Strike A Pose!
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A Great Egret looks downstream as it rests on a branch near sundown on a recent evening at McHenry Dam State Park, Illinois.
Happy Wing Wednesday
This incredible super mummy and Sumatran Tiger is called Kirana. I'm sure those photographers who were regulars at Chester Zoo will know her fondly because she is a natural at posing. I rest my case!!
Kirana is now enjoying retirement at the Big Cat Sanctuary, Kent. She clearly enjoys attention though, even on a hot afternoon and from what I observed yesterday, has settled in really well.
A Tri-colored Heron recoils after a missed opportunity for a quick meal.
Thanks for your views and comments and have a great weekend!
Limpkin taken at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida in May 2019.
This wasn't our first visit to the reserve but it was our first walk along the Alligator Alley Trail which had previously been closed due to damage caused by Hurricane Irma in Sept 2017. It was also great to catch up with our friends Mark and Linda Schocken again.
Striated Fieldwren (Calamanthus fuliginosus)
Images today are from a visit to Truganina Park on this day in 2019.
As I wandered along the southern bank of Laverton I met Flickr mate and fellow birder Rodger www.flickr.com/photos/62434662@N05 with a couple of other birders who were on a Birdlife walk in the area. They told me they had heard a Fieldwren further along. Sure enough as walked I heard the call and was happy to see it pop up unto this branch and stay long enough for a couple of shots.
The flower these insects chose as a stopping place was less than two inches in diameter. At first glance, I thought the green bits on top of the flower were little bits of leaves. Upon further examination, I discovered they were insects. A quick dash up the stairs of my house allowed me to grab my camera, all the while whispering the mantra...'Don't move, don't move!' Imagine my surprise when I returned to find them still posing for me. Less than two minutes later, they hopped away. Whew!
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Gannet - Morus Bassanus
Bempton Cliffs
The gannets are large white birds with yellowish heads; black-tipped wings; and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, having a wingspan of up to 2 metres (6.6 ft). The other two species occur in the temperate seas around southern Africa, southern Australia and New Zealand.
Gannets hunt fish by diving into the sea from a height and pursuing their prey underwater. Gannets have a number of adaptations which enable them to do this:
no external nostrils, they are located inside the mouth instead;
air sacs in the face and chest under the skin which act like bubble wrapping, cushioning the impact with the water;
positioning of the eyes far enough forward on the face for binocular vision, allowing them to judge distances accurately.
Gannets can dive from a height of 30 metres (98 ft), achieving speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph) as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish much deeper than most airborne birds.
The gannet's supposed capacity for eating large quantities of fish has led to gannet becoming a description of somebody with a voracious appetite.
Gannets are colonial breeders on islands and coasts, normally laying one chalky, blue egg. Gannets lack brood patches and they use their webbed feet to warm the eggs. It takes five years for gannets to reach maturity. First-year birds are completely black, and subsequent sub-adult plumages show increasing amounts of white.
The most important nesting ground for northern gannets is the United Kingdom with about two thirds of the world's population. These live mainly in Scotland, including the Shetland Isles. The rest of the world's population is divided between Canada, Ireland, Faroe Islands and Iceland, with small numbers in France (they are often seen in the Bay of Biscay), the Channel Islands, Norway and a single colony in Germany on Heligoland. The biggest northern gannet colony is on Scotland's Bass Rock; in 2014, this colony contained some 75,000 pairs. Sulasgeir off the coast of the Isle of Lewis, St. Kilda, Grassholm in Pembrokeshire, Bempton Cliffs in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Sceilig Bheag, Ireland and Bonaventure Island, Quebec are also important northern gannet breeding sites.
Young gannets were historically used as a food source, a tradition still practised in Ness, Scotland, where they are called guga. Like examples of continued traditional whale harvesting, the modern day hunting of gannet chicks results in great controversies as to whether it should continue to be afforded exemption from the ordinary protection afforded to sea birds in UK and EU law". The Ness hunt is currently limited to 2,000 chicks per year, and dates back at least to the Iron Age. The hunt is considered to be sustainable, as between 1902 and 2003 Gannet numbers in Scotland increased dramatically from 30,000 to 180,000.
Population:
UK breeding:
220,000 nests
Get the Hell off my lawn.
Style Guide/Link to Salvage Station: Check it out here!
Mule deer in the yard. Deer didnt care about my dog, dog didnt care about the deer. Full frame. No crop. No post processing.
youtu.be/GuJQSAiODqI HMMM!
Am immature little blue heron strikes at a small fish, creating a really cool splash. The strike was successful!
Taken at Bunche Beach in Ft. Myers, Florida.
Thanks so much to everyone who takes the time to view, like or comment on my photos!
© 2019 Craig Goettsch - All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use without permission is prohibited
Strike a pose..
Portrait of a stunning Beaded Gecko (Lucasium damaeum) encountered active on an arid sandplain within the spectacular mallee country straddling the Vic/SA border in southern oz.
Looks like our reservoir is now frozen over. However, it is still a place that delivers marvellous opportunities for terrific compositions. This time in black & white.
Credits:
Hair - Stealthic - Embers
Necklace - Swallow - Savannah
Top - Bumblebee - Kristen
Jumpsuit - Bumblebee - Kristen
Shoes - Cult - Suzi
Backdrop - Foxcity - Illuminated
Pose - Foxcity - Spirited Away
I moved overseas a couple of times with work - sometimes you strike lucky, and sometimes you strike very lucky.
We managed to bag the rental of this just-refurbished 100 year old apartment in the Champel district of Geneva which came with original parquet floors, French-style doors, and what I seem to remember as a 12 foot curtain drop. The lift too was in the old open French style. We were lucky because plenty of Swiss were hankering after it, but the owner clearly decided the company I worked for had deeper pockets and would be a better credit risk.
This was taken in 2005 - not too long before we would up sticks again and move to the US Deep South. So out went the smart suits and ties, and in came the short sleeves and khaki slacks - much more my style.
Inevitably you adapt your lifestyle to a new environment and I did miss a lot of things about Switzerland, yet oddly the most enduring one was my daily commute on the number 3 trolley bus.
All credit to Mrs H for dressing the room.
Sorry, no trains in this one.
Taken with a borrowed Canon EOS 350D
8th May 2005