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The snow has begun to fall this afternoon in central Illinois and it may be slowing traffic down, but it makes no difference to the trains. After waiting for a northbound CN train to cross the diamond at Tolono, these two trains got the signal to proceed, resulting in a short-term race just west of town. The autoparts train on the main (right side) quickly passed up local train D91 on the siding due to the siding's restricted speed.
Spring is finally here! Amusement park season has started!
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Unfortunately many people take using photos they found online very lightly and disregard (or are unaware of) the fact that most of it is copyright protected and using it may have conditions or be completely disallowed. Before you use my photos, I ask that you read my About page so that we're both on the same page and avoid all the headaches that result from license violations and copyright infringements.
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. -
When one beginning reaches it’s end, it is time for a new beginning.
(Title already used...)
This morning I returned to Start Point lighthouse on the South Devon coast and was rewarded with a pretty sunrise.
Capturing the lighthouse light on was a bonus.
This is the wall and fence that stops people walking around the lighthouse at Start Point - not much of a deterrent from what I could see. The Coast Path follows the headland around to the beautiful beach at Mattiscombe Sands.
© This photograph is copyrighted. Under no circumstances can it be reproduced, distributed, modified, copied, posted to websites or printed or published in media or other medium or used for commercial or other uses without the prior written consent and permission of the photographer
With steam blowin' and smoke flyin' 611 gets a move on out of the NCTM toward VMT in Roanoke in the pre-sunrise hours.
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 in 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 very thick fog to start the day. This umbrella user is perhaps waiting to see the view if the mists should part. (He will leave disappointed).
Pentax 35-105mm f/3.5
Non sempre l'orizzonte e' qualcosa di finito....Si puo' sempre guardare al di la', un po come la siepe leopardiana, oltre chje c'e'? Salpare dallo scoglio e mollare gli ormeggi, in fondo e' solo la convinzione da mettere in gioco!
Not
always the horizon seems determined.... you can always look
beyond, rather like the Giacomo Leopardi's hedge, do we go beyondi the hedge to see? To weigh anchor and pick up the moorings, at the bottom we must play on the convinction!
Here's a little Rollin' Stones to help start him up........
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGyOaCXr8Lw
The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval aviation services around the world.
The Avenger entered U.S. service in 1942, and first saw action during the Battle of Midway. Despite the loss of five of the six Avengers on its combat debut, it survived in service to become one of the outstanding torpedo bombers of World War II. Greatly modified after the war, it remained in use until the 1960s
There were three crew members: pilot, turret gunner and radioman/bombardier/ventral gunner.
( Info. according to Wikipedia)
Best experienced in full screen by pressing 'Z'
I am pleased to present a small aircraft album www.flickr.com/photos/120552517@N03/albums/72157655982947698
Thanks for your views.
~Christie
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Walt Disney World, Fla.
Morning dawns on Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Flame Tree BBQ seating area.
Get those ribs started. I'll be back.
from poet david whyte:
"start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take."
Last week I headed down towards the Harbour at Rose Bay, I was taken aback by this sensational Sunset over the city.
As I got closer, I soon discovered that I was not the only one to be mesmorised by this sky - about 20 local residents silently stood by on the usually deserted beach to witness this magical sight alongside me.
Explore, Interestingness: July 3rd 2007 @ #11
While it seems every man and his dog were up the S&C again, I decided on a more local outing. Not being arsed to have a full day out and seeing 419 was allocated to this, there was really only one option in my opinion. Having done my local spots to death with this train and still not succeeding with the sun, I travelled further up the coast for a more scenic, picturesque view. St Bees is the location and running 46 minutes early, 37419 heads north with the usual monthly 1q47 Derby-Carlisle test train. 37423 was on the rear. Had it been on time it would've been touch and go with the sun as a bank of cloud had started to roll in by then.
Now thats just about every 37 nailed on this train, all I need now is 37425 in it's Regional Railway's livery to complete the set!!
“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
L.M. Montgomery
I’ve just returned to Sydney from a beautiful few days camping in the country.
Unlike other Canola seasons the compositions to choose from were few and far between this year. With plenty of Canola I was left still-hunting for that ‘lone tree on a hill’ vista that I always crave.
I was standing beside this field of canola in the mornings fresh sharp air to see if there was anyway I could make a shot from this sole tree. With the sun quickly edging up to the horizon and my efforts failing to give me what I wanted I made the decision to start again and turn my focus to what mattered.
I unpacked my wide angle and changed my point of interest from the tree to the mornings beautiful sun. The result isn’t my usual style of image but I think it works...
View large and, as always, thanks for looking!
Taken from above Great Cove between the first and second Crinkle. Sun rising above a misty Great Langdale
Starting a new set today: autumn leaves that fell. What can a person do with leaves on the ground? Well, maybe more than what you'll see from me over the next few days, but you may find my offerings interesting.
As for this image, I didn't touch a thing. Somehow when I try to arrange a still life in nature, it never works: I can't duplicate the random chaos or patterns-within-chaos that occur naturally. My concoctions are always a little too perfect and artful, and I never like the results. I learned a long time ago to just go with what I find, the only changes being to occasionally remove a twig or use my hat to bend grasses away and out of the frame while I make the shot.
A friend sent me this quote recently and I think it applies not only to the coming series but to all creative endeavours...
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
Photographed in Jasper National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2012 James R. Page - all rights reserved.