View allAll Photos Tagged youngish
Rain! I felt so happy as I looked around that I almost missed this Cooper's or Sharpie on a stick intent on dining on one of the little birds. (Looks as if its gape flange is still youngish)?
Feel free to ID. I lack the knowledge of birders. I'm just happy to see a bit of rain.
Thanks for your comments.
850mm on Jobu-Design gimbal head on heavy duty tripod—try dragging that to the deck blind before coffee!
It seems all that a bear needs is one good tree to shimmy up if he feels the need. I think this is a youngish black bear who I found up in a tree this morning midway down the hill from my house, probably 20 feet up. I had the advantage of being uphill and not too far away, but please know that I was in a completely safe position with a little barn a few feet away. I would never stick around and try to photograph a bear without complete access to safety!
If anyone has feelings about the age, I am very interested to know what they think. I did see a small cub and mother back in the beginning of June. This bear does not seem to have any adult around him.
I hope all are well and enjoying the summer's end. Thank you for any comments and taking the time to stop by!
from this vantage point it's not hard to slip back in time 900 years. a youngish. noble woman standing in the trees looking at the castle in all its wonderful glory.
♂︎ Common Kingfisher / Eisvogel (Alcedo atthis)
This was a very grey morning, but regardless of the weather, a Kingfisher always brightens the mood. I watched this youngish male characteristically darting across the pond a few times before coming to rest on a perch in front of me. No fish this time, but a magical viewing nonetheless.
What I think was a youngish red wattlebird flew into the gum tree very close to me! A nice surprise after an unsuccessful hour in the park where very few birds ventured out.
Happy Wing Wednesday!
This youngish looking Red Fox was waiting for the hare (see post to the left) which chose the lesser of two evils and ran back towards my camera.
This was a long shot.
Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)
I came upon these two youngish bucks during rut a few years ago. Without a doe anywhere in sight they did a little friendly sparring for what I can only assume was practice and perhaps venting a little testosterone build up. After a few minutes of wrestling the downhill looser spent a moment or two grooming the victor.
Siskiyou Mountains - Jackson County - Southern Oregon
Praying Mantis
This "youngish' Mantis played a game of hide and seek with me today. I finally got the shot!
Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)
I came upon these two youngish bucks during rut a few years ago. Without a doe anywhere in sight they did a little friendly sparring for what I can only assume was practice and perhaps venting a little testosterone build up. After a few minutes of wrestling the downhill looser spent a moment or two grooming the victor.
Siskiyou Mountains - Jackson County - Southern Oregon
A youngish White Faced Heron looking straight down the barrel. It was amazingly tame and I was able to get remarkably close to it - or more to the point, it came quite close to me to check me out!
I found this youngish grizzly near the Highwood Pass summit in Kananaskis Country in Alberta. I am pretty sure she is the same one that bluff charged me last year.
Both saddlebags species have been a bit scarce this year. This youngish male posed at the very wet wetlands yesterday. We had two more t-storms move through late in the afternoon, and another early this morning. More coming today - especially in the mountains. When it rains this summer, it's never a shower. Rather, it rains in buckets - a deluge! At least they've officially announced that last summer's drought is over - duh.
Have a good Friday!
I think it's youngish ... maybe a yearling. Lots of MB activity in the back yard this winter. Very little else.
A muddy youngish elephant flaps its huge ears at the camera during a recent trip to Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. The mud bath and the ear flapping helps to cool the huge animal down in the hot sun.
Our first and only relatively close view of a wild stag with his harem was this youngish one with fairly insignificant and damaged antlers; he seemed to be trying to make up for it with noise.
I thought I had missed him roaring on this rock, but must have pressed the shutter as I was lifting the camera to my eye, luckily catching a single shot of the roar in progress.
This Yellow-crowned Night Heron appeared to me to be a youngish bird and the way it was hunting, I thought it was going after small, easily handled prey. So I was unprepared when it came up with one of the larger blue crabs I have seen plucked from Horsepen Bayou, then immediately bolted for the shoreline to landlock its catch.
A relatively uneventful photography trip that night in Manchester changed when we got to Piccadilly station. The calm (even in the creepy car park and on the darker streets outside the centre) disapated when suddenly, in the space of about 10 minutes:
- We were told off for a security guy
- I was frightened by two youngish guys who were VERY high
- We were nearly run over by a tram.
I think I prefered the quiet.
-
When you change your point of view things and people begin to look different. Antinous (Hadrian's lover) almost switches from being youngish and loveable to someone angry and perhaps aggressive - when looking at him from below. Done with a new lens (Sony FE 1.8/85) and Sony A7iii.
...around 12.30...and don't be late.
You can tell it's raining yet again,when l'm having to dig through old archive shots...l think this shot was taken around 2009 when l was still youngish...However, l do love the composition and colours in this one.
Looking great in fresh paint, veteran S317 leads container train 1845 through Lithgow past the last-built member of the 81 class, 8184, in October 2015.
Streamlined bulldog and good looker S317 was about to turn 54 years old, while functional 8184, the newest of its class, was a youngish 24. The first of each class entered service in 1957 and 1982 respectively. 8184 was one of four additional 81 class built several years after the rest.
254012 (43078 or 43079) drifts through York on the now long gone through line with a northbound East Coast Main Line express, 29th May 1978. A bunch of youngish trainspotters look on noting down its passing dressed in some typical late 1970’s fashion.
Praktica LTL, Ektachrome 200
Tagged by Kotomi
16 things about me:
1: I was born in 1976 in Hungary, Budapest.
www.flickr.com/photos/janosgaborvarga/3070108799/in/set-7...
2: I grew up in the city then the family moved out into the outskirt where I met the countryside. As a child, teenager I was passionate for animals and bird watching and biology.
3: Then I started to be interested in animal breeding and farming. I studied animal breeding in a college and later agronomy at the university.
4: In the same time I got keen on ethnography and I wanted to know and experiance the traditional, ancient ways of farming. I started my research on traditional animal breeding and most of all on traditional animal/human healing, beliefs and magia, let's call it "ethnomedicine". For over 10 years I worked on this topic. Every summer I travelled abroad, in Romania, Ukraina or Slovakia or just in Hungary to do my fieldwork on ethnomedicine. My method was: I looked for work at the (very) rural regions. For my work I asked a place to sleep, food and the patience for asking strange questions all the time. For sheperds, herdsmen I milked, for farmers I scythed grass or whatever was the seasonal job.
I wrote some articles and a book on ethnoveterinary.
5: During the university for some years I created home made fire arms they worked with firework rockets. That was my first experiance with metalwork..
I wrote a second book on urban ethnomedicine.
www.flickr.com/photos/janosgaborvarga/2600582700/
6: When I finished the university I left Hungary for England. I spoke little English so all I did before wasn't useful anymore. First I worked as a milker for a herd of cows then I worked for an exellent cheese factory for two years.
www.flickr.com/photos/10924317@N03/
7: As I couldn't create or explain myself well enough through the language anymore, I turned to nonverbal art: jewellery. I built up my first proper workshop in England and I sold my pieces in local galleries. I joined an evening class of jewellery making in Brighton.
8: After nearly 3 years I decided to leave England for Italy. I came to Genova first to meet a professor of ethnomedicine, and I found Genova the right place for me. I sold what I had in England and I took a flight after half a year of my first visit in Italy. A one way ticket :)
www.flickr.com/photos/janosgaborvarga/3107841725/sizes/s/...
9: I didn't speak any Italian so it was hard to start a new life from zero. I spotted a lovely small village near to Genova, in the mountains. It is in the "Valley of Milk" and I heard that they have a historical silverwork tradition, the filigree. I thought it's my place. I ended up again as a milker, goat herd, cheese maker and forest worker. For two years or so. Where there is a little milk, usually I can survive. In the main time I built up my new workshop and as soon as it was possible I left the farm and became a full time jeweller. Now I live in this village, Campo Ligure.
www.flickr.com/photos/janosgaborvarga/570662280/in/set-72...
10: I love to check out old barns for farmer tools. I love the shine/patina of them, and I am mad about the smell of iron.
11: I love old towns and I get excited in lanes.
12: I have a cat, her name is Kissa. I like cats, like most jewellers.
13: I love sauna. There is not many here..
14: When I will get older I want to design lingerie.
15. When I will get even older I want to be a sculptor and potter.
16: Untill I am still youngish, I would love to teach jewellery. Maybe one day..
This photo spans an area from Mare Cognitum (in the upper left) to the Southern Highlands (in the lower right) along the lunar terminator. It includes much of Mare Nubium and the show-stopping beauty of Bullialdus Crater.
I often find themes for my discussions of my moon photos. For this one, I choose three: “Contrast”, “Deep Time”, and “Treasure Hunt”.
The simplest of these is Contrast. There are many examples of contrast here. What examples do you see? Of course, there is a broad range of brightness across the image, with deep darks in the lower left, brighter gray tones in the upper right, and near whites on high points that catch the rising sunlight most directly. Along the day-night terminator the lightest and darkest tones are closest together, where they emphasize the ruggedness of the terrain. The contrast between the overlapping craters of the Southern Highlands and the plains of Mare Nubium is also compelling. And then there is the contrast in the age of the craters. Most of the craters here are incredibly old – worn and flooded, many buried altogether. Bullialdus stands out as strikingly different. How so?
In Bullialdus Crater, we see a classic example of an Eratosthenian Period crater. What does that mean? To address that, we come to the second and most profound theme for this image, “Deep Time”. At first glance, Eratosthenian Period craters appear relatively young. Like Bullialdus, their crater walls are terraced and sharply defined, with some evidence of slumping. The central peaks are evident and stand tall above the crater floor. The outer walls or ramparts appear thick. They rise high above the surrounding terrain. Closer examination of the outer walls shows them to bear evidence of materials that flowed outward from the crater, burying the original terrain in radially spreading hills and hummocks. Chains of craterlets dot the area, also in a radial pattern of dispersion, where larger chunks of ejected material created new craters upon re-impacting the Moon. So, what then separates Eratosthenian Period craters from even younger craters such as Copernicus or Tycho? First and most evidently, systems of rays. Younger, Copernican Period craters sit at the centers of bright, light-colored systems of ejecta rays. Eratosthenian Period craters pretty much have none. Rays are made of light-colored material dug from deep below the lunar surface and sprayed across hundreds, even thousands of miles of the Moon’s face. Over time, this material darkens to match the rest of the lunar surface, a consequence of hundreds of millions to billions of years of weathering due to solar radiation and micrometeorite bombardment. A second differentiator between Eratosthenian Period craters and younger craters is secondary cratering. Younger craters have (as yet) been spared disfiguration by more recent impacts. Here, the wonderful outer rampart of Bullialdus is marred at the four o’clock position by a younger crater, Bullialdus A. It takes a great deal of time before another large impactor to draws a bead on the area occupied by a previously gouged crater. Given enough time, it happens. Bullialdus has been around long enough to have suffered that fate.
There is no way to escape consideration of “deep time” when contemplating the Moon. Eratosthenian Period craters like Bullialdus look youngish, like middle-aged features, ones that are “mature” but “still in their prime”. On the Moon those terms describe craters that formed between 1.1 and 3.4 billion years ago. That’s a long time ago. On Earth, the Eratosthenenian Period corresponds to an era beginning when single-cellular lifeforms were dominant, extending through the emergence of photosysnthesis and later sexual reproduction, and ending with the proliferation of multicellular organisms. Take a minute and let that sink in.
Enough navel-gazing. Let’s turn to other things in this photo that I find kind of cool. To the right of Bullialdus lies an oddly shaped, non-round crater. It’s a compound crater that looks somewhat like a heart. This is Wolf Crater. In certain lighting conditions, the heart shape is pronounced, and it draws the eye. Below Bullialdus, just right of center is a round crater with a lava filled basin, no central peak, low walls that barely rise above the terrain of Mare Nubium, and an unusual teardrop southward extension. This is an old crater. It looks to me like a keyhole, which is a useful mnemonic for its name: Kies Crater. Kies Crater is also old. It clearly predates the formation of Mare Nubium, for it is all but buried by the lava flood that filled the basins of Mare Nubium. A look around Mare Nubium reveals a great many craters that have suffered such inundation. To the left of the teardrop feature of Kies a smallish mound is visible, due to the low angle light. This is a landmark named Kies Pi. It is not conspicuous, but it merits a close look. You might spot a small crater or depression on its peak. If you spot it, congratulations! You are looking down the throat of a lunar volcano. The ‘crater’ on top is a volcanic caldera. I speak often of lunar lava flows; here is one of the contributory sources for the lava that flooded this part of the Moon. Below Kies Crater and Kies Pi volcano we come to a line of cliffs and ridges that mark the boundary of Mare Nubium. These cliffs, known as Rupes Mercator, are punctuated by a pair of similarly sized and shadow-bound craters: Mercator on the right, and Campanus on the left. As Mercator lies closer to the rising sun, a portion of its floor is illuminated, and contrasts with the remaining shadows cast by the crater’s eastern rim. Below the ridges of Rupes Mercator and these two craters like another small region of mare material. This is no major feature, but it may have found its time: this is Palus Epidemiarum, the “Marsh of Epidemics”. Who calls things that?!?!
By now you probably have noticed the long crack that runs across Palus Epidemiarum, Rupes Mercator and Mare Nubium, from the terminator in lower center and extending to the middle right margin of this photo. That crack is Rima Hesiodus. At the right edge of the image, Rima Hesiodus tangentially connects to the rim of the crater for which it is named, Hesiodus Crater. If you find that, note the small crater that lies on the lower edge of Hesiodus. You might see that this crater has another crater rim concentric to its main rim. This crater, Hesiodus A is famous for being one of a small set of craters that look like bullseyes, perfect double-tap impacts drilled into the Moon’s face. Again, the deep time issue rears up. How long would you have to wait for something like that to occur at random!
OK. Enough. I mean really this time. I will close with some puzzles for the interested. This is a region blessed with a great many features that have interested Selenophiles. I will draw attention to one: the Bullialdus Causeway. I learned of it in Andrew Planck’s blog. Its nature remains a mystery, but the Causeway is visible in this image. The following links will point the curious to this and many other features of this part of the Moon. Most are visible in this image, but some, alas are not. Let the “Treasure Hunt” theme commence!
andrewplanck.com/bullialdus-the-most-conspicuous-mo…/
Instrumentation:
Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera, Celestron Advanced VX mount.
Processing:
Pre-processing of 4926 frame .ser file with PIPP. Best 5% of those video frames stacked with AutoStakkert!3, wavelets processing with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2020.
This youngish fox (Vulpes vulpes) was hiding in the reeds on the opposite bank of the river Alver from the footpath. Obviously not happy that I could see it as it slunk awy when I moved a little closer along the path.
This rail-mounted crane is a relative youngster, sitting across from the 220-year-old U.S.S. Constitution in the equally old Boston Navy Yard.
I should have set my alarm for this morning (12 December 2015) after all, as my 'traumatic' afternoon yesterday seems to have tired me out even more than I realized, lol. I actually had to go to a shopping mall, something that I normally avoid at all cost - and just two weeks before Christmas! This insanity was caused by an electric kettle that had finally worn out the evening before and I knew there was no way around it. This trip reminded me why I dislike this time of year so much!
Later, to calm my frazzled nerves, I started looking through some scenic shots in my archives. This was one of the first ones I came across, taken more or less a year ago. A change of colour for my photostream, too.
What a day I had a year ago, on 7 December 2014, with friends Cathy and Terry, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink (zoomed photo that made the mountains appear closer than they actually were). This is always such an amazing sight to see. Full moon for us was 6 December, about 24 hours before this day trip began.
Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that is still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day!
My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose and, on this day, they did well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the side of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they approached the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance :) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free carwash, anyone??
We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the same female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow among some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around either.
I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. My friends were so delighted to be able to let me experience this, though I've always said that just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me.
I see lots of these around when we're down in Bridgetown but they are not always easy to get close too, and are rather small. This one stuck around for a while in some decent light. I think its a youngish bird with that orangy beak.
Nature in Focus ~ 500px ~ G+ ~ Redbubble ~ Instagram
BEST ON BLACK
Hello my dear flickr friends. I hope you had a good week. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments, invites and awards. Here is wishing you all a beautiful rest of Friday and a lovely and relaxing and happy weekend : )) xo
Thought I would also share one of the beautiful music track Magical Healing Mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDUdT5z_CBU&feature=related
shared with me by my wonderful and sweet youngish old friend Gianni aka Prozak
[www.flickr.com/photos/zak3000/] : ))
If you get the chance or time to listen to it, then I hope it makes you feel as relaxed as I did after listening to it. : ))
Om Mani Padme Hum: The Meaning of the Mantra
in Tibetan Buddhism
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_mani_padme_hum#Karma_Thubten_Tri...
... hmmm... indeed. It does sound like a bit of an oxymoron doesn't it?
However, mes amis at the Baking Buddies group have encouraged the use of a small amount of yeast along with my 'youngish' natural leaven in order to get a bit more rise in a shorter amount of time ...and, it worked. Of course.
It did rise up quite strikingly only on one side ...almost tearing the dough at the upper edge above the pan.
Now, to cut back the amount of yeast a bit each time I suppose... until the starter is robust enough to raise my dough to about this height on its own or with only the tiniest bit of commercial yeast.
The other criteria of flavour and texture have truly been met in this loaf.... no sour tang (which is what I am striving for with same day loaves)... but just a hint of something ... something different from regular bread. And, the texture is lovely.... soft and yet holding its shape so well when sliced and not nearly as crumb -y ..... if you know what I mean.
We love it.
She had a youngish fawn nearby. I hadn't actually spotted her, but her warning bark certainly woke me up. I didn't go off the path, she was letting me know that was close enough.
A few more odds and ends from my archives, I am adding the description that I wrote under a different image taken on the same outing. Will be without my car for another several weeks minimum (sigh!), so will be posting images from my archives for quite a while.
"I should have set my alarm for this morning (12 December 2015) after all, as my 'traumatic' afternoon yesterday seems to have tired me out even more than I realized, lol. I actually had to go to a shopping mall, something that I normally avoid at all cost - and just two weeks before Christmas! This insanity was caused by an electric kettle that had finally worn out the evening before and I knew there was no way around it. This trip reminded me why I dislike this time of year so much!
Later, to calm my frazzled nerves, I started looking through some scenic shots in my archives. This was one of the first ones I came across, taken more or less a year ago. A change of colour for my photostream, too.
What a day I had a year ago, on 7 December 2014, with friends, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink (zoomed photo that made the mountains appear closer than they actually were). This is always such an amazing sight to see. Full moon for us was 6 December, about 24 hours before this day trip began.
Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that is still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day!
My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose and, on this day, they did well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the side of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they approached the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance :) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free carwash, anyone??
We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the same female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow among some trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around either.
I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. My friends were so delighted to be able to let me experience this, though I've always said that just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me."
Just as I took this shot, the owner returned from some nearby shops, youngish guy wearing a suit. I was sure he saw me but he didn't say anything.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! Hope you are feeling really good this morning, if you were celebrating into the wee hours! (This is a repost - sorry - and I am adding the description that I wrote under another photo taken on the same outing).
"I want to wish my family and each and every one of my "local" friends, my long-time overseas friends, and my Flickr friends a very happy, healthy and safe New Year! It's hard to believe, isn't it, that 15 years have passed since all the fuss about the year 2000? Thank you all for your friendship and encouragement, and for letting me share my photos with you - SO much appreciated! I'm looking forward to another year of seeing where you have been and what beautiful things you have discovered!
I spent the day on 7 December 2014 with friends, in an absolute winter wonderland! We set off about 7:45 am (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink. This is always such an amazing sight to see.
Once we had reached Kananaskis, we drove the area of Highway 40 that is still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien road. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees in many places were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. At times, very dark clouds made a great contrast to the gleaming white snow. Sunshine, a few clouds, and fun company made it such a great day!
My friends had been hoping for a long time to be able to show me a winter Moose and this day they did really well, finding a beautiful female and, at another location, a male with antlers that looked rather like two little twigs sticking out of the side of his head. The size of both these wild animals was huge! The closest we saw them both was when they approached the car. You can stop the car some distance away from them, but if they are busy licking off the salt and minerals from any car in sight, they sometimes might eventually come close. All the female was interested in was doing this very thing : ) She would occasionally stop, straighten up and look and listen - usually this would be because she had heard or seen people snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing on a nearby trail through the forest. The rest of the time, she licked and licked and licked some more - the slurping sound could be heard from quite some distance : ) At one point, she bent both front knees to kneel, so that she could reach the lower part of a vehicle. Lol, she did a fine job of cleaning headlights till they shone. Impressive and rather amusing at the same time. Free carwash, anyone?? I should add that this is not a good thing for Moose to do.
We saw the female first, then the youngish male, and then we saw the female a second time, later. After feeding on dead leaves and tiny twigs from under the deep snow, she then lay down in the snow near the edge of the trees - the first time I had ever seen a Moose lying down. Such a peaceful scene - no one else was around, either.
I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to watch a while and learn the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see. My friends were so delighted to be able to let me experience this yesterday, though I always tell them that just being in such spectacular scenery and being able to photograph the mountains is more than enough for me. This day, they did really, really well.
Today, 1 January 2015, is the annual Fish Creek Provincial Park New Year's Day Bird Count, so I have to hurry to get ready."
For those who think there are wayyyy toooo maaannny images in this series/album, let me say, that they're NOT pour vous, but
for all the local folks who ask me several times every month,
'Have you seen the heron recently?'
Well, I see dozens of herons every year, sometimes as many as 14 of 'em all at once in the Great Cottonwood of Raptor Tree Pond, Thomson Marsh. But the subject of this series/album is a youngish Great Blue (Ardea herodias) that hunts the weeds like an older heron I had previously named Weedstalkr. The latter has much more resplendent breast plumage. Here, Jr is hunting in Thomson Brook, Kelowna, BC, well to the north east of the RTPond.
On the far west side of the trail, a fellow Marsh walker had told me that she'd seen 'the heron' over in Thomson Brook — a 10 minute walk away. I was pretty sure he'd likely been there all afternoon and would probably still be there when I arrived. So I took my time and checked out many spots along the way for other denizens of The Marsh. When I arrived at TBrk, I found him pretty much frozen in this position — well, not 'frozen' frozen, as the sun was warm this glorious afternoon — holding this pose for more than a couple of minutes. I was patient, and tried not to disturb his reverie.
The large dark oval in the bottom left is Plato crater (101 km / 63 mi diameter). It is a flat lava plain surrounded by high crater walls. Below it in this image is the much larger lava plain of Mare Imbrium (“Sea of Showers”). Surrounding Plato crater is a broad mountain chain called the Montes Apenninus. These mountains form part of one of the ring structures that surround the Moon’s Imbrium Basin. In these mountains to the right of Plato Crater a straight diagonal gash through the mountains is visible This is the Apennine Valley. It is a type of geological feature known as a graben, formed when the crust of the Moon was stretched and split, with subsequent collapse of material above the split settling down into the crevice that was opened by the split. Similar features are known on Earth, and some have recently formed in Iceland as part of the volcanic activity in the Reykjanes Peninsula.
Above the arc of the Apennine Mountains is another area of volcanic plains called Mare Frigoris “Sea of Cold”). This is an unusual lunar lava “sea”, in that it is elongated, not like the usual round shape of lunar lava plains. If you look closely you might see that the region of Mare Frigoris just right of center has a reddish tint, differing from the grayish colors of the rest of Mare Frigoris. That is material that was dredged up and scattered over the surface by the impact that gouged the youngish crater at center right known as Aristoteles. The reddish material surrounds Aristoteles itself, and spreads across Mare Frigoris and into the crater fields above the mare.
Aristoteles crater forms a prominent pair with Eudoxus, just below it. The mountains and escarpments below and to the left of this crater pair are a remnant of another, outermost ring structure surrounding the Imbrium Basin.
The area above Mare Frigoris is part of the North Polar region of the Moon. Here the landscape is dominated by a jumble of overlapping craters and plains. Most of these are old, weathered, and partly filled with ejected material from other impact events. On the boundary of this region and Mare Frigoris, above Plato Crater, a crater can be seen that appears nearly square. This is W. Bond crater. It is streaked by rays of lighter material. Similar rays can be seen across the North Polar regions. The North Pole itself is toward the upper left, beyond the horizon line. The northernmost crater I can detect in this photo is Byrd crater.
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Not entirely certain, but I think this is a youngish male, possibly one of this year's there was also a young female as well as the adults.
Have since heard back from one of the Wardens at Wood Walton, they have three adult males there, one light, which I saw in April, a dark one and this one as well. The Harriers have also successfully bred there this year :)
Hmm quite a few this evening.... :) Have a 'full' nature diary entry for this day!
Please see Burwell, Wicken & Wood Walton set www.flickr.com/photos/wendycoops224/albums/72157662808291641
I haven't posted a mountain scene for quite a long time, as I rarely go to the mountains, and happened to come across this shot late last night. This winter scene was taken on a day trip to the mountains with friends, Cathy and Terry, on 7 December 2014. We set off about 7:45 a.m. (still dark) and drove westwards to the Kananaskis area of our majestic mountains. Early in the drive, the sunrise turned the still distant mountains pink. This is always such an amazing sight to see.
We drove the area of Highway 40 that was still open (the rest of this highway is closed during the winter months) and also the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail. This gravel road, south of Canmore, travels through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, which is one of the wildest areas in Kananaskis. Can't remember if this was one of the many drive-by shots I took that day.
It was a day of mixed cloud and bright sunshine, resulting in rather spectacular light at times. The scenery was incredibly beautiful. There had been a recent snowfall and the trees in many places were still covered in snow, which turned everywhere into a winter wonderland. There was no wind and the temperatures hovered a few degrees around 0C. At times, very dark clouds made a great contrast to the gleaming white snow.
As well as mountain scenery, we were also lucky enough to find two Moose to watch and photograph. A female who was busy licking salt off cars, and a youngish male at a different location. I always feel so privileged when I witness any kind of wildlife, especially so when you get the chance to stay a while and watch the behaviour of the animal or bird you are lucky enough to see.
This photo was taken on 5 March 2016, when I drove NW of Calgary again. The previous time, two days earlier, had proven to be a complete wash-out as far as finding any owls and I came home with just a few shots of a beautiful little country church. Made me decide to do the long drive again, in the hope that I would be luckier. It turned out to be successful, as we did get some distant views of a Great Gray Owl (or two). It's difficult to know if one is seeing the same individual each time or if they are different.
Tremendous patience is needed to see one of these owls, though one can very occasionally be really lucky. On my last but one trip, there was no sign of an owl and I was the only person there. I spent my time slowly driving back and forth along the road, picking up all the empty beer cans and bottles - two Safeway plastic bags overflowing with them, so maybe around 50? I REALLY like to think that these discards have absolutely nothing to do with birders/photographers, but had been thrown out by local people! It just seems such a coincidence that there were so many in a popular birding area : ( Yesterday, I noticed that there were already several newly discarded cans. I really dislike seeing them, as the sun catches the metal and makes them gleam - so out of place in nature. Also, they can be dangerous to wildlife, especially if glass bottles are broken or sharp edges of metal cans get exposed. I wasn't sure if the Bottle Depot would accept filthy cans and bottles covered in dried mud. I called in at the recycle bins before the Bottle Depot and a youngish man was digging into the bins to find any cans and bottles. I told him I wasn't sure if they would be accepted, but that he was welcome to the ones I had in my car, and he gladly took them. Worked out perfectly in the end.
Back to 5 March, it was such a beautiful day and just had to be spent outdoors. Two or three cars were pulled and friends had been watching a Great Gray Owl that had then flown off into the trees and disappeared. No luck with it returning, but we were told about another owl further along the road. This time, we got distant views of it in the trees at the edge of the forest. It made a couple of dives and was definitely successful in catching a Meadow Vole the one time. So, once again, some distant shots, but they were more than enough to make one feel very happy and grateful, and the long drive feel worthwhile. Always great to have a chance to catch up with friends, too, of course.
"Although the Great Gray Owl is the tallest American owl with the largest wingspan, it is just a ball of feathers. It preys on small mammals and has relatively small feet. Both the Great Horned and Snowy owls weigh half again as much, and have larger feet and talons. The oldest recorded Great Gray Owl was at least 18 years, 9 months old and lived in Alberta." From AllAboutBirds.