View allAll Photos Tagged mnc
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.
Thought I'd give it a try. Can't think of a story right now.. maybe I'll add one later.
Credit to Beck for the rail shading and to R4mos for the rail idea. Done in PMG 0.6.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
A little while after my previous photo was taken one of the cubs had clearly done enough walking and just flopped down in the grass, so Mum gently picked it up and carried it whilst its three siblings struggled along behind. Favouritism or need, how does a mother decide?
We were very privileged to witness this natural behaviour and very fortunate that we were in the perfect position to capture a series of images that will certainly bring back happy memories in the future.
* Agujeta Piquicorta, Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) (Mnc)
*
La becasina piquicorta, costurera, o Agujeta Piquicorta
(Limnodromus griseus) es un ave limícola playera migratoria, de la familia Scolopacidae.
Migra entre Norteamérica, Centroamérica, las Antillas y Sudamérica, en hábitat muy variados, que van desde la tundra en el norte, hasta estanques y marismas en el sur, incluyendo playas arenosas, costas lodosas, manglares, lagunas y humedales de agua dulce. Abandonan completamente sus áreas de reproducción cubiertas de nieve durante el invierno del hemisferio norte y marchan al sur alcanzando desde la región del Caribe hasta Brasil.
Mide en promedio 28 cm de altura. Su pico es largo y recto, con una longitud entre 6,3 y 6,8 cm. En época reproductiva el dorso presenta plumas marrón acanelado, manchado en las alas y estriado en la cabeza, parte posterior del pecho y el cuello. Tiene una banda ocular negruzca y una superciliar blanca; el vientre es rojo ladrillo con unos pocos puntos en los lados y barras en flancos.
En la época no reproductiva, el dorso es gris pardusco y el vientre blanco con algunas barras oscuras en los flancos.
#############
The short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus),
is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, and northern South America. It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during the snow-bound months.This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion
##################
Lugar de Observacion / Taken: Minas de sal, Salinas de puerto Hermoso, peravia, Republica Dominicana.
##################
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Suborder:Scolopaci
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Limnodromus
Species:L. griseus
Binomial name
Limnodromus griseus
costureras-5769
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Yep, more cub shots - I can't resist them!
_____________________________________________
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES @ tickspics.com
"the experiences, the places, the species and more ....."
_____________________________________________
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
This is the female cheetah Kisaru, daughter of Amani, the one that they were calling 'supermum' in the Mara North Conservancy. We were actually very lucky to see her because later in the day she moved north crossing the border into Lemek. It's very rare to see a cheetah with six cubs and, even if you do, it's difficult to get a shot of them all together. In fact I never did as this photo shows as there was always one that wouldn't co-operate. In fact the only reason that these five are staying so close to mum is because they're anxiously looking towards three male lions that are heading in their direction. It was a nervy time for all concerned, but that's a story for another day. Fortunately the situation didn't develop, but that's not to say that the family didn't have an even more traumatic experience later in the morning! I shall comment on that later.
____________________________________________________
This photo was taken very early in the morning, just before 6.30am in poor light, which unfortunately didn't allow for a greater DoF.
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
This is Kweli with two of her three cubs that are now just over 4 months. Kweli had her first litter early during mid 2020 when she was barely two years old. At the time she was seen with two small cubs, but sadly both were lost. In June last year she had another litter. Reports confirm that she had five cubs but one, possibly more, were killed by a buffalo. By the beginning of July she only had one and, soon after, that one was lost as well in circumstance unknown. There were originally four in this litter and I’m not sure what happened to the other, but the three we observed looked fit and healthy. At present, Kweli is proving to be a good mum in providing food and keeping the cubs safe, and hopefully by the law of averages these three may make it to adulthood.
Kweli was born mid 2018 to mother Amani (her fourth successful litter). She dispersed in October 2019 with her sister Kulete and brother Jasari. We were fortunate in seeing them that day so it was good to see her again with cubs of her own. Her sister Kulete also has two cubs that I believe were born at about the same time.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
A rare opportunity to get a head-on photo of one these beauties, rather than the usual bum shot as they turn and run.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Interestingly the Tawny didn't like the look of this little snake either. He tossed it up in the air a few times exactly the same as the Greater Spotted had done, but in the end flew off without it, which is rather strange.
Obviously Tawny Eagles are not specialist snake eaters like the Bateleur, Brown Snake-Eagle, Black-chested Snake-Eagle etc., but they are known for feeding on carrion. In Africa it's not unusual to see them on old kills together with vultures, albeit normally on the periphery of the action. In Afrikaans the name of this bird is 'Roofarend', which translates to 'Robber' which I suppose is exactly what it was doing here in taking the snake from the larger Greater Spotted Eagle.
The whole event with the Greater Spotted Eagle, which was initially accompanied by an immature bird, and this Tawny Eagle was really interesting to watch and made a nice change to the animal encounters.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
The incredible eye-sight, reactions and speed of a cheetah have to be seen to be believed. One minute Kisaru was happily dozing on a grass mound surrounded by her six playful cubs, and the next second she's spotted a scrub hare about 75m or so away and is up and chasing it. I wasn't expecting anything to happen and didn't even have time to pick up my camera. Fortunately though our guide had almost as quick reactions and the knowledge to know where she was likely to take the kill. Whilst this shot was always going to be my next in this series it's an appropriate image for 'World Cheetah Day'.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
The two Kiraposhe brothers - Milele and Mbili - roam a large territory in Mara North. Most of this area is wide open plains with only a few scattered trees or old stumps to break up the landscape. As they move around the area, they’ll stop at most of these features to leave their scent by spray-marking, and to ‘sniff the news’ in order to find out if another cheetah has visited the same spot. Whilst breeding males will defend a core territory their wider home range will almost certainly overlap with other cats. Marking territory boundaries is an important part of any cat’s daily routine.
Credit to Jake for the mags as tape idea (I think), for the handguard idea, for the drum mag idea and for the LAM, and to Beck for the shaded rails.
Done in PMG 0.6.
Not sure if this is MNC or not, still don't quite understand it fully, but got to this by accident so kept at it. Anyway:
-Brutal grip
-MPO-esque thingy
-Great big dual axe
-Copious gulleys and drainage to stop blood impairing grip
-Etc
To be honest the fact the axe has an M16 is just a bonus rather than the other way round :P.
And this one actually does have some benefits to being viewed in lightbox.
Enjoy :).
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
The female leopard Natito with her kill.
I'm not sure how many different leopards I've seen over the years, but it's a lot. However, although I've seen a couple feeding on a kill in a tree, this is the first time I've actually seen one on the ground carrying their prey.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
I wasn't going to post any of the shots from this particular sighting as they're not great because of the poor light, but this was our only encounter on this trip with arguably the most famous female cheetah in the Mara.
Her name is Amani, and even if she’s not the most famous or well known, she’s certainly the most successful in terms of being a mother as she’s now raised nine youngsters to independency from four litters between 2012 - 2018. Of particular note is Imani - the mother of Selenkei - from her first litter, the sisters Busara and Kisaru who were born in March 2016 - the latter being the current ‘supermum’ with six cubs, and the three subadults - one male and two females, recently named Jasiri, Kweli and Kulete - who dispersed at the end of October.
It wasn’t obvious at the time, but we later found out that Amani was pregnant when this photo was taken, so with any luck she should be giving birth again any time soon.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
This photo is of a lioness from the Cheli & Peacock Pride moving her four young cubs across the plain to a new location in order to protect them from the encroaching Serian Pride. Interestingly, both prides are controlled by the same males - the four 'Offbeat Boys', but that doesn't stop conflicts when members of the prides come in contact with each other. This mother was playing safe.
Missouri North Central 4485 is an old GP7 rebuild, originally out shopped from EMD in La Grange in May of 1953 as the Chicago & Northwestern 1658. In the 1980s, CNW rebuilt the unit and most noticeably chopping the high nose and reclassing it a GP7R to designate the improvements. This unit seems to have been working on this shortline since sometime in the mid 1990's, earning it's keep. I am unsure if it is still used to this day.
Chillicothe, MO.
04-19-23
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Here are three photos of the famous female called Amani, who is the most successful Cheetah mother in the Mara having raised nine youngsters to independency from four litters between 2012 - 2018. Of particular note is Imani – the mother of Selenkei - from her first litter, the sisters Busara and Kisaru who were born in March 2016 – the latter being the current ‘supermum’ with six cubs – and the three, as yet unnamed, subadults – one male and two females - who dispersed at the end of October. If I include Kisaru’s cubs, we saw and photographed eleven of Amani’s descendants during the course of our stay.
It was worth the freezing temperatures for light like this. Incidentally, I flew on 9M-MNC to Kuala Lumpur from LHR in 2014.
* Agujeta Piquicorta, Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) (Mnc)
*
La becasina piquicorta, costurera, o Agujeta Piquicorta
(Limnodromus griseus) es un ave limícola playera migratoria, de la familia Scolopacidae.
Migra entre Norteamérica, Centroamérica, las Antillas y Sudamérica, en hábitat muy variados, que van desde la tundra en el norte, hasta estanques y marismas en el sur, incluyendo playas arenosas, costas lodosas, manglares, lagunas y humedales de agua dulce. Abandonan completamente sus áreas de reproducción cubiertas de nieve durante el invierno del hemisferio norte y marchan al sur alcanzando desde la región del Caribe hasta Brasil.
Mide en promedio 28 cm de altura. Su pico es largo y recto, con una longitud entre 6,3 y 6,8 cm. En época reproductiva el dorso presenta plumas marrón acanelado, manchado en las alas y estriado en la cabeza, parte posterior del pecho y el cuello. Tiene una banda ocular negruzca y una superciliar blanca; el vientre es rojo ladrillo con unos pocos puntos en los lados y barras en flancos.
En la época no reproductiva, el dorso es gris pardusco y el vientre blanco con algunas barras oscuras en los flancos.
#############
The short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus),
is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, and northern South America. It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during the snow-bound months.This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion
##################
Lugar de Observacion / Taken: Parque nacional Monte Cristi, Republica Dominicana/ Monte Cristi National Park, Monte Cristi Province in the Dominican Republic
##################
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Suborder:Scolopaci
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Limnodromus
Species:L. griseus
Binomial name
Limnodromus griseus
ShortDW_W_MntCrti_IMG-3387
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
One of the two brothers - Milele or Mbili, never quite sure who is who despite seeing them a number of times before!
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
Female leopard (Natito), having just come down the tree she decides to go back up to retrieve her kill, which she then takes into undergrowth for her and her female cub (Ndoto).
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
I had mixed views about posting this image, but in a way it follows on from my previous photos of the female Topi and her newborn calf - although this was on a different day.
On this particular morning we'd spent the first hour of the day with two lionesses and their five cubs who are part of the Cheli Core Pride in Mara North Conservancy. As we were driving towards the pride at about 6.20am we passed a lone female Topi who was slowly moving away from the area where the lions were settled. All very sensible, except that the Topi didn't seem to be in any rush to reach the plain and the relative safety of being with the herd. Our guide thought that this was strange behaviour until he noticed that she'd already started to give birth. Looking through the binoculars we could see two small hoofs protruding from her rear end. Topi have the ability to stall a birth and that's exactly what this female had done.
Anyway, we drove on and had an enjoyable hour with the lion cubs who were play-fighting with each other while the two adults looked on.
Another vehicle drove up at 7.20am so we decided to move on and drive across the plain. As soon as we came out in the open we saw a Topi had just given birth. It was almost certainly the one we'd seen earlier as the herds were a fair way off. We drove over and I took my first photo at 7.27am. Just two minutes later and the mother was already leading the still very wobbly calf away. They reached the edge of the herd and I took a few more shots, the last one being at 7.35am. Our guide then informed us that he could see that one of the lionesses had sat up and was looking in our direction. She must have been half a mile away, but there was no doubt that she had her eye on an easy meal. The Topi mother spotted the danger and immediately tried to move further away, but the early birth and the presence of a newborn on the plain had also attracted the attention of a jackal. The jackal was trying to get to the baby so the mother had to keep chasing it off. The jackal didn't give up, so precious time was lost as the two of them ran round in circles. The baby was also running around because it was being chased by the jackal and with all the commotion it was obvious that this little one wasn't going to survive. The lioness was now on the move, slowly walking towards us. She wasn't in a hurry, because she knew that even if the jackal got hold of the calf she'd be able to get it. The minutes ticked by and the jackal was still running rings around the mother looking for an opening.
Well the inevitable happened as the lioness started to run. She caught the baby and that was it. She picked it up and started heading back to the pride. It was quite upsetting and, because we'd almost been there at the birth, I was reluctant to take a photo. I took a couple of quick shots as she was walking back. The time here is 7.55am. The baby had been in the world for no more than 45 minutes! And, what makes it more sad, is that a Topi only gives birth once a year to a single calf that she would have been carrying for eight months.
About half an hour later, our guide received a call from the other vehicle that had stayed with the pride. They said that the lioness took the calf back for the cubs. The other lioness wanted a share, but this lioness fought her off. This was a meal for the cubs and this is the 'circle of life' that goes on 24/7 across Africa, and indeed with all nature whether it's a spider eating a fly, a bear eating a salmon, or a carnivore eating its prey species.
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
There are only three or four resident prides in Mara North Conservancy. I believe this is currently the smallest but, in saying that, there are four experienced adult lionesses, one sub-adult male and seven cubs. They are a breakaway group known as the Acacia (Cheli Core) Pride. This is the only photo where I managed to get all the cubs in frame. I'm guessing that these two lionesses are their mothers, as the other two and the sub-adult male were laying alone out of shot. The pride males are the Offbeat Boys who spend their time between this pride and the larger Serian (Cheli Breakaway) Pride.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
The Olive Baboon is omnivorous and is able to find nutrition in any habitat. In this environment it can locate all sorts of food in the dry grass including seeds and various insects. I watched this large male for a good half an hour and during the whole of that time he was in deep concentration, never once lifting his head to check what was going on around him.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Kisaru's cubs were born sometime in July, so were between 3-4 months old when we saw them at the end of October. All six were healthy and full of mischief. It's very rare for a Cheetah to successfully raise more than three cubs to independency, but now (mid February 2020) as I post these images, I'm delighted to report that mum and all six youngsters are still reported to be doing well.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Interestingly, these mongeese (or mongooses if you prefer) were sharing a burrow complex with a family of Black-backed Jackals. It was rather amusing to observe as they'd scurry in through one entrance as a jackal pup would stick its head out of another to check what was going on. Clearly they had an arrangement that worked though as both families were coming and going, taking little interest what the other was doing. The only difference being that the jackals were quiet as they slipped in and out, whereas the mongeese would arrive like a bunch of lads coming home from a night out. Whilst the formal collective noun for a group of mongeese is a 'business' I think that a 'commotion' or 'disturbance' would be just as appropriate.