Spar Spotting
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… these guys are not actually duking it out. They’re just staging a little demo for the benefit of the ladies, and the King of Bushy Park: we’re ready when you are – or will be soon enough :-)
During their rut, moose engage in sparring or practice fighting as well as full on antler clashes. These three pushed each other around for a bit, took a break, then reengaged.
Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska
Siskiyou Mountains – Jackson County – Oregon - USA
I came upon these two having a bit of a shoving match. I quickly changed my camera setting and got ready for the show. As it was early in the rut season, I was waiting for some real “blood and guts” fighting. After a few minutes of locking horns and pushing that reminded me of Greco Roman wrestling, the one on the right push the other down a small hill. They stood looking at each other for a moment and the looser came back up the hill and groomed the winner. Then they just started browsing some nearby oak leaves. I’m guessing since it was only early October and not a single doe was around, this was just a practice sparring session. I’m sure the encounter would have been much more intense if breeding rights were on the line.
Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)
USCGC Spar (WLB-206) is a United States Coast Guard Juniper-Class seagoing buoy tender home-ported in Duluth, Minnesota. Way over here lifting summer buoys.
Anolis carolinesis and Anolis sagrei are distinct species. Anolis carolinensis is native to the US, while A. sagrei is intruduced from Cuba. Both species use the same habitat, but A. carolinensis has taken up highter elevation (higher in the bushes), while A. sagrei is found more at ground level. It is a well known fact that close species often interbreed and produce viable offspring(i.e. Red Wolf and Coyote). This pair of sparring males appear to be the result of such interbreeding. They are green, but not as vividly so as the green anole. They have some markings and the crests on the neck and back of the brown anole. Their dewlaps are flame orange, like the brown anole, but without the yellow border, while the green anole displays with a bright pink dewlap. Their heads are more elongated than the brown anole, but shorter than the green. They are sparring over a female that only shows its long tail from under the fence.
Two male elephants playfully challenge each other in the cool evening air. Out of shot was a 3rd Bull who was obviously the referee :-)
Kwando Lagoon, Botswana
Olympus EM-1ii, M.Zuiko 300mm F4 Pro @F5.6, 1/400, ISO 2500
Here is one more shot of squabbling Starlings taken in my garden recently. They really do go at it hammer and tongs, and over the most trivial issues. These were scrapping over a few peanut fragments in a hollow log left over by my garden Badgers. My Mum used to call Starlings Sheppies, which is a known northern folk name (along with Shepster) from their habit of perching on the backs of sheep. And this week I have been watching Starlings doing just that. The original Old English name for this bird was "Stare" and from the eleventh century the "ling" part was added, but only for young birds of this species. The name Stare persisted in the literature until the late eighteenth century, after which the name Starling prevailed. Its scientific name Sturnus vulgaris translates as Common Starling, and it is still common (1.8 million pairs), but is red-listed because of a 53% population decline in Britain since 1995.
Two bulls (Cervus canadensis) play fighting. After a few minutes they were grazing on the grass with each other.
Maybe in a few years, these young Stags will have what it takes, to mess with the big boys. For now though, best stick with play fighting.
A pair of impala bucks (Aepyceros melampus) spar as the rising sun just appears over the horizon of a lush green savanna at the start of the rainy season. High clouds reflect the colour of the sun and a touch of mist appears in the distance. Grumeti Game Reserve, Serengeti, Tanzania. The foreground was pretty dark, so I had to hike the ISO to 1600 (more would have been even better) to keep up the shutter speed 1/200s and depth of field f7.1).
12.07/2017 www.allenfotowild.com
Two male elephants playfully challenge each other in the cool evening air. Out of shot was a 3rd Bull who was obviously the referee :-)
Kwando Lagoon, Botswana
Olympus EM-1ii, M.Zuiko 300mm F4 Pro @F5.6, 1/400, ISO 2500
A mono conversion of a previously uploaded color version. Kind of like how the ice seems to be floating on a bed of blackness
After a long drive on the way home from Atlantic Canada, we stopped for the night in a village along the St Lawrence in Quebec. Walking down to the shore and looking for something interesting to shoot at sunset was a bit of a bust as the sky was completely cloudless and gale force winds whipped ashore. This scene with the leading lines looked interesting but I was late in catching the setting sun in the lighthouse cupola. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the spars were used for but I'm pretty sure they were used to hold the marina docks off shore while still allowing them to rise and fall with the tide.
Engineering, old and new.
The "Jeanie Johnston" lies at its berth, beyond the Samuel Beckett Bridge, on the River Liffey, Dublin.
The Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava was completed in 2009.
The ship is only a few years younger, being a replica of the original three masted barque, which transported emigrants escaping the famines in the 19th century. Her her maiden voyage to Quebec was in 1848.