winged beasts
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This Snowy Owl was sitting high in a tree when I spotted it. I no sooner got out of my car and began to focus my camera when it took off. I've seen many, many better shots of Snowy Owls in flight. I'm posting this one anyway, because I really like the way it shows that powerful wing and its feather details.
Please view Large.
Buff-winged StarfrontletBuff-winged Starfrontlets are appropriately named and have a conspicuous buff-colored patch on their wings. These hummingbirds are rather territorial and often pursue other hummingbirds in high chases, or guard flowers from others from a nearby perch. Buff-winged Starfrontlets inhabit dense cloud forests, elfin forests, and nearby shrubby areas. They are most often seen foraging low around forest borders where they primarily feed on nectar by hovering or briefly clinging to flowers.
ZĂŒchner, T., P. F. D. Boesman, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Buff-winged Starfrontlet (Coeligena lutetiae), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. doi.org/10.2173/bow.buwsta1.01
At Zero Loma Reserve - Ecuador
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© All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission. All rights reserved. Please contact me at thelma.gatuzzo@gmail.com if you intend to buy or use any of my images.
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Buff-winged Starfrontlets are appropriately named and have a conspicuous buff-colored patch on their wings. These hummingbirds are rather territorial and often pursue other hummingbirds in high chases, or guard flowers from others from a nearby perch. Buff-winged Starfrontlets inhabit dense cloud forests, elfin forests, and nearby shrubby areas. They are most often seen foraging low around forest borders where they primarily feed on nectar by hovering or briefly clinging to flowers.
Picture taken at Zuro Loma Birding.
Thanks a lot for your visits, comments, faves, invites, etc. Very much appreciated!
© All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission. All rights reserved. Please contact me at thelma.gatuzzo@gmail.com if you intend to buy or use any of my images.
My instagram if you like: @thelmag and @thelma_and_cats
La Ceja, Colombia; Central Andes; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Saltator atripennis
(Black-winged Saltator / Saltador de alas negras)
The Black-winged Saltator is a fairly common resident of humid montane forest on the west slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Colombia. It is more difficult to see than some other species of saltator, perhaps due to its preference for the canopy and its avoidance of clearings.
neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/...
During sunset, a cloud flew in in an amazing shape (a bird, a dragon, and maybe an angel ...)
A little understanding of the physics of cloud formation underscores the complexity of the atmosphere and sheds light on why predicting weather for more than a few days is such a challenge.
Six types of clouds you can see and how they can help you understand the weather.
1) Cumulus clouds - On a sunny day, rays warm the earth, which heats the air located directly above it. The heated air rises upward due to convection and forms cumulus clouds. These âgood weatherâ clouds are like cotton wool. If you look at the sky filled with cumulus clouds, you can see that they have a flat bottom, located at the same level for all clouds. At this altitude, air rising from ground level cools down to the dew point. It usually doesn't rain from cumulus clouds, which means the weather will be good.
2) Cumulonimbus clouds.
Small cumulus clouds do not rain, but if they grow and grow in height, it is a sign that heavy rain is coming soon. This often happens in summer when morning cumulus clouds turn into cumulonimbus during the day. Cumulonimbus clouds often have a flat top. Air convection occurs inside such a cloud, and it gradually cools until it reaches the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. At this moment, it loses its buoyancy and can no longer rise higher. Instead, it spreads out to the sides, forming the characteristic anvil shape.
3) Cirrus clouds form in very high layers of the atmosphere. They are smoky because they are composed entirely of ice crystals falling in the atmosphere. When cirrus clouds are carried by winds moving at different speeds, they take on a characteristic curved shape. And only at very high altitudes or at high latitudes, cirrus clouds give out rain that reaches the ground.
4) Stratus Clouds - A low-lying, continuous cloud sheet that covers the sky. Stratus clouds are formed by slowly rising air or gentle winds that cover the cold land or sea surface with moist air. Stratus clouds are thin, therefore, despite the gloomy picture, it is unlikely to rain from them, a little drizzle at most. Stratus clouds are identical to fog, so if you've ever walked in a mountainous area on a foggy day, you've been inside a cloud.
5) Lenticular clouds. Smooth and lenticular lenticular clouds form when air is blown up and over a mountain range, and as it travels over a mountain, the air descends to its previous level. At this time, it heats up and the cloud evaporates. But it can slip further, as a result of which the air rises again and forms another lenticular cloud. This can result in a chain of clouds extending far beyond the mountain range. The interaction of wind with mountains and other surface features is one of the many details that must be taken into account in computer simulations to obtain accurate weather predictions.
6) Kelvin - Helmholtz like a breaking ocean wave. When air masses at different heights move horizontally at different speeds, their state becomes unstable. The boundary between the air masses begins to ripple and form large waves, such clouds are quite rare.
The photo was taken in the city of Konakovo. Russia. On the banks of the Volga River.
La Ceja, Colombia; Central Andes; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Saltator atripennis
(Black-winged Saltator / Saltador de alas negras)
The Black-winged Saltator is a fairly common resident of humid montane forest on the west slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Colombia. It is more difficult to see than some other species of saltator, perhaps due to its preference for the canopy and its avoidance of clearings.
neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/...
-Henry David Thoreau
The elegant Great Egret is a dazzling sight in many a North American wetlands. Slightly smaller and more svelte than a Great Blue Heron, these are still large birds with impressive wingspans.
They hunt in classic heron fashion, standing immobile or wading through wetlands to capture fish with a deadly jab of their yellow bill.
Great Egrets were hunted nearly to extinction for their plumes in the late nineteenth century, sparking conservation movements and some of the first laws to protect birds. The Great Egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. Audubon was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers.
Not all young that hatch survive the nestling period. Aggression among nestlings is common and large chicks frequently kill their smaller siblings. This behavior, known as siblicide, is not uncommon among birds such as hawks, owls, and herons, and is often a result of poor breeding conditions in a given year.
Great Egrets fly slowly but powerfully: with just two wing-beats per second their cruising speed is around 25 miles an hour.
The oldest known Great Egret was 22 years, 10 months old and was banded in Ohio.
(Nikon D500, 300/4.0 + TC 1.4, 1/1600 @ f/7.1, ISO 220, Edited to Taste)
My under-wing pose and the last for now in this series folks.
Thank you all so very much for everything.
Wikipedia: The blue-winged pitta (Pitta moluccensis) is a passerine bird in the family Pittidae and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with three other pittas, the Indian pitta (P. brachyura), the fairy pitta (P. nympha) and the mangrove pitta (P. megarhyncha). A colorful bird, it has a black head with a buff stripe above the eye, a white collar, greenish upper parts, blue wings, buff underparts and a reddish vent area. Its range extends from India to Malaysia, Indonesia, southern China and the Philippines. Its habitat is moist woodland, parks and gardens and it avoids dense forest. It feeds mainly on insects and worms. It breeds in the spring, building an untidy spherical nest on the ground, often near water and between tree roots. A clutch of about five eggs is laid and incubated by both parents, hatching after about sixteen days.
Conservation status: Least Concern
La Ceja, Colombia; Central Andes; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Saltator atripennis
(Black-winged Saltator / Saltador de alas negras)
The Black-winged Saltator is a fairly common resident of humid montane forest on the west slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Colombia. It is more difficult to see than some other species of saltator, perhaps due to its preference for the canopy and its avoidance of clearings.
neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/...
Wikipedia: The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family (Recurvirostridae). The scientific name H. himantopus is sometimes applied to a single, almost cosmopolitan species. Alternatively, it is restricted to the form that is widespread in Europe, Asia and Africa, which equals the nominate group of Himantopus himantopus sensu lato (whereas the black-necked, H. mexicanus, and white-backed stilt, H. melanurus, both inhabit the Americas, and the pied stilt, H. leucocephalus, inhabit southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand). Most sources today accept 1â4 species. The scientific name Himantopus comes from the Greek meaning "strap foot" or "thong foot".
Conservation status: Least Concern
La Ceja, Colombia; Central Andes; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Saltator atripennis
(Black-winged Saltator / Saltador de alas negras)
The Black-winged Saltator is a fairly common resident of humid montane forest on the west slope of the Andes from southern Ecuador to northern Colombia. It is more difficult to see than some other species of saltator, perhaps due to its preference for the canopy and its avoidance of clearings.
neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/...
Oystercatcher on the wing and skimming the surface of the river. This bird had it's young tucked under the river bank just up from my position, I was able to get some shots as it kept returning to feed the chicks.
This female Red-winged Blackbird was busy moving between the cattails in the morning sunlight. Seen in the Hendrie Valley Sanctuary, part of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario.
(Agelaius phoeniceus)
Red-winged Blackbirds are ubiquitous in Florida wetland areas. They have a lot of interesting behaviors. They chase raptors from their territories, and both males and females share the burden of feeding their young. This one is a male, often calling and displaying their red shoulders. Females are as beautiful but not as striking, having more subtle coloration. (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Pyrginae, commonly known as spread-winged skippers, are a subfamily of the skipper butterfly family. The subfamily was established by Hermann Burmeister in 1878
Elanio ComĂșn, Black-winged Kite, Elanus caeruleus.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Northern Cape
South Africa