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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 😊
It's a pair of pink dumbbells that my wife got recently in order to build up muscle mass.
Smile On Saturday: "Display The D" theme
HSoS
:::: BIGGER ....is better for your eyes and soul...almost a MUST in this case!
:::: Latest!
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:: Think ................vert!, St-Bartélemy, Québec, Canada.(Archives)
Copyright © 2009 Gaëtan Bourque. All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal.
I think this flying creature is some very small Skipper, but as usual I'm not sure... Unfortunately this is the best picture I could take. And there is also a hidden spider... nature in spring )
Think I bought this in Nederland Co. Ammonites are perhaps the most widely known fossil, possessing the typically ribbed spiral-form shell as pictured above. These creatures lived in the seas between 240 - 65 million years ago, when they became extinct along with the dinosaurs.
I'm no wave expert, but two wave patterns seemed to be happening at once in the lake when I took this.
The winds were blowing basically left-to-right, and they seemed to be the source of the ephemeral blue waves on top.
The lake currents (it's basically a wide part of a river) were flowing right-to-left at the same time, and those waves are the steely-gray waves below the blue ones.
If you know wave behavior, I'd love to hear what you think about this.
No private group or multiple group invites please!
Ningún grupo privado o grupo múltiple invita por favor
Aucun groupe privé ou groupe multiple ne vous invite
Geen privégroep of meerdere groepsuitnodigingen alstublieft
Keine private Gruppe oder mehrere Gruppen laden bitte ein
Nenhum grupo privado ou grupo múltiplo convida por favor
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ENG: A visit to the documentation center "Topography of Terror" near Potsdamer Platz in Berlin Mitte. With a wonderful view of the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Documentation Center and the Martin Gropius Bau in the background.
Directly at the Niederkirchnerstraße two memorable historical things meet. On the one hand the Berlin Wall with its history and on the other hand the Topography of Terror.
The latter is a project in Berlin that has existed since 1987 to document and reappraise terror during the period of National Socialism in Germany, especially during the period of rule from 1933 to 1945.
GER: Zu Besuch im Dokumentationszentrum „Topographie des Terrors“ in der nähe des Potsdamer Platz in Berlin Mitte. Mit einem wunderbaren Blick auf die Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, dem Dokumentationszentrum und dem im Hintergrund befindlichen Martin Gropius Bau.
Direkt an der Niederkirchnerstraße treffen gleich zwei denkwürdige geschichtsträchtige Sachen aufeinander. Zum einen die Berliner Mauer mit ihrer Geschichte und zum anderen die Topographie des Terrors.
Letzteres ist ein seit 1987 bestehendes Projekt in Berlin zur Dokumentation und Aufarbeitung des Terrors in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus in Deutschland insbesondere während der Herrschaftszeit von 1933 bis 1945.
I think I have lived here before, now I'm finally back
This is where I belong
I have landed
Some might say it was a crash landing because of the speed it all had
It was swooosch all the way
Suits me perfectly
All the things Mark has to put up with
lol
😍😍😍
Think it may be ok for a closer look on a bright sunny early morning in 1969 in Denver of the waycar light local.
It amazes me to think that the subtle, slow moving and constant forces of nature are seemingly always at work. Take an old railway track like this one where the force of nature has bent and changed the shape of this railway track. Simply Amazing.
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© Bob Cuthill Photography - All rights reserved
This image may not be copied, reproduced, published or distributed in any medium without the expressed written permission of the copyright holder.
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But when you get behind the camera you can be involved without being on centre stage. I learned quickly that I could participate in the things I loved while taking pictures. Photography was my way of fitting in :-)
David Young
HPPT! Justice Matters! Indict Trump!
rose, little theater rose garden, raleigh, north carolina
Credits: freakylovesecondlife.blogspot.ca/2017/03/its-not-what-you...
Thank you to my model Souriny Dezno
When you think of Texas you think cowboys and cattle. But, the Lone Star state has some Texas size alligators as well at Brazos Bend State Park🐊🐊🐊
Keep a safe distance and keep the doggies on a leash to have a good time viewing these massive wild reptiles.
When visiting south Texas take care as alligators do thrive in country areas. We have a couple living in the lake by our house. Our neighbors had a massive one in their pond that had to be removed for obvious reasons.
Some people think Wood Storks are ugly. They resent how they move into the rookery and usurp the tree islands, crowding out the Great Blues and Anhinga who had settled in prior to this pushy intrusion. And that noisy sex that goes on all the time, that clashing of bills drawing attention to what, I should think we would all agree, be done in private, or at least in the darkness of night. Well, I for one am deeply offended. Yet, when I look at this bird, I can’t help but seeing its inner beauty. Yes, I’m a closet Wood Stork lover. There should be help for folk like me, but to hell I say, I’m coming out of the closet and will embrace my affliction without shame! (And, let me just add, this is no laughing matter.) (Mycteria americana) (Sony a9M3, 200-600 lens @ 394mm, 1/3200 second, f/6.3, ISO 640)
Nothing makes me think of winter more than what my family call “soft days”: days when the air is filled with that very light sprinkling of rain that almost floats through the air, softening the sharp edges of leaves and branches and muffling the sounds of footsteps on the footpath. Soft days leave little diamond like droplets on the backs of fallen rose leaves like this one I found on my front lawn one winter’s day in June five years ago (winter in the Southern Hemisphere is between June and August).
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 31st of January is "winter leaves", being the middle of winter in Europe. Of course that means it is the middle of summer where I live, so no winter leaves to photograph in the garden today! However, I have many examples in my archive and this one featuring rose leaves decorated in diamond like droplets on a soft winter day won out! I hope you like my choice for the theme, and it makes you smile!
I think this is an immature black-chinned hummingbird taking in some of the goodness from an ocotillo flower. Ocotillos are interesting plants. For a lot of the year they look like dead bundles of spiny sticks. This ocotillo was probably 10-15 feet (3-4m) tall, but they can grow up to 30 feet (10m) tall according to Wikipedia. After a rain the ocotillo leaf out with lush green foliage for a short while before they return to their leafless dead-looking state. In the springtime, they sport these lovely red flowers that attract the likes of this hummingbird. Note all the pollen on the bird's face.
shirt: e.k - karl sleeveless shirt (tmd july)
gloves: matova - zodiak gacha - arm wraps (epiphany july)
jeans: cordewa - male skinny jeans (man cave july)
sneakers: semller - worn canvas hi tops (tmd july)
pose: foxcity - solitude
A UPY GP15-1 passes the former site of Noble Street Tower as it shoves towards Ogilvie with coaches serviced at California Avenue. It's crazy to think that it's already been three years since the Panhandle lead in the foreground was last used.
Think this will be the last from West Burton, super falls, Turner sketched the falls on his tour of Yorkshire Dales
