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Happy New Year to all Nature Lovers. A male Northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) was taking off in a classic style with wings fully spread in a downstroke move flashing out the metallic green colours under the Sun. The delightful backdrop Prime Bokeh made the full justification of the royal colours of the male. Pics was taken from Mangalajodi wetland in Odisha, India.
On Feb. 16, 1976, the Denver & Rio Grande Western assigned a six axle locomotive to work train No. 668, the Tintic Local out of Provo, Utah. Yard trackage in United State's Steel's limestone quarry at Keigley on Tintic Branch was poorly maintained. Rio Grande SD7 5300 had a tough time that day, and nearly derailed numerous times. The experiment was never repeated.
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 from 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 😊
A gull flying off into the sunset. La Jolla, California. Admittedly, more processing than I usually do, but I love that dream-like quality of the shot.
Had an amazing day at Ian Howells Wildlife Photography hide, his set up is first class and the birds visiting are spectacular, the highlight of course was this Goshawk, seen here interacting with a squirrel! The squirrel was looking for a fight but clearly no match and backed off! More photos of the coming days and take a look at my small video on Youtube youtu.be/_vpLNWLF09o
This dark, long-bodied diving bird floats low in the water with its thin neck and bill raised; perches upright near water with wings half-spread to dry. The Double-crested (which rarely looks noticeably crested in the field) is the most generally distributed cormorant in North America, and the only one likely to be seen inland in most areas
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day :).
Brown Falcon (Falco berigora) immature
When the young Brown took off it flew away from my position so I only managed the one in flight shot.
And now I am off to mow the lawns, we have a forecast of a lot of rain over the next few days so they need to be mowed today.
Collected items from the new Collabor88, which started yesterday, are on show today. First the new skin from Glam Affair that I showed you yesterday, and then this nice flyaway bobcut from Tableau Vivant and super-sexy new bikini from Blueberry.
-nhờ đi off lần này tui tìm đc ng tình bán bánh Crêpe cực kì đáng iêu =))))))))))
-OMG so yêu Nine :-x
Hello!
I would like to draw your attention to the following
I am Jack with my dog Pip
Marian has asked me to pass on that she is going hiking for a few days and will therefore not be on Flickr.
Thank you
Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)
Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen)
This Brown Falcon was being 'escorted off the premises' by the Maggies at Point Cook Coastal Park.
This is not the Norman mentioned in the previous photo description but another very cute draft cross type horse. We caught him having a marvelous roll in the snow and is shaking the extra off here. Sorry for the tight crop, but he was quite far away and there was another horse that wasn't adding to composition so I cut him out! LOL Have a great day everyone. We are expecting snow here later on I think. :)
A last look at one of the Tulips that brightened some dull days, and caught the sun when it shone... I enjoyed them so much I will have another go next year. They were nothing like the ones I ordered, but no less lovely for that.
Had a hard time leaving Texas because the clouds this morning had me mesmerized. I kept stopping and taking pictures as the greatest Artist/Creator of all showed off with a constantly changing cloudscape. This was down along the border on US-90, not much in the way of landscape, but who needs landscapes when the heavens play.
I've got some other interesting shots from this morning I'll be posting from time to time.
Here a link about this type of cloud formation, Thanks again Alex M
Undulatus asperatus: A new category of cloud.
www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/10/11/undulatus_as...
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*Minois* MarketPlace Sunlit Break
Backdrop, Background studio textures
Size 1024x1024
Red-collared Widowbird. The breeding male is jet black and develops a 20-centimeter floppy graduated tail and, in some areas, a crimson collar and/or crown. The female and non-breeding male has dark-streaked upperparts, pale unstreaked underparts, and a yellowish eyebrow and face, and lack the long tail. Pairs breed in open grassland, savanna, scrub, and cultivated areas. The species may flock, often with other seedeaters, and move locally when breeding is over.
Info source URL: ebird.org/species/recwid1
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Photo capture date & Location: 2017-11 Rietvlei Nature Reserve
"Cuando me refiero a encontrar a la persona indicada no me refiero a encontrar a alguien que resuelva mis problemas, ni que me sirva de muleta para cuando me sienta decaída. Tampoco me refiero a alguien que esté siempre pensando en mí, que me extrañe o que sienta que me necesita. Sino a encontrar a alguien que esté ahí, que comparta el tiempo conmigo ya que yo le compartiría el mío también. Alguien que sepa estar sin mí pero que prefiera estar conmigo, alguien que sienta y actúe pensando en un “nosotros” y no en un “tú” y un “yo” por separado. Alguien que me ame porque sí y no porque yo le ame"
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