Kwadrat / Square (no portrait)
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Often seen in flocks with other species of duck such as Tufted Ducks. Will spend much of their time diving for food of which a large proportion of the diet consisting of plant material.
The western honey bee or European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name Apis is Latin for "bee", and mellifera is the Latin for "honey-bearing", referring to the species' production of honey.
Like all honey bee species, the western honey bee is eusocial, creating colonies with a single fertile female (or "queen"), many normally non-reproductive females or "workers", and a small proportion of fertile males or "drones". Individual colonies can house tens of thousands of bees. Colony activities are organized by complex communication between individuals, through both pheromones and the dance language. (Wikipedia)
MUCH TO SHOUT ABOUT, as one of the commonest and widespread birds in Britain, its easy going habits, found in all sorts of seemingly unlikely habitats, its diet switches from one that includes a significant proportion of insects to an almost strictly seed-eating regime. A female image can been seen by scrolling back a couple of images. Captured in my garden, in the rain.
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GOOD TO MEET fellow Flickr bird photographer's John, Dave, Paul and Nick at Sandwich today.
THANK YOU for your visit and kind comments, it is very appreciated, and find encouraging, do please stay safe and God bless.........Tomx
The red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. Red-shouldered hawks are permanent residents throughout most of their range, though northern birds do migrate, mostly to central Mexico. The main conservation threat to the widespread species is deforestation.
Males are 38 to 58 cm (15 to 23 in) long and weigh on average 550 g (1.21 lb). Females are slightly larger at 47 to 61 cm (19 to 24 in) in length and a mean weight of 700 g (1.5 lb). The wingspan can range from 90 to 127 cm (35 to 50 in). Adult birds can vary in mass from 460 to 930 g (1.01 to 2.05 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing bone is 28–35 cm (11–14 in) long, the tail is 16–24 cm (6.3–9.4 in) long and the tarsus is 7.5–9 cm (3.0–3.5 in).[6] Adults have brownish heads, reddish chests, and pale bellies with reddish bars. Their tails, which are quite long by Buteo standards, are marked with narrow white bars. Red "shoulders" are visible when the birds are perched. These hawks' upper parts are dark with pale spots and they have long yellow legs. Western birds may appear more red, while Florida birds are generally paler. The wings of adults are more heavily barred on the upper side. Juvenile red-shouldered hawks are most likely to be confused with juvenile broad-winged hawks, but can be distinguished by their long tails, crescent-like wing markings, and a more flapping, Accipiter-like flight style. In direct comparison, it is typically larger and longer proportioned than the Broad-wing, though is slightly smaller and more slender than most other common North American Buteos. This bird is sometimes also confused with the widespread red-tailed hawk. That species is larger and bulkier, with more even-sized, broad wings and is paler underneath, with a reddish tail often apparent. The Red-tail is also more likely to soar steadily, with wings in a slight dihedral.
Los Angeles. California.
Thanks to donnacurrall for suggesting this. So far (on Facebook) preference for unclipped wings is more than double that for clipped.
Just to be clear - these are two separate shots of the same aircraft, taken about a year apart, during which interval the detachable wingtips were reattached. Removing the wing tips gives increased manoeuvrability at lower altitudes at the expense of performance at higher levels. Generally, Spitfire aficionados prefer to see full wing tips, but it is possible that a significant proportion of Spitfires flew without them as the war progressed and the air war was conducted at lower altitudes.
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage"
Anaïs Nin
"La vie se rétrécit ou s'agrandit proportionnellement à son courage"
Barcelona
"La proportion, c'est le coeur de la beauté."
Ken Follett
Thank you very much for your comments and for your faves.
(Please do not use without my written permission.)
Artistes : CALIGR, DJALOUZ & PESCA
Die zwischen 1133 und 1172 erbaute ehemalige Abteikirche der gleichnamigen Benediktinerabtei, von keinerlei späteren Umbauten beeinträchtigt und im Zweiten Weltkrieg fast unversehrt geblieben, zählt mit ihren klassischen Proportionen zu den bedeutendsten Zeugnissen romanischer Baukunst in Deutschland. Text stammt aus: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilika_St._Godehard_(Hildesheim)
A high proportion of my Western Meadowlarks are singing from fence posts, so it was gratifying to find one by the roadside, perched on a little pile of debris. This is a common bird in my area throughout spring and summer - one of the first migrants to return, a harbinger of spring. And its song is very sweet, rivalled, perhaps, only by the Bobolink's.
(My apologies to anyone who faved the White-crowned Sparrow that I uploaded earlier in this spot and have now removed. A clerical error; I had already shared it, 4 years ago. You can find it in my Best of 2017 album.)
This ends my "farewell to the birds of summer" series. Tomorrow I will begin posting more recent images. October was a busy month, lots of wildlife coming up so stay tuned!
Photographed from the rolling red Toyota blind in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
A good proportion of the railways of Rajasthan are flat and direct (to my surprise in my ignorance), and the last remaining metre gauge line in this part of the state proved to be no exception.
Seen here, at an ungated road crossing just south of Sonthaliya, is North-Western Region liveried Alco YDM4 unit 6651 hauling the 10.30 Sikar - Jaipur Junction (train 19736) in some pleasantly clear light.
Out of shot is the policeman assigned to "guard" the crossing and whose job is to ensure there are no obstructions, or foul play, preventing the train making a safe passage. It makes a pleasant change to frame a shot to include telegraph poles and wires - whether they survive the line's conversion to broad gauge remains to be seen.
16th March 2016
The boat is a large when it's on dry land, but small when in a large lake, surrounded by large hills and trees. Our view from our camping spot this past weekend.
Kenya
The serval cat is from Africa where tall grass and bushes can camouflage this tall cat allowing it to sneak up on its prey. They are known to resemble cheetahs but have shorter tails than their larger cousins. They typically hunt where they can hide and stay near water. In the wild, they are solitary and cover a home territory of four to 12 square miles.
Having the longest legs of any cat (in proportion to their bodies), servals are agile jumpers as well as experienced diggers. They can catch birds over nine feet in the air and dig a couple of feet into the ground to get under a fence.
Tawny Owl - Strix Aluco
The tawny owl or brown owl (Strix aluco) is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants. The nest is typically in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators. This owl is non-migratory and highly territorial. Many young birds starve if they cannot find a vacant territory once parental care ceases.
This nocturnal bird of prey hunts mainly rodents, usually by dropping from a perch to seize its prey, which it swallows whole; in more urban areas its diet includes a higher proportion of birds. Vision and hearing adaptations and silent flight aid its night hunting. The tawny owl is capable of catching smaller owls, but is itself vulnerable to the eagle owl or northern goshawk.
Although many people believe this owl has exceptional night vision, its retina is no more sensitive than a human's and its asymmetrically placed ears are key to its hunting by giving it excellent directional hearing. Its nocturnal habits and eerie, easily imitated call, have led to a mythical association of the tawny owl with bad luck and death.
Population:
UK breeding:
50,000 pairs
First B/Cap of 2022
Blackcap - Sylvia Atrcapilla (M)
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) usually known simply as the blackcap, is a common and widespread typical warbler. It has mainly olive-grey upperparts and pale grey underparts, and differences between the five subspecies are small. Both sexes have a neat coloured cap to the head, black in the male and reddish-brown in the female. The male's typical song is a rich musical warbling, often ending in a loud high-pitched crescendo, but a simpler song is given in some isolated areas, such as valleys in the Alps. The blackcap's closest relative is the garden warbler, which looks quite different but has a similar song.
The blackcap feeds mainly on insects during the breeding season, then switches to fruit in late summer, the change being triggered by an internal biological rhythm. When migrants arrive on their territories they initially take berries, pollen and nectar if there are insufficient insects available, then soon switch to their preferred diet. They mainly pick prey off foliage and twigs, but may occasionally hover, flycatch or feed on the ground. Blackcaps eat a wide range of invertebrate prey, although aphids are particularly important early in the season, and flies, beetles and caterpillars are also taken in large numbers. Small snails are swallowed whole, since the shell is a source of calcium for the bird's eggs. Chicks are mainly fed soft-bodied insects, fruit only being provided if invertebrates are scarce.
In July, the diet switches increasingly to fruit. The protein needed for egg-laying and for the chicks to grow is replaced by fruit sugar which helps the birds to fatten for migration. Aphids are still taken while they are available, since they often contain sugars from the plant sap on which they feed. Blackcaps eat a wide range of small fruit, and squeeze out any seeds on a branch before consuming the pulp. This technique makes them an important propagator of mistletoe. The mistle thrush, which also favours that plant, is less beneficial since it tends to crush the seeds. Although any suitable fruit may be eaten, some have seasonal or local importance; elder makes up a large proportion of the diet of northern birds preparing for migration, and energy-rich olives and lentisc are favoured by blackcaps wintering in the Mediterranean.
The German birds wintering in British gardens rely on provided food, and the major items are bread and fat, each making up around 20% of the diet; one bird survived the whole winter eating only Christmas cake. Fruit is also eaten, notably cotoneaster (41% of the fruit consumed), ivy and honeysuckle, and apple if available. Some birds have learned to take peanuts from feeders. Blackcaps defend good winter food sources in the wild, and at garden feeding stations they repel competitors as large as starlings and blackbirds. Birds occasionally become tame enough to feed from the hand.
Aristotle, in his History of Animals, considered that the garden warbler eventually metamorphosed into a blackcap. The blackcap's song has led to it being described as the mock nightingale or country nightingale. Verga's 1871 novel Storia di una capinera, according to its author, was inspired by a story of a blackcap trapped and caged by children. The bird, silent and pining for its lost freedom, eventually dies. In the book, a nun evacuated from her convent by cholera falls in love with a family friend, only to have to return to her confinement when the disease wanes. The novel was adapted as films of the same name in 1917, 1943 and 1993. The last version was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and its English-language version was retitled as Sparrow. In Saint François d'Assise, an opera by Messiaen, the orchestration is based on bird song. St Francis himself is represented by the blackcap.
Folk names for the blackcap often refer to its most obvious plumage feature (black-headed peggy, King Harry black cap and coal hoodie) or to its song, as in the nightingale names above. Other old names are based on its choice of nesting material (Jack Straw, hay bird, hay chat and hay Jack). There is a tradition of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm bases being named for birds. A former base near Stretton in Cheshire was called HMS Blackcap.
Population:
UK breeding:
1,200,000 territories
UK wintering:
3,000 birds
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) at Federation Square houses Australian art. It is the largest collection in Australia, though only a small proportion of the collection is on display at any one time.
The courthouse in downtown Red Lodge Montana, designed by Butte architect P. J. Donahue , was built in 1899 to replace its predecessor that had been destroyed by fire. Situated at the busy northern end of the commercial district, the building today provides an excellent example of restrained, classically proportioned public building design. When foundation settling after construction produced a wide crack on the northeast wall, fear of collapse caused rapid evacuation of the courtroom on several occasions before it was stabilized in the 1940s. Despite numerous alterations and additions, the courthouse retains its prominence as a sturdy reminder of the town’s role as the political and economic center of Carbon County and its ranching and mining communities.
This façade in Bari captures the quiet dignity of southern Italian street architecture: a weathered ochre wall, timeworn plaster peeling like a historical patina, and a robust arched wooden door framed in pale stone. The architectural style blends vernacular Mediterranean elements with Baroque-era influences typical of Puglia—thick masonry to insulate from heat, rounded arches for structural strength, and restrained ornamentation that favors proportion over extravagance. The small barred window above hints at centuries-old urban layouts designed for privacy, security, and climate control.
Bari itself is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the Adriatic coast. From its origins as a Peucetian settlement through Roman rule, Byzantine control, and later Norman influence, the city absorbed layers of power and culture that shaped its urban identity. The historic core, Bari Vecchia, still preserves the tight network of streets that once protected residents from invaders, pirates, and rival powers. This façade could easily belong to one of those homes that have witnessed crusaders departing for the Holy Land and merchants trading across the Adriatic.
Today, Bari stands as a strategic economic hub of southern Italy. Its port drives commerce with the Balkans, Greece, and the wider Mediterranean, while logistics, food processing, and services dominate the local economy. The city also benefits from a strong academic presence through the University of Bari, and an expanding tourism sector drawn by its historic center, seaside promenades, and regional authenticity. It is a working city, not a museum—practical, commercial, and stubbornly rooted to its daily rhythms.
Culinary tradition is one of Bari’s strongest cultural signatures. The region is famous for orecchiette pasta, often handmade right in the streets of Bari Vecchia and served with cime di rapa, anchovies, or tomato. Fresh seafood, raw fish traditions, focaccia barese with cherry tomatoes and olives, and generous use of extra-virgin olive oil define the local table. Food here is not performance—it is inheritance, routine, and identity, much like the worn stones and wooden doors that quietly anchor the city’s visual memory.
RX_01863_20240502_Bari
Auschwitz II-Birkenau gatehouse; the train track, in operation May–October 1944, led directly to the gas chambers.
Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz complex. During its three years of operation, it had a range of functions. When construction began in October 1941, it was supposed to be a camp for 125 thousand prisoners of war. It opened as a branch of Auschwitz in March 1942, and served at the same time as a center for the extermination of the Jews. In its final phase, from 1944, it also became a place where prisoners were concentrated before being transferred to labor in German industry in the depths of the Third Reich.
The majority—probably about 90%—of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau. This means approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine out of every ten, were Jews. A large proportion of the more than 70 thousand Poles who died or were killed in the Auschwitz complex perished in Birkenau. So did approximately 20 thousand Roma and Sinti, in addition to Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities.
A left over Christmas decoration silhouette still remains in May. I have yet to be in the area during the season to see it illuminated. I bet it's both stunning and very distracting on the side of a rural road.
The little globe is about 10 cm in diameter. That works out to about 31.4159 cm circumference or .314159 meter. According to google, Earth's circumference at the equator is about 40,075.017 km, in the neighborhood of 127,562,848.7 times bigger than this tiny thing. That works out to a earth to globe ratio of something like 1.28x10^8:1 Someone correct me if my calculation is wrong. Enjoy creating on Flickr Friday and thanks for any views, faves, and comments.