brant. The few that survived changed their diet to include sea lettuce until the eelgrass eventually began to return. Brants have maintained this diet ever since as a survival strategy. In recent decades, it has started using agricultural land a short distance inland, feeding extensively on grass and winter-sown cereals. This may be behavior learned by following other species of geese. Food resource pressure may also be important in forcing this change, as the world population increased over 10-fold to 400,000-500,000 by the mid-1980s, possibly reaching the carrying capacity of the estuaries. In the breeding season, it uses low-lying wet coastal tundra for both breeding and feeding. The nest is bowl-shaped, lined with grass and down, in an elevated location, often near a small pond.
The brant goose is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds applies.
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Green Heron - Butorides virescens
From North and Central America
Mega Rarity for UK and Wales.
Pembrokshire
taken in a woodland area where we were looking for large antelopes and while we were being harassed by tsetse flies.
This beautiful kingfisher is an intra-African migrant in broad-leafed woodland and savanna
halcyon leucocephala
grijskopijsvogel
martin-chasseur à tête grise
Graukopfliest
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Short Eared Owl - Asio flammeus
Norfolk
Over much of its range, short-eared owls occurs with the similar-looking long-eared owl. At rest, the ear-tufts of long-eared owl serve to easily distinguish the two (although long-eared owls can sometimes hold its ear-tufts flat). The iris-colour differs: yellow in short-eared, and orange in long-eared, and the black surrounding the eyes is vertical on long-eared, and horizontal on short-eared. Overall the short-eared tends to be a paler, sandier bird than the long-eared.
The short-eared owl occurs on all continents except Antarctica and Australia; thus it has one of the most widespread distributions of any bird. A. flammeus breeds in Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands. It is partially migratory, moving south in winter from the northern parts of its range. The short-eared owl is known to relocate to areas of higher rodent populations. It will also wander nomadically in search of better food supplies during years when vole populations are low.
Hunting occurs mostly at night, but this owl is known to be diurnal and crepuscular as well. Its daylight hunting seems to coincide with the high-activity periods of voles, its preferred prey. It tends to fly only feet above the ground in open fields and grasslands until swooping down upon its prey feet-first. Several owls may hunt over the same open area. Its food consists mainly of rodents, especially voles, but it will eat other small mammals such as mice, ground squirrels, shrews, rats, bats, muskrats and moles. It will also occasionally predate smaller birds, especially when near sea-coasts and adjacent wetlands at which time they attack shorebirds, terns and small gulls and seabirds with semi-regularity. Avian prey is more infrequently preyed on inland and centers on passerines such as larks, icterids, starlings, tyrant flycatchers and pipits.
♂Aeshna affinis (Vander Linden,1820). Habia volando a nuestro alrededor varios ejemplares, acercándose a veces tanto que no entraban en el encuadre de la cámara. Aguna se paro y se dejo retratar. Pasamos unos dias increibles de amigos y bichos en Carboneras de Guadazaón, Cuenca.
Southern Emerald Damselfly
Zwervende pantserjuffer
Leste sauvage
Lestes barbarus
Südliche Binsenjungfer
El caballito del diablo esmeralda
Vandrande smaragdflickslända
Pałątka południowa
Foltosszárnyjegyű rabló
A medium sized hawker flying in late summer to early autumn. It is also called as horsebiter, but that's only a name. They are eating insect such as flying ants.This species may be confused with Aeshna juncea. Feeds mainly in the afternoon and evening. When perched they hang vertically to catch as much sunlight as possible.
The male is brown with blue markings. The female (above) is brown with yellow markings.
Out doing stuff with Charlie, so will catch up from work tonight. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.
The Migrant Hawker is one of the smaller species of hawker dragonflies. It can be found away from water but for breeding it prefers still or slow-flowing water and can tolerate brackish sites. The flight period is from July to the end of October. ''A. mixta'' occurs in North Africa, southern and central Europe to the Baltic region.
Yesterday I complained about the lack of spring migrants returning to the Driftless Region due to the cold winterlike weather. The weather didn't improve today, but the bird gods did their best to make me feel better. This male brown-headed cowbird is wearing a gorgeous green winter jacket to fend off the cold freezing temperature. He'll be staying right here at Lake Meyer Park for the summer.
Die Traubenhyazinthe kam im 15. Jahrhundert aus der Türkei nach Deutschland. In Unterfranken wird sie "Schlotfeger" genannt.
(Opteka Nahlinse 10x)
- Grape hyacinth -
Family between Dallas and Austin, Texas. The people have left their home and connections in South Texas, and hope to reach the Arkansas Delta for work in the cotton fields. Penniless people. No food and three gallons of gas in the tank. The father is trying to repair a tire. Three children. Father says, "It's tough but life's tough anyway you take it"
Dorothea Lange, photographer, August 1936
Original picture:
www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8b29791/
Library of Congress, USA
© Dorothea Lange, 1936
© Alain Girard, Restored & Colorized, 2022
“The Rufous Hummingbird makes one of the longest migratory journeys of any bird in the world, as measured by body size. At just over 3 inches long, its roughly 3,900-mile movement (one-way) from Alaska to Mexico is equivalent to 78,470,000 body lengths.” ~ Cornell's all aboutbirds.org
No wonder the little male peanut chooses to perch on the tiny stick each night while here.
"One of the feistiest hummingbirds in North America. The brilliant orange male and the green-and-orange female Rufous Hummingbird are relentless attackers at flowers and feeders, going after (if not always defeating) even the large hummingbirds of the Southwest, which can be double their weight. Rufous Hummingbirds are wide-ranging, and breed farther north than any other hummingbird. Look for them in spring in California, summer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and fall in the Rocky Mountains as they make their annual circuit of the West."
Love to see these tiny, feisty hummingbirds.