Wildlife Sightings (Image heavy)

[Arctish]

This past weekend I saw 6 moose, 5 snowshoe hares, and 5 Bald eagles.

[Arctish]

I saw another snowshoe hare today. I doubt I would have seen it if it had stayed still but apparently it's pretty used to people. It was in one of the more densely populated neighborhoods in town, hopping across the street in the middle of the afternoon.

[phands]

This past weekend I saw 6 moose, 5 snowshoe hares, and 5 Bald eagles.


4 calling birds,
3 french hens
2 turtle doves
and partridge in a pear tree????????


Sorry, couldn't resist :D

[crazyfingers]

I just got home from a week in southern Ontario, Canada near Windsor. We saw a lot of hawks along the highway but the only photos I got are of this black squirrel with half a tail. I know that black squirrels are very common in those parts but having only gray squirrels around here, they look strange to me.

This is from my in-laws back yard.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4103a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4104a.jpg

[Mediancat]

Good picture.

We have a white one around here. Only picture is a mediocre cell-phone shot. Still cool, whichever end of the spectrum it is.

Rob

[crazyfingers]

Out our front window, a dark-eyed junco (I think) in a snow storm.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4339a.jpg

[Ray Moscow]

We had a fieldfare visit the front garden today. That's the first one I've seen this close to our house.
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8928/fieldfare060109large.jpg

(Not my photo)

[Arctish]

We had a fieldfare visit the front garden today. That's the first one I've seen this close to our house.


Cool looking bird. I've never heard of them.

[Ray Moscow]

There are lots of fieldfare(s) around now. I saw a group of about 30 this afternoon, feeding off pyracantha berries in someone's garden.

[4321lynx]

We had a fieldfare visit the front garden today. That's the first one I've seen this close to our house.


Cool looking bird. I've never heard of them.

It's a thrush of N Europe & Siberia. Some in Greenland. Winters in England, France, but rarely as far south as the Mediterranean. (It may go there THIS winter. ;))

[crazyfingers]

Last week I was in Tokyo Japan and visited a city park. Now I sort of regard these as cheating at they are not quite "wildlife" as they are pretty tame, but, nice shots I think.

A duck of some kind
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4513a.jpg

Possibly one of the various cormorants? It could dive like crazy.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4516a.jpg

And this fish just cracks me up. He was looking at me for the longest time with his mouth wide open for a handout. Finally he got fed up with me and gave me this sour look. :)
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4538a.jpg

[nygreenguy]

Last week I was in Tokyo Japan and visited a city park. Now I sort of regard these as cheating at they are not quite "wildlife" as they are pretty tame, but, nice shots I think.

A duck of some kind
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4513a.jpg

Canvasback

This is my list from this weekend on the N. Shore of Mass and New Hampshire. Some pics (if good) will follow


1. Cackling Goose
2. Canada Goose
3. Gadwall
4. American Black Duck
5. Mallard
6. Common Eider
7. Harlequin Duck
8. Surf Scoter
9. White-winged Scoter
10. Black Scoter
11. Long-tailed Duck
12. Bufflehead
13. Common Goldeneye
14. Hooded Merganser
15. Red-breasted Merganser
16. Red-throated Loon
17. Common Loon
18. Horned Grebe
19. Great Cormorant
20. Turkey Vulture
21. Bald Eagle
22. Northern Harrier
23. Red-tailed Hawk
24. Sanderling
25. Purple Sandpiper
26. Ring-billed Gull
27. Herring Gull
28. Iceland Gull
29. Great Black-backed Gull
30. Black Guillemot
31. Rock Pigeon
32. Snowy Owl
33. Blue Jay
34. American Crow
35. Black-capped Chickadee
36. American Robin
37. Northern Mockingbird
38. European Starling
39. Lapland Longspur
40. Northern Cardinal
41. House Sparrow

[Arctish]

Earlier today a snowshoe hare and I witnessed a melee involving 3 black dachshunds, a dozen ravens, and a tipped over trash bin. The dogs were having a great time chasing off the ravens, apparently not realizing the ravens were outmaneuvering them at every turn. The hare was keeping an eye on the dogs and I was watching all of them.

[Mediancat]

Walk today around a nearby pond; saw a mated pair of Canada Geese, an aggressive red-winged blackbird, and did a double-take when I saw one of these:

http://images.enature.com/reptile_amph/reptile_amph_l/ar0171_1l.jpg

sitting on a log in the midst of a whole bunch of these:

http://images.enature.com/reptile_amph/reptile_amph_m/AR0136_3m.jpg

(The former is an eastern red-bellied turtle and the one we saw was over a foot long. The latter are painted turtles, and they were 4-5 inches at most.)

Rob

[crazyfingers]

The first day of spring must make it turtle day. I also took some turtle shots today.

It was in the mid-70's F today so I took the kids to our usual park.

Lots of turtles sunning themselves. (Painted turtles I think)

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4918a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4917a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_4926a.jpg

[frazier]

No pics, but I can report that the sandhill cranes have starting arriving in northern Illinois and Wisconsin. A large flock flew over my car, heading north, as I was heading home Friday.

[Rie]

My younger daughter was the youngest registered falconer in the world. She was sent a letter re this from Prince Charles. I helped her rehabilitate injured raptors and am therefore familiar with kestrels to eagles and all in between but where I am now I see mostly kites and falcons.
I held an eagle on my arm and couldn't move my arm for a good while! It was always sad when we had to release a bird we'd nurtured and often the bird would circle above us for some time before flying away.

[Ray Moscow]

I saw a pine marten (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Pine_Marten)in rural Norway a couple of days ago -- it ran across the road ahead of me.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1629/pinemarten04.jpg
(not my photo)

[crazyfingers]

Beautiful animal. It looks a lot like our weasel. Of course it's related.

[Arctish]

The owls are bask.

Last week a pair of Great Horned owls were calling back and forth near my workplace. They were probably the same pair I saw so many times last summer.

Last night a Great Gray owl was hooting near the same place. I wonder if he or she will stick around and how the Great Horned pair will take it.

[Arctish]

It looks like this is going to be another great year for owls. Last night I saw a Great Horned owl landing on a lamppost by a supermarket parking lot.

[Mediancat]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a barred owl very early one dismal morning -- maybe one last look around before sleep.

Rob

[Ray Moscow]

I heard a Little Owl out walking in the forest last week, but I didn't manage to see it.

[Arctish]

The migratory birds have started to arrive in my area. Yesterday at sunset I saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans flying toward a marshy area:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/TR_SWAN_FLIGHT_350.gifnmp

I also saw a couple of Great Brocade moths at my workplace:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/greatbrocademoth.jpgnmp

[Mediancat]

Forgot to mention this one, I think: While I was observing a pickerel frog by a pond in Pennsylvania, a snapping turtle broke the water maybe five feet away.

Looked back down again. Pickerel frog was long gone. Not that I could blame it.

Rob

[Arctish]

Yesterday I saw a Sandhill crane flying over a lake near my house. It looked like it was heading toward the local bird sanctuary. State biologists spread barley on the fields there every year to keep the migrating birds away from the airport. That usually works for the cranes and geese but not for the ducks.

I will probably be heading over there this weekend. It should be pretty well populated with migratory birds by now.

[nygreenguy]

Saw 2 today along with Golden Eagle,Bald Eagle, House Finch, Bluebird, Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Comorants, Broad Shouldered Hawk, Red Tail, Sharp-shinned, Rough Legged, and caspian tern

[Ray Moscow]

Saw 2 today along with Golden Eagle,Bald Eagle, House Finch, Bluebird, Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Comorants, Broad Shouldered Hawk, Red Tail, Sharp-shinned, Rough Legged, and caspian tern

Wow. That's a good birding day.

We had a good walk today but didn't see anything unusual.

[nygreenguy]

Saw 2 today along with Golden Eagle,Bald Eagle, House Finch, Bluebird, Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Comorants, Broad Shouldered Hawk, Red Tail, Sharp-shinned, Rough Legged, and caspian tern

Wow. That's a good birding day.

We had a good walk today but didn't see anything unusual.

Its only a slightly above average day for Derby Hill! Its raptor migration, so thats the reason for the multiple sightings.

[Ray Moscow]

Houston lies near a hawk migration path, and we used to go to the annual "Hawkwatch". It was amazing.

We get a few species here in the UK, but we usually see a much greater variety of raptors in the US.

OTOH, one of my customers in Norway showed me some pics last week that he had taken of a stellar sea eagle. Those things are huge.

[crazyfingers]

Went for a bike ride in the state park today and all I saw were more turtles on the same logs as the last page.

[Arctish]

Today a co-worker showed me pictures of the bear scat he found along his driveway - four separate plies. Three of them were revealed when the snow melted but the fourth looked like a recent deposit.

[David B]

A couple of crops of hand held pics taken at full zoom today in Scotland. So not as crisp as they might have been.

An eider duck and a fulmar petrel.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/pentax10eider.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/pentax10fulmar.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

Full zoom and hand held? Not bad.

The fulmar petrel looks a lot like a gull except for the bumpy nose.

[Ray Moscow]

Use zoom on the fulmars. They puke on anyone who gets too close.

Yes, great pictures!

[Ray Moscow]

Today a co-worker showed me pictures of the bear scat he found along his driveway - four separate plies. Three of them were revealed when the snow melted but the fourth looked like a recent deposit.

Presumably your friend lives in the woods? :)

[David B]

Seals

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/pentax10croppeedseals.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

Nice!

[crazyfingers]

Call this semi-wildlife.

The cats got a house mouse in the basement last night. I eventually got the mouse and removed it to the woods.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5052a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5053a.jpg

[Arctish]

I made it over to the bird sancutary. There were a fair number of birds there. It looked like this:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/creamersfield2.jpgnmp

As usual this time of year there are a lot of Canada geese in the fields.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/creamersfield.jpgnmp

There were also some Pintails

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/pintails-1.jpgnmp

and some Redheads

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/redhead-duck-male-9a.jpgnmp.

The Mew gulls have also arrived in the Interior. I heard them 2 nights ago and I just saw a small group about an hour ago.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/MewGull-1.jpgnmp

A Dark-eyed Junco has laid claim to a tree next to my office

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Dark-eyed_Junco-27527.jpgnmp

and right now a Black Capped Chickadee is singing in a tree outside my window.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/blackcappedchickadee_fBoxH.jpgnmp

[crazyfingers]

Beautiful day today. Close if not 80 degrees F.

At the boys soccer I saw two red tail hawks and a great blue heron flying by. Camera was in the car.

After soccer we went to the park for a bike ride. There I had the camera ready.

A pair of Canada Geese came pretty close to take a nice photo.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5070a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5074a.jpg

There were also a pair of wild swans. Here is one looking suspiciously at goose going its way.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5090a.jpg

The turtles were out sunning themselves.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5091a.jpg

Above the little water fall this water snake was swimming in the water and then came out on top of the dam.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5098a.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5099a.jpg

[Arctish]

Those are some great pictures, especially the ones of the water snake.

Spring has finally arrived where I live and I'm so happy to see more than just ravens everywhere.

[David B]

Ladybird

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/pentax12040.jpg

David

[David B]

Bumble bee on cherry blossom

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/pentax12045.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

David stop that! You're making me want one of those cameras! What's the model again? :D

I wish I could convince myself that it isn't too large.

OK so, about how far from those critters was the camera when you took the shot? Did you crop them much to make them so large?

[David B]

David stop that! You're making me want one of those cameras! What's the model again? :D

I wish I could convince myself that it isn't too large.

OK so, about how far from those critters was the camera when you took the shot? Did you crop them much to make them so large?

They are both cropped, not so much as to make them larger as to save photobucket space.

The original image was 4k*3k, but also jpeged because I can't find a way round the camera doing it automatically:(

If I remember the ladybird on dandelion was taken from maybe an inch, but the bumble bee was taken with quite a lot of zoom from 2 or 3 feet. I'm not quite sure about those last detail. I'm not the most steady handed, so I guess the anti-shake technology works pretty well.

The camera isn't that big, but is not a pocket one. It's a Pentax X90, and I still can't find any reviews because of it's newness.

David

[crazyfingers]

Oops! My wife made the mistake of asking me if I'd like anything for my birthday next week.:eek:

So David, how quickly can that Pentax go from off to full zoom and ready to click?

Have you tried any very low light scenes such as red skies well after sunset or even eve late dusk without flash?

[David B]

Oops! My wife made the mistake of asking me if I'd like anything for my birthday next week.:eek:

So David, how quickly can that Pentax go from off to full zoom and ready to click?

Have you tried any very low light scenes such as red skies well after sunset or even eve late dusk without flash?

3-4 seconds to get from on button to full zoom ready to click - getting the target in the viewfinder would be the constraint. There is the option of screen at back of camera or eyepiece.

I'll try a low light pic later - it's overcast here now. The only low light without flash I've done so far was a short movie clip of my niece playing her fiddle in a folk session in a pub. It was OK, I think.

David

[David B]

Anyone know what this is?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/pentax11016.jpg

This is a lousy shot taken at extreme range, but it catches a grebe with a fish.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/pentax12037.jpg

Collared dove. Now an unremarkable bird, but one that didn't nest in Britain till 1955

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/pentax12043.jpg

David

[Ray Moscow]

I don't recognise the caterpillar species, but I wouldn't touch it! Those "hairs" (spines) can be very painful.

ETA: It looks like the garden tiger moth caterpillar (http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars).

[crazyfingers]

If you were on this side of the pond I would say it was a mutant woolly bear caterpillar.

http://www.all-creatures.org/pica/glf-woollybear.html

But you're not so I can only guess it's a relation. The ones here are soft and fuzzy and people raise them as pets.

[David B]

I don't recognise the caterpillar species, but I wouldn't touch it! Those "hairs" (spines) can be very painful.

ETA: It looks like the garden tiger moth caterpillar (http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars).

I'd just found a pic online, and was just coming back to say the same:)

David

[Ray Moscow]

If you were on this side of the pond I would say it was a mutant woolly bear caterpillar.

http://www.all-creatures.org/pica/glf-woollybear.html

But you're not so I can only guess it's a relation. The ones here are soft and fuzzy and people raise them as pets.

They are in the same family (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_bear_caterpillar), apparently. The article says that only some of the caterpillars "sting" -- I thought they all did.

The adults accumulate toxics from their food to become toxic to predators, as do many of the larvae.

As I recall, cuckoos eat the caterpillars anyway -- apparently they are immune to the toxins.

[David B]

Swan on nest

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0727swan.jpg

David

[Cath B]

Cool!

Where did you take that picture Dave?

[Arctish]

In the last few days I have seen canvasback ducks, mallards, and trumpeter swans on the pond near my office. I also saw a muskrat walking and swimming along the shoreline. Even better, there was one of these near the office last Tuesday:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Boreal_Owl.jpgnmp
Boreal Owl

[Worldtraveller]

I got a very good look, but no pics, at a new (for me) bird yeasterday.

There was a yellow warbler on the feeder in my backyard. I initially thought it was an American goldfinch, but once he flew over and landed on the bush right by the window, I got a good look at his head, and it was solid yellow. :)

Hrm, the more I look at the guides, the more inclined I am to think it was a prothonetary warbler. We are near the western edge of their summer territory here, but it was very bright with distinctly darker wings.

I guess I'll have to watch the feeder and see if I can get a pic.

[4321lynx]

No pics at present but "our" bear is back again. Has been coming round every spring to rob bird feeders people have up still from winter, did that to my neighbour night before last, & I had a good laugh till I saw what he had done to my garbage can, which I,d forgotten to take back into the garage at the end of winter!!! And he left a stinking piled-up present on the road just a little way from my driveway:D Talk about a teddy-bear picnic...
He has been coming every year for the past six years, was born here, but his mother failed to show after the first winter. On the other hand it may be that he is a stranger as there is a crazy lady some 5 miles from here who for the last two summers has been feeding the bears around her cottage, last year one day someone counted seven different bears around her place. She has now been stopped from doing that officially, but as far as I know there is no way to stop her hanging up bird feeders for her four legged "birds".
Will post pics if catch our friend out in daylight.

[crazyfingers]

Swan on nest

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0727swan.jpg

David

Cool.

About how far away were you?

Are swans indigenous to your area or is it a park swan?

ETA: I googled swans n Massachusetts and got this.

Swan Questions

Q. I am seeing more and more swans in Massachusetts. Where did these beautiful birds come from?

A. The swans you are seeing are mute swans, and like English sparrows and starlings, they are not native to North America, but an introduced species. Originally brought in from Europe and Asia as ornamental waterfowl to grace the ponds of Long Island estates, some escaped to the wild where they became established, spread up and down the coast and are now moving inland. Highly aggressive and territorial, there is evidence that they are displacing native waterfowl and can be destructive to some aquatic habitats, destroying more vegetation than they actually eat.

Unlike native waterfowl, mute swans were not federally protected until Dec. 2001 when a court ruled that mute swans must be granted federal protection under the same Migratory Bird Treaty that protects native swans, the tundra swan, and the trumpeter swan much to the consternation of people who view the mute swan as a destructive interloper.

There are native swans to North American but it would seem that the ones I have seen at our state park are not native.

[David B]

There are loads of mute swans around where I live, making a good recovery after legislation limited the amount of lead shot being dumped in water.

We sometimes see Whooper swans in a hard winter.

That pic was taken from about 30 yards from the walk up where the railway line used to be at Westfield Pill, Neyland, Pembrokeshire, from about 25 yards.

I rather like this pic, taken a comfortable walking distance from Cath's house.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0622.jpg

David

[David B]

I went pretty far into the digital zoom for this, and it shows.

You don't get a lot of black tailed godwits round here at this time of year, and there was a flock of over 50 at Carew Mill Pond today.

Even though there are strong signs of breeding plumage, they might be first year birds who, I gather, sometimes don't complete their summer migration.

Then again they might be some who breed in Iceland, deterred from travelling yet by the northerly winds, or even, I wildly speculate, they might pick up cues from the volcano at altitude.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0741.jpg

David

[David B]

A couple of Dunlin.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0757.jpg

David

[Arctish]

A Pleasant Discovery:

On Monday I found a feather in my backyard:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Photo0046.jpg

I was certain it was from some kind of grouse but I wanted to know the species, so I went lookingfor a feather identification site. That is when I discovered The Feather Atlas (http://www.lab.fws.gov/featheratlas/index.php). According to the info in the Atlas, the feather I found is a tailfeather from a male gray morph Ruffed Grouse (http://www.lab.fws.gov/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=RUGR_tail_adult).

An Unpleasant Discovery:

On Tuesday I found out the wind had knocked down part of my backyard fence (it's pretty rickety but it keeps the dogs in). As I was carrying a piece of 2x4 to use as a brace I happened to step on something squishy. Expecting the usual, I checked the bottom of my shoe but it was clean - no trace of the squishy mess at all. I could see a brown lumpy mass lying on the grass where I had just been walking but I couldn't guess what it was. When I walked back to it I found out it was a dead vole, now flattened into a furry oval. It looked like a miniature fur rug. My guess is the cat left it there for the dogs to enjoy.

At least it wasn't a live vole when I stepped on it.

This Week's Birds:

On Wednesday I passed underneath a merlin perched on a streetlight. He looked something like this:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/merlin.jpgnmp

Today I saw the first Northern Shovelers of the year on the pond near the airport:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/northern_shoveler.jpgnmp

[Mediancat]

I feel like I'm behind, here. All I've seen recently is an Eastern Bluebird and a plethora of catbirds.

Rob

[crazyfingers]

Here are a few boring photos from today

A robin on the wire to the house
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0232a.jpg

A robin on the grass
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0238a.jpg

Turkey vulture at max zoom. Power lines are much closer. I'm really pleased that the camera correctly focused on the bird and not the power lines given how close they were in the view and the very small focus area I was working with.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0243a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0242a.jpg

A finch sitting by the town library.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0247a.jpg

The other night the cat brought in a mouse of some kind. It was raining.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0154a.jpg

All above photos are at maximum optical zoom 26x, no tripod.

Below, I couldn't resist, is fat boy Clyde on the deck.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0121a%283%29.jpg

[David B]

Looking at my Dunlin pic a couple of posts up, it looks to me as if the water is pushed down around the legs.

Would it be reasonable, if this is so, to assume that there is something about the surface of the leg that resists wetness?

And, if further so, would this be something of a scientific discovery?

I doubt it:D

David

[Mediancat]

A good day today. Went to a local nature center and saw several tree swallows, a couple of barn swallows, a black-capped chickadee, an eastern phoebe, a scarlet tanager, a red-winged blackbird, a blue jay, a mated pair of cardinals, and heard a very loud woodpecker, but alas, did not see it.

Rob

[Arctish]

Yesterday I gave my niece a pair of binoculars for her birthday. She has recently become interested in birdwatching, so we went birding around her neighborhood. We saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Yellow-rumped20Warbler.jpgnmp

a Dark-eyed Junco in breeding plumage

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/dark-eyed-junco-P1638-bc.jpgnmp

and an American Robin.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/American_Robin_2006.jpgnmp

We also saw several swallows that were too quick to identify by species, and a couple of Spring Azure butterflies.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/springazurebutterfly.jpgnmp

[crazyfingers]

Still playing with the new camera. 26x optical zoom and cropped and resized.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0285a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0288a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0292a.jpg

[David B]

A couple of shots of a moorhen feeding a chick. Can't see what is being fed, though.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0818moorhencrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0823.jpg

David

[Ray Moscow]

We just finished a 9-day walk across Exmoor and Dartmoor. Some of the more interesting sightings:

Adder (I'll post a photo later)
Ring ouzel
Stonechat
Buzzards
Feral horses (Dartmore)
Skylarks
Meadow pippets
Dipper
Grey wagtail

Plus lots of usual "garden" birds

ETA: And a "slow worm" -- a type of legless lizard.

Well, two actually: one living, one dead.

[4321lynx]

David B & Crazyfingers

What cameras are you using for those fantastic shots?

[crazyfingers]

I'm using a Nikon Coolpix P100 (http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-Camera/26212/COOLPIX-P100.html)

I'm still learning about it. Very happy with it so far though.

[David B]

And mine is http://www.pentaximaging.com/digital-camera/X90/

Almost an identical spec to cf's Nikon, also still learning about it.

Discussion of our choices in this thread http://www.secularcafe.org/showthread.php?t=6166

We both value super zoom and large macro in a camera small enough to be comfortably carried, with the aim of taking wildlife pics at distance or very close up above ultimate photo quality.

I think we both have reason to be happy:)

David

[crazyfingers]

I should add that all of my photos in the thread before May-15-2010 were taken with a year old Canon Powershot IS890 pocket camera that's 5x zoom and I think is now discontinued.

[David B]

Orchid which I don't think early purple, as stem not blotchy. Haven't looked it up, as hoping someone will tell me what it is.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0830.jpg

Speedwell

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0836.jpg

Pictures of House Martin starting to build a nest, including one I caught just leaving

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0844.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0840martincrop1.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0848.jpg

David

[Cath B]

Is it some sort of marsh orchid (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.britainsorchids.fieldguide.co.uk/images/species_main/46main.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britainsorchids.fieldguide.co.uk/%3FPP%3Dspecies_account%26SPID%3D46%26SHC%3D2%26PS D%3D1&usg=__sea-OY1Y72MYXVSF2K4FRjCibk4=&h=411&w=290&sz=18&hl=en&start=1&itbs=1&tbnid=iztvySuvysoElM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwestern%2Bmarsh%2Borchid%26hl%3Den%26 gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1)?

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&q=marsh+orchid&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[4321lynx]

Thank you DB & cf. Fascinating. Wonder if Canada has them yet.

[crazyfingers]

Today.

You never know what wild critters you'll run into while mowing the lawn Friday after work.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0314a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0317a.jpg

A ringneck snake. (http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/ringn.html) Very little as you can see from the clover.

A baby bunny. First bunny of the season. Odd that I haven't seen the grownups yet.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0321a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0322a.jpg

He ran away after the second shot. Not much bigger than a chipmunk.

[crazyfingers]

That House Martin has a lot of work to do. If I was a bird I'd give it up and use a hole in a tree.

[David B]

That House Martin has a lot of work to do. If I was a bird I'd give it up and use a hole in a tree.

But then it would be a Tree Martin.

It is a lot of work, but the nests are pretty hard for predators to get to, and I suppose that lots of other birds use holes in trees, so competition for them is rife.

I think the nests can be re-used year to year with a bit of repair work, but the house pictured knocked the old ones down this winter to repaint the wall.

I know a place locally where the House Martins go to pick up mud, close to a road. I'm hoping to get pics of them doing that, too. ETA also hoping to visit the site pictured again to show the nest when finished.

David

[Cath B]

Lovely pictures

[David B]

Martin's nest has made progress since yesterday

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0875.jpg

and swallow

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0872swallow.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0878swallowpreening.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0859swallow3.jpg

Perhaps I've cropped these a bit too much for clarity:dunno:

David

[crazyfingers]

A squirrel in the front yard at max zoom.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0603a.jpg

A dragonfly not exactly focused. I am still trying to learn how to get things like this focused from around 4-5 feet away.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0615a.jpg

We will be going to the coast of Maine for the long weekend and I'll be on the hunt for wildlife.

[David B]

A couple of different families of swans at Bosherston, and a couple of shots of guillemots at Stack Rocks.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0903dwanfamily3.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0904.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0919.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0918stacks1.jpg

And a crop of one of the guillemot images

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0919-1.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

At first I thought that those guillemots were penguins and I wondered how a flock of penguins got to Britain. :)

Neat.

A couple weekends ago on our bike ride in the park my wife took some time out to ride a loop that the kids didn't feel like riding so I stayed with the kids. My wife reported that the swans at our park also had a pile of chicks. I wanted to go see myself but it was getting late and we had to get home.

Hopefully I'll see them next weekend. This weekend are are headed to the coast of Maine. My wife will work on the house with her sister while I take the kids out for bike rides and hikes. I'll have both cameras at the ready!

[Arctish]

I had a pretty good week for birdwatching. I saw a Bald Eagle on my way to work and passed a Great Horned owl sitting on a lightpost last night. I saw Cliff Swallows, Bank Swallows, Violet-green Swallows, Bonaparte gulls, Red-necked grebes, Lesser Yellowlegs (sandpipers), Semi-palmated plovers, and the usual assortment of local ducks. I was also serenaded at 3 a.m. by a Dowitcher perched on the roof of a garage. I have no idea what that was all about.

[Mediancat]

Nixon Park today; not much in the way of birds not regularly seen, but I did see a yellowthroat; a first for me. Plus the park's resident snapping turtle climbing out onto a log and three green frogs of varying sizes and colors.

But the highlight of the day was a bullfrog bigger than my hand. Biggest damn frog I've ever seen. Sucker had to weigh a full pound and be 5-6 inches long -- not counting the legs.

Rob

[Arctish]

A Canadian Tiger Swallowtail was trapped in the garage at work.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Photo0101.jpg

The garage is a death trap for flying insects. Usually I don't mind but I hate to see the butterflies and moths fall victim to it's high-windowed allure.

[David B]

A moorhen chick

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0951.jpg

A couple of pictures of a little grebe with chicks, fishing. These taken hand held at max zoom and long range, so the quality is not quite what I'd want. They are shy birds, though, so they are the best I have of them so far.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0968.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0962crop2.jpg

David

[Arctish]

Not my pictures, obviously, but I thought folks here might like some baby moose pictures (http://www.adn.com/2010/05/29/1300225/baby-moose.html#id=1300230&view=large_view) from the Anchorage, Alaska area.

[David B]

Heron at Carew Mill Pond

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0973heron.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

Well that's a nice close photo. It looks a lot like our great blue heron excepting that the great blue lacks the black tufts on the head.

[Ray Moscow]

Yeah, those two are closely related. I startled one at lunchtime today when I went out to do some tai chi.

We've been getting green finches in our garden lately. They are pretty common, but new to our garden.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/233/greenfinch.jpg
(not my photo)

[crazyfingers]

Heron at Carew Mill Pond

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0973heron.jpg

David

I thought I'd post the two for comparison. They sure are closely matched, except for the black tuft. Very cool birds.

I saw a large number of great blues last week when I made a short business trip out to Rochester, NY, 400 miles west. The interstate goes through many areas of ponds and marsh and I frequently saw one or two flying from one place to another.

Great Blue Heron in Maine last summer.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_1374a.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

Whoa...Uze gaiz gotz good pix!

I was at the coast (Pacific Ocean in Pacific Northwest) for the holiday weekend past, and on our way home we came across a bull elk who'd crossed the highway for a swim in the bay. Of course, he was a bit perturbed that all the humans suddenly were blocking his way back and his nuts were probably getting cold.

I got some crappy pix and left before it got ugly.

[David B]

The Brit heron is the Grey Heron.

Perhaps a trick of the light, but the Grey Heron looks blue, and the Blue Heron grey.

David

[crazyfingers]

The Brit heron is the Grey Heron.

Perhaps a trick of the light, but the Grey Heron looks blue, and the Blue Heron grey.

David

Ya :) The great blue really is more gray looking. There is no accounting for names I suppose.

[David B]

Completed House Martin nest

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0990.jpg

Little green bug, species unknown, on flower

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1002.jpg

Another view of the bug, more closely cropped

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0987greenbugcrop.jpg



David

[Cath B]

Those antennae are amazing.

[crazyfingers]

Those beetle photos are great. I need to try more of that.

I have never seen a bird nest like that. If I saw one I'd likely initially wonder if it was some mutant hornets nest.

[David B]

I think this is a green winged orchid.

Not sure.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP0991.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

It looks like a flower.

[Arctish]

It's wild and it's alive, therefore it's wildlife ;)

[Arctish]

The other day I took the dogs for a walk along a couple of dirt roads near my house. There were a lot of butterflies visiting the flowers that morning. Most of them were Tiger Swallowtails but I also saw a small butterfly called a Silvery Blue:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/big_silveryblue.jpgnmp

About halfway through our walk we came across a butterfly called a Red-disked Alpine.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k264/Arctish/Red-disked_Alpine_giant.jpgnmp

These little brown butterflies slowly cruise along about 9-10" above the ground which puts them at nose level for my dachshund-mix dog. Next thing I knew she was hopping forward trying to eat the butterfly right out of the air. Later on we saw a couple more and she did the same thing. I guess I'll have to be on my toes if I don't want her chewing up the pretties.

[Mediancat]

Couple of these in the Falls River near Whole Foods Market in Mt. Washington, Maryland (not my picture):

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/Little%20Blue%20Heron4_edited.JPG

That's a good place for birds. I've seen, in addition to the normal mallards, wrens, robins, and grackles, a Baltimore oriole, a hooded merganser, several great blue herons, a green heron, a couple of black-crowned night herons, and a fish crow, and now two little blue herons. And that's not even counting the time we saw literally dozens of northern water snakes swimming upstream.

Rob

[crazyfingers]

We've been dealing with the cats bringing in chipmunks from outside and letting them loose in my basement play room. I don't know how exactly they are getting them so often. The cats are allowed into a fenced in area that they are unable to get out of except to go back in the cat door to the basement. They can hang out of the deck which is inside the enclosure. But the chippers I guess keep venturing into the cat fenced in area. Real dumb.

So anyway in the last two weeks we've had to capture 5 chippers and get them outside in the yard away from the cat enclosure.

[4321lynx]

We've been dealing with the cats bringing in chipmunks from outside and letting them loose in my basement play room. I don't know how exactly they are getting them so often. The cats are allowed into a fenced in area that they are unable to get out of except to go back in the cat door to the basement. They can hang out of the deck which is inside the enclosure. But the chippers I guess keep venturing into the cat fenced in area. Real dumb.

So anyway in the last two weeks we've had to capture 5 chippers and get them outside in the yard away from the cat enclosure.

Any chippie tunnels opening in the cat enclosure?
What grows in, or falls off trees into, the enclosure that the chippies might like to eat?

[David B]

A shelduck with a chick. At Carew Mill pond.

This is the first brood of shelduck I have seen. They were shy and hard to get close to. There were a pair of adults with a brood of eight, but this photo is of one adult and one chick. It is a crop of the best pic I got of them - they were quite a long way away.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1029shelduckcrop.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

We've been dealing with the cats bringing in chipmunks from outside and letting them loose in my basement play room. I don't know how exactly they are getting them so often. The cats are allowed into a fenced in area that they are unable to get out of except to go back in the cat door to the basement. They can hang out of the deck which is inside the enclosure. But the chippers I guess keep venturing into the cat fenced in area. Real dumb.

So anyway in the last two weeks we've had to capture 5 chippers and get them outside in the yard away from the cat enclosure.

Any chippie tunnels opening in the cat enclosure?
What grows in, or falls off trees into, the enclosure that the chippies might like to eat?

Nothing falls in that would be of interest. The only tree above is an ash tree. The oak is over to the side and the acorns don't fall in.

But I should check for tunnel openings. We do have a lot of chippers living around the yard.

[4321lynx]

If it's a blue, green,white, red, or black ash, or an ashleaf maple, chippies will eat seeds left over from previous fall. Mountain ash, you would see the berries.:)

[David B]

This was found on a bramble leaf. A quick look online hasn't helped me identify it. Any ideas?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1115.jpg

David

[Ray Moscow]

I was going to say "emperor moth", but the colours are slightly different: http://www.whatsthatcaterpillar.co.uk/

Probably a close relative of it, I'd guess.

[crazyfingers]

As I was getting ready to go to work this morning I saw the cats and a bunny watching each other though the cat enclosure. Went to get the camera but the bunny had left by the time I got back.

[Jobar]

For the past several days, I've had a wren which seems unable to accept that my bathroom window is actually solid, and can't be flown through. It keeps perching on the security bars, and pecking at the glass repeatedly. Sometimes it seems to get mad and attacks with claws and beak! Pretty funny to watch.

[4321lynx]

For the past several days, I've had a wren which seems unable to accept that my bathroom window is actually solid, and can't be flown through. It keeps perching on the security bars, and pecking at the glass repeatedly. Sometimes it seems to get mad and attacks with claws and beak! Pretty funny to watch.

It's fighting a deadly enemy -- its reflection in the window pane. Many of us do something similar in life.:)

[crazyfingers]

A frog. Delivered by the cat.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5337.JPG

[Arctish]

Lately the loons have been calling from a nearby lake in the evenings and a Bald eagle has been visiting in the mornings. I've seen several Great Horned owls and a fox on my way to work. I have also been chasing butterflies with my cell phone (you can imagine how that looks ) and I even managed to get a couple of not-too-bad pictures. I'll post them as soon as I figure out how to crop them.

[crazyfingers]

I love loon calls. I used to get my annual fix back in the days before we had kids when the guys and I would do our annual canoe trip in the Canadian wilderness (Verendrye' Nature preserve). But those days are over.

We get the occasional loon in Maine by the ocean but there is nothing like a big-ass Canadian lake to provide you with loons.

[David B]

It's a fritillary, but which one?:dunno:

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1142fritcrop.jpg

David

[David B]

I wonder if these remarkable looking beetles are the ones that lay their eggs in blackberries, so that if you are not careful you sometimes eat a weevil?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1084bramblebugs.jpg

David

[Cath B]

Lovely shots Dave. :)

[Rie]

:)I saw a little twirly shaped 'thing' hanging from my roller doors and something made me protect it. Apparently it its the 'casing' ..I don't know the correct terminology.. that a butterfly that is quite big emerges from. Inside is 'mashy' stuff and later by the wonder of life it all becomes this beautiful winged thing.

Sorry for the inept description but this field is not my forte. My younger daughter to whom I showed it said that in November I would have a lovely butterfly from this cocoon.

The cocoon itself is a thing of beauty as it is made up of little pieces of wood and somehow 'glued' together. I am looking forward to November when it turns into ..? I will ask my daughter what it will become, so as not to just ramble on. So glad I protected it.

[crazyfingers]

Yesterday we took a 2 hour drive out to my alma mater, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and took a bike ride.

But the kids were most interested in the campus center pond.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619133853a.jpg

There were lots of critters.

Tons of ducks and their chicks
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619160509a%282%29.jp g

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619135334a%284%29.jp g

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619161332a.jpg

And the dads.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619160746a.jpg

I don't know if this is a different species... The white neck white cross-wise tail feathers are different than regular mallards. (Note to me- look it up)

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619133131a%284%29.jp g

I startled a great blue heron. It flew out in front of me before I saw it in the water. And flew away.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619154125a%284%29.jp g

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619154130a%284%29.jp g

Happy jack squirrel

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619154356a%284%29.jp g


A large snapping turtle that wasn't moving.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619161732a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

And finally, at first unknown to me, my 7 year old brought home a dead crayfish in a baggie.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1430a%282%29.jpg

[David B]

Very nice - I've yet to capture anything in flight at high zoom.

Don't know about American ducks - first thought was that it might be a cross between a domestic duck and a mallard, but the foot/leg colour might rule that out.

David

[crazyfingers]

Very nice - I've yet to capture anything in flight at high zoom.

Luck. Not easy to keep it in the few and the zoom was maxed.



Don't know about American ducks - first thought was that it might be a cross between a domestic duck and a mallard, but the foot/leg colour might rule that out.

David

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619133131a%284%29.jp g

I don't know my ducks well either. I have look in to my bird book and on-line. Can't seem to find anything like it.

The white neck and white cross-wise feathers on the tail are petty distinctive.

It's funny how the head is similar to a mallard but mallards have a blue patch on the wing and a rust colored neck. This one lacks both.

[Mediancat]

It could be a crossbreed. Coloration is similar to a Muscovy Duck.

Rob

[nygreenguy]

Very nice - I've yet to capture anything in flight at high zoom.

Luck. Not easy to keep it in the few and the zoom was maxed.



Don't know about American ducks - first thought was that it might be a cross between a domestic duck and a mallard, but the foot/leg colour might rule that out.

David

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619133131a%284%29.jp g

I don't know my ducks well either. I have look in to my bird book and on-line. Can't seem to find anything like it.

The white neck and white cross-wise feathers on the tail are petty distinctive.

It's funny how the head is similar to a mallard but mallards have a blue patch on the wing and a rust colored neck. This one lacks both.

Domestic mallard.

You guys know I took orno and field orno, right? :)

[crazyfingers]

Very nice - I've yet to capture anything in flight at high zoom.

Luck. Not easy to keep it in the few and the zoom was maxed.



Don't know about American ducks - first thought was that it might be a cross between a domestic duck and a mallard, but the foot/leg colour might rule that out.

David

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Umass%20June%202010%202010%200619133131a%284%29.jp g

I don't know my ducks well either. I have look in to my bird book and on-line. Can't seem to find anything like it.

The white neck and white cross-wise feathers on the tail are petty distinctive.

It's funny how the head is similar to a mallard but mallards have a blue patch on the wing and a rust colored neck. This one lacks both.

Domestic mallard.

You guys know I took orno and field orno, right? :)

So I guess a domestic mallard can have all kinds of colorings? What is it about the photo that tells you that it's a domestic mallard?

[nygreenguy]

So I guess a domestic mallard can have all kinds of colorings? What is it about the photo that tells you that it's a domestic mallard?

Well, pretty much all domestic ducks are from mallards. And I know its domestic because it looks NOTHING like anything else thats native!

[crazyfingers]

Well, pretty much all domestic ducks are from mallards. And I know its domestic because it looks NOTHING like anything else thats native!

That makes sense. :) Explains why I could find nothing that looks like it anyway.

The ducks live at that pond year round or at least mostly. I recall back in my days there, in the dead of winter a small part of that pond didn't freeze and a hundred ducks would be hanging out in the unfrozen circle of water.

After dark I'd walk by on my way to study or back the other way late at night going home and they'd be making a total racket.

"quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack...quack quack quack quack quack..."

It was very comical.

[Rie]

I wish I could have taken a photo but like a phantom he/she slipped into the bush. It was aTasmanian Tiger... as distinct from a Tasmanian Devil which is not rare.
Low to the ground he ran and was flat backed and grey in colour.

They are supposed to be extinct in Victoria but it's also probable that there are some there in victoria because of the fact that not so long ago in Geological terms there was a land mass joining Tasmania and Victoria.

[David B]

Otters taken at extreme range, so lousy pic, but just glad to get it at all, and young moorhen exploring water lily.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1205ottercrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1230crop.jpg

David

[Schneibster]

Nice. Arctish had a thread like this at TR, so I guess I'll continue my contributions in this one.

Here's a nice underwater shot of two of the sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, taken in the last couple of years.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/DSC02081.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Our great hunter Wall-e brought us another present this evening around 7pm.

I'd guess that this is a young crow? I haven't checked my bird book yet. Just guessing a young crow.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5708a.jpg

It was exhausted but apparently unhurt just inside the cat door to the basement.

I took it outside and took a couple of photos before letting it loose. The flash sent off so it looks darker outside than it really was.

I put it inside the bushes and took another photo. As I went for a 3rd photo it flew away.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5709a.jpg

Anyway, it was inside the cat enclosure. It's amazing how much stuff the cats get that get inside the enclosure. Makes be glad that the cats can't run free.

Here is the cat enclosure. They can't get out. The enclosure fences in the back yard of the house and under the deck where the cats can come into the basement though their door.

That's Wall-e down there.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5699a.jpg

Oh, and by the way, if you ever wondered what a chipmunk path looks like, this is a chipmunk path. It leads from the Rotos across the yard to the bushes within which the bird feeder sits. The path and the bird feeder are not inside the enclosure by the way. We aren't that dumb. :)

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1448a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Otters are very cute critters. I'd be thrilled to get a photo like that David. We have them around here but I have never seen them in the wild. Just a couple in a zoo for rescued critters.

[David B]

I haven't seen them often in the wild, either, and this is the first family group I've seen. Actually the pic I posted wasted the best of them - I'll try to get round to posting that tomorrow. But even though tomorrow is a day off, I have lots to do.

David

[Schneibster]

I have only ever seen river otters in the wild twice; they're very shy here, and very quick and smart. I have some pictures I'll get around to at some point of river otters in the Seattle Aquarium; it's a tasteful exhibit, with a small nuclear family of a mother and two pups, in a riverine artificial environment that features flowing water in abundance and multiple attractive den sites.

I have lots of sea otters; here is one:

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/DSC00217.jpg

This is part of a raft of around fifty individuals in the North end of the Moss Landing harbor, which is mostly a State Beach that is protected and has a lot of shorebirds. The Elkhorn Slough opens from this area, after you cross under the Hwy 1 bridge and head East. Since the population has started to return to normal, this has become a colony area for males who are not bold or strong enough to take a territory and breed all females that come into estrus in it. Most if not all of the animals you see here are either such males, or males that are not yet old enough to compete for a territory.

[David B]

The best otter shot

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1212ottercrop2.jpg

David

[crazyfingers]

A bunny this morning in the front yard.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1451a.jpg

Sticking his tongue out

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1449a.jpg

[Schneibster]

Nice ones. The Sun is popping out, and it's Spring, so I might see something worth shooting at today; if I do I'll post, I've got the camera right here ready to rock.

Meanwhile,
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/8elkhrn3.jpg
Here's another sea otter at Elkhorn Slough, this time up in the Slough itself, with an attendant seagull hoping it will start feeding soon so there will be scraps to steal; this isn't a very old gull, as can be seen by the fact that the otter is sleeping in a characteristic pose.

This is a scan on my Nikon LS20 slide scanner of a shot with the 300mm f/2.8, taken with the Maxxum 9 body and Fuji Provia 100F. This one was taken under fog/low clouds, so I probably had the Wratten 81A light straw filter in the slot to try to take a bit of the purple out.

[crazyfingers]

Today we spent the day hanging around the yard and I took a few photos of the birds.

Female house sparrow. It's all we seem to get at the bird feeder at the moment and there will be tons of them.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1505a.jpg

Don't get many of these. Red-bellied wood packer.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1529a.jpg

Not too sure about this. It looks also like a red-bellied wood packer but it lacks the red neck. According to my bird book females have less red on the neck but still the back of the neck is red. juveniles have no red. So I am guessing it's a juvenile red-bellied wood packer. Does it seem early though?

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1535a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1536a.jpg

No mistaking Sammy Jay.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1582a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1583a.jpg

[Arctish]

I took an ATV ride yesterday. I saw a cow moose enjoying the vegetation in a slough. I also saw a pair of beavers swimming back and forth in the same waterway. One of the beavers was towing a freshly cut pole downstream.

I also saw a willow ptarmigan hen. Other riders saw several chicks. Apparently we accidently separated mom from her brood and she stayed out in the open because she was waiting for us to leave.

[Schneibster]

She was gonna do her broken wing act if you got too close to the chicks.

Here's a snowy egret at Elkhorn Slough in the Spring:

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/1segret1.jpg

[crazyfingers]

I just want to say that I'll be away for a while. We are all going on vacation to our usual place on the coast of Maine tomorrow afternoon. No internet unless I can leach off of a neighbors unsecured wireless. We'll be there a week.

Then Sunday I leave the wife and kids at the place in Maine while I come home for a business trip and a couple of days in the office.

Then Friday after work I go back to Maine to rejoin the family for another week vacation. I'll be around here that middle week but not much else.

I'll be looking for wildlife photos while in Maine.

[David B]

I just want to say that I'll be away for a while. We are all going on vacation to our usual place on the coast of Maine tomorrow afternoon. No internet unless I can leach off of a neighbors unsecured wireless. We'll be there a week.

Then Sunday I leave the wife and kids at the place in Maine while I come home for a business trip and a couple of days in the office.

Then Friday after work I go back to Maine to rejoin the family for another week vacation. I'll be around here that middle week but not much else.

I'll be looking for wildlife photos while in Maine.

Look forward to seeing your pics. I have a busy week coming up. but have a couple of nice damsel fly pics I must get onto computer, thence to photobucket, then here.

David

[espritch]

Got home today and there were two rabbits sitting in my front yard. I backed in the truck and they didn't even move. I stood and watched them chase each other around the yard for several minutes. I'm guessing they were courting.

[Schneibster]

This sassy little white-crowned sparrow was prospecting for a meal among the rocks at a particularly favored spot for watching sea otters fish for snails and urchins at Point Lobos; it's just above "The Slot" for those who know the park well.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/1lobos2.jpg

[David B]

Great pics, Schneib. What are they taken with?

I took a couple of pics of a Little Egret today, but they are still in the camera, and I don't know yet if they will be good enough to post. They are so white that I've found too little contrast in pics I've taken of them before, with cameras before my current one. Also it is hard for me to stop camera shake at very high zoom hand held.

David

[Arctish]

I saw a white crowned sparrow a few days ago. The white stripes on it's head were wider than those in your picture, Schneibster . It was so intent on taking a bath it pretty much ignored me. No camera so no pics, unfortunately.

[Mediancat]

A bit outside what's considered their traditional range, but in the Falls River today by the Whole Foods Market in Mt. Washington, saw three adult yellow-crowned night herons, and one juvenile.

(As well as a great blue heron, who seemed to have wandered in from the land of the giants, considering his companions).

Rob

[Mediancat]

A couple of hummingbird moths today at the Irvine Nature Center. Most interesting insects I've seen since the Hercules beetle of a couple of months back.

If you don';t look carefully, you would probably swear you were seeing an actual hummingbird.

(Not my photo)

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/pic/Hemaris_thysbe.jpg

Rob

[David B]

A couple of damselflies

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1275bluedamselcrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1277reddamselcrop.jpg

I have a picture of a heron in mid strike on the camera. I'm quite pleased with it.

Maybe get it uploaded tomorrow.

David

[David B]

Heron striking

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/playing%20with%20pentax/IMGP1310heronstrikecrop.jpg

David

[Schneibster]

Thanks, David. That particular one (white capped sparrow, AKA "California chickadee") was taken with a 300mm f/2.8 Minolta "A"-mount on a Maxxum 9 with Provia 100f and scanned on my Nikon Coolscan II LS-20. I didn't have to remove scratches or dust. These days I still shoot with that lens, but I have a Sony Alpha A100 and lust after an A900. I also recently acquired a zoom with a very wide range, 18-200 IIRC, though it's only an f/3.5 at best; great in full daylight, anyway, and really fine in terms of absence of defects like vignetting and blurring at some lengths like some aspheres we all no doubt remember with ill will. The snowy egret, and this great egret, were taken with the Alpha A100 one of the first few times I had it out, probably with the 600mm f/4.

Getting your camera to do white can be a real challenge. The first thing to do is bracket and keep track of results. Once you're getting "real" white (that is, it looks properly white to you in prints, with enough remaining detail for your eye), then remember what the camera wanted to do by itself on that shot and adjust accordingly. That's the trick to it. Very often you need to brighten by 1/3 stop, because many cameras' sensors have trouble with white. One of the nice things about the Minolta cameras is they have the most accurate metering; a Minolta light meter is standard equipment in a pro's bag, even if their cameras aren't, and in fact I'm not sure the pros didn't miss a bet there.

Here's a nice great egret to go on with, since we're on white.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/DSC00429.jpg

This guy is a long way away, fishing in one of the rocky inlets along the North shore of Point Lobos from a log floating tangled in macrocystis kelp. He's waiting for a fish worthy of his attention to swim just a little bit too close to the surface. I'm some two hundred meters up a slope on the man-path shooting with the 300 f/2.8 and a doubler. He's still in full sun but you can see the fog creeping around in the sky behind him and turning the brown kelp almost purple. Judging from the light I'm running a Wratten 81A, likely trying to keep the purple out. I can't recall and am too lazy to dig up if it was the Alpha, which might instead mean an odd color temperature instead of or in addition to a filter; have to dig up the original to say for sure.

[Schneibster]

Those damselflies rock, as does the heron. What are you shooting with, if I may ask?

Rob, I saw a night heron around the southern end of my usual California Central Coast stomping grounds a few years back, very distinctive bird and in full plumage with that long dangling feather hanging from his crest. They apparently are fairly common, and I'm odd for not having noticed them before or since. :shrug: Not a birder, that's what I usually say. ;)

[David B]

Thanks. I'm using a pentax X90.

Upsides - light and easy to carry, quick to adapt to 26* optical zoom down to 1cm macro, so good for targets of opportunity on walks. Good anti-shake gizmos, even if not as good as a tripod. I carry a mini tripod with me, and sometimes on a serious walk a spotting scope with tripod, which I can use on the camera, too.

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/pentax_optio_x90_review/

Downsides - no RAW data, only three levels of JPEG, lacks the ultimate quality of a good SLR.

I think the upsides outweigh the down. It's good enough to see all sorts of unexpected details, like the damselfly feet having two toes.

David

[Schneibster]

I saw a white crowned sparrow a few days ago. The white stripes on it's head were wider than those in your picture, Schneibster . It was so intent on taking a bath it pretty much ignored me. No camera so no pics, unfortunately.I missed this earlier. They're very bold here. They'll tease my cats who they know are safely behind glass, as well as simply stay one bush ahead of me or behind me while I'm watering.

[Schneibster]

That Pentax is nice, David. That's a good walkaround camera. Lotsa photogs turn their noses up a bit at PnSs, but I tend to think the best camera is the one that gets used the most. :D My wife's experiences with her 5mp Sony have convinced me of that, even though it's one of the ones with the iodine screwup on the CCD chip ball bonds.

I'm thinking when I get the A900 I'll probably keep the A100 around to use with the 18-200 f/3.5; it'll be quite close to that Pentax, just not quite as much optical zoom, but of course with RAW and the other benefits of a full-on SLR, including best-on-Earth exposure control. With the APS-sized chip in the A100 it'll be very close to the classic 28-300 zoom; you essentially multiply lens focal lengths by 1.5 to figure full-frame size equivalents at the same film plane, so technically it's about 27-300. That of course makes my 600 f/4 actually the same frame size as a 900mm lens. :D It's also much less prone to vignetting and has less gradient, and avoids sharpness anomalies near the edge of the 35mm frame that a full 35mm sensor like in the A900 will see; not that there's much on a 600mm f/4 or a 300mm f/2.8 lens, of course, but still.

[Schneibster]

Here's a nice California Kite about 300 m away across a field of mud and pickleweed, sitting on a stump looking for a meal. It's a bit blurry; perhaps one day I'll see if I can catch him out there in the early morning when the air is still.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/Kite.jpg

[crazyfingers]

I am home from the first week in Maine. Didn't get much :(

This red squirrel was scolding me so I took his picture.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2004%2010%2036 %2008a.jpg

Down at the shore I saw this little crab. It was scurrying about around the rocks.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2010%2016%2025 %2025a.jpg

We took the cats to Maine this time. As some may recall the house has flying squirrels living between the walls. The cat cornered this one this morning at 4:24am. I got it and put it in a box and took it to the barn and put it into the have-a-heart trap until my sister in law arrived to move him later today.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2011%2008%2038 %2030a.jpg

I'm off for a business trip part of this week. The wife and kids are still at the place in Maine. I'll rejoin them Friday evening for another week.

[Schneibster]

The colors and textures in the crab picture are very nice. That's a keeper.

[Mediancat]

Eastern screech owl, a nonbreeding great blue heron, and an indigo bunting. The owl let us watch it for about ten minutes.

Rob

[Schneibster]

This little cutie stopped by this Spring, specifically on May 6th of this year about 2:30 in the afternoon. S/he lit on the fence in front of the house at the north end of the property; the background is my neighbor's townhouse. I have another photo of hir I'll be uploading in a little bit showing hir lovely blue epaulettes.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/a100CFdump23JUL10005.jpg

[David B]

Very crisp pic:notworthy:

I have a couple of pics on the camera - quite a nice shot of a female Ringlet butterfly, for one, that I must get round to downloading, uploading to photobucket and posting.

David

[Schneibster]

Thank you. :D That's my new 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Sony zoom, on the a100, at about ten yards, cropped down to what you see. The raw picture is about 3500x2400 pixels. I really like that lens in full sunlight for handheld snapshots. For maximum flexibility I keep the 5400HS flash on the shoe but turned off. This is pretty much all the power of an APS-chip 35mm SLR; my full frame being APS extends the focal length equivalent to 27-300mm for this lens; this is far beyond what most PnSs can do, and the flash makes this combination about the best I've handled for non-magazine quality pleasure shooting.

In other words, I'm likin' this lens a lot. :D

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/a100CFdump23JUL10007.jpg

[Schneibster]

There was a duller one about; my guess is that's the female, and this is the male, but I'm no birder so I'm as likely wrong as right.

[Mediancat]

I think this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Violet-green-swallow.jpg) is your bird -- a violet-green swallow.

Rob

[Schneibster]

I agree. Thanks for finding it.

[Schneibster]

So OK, here we go. Two otter shots from the CF I downloaded from today; a bunch of stuff spread over the Spring and early Summer of this year. Mama has brought up a yummy kelp crab, and junior is dividing time between watching her eviscerate it and wondering what the funny man with the floppy thing on his head is doing with the long white tube he keeps pointing at him. In the second shot, she's pulled the top off the carapace and given it to Junior to glean a few scraps from to keep him busy while she polishes off the remainder. He had already gotten a couple legs earlier, and of course when dining on crab al fresco, the claws are the first things to remove if one wishes to avoid having one's dinner become challenging.

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/monster.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp196/Schneibster/1otters/munchies.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Just got back from the second week to the coast of Maine. This week was much better than the week before last in terms of wildlife sightings!
On the night that I arrived one of the other flying squirrels made an appearance in the house.
The cat was going nuts. He's actually face down on a beam.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2016%2021%2036 %2031.jpg

Here is a nice close-up of a herring gull.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2017%2014%2049 %2052.jpg

Close-up of a herring gull eye.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN2547aa.jpg

Towards the end of that day I spotted this bald eagle in flight.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2017%2015%2057 %2010.jpg

He landed in the top of a tree.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2017%2015%2058 %2005.jpg

Blacky the crow.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2018%2016%2033 %2047.jpg

Our route to Acadia National Park takes us by a muddy tidal creek aptly named "Mud Creek" and on the wires crossing Mud Creek was this Osprey.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2012%2006 %2003.jpg

I was taking the photos out of the window of the car and moved a bit closer.

I had the software auto-correct the photos below to bring out the contrast in the bird. The sky went white but they were taken against the same gray sky as the photo above.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2012%2006 %2033.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2012%2006 %2036.jpg

He's looking at me!
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2012%2006 %2041.jpg

I have seen Osprey's here before but this is the first time I was ready for a shot. Last year we saw one plunge into the water after a fish.

Page 1

[crazyfingers]

About 15 minutes later I got this shot of a great blue heron at the bridge crossing to MDI.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2012%2021 %2051.jpg

A grass hopper who has befriended my boy's finger.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2014%2049 %2022.jpg

A slightly fuzzy red squirrel eating a red seed.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2020%2018%2002 %2033.jpg

An ocean-going duck
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2019%2014%2032 %2003.jpg

Out on a kayak ride we stopped on a small island and this bald eagle was flying around. Unfortunately out on the kayak I only had my pocket camera with the x5 zoom and not the x26 Nikon with me.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2002.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2006.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2011.jpg

The eagle landed again not far from me.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2017.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2037.jpg

There is a small bird above the eagle in this photo. It was pestering the eagle but I didn't get a good look at it.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2019 %2046.jpg

Page 2

[crazyfingers]

After the eagle left, I discovered what appears to be a dead seal. I guess that's what the eagle was interested in.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2013%2020 %2047.jpg

Upon returning to the house after the Kayak ride this Osprey was flying around at our shore.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2017%2038 %2047.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2017%2039 %2000.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2017%2039 %2031.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2022%2017%2039 %2047.jpg

This little brown bat was in the house one evening. No white mouth disease that I can see.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2023%2020%2018 %2003.jpg

This herring gull and cormorant were hanging around each other for who-knows-why. The cormorant kept diving looking for food and the gull would follow. I suppose the gull hoped to steal his catch.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2024%2014%2007 %2050.jpg

The cormorant goes down for the dive.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2024%2014%2006 %2016.jpg

So, a good week in Maine for wildlife photos I think. We are going up again just for this coming weekend and then again for a week beginning Labor Day. I'm looking forward to that.

Page 3

[Schneibster]

That osprey shot where it's looking at you is pretty nice.

The gull is hanging around the cormorant so that if it catches a fish, the gull can harass it into regurgitating it in order to get away. Standard gull tactic with cormorants. It works because the cormorants have to saturate their feathers to dive and once they're full of a meal they have to either dry their feathers or regurgitate their meal in order to fly again. Normally they swim over to a rock and dry their wings by posing like the Batman symbol facing the breeze and the Sun.

[Rie]

I saw a Tasmanian Tiger once. I actually don't have a camera these days. But I sketch a lot. Just using charcoal which is a good medium for quick sketches.

[rog]

I saw a Tasmanian Tiger once. I actually don't have a camera these days. But I sketch a lot. Just using charcoal which is a good medium for quick sketches.

I suppose it would have to be a quick sketch, for safety reasons :)

I just looked it up, they're extinct now? So I'm guessing it wasn't alive at the time you drew it....

[Rie]

Didn't even try to capture the Tasmanian tiger... I could sketch it from memory.

[David B]

An Emperor Moth caterpillar

ETA so I believe, after looking on-line

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1432crop.jpg

David

[Schneibster]

You'll want to wash your hands before eating after handling that.

[David B]

Not my hand:)

David

[nygreenguy]

Little jerk looking at me...

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0934.jpg


http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0928.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0888.jpg

Little aphids doing their handstands on a sonchus (Sowthistle)

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0876.jpg

A ladybug with what looks like eggs attached

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0860.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0858.jpg

SNAIL!

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Wildlife/DSC_0857.jpg

[Schneibster]

Nice insect shots, ny. Is that a katydid in the first one?

[Schneibster]

Not my hand:)

DavidGood. Those hairs exude toxins; they might not affect you, but why take a chance?

[nygreenguy]

Nice insect shots, ny. Is that a katydid in the first one?


Dont think so. Same as pic #2.

[David B]

Butterflies are hard to shoot, because the little buggers are uncooperative about staying still.

I did manage a ringlet, a tortoiseshell and a burnet moth - the last has some nice optical effects from the angle of the light.

All the butterflies I have pics of so far have structures on the stalk of the antennae as well as at the tip. anyone know what, if any, function they have?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1341ringletcrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1486tortoideshellcrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1372burnetmothcrop.jpg

David

[nygreenguy]

All the butterflies I have pics of so far have structures on the stalk of the antennae as well as at the tip. anyone know what, if any, function they have?



The thing at the tip is a club, and there is no known purpose/special function afaik, although I think its been argued that they make it easier to communicate, since butterfly do movements with their antenna to send visual signals to other butterflies.

It is also to distinguish (taxonomically) between a moth and butterfly though.

The other structures are the chemical (olfactory) sensors .

[Worldtraveller]

I'm pretty sure this guy is a magnolia warbler: (trying to post these just as links since they are pretty big)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010082.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010081.jpg

My personal fave from this last trip, a belted kingfisher.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010079.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010078.jpg
I sat in the bushes and watched the pair of them fish for about an hour, it was really fascinating.

Lesser, or American Goldfinch:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010072.jpg

Trying my hand at insect shots, bees are a lot like butterflies....

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010065.jpg

Any birder tell me what kind of warbler this is?

http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/?action=view&current=P1010042.jpg

Red shafted flicker

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010055.jpg

And another warbler having fun:
http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/?action=view&current=P1010046.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/P1010044.jpg

[nygreenguy]

Any birder tell me what kind of warbler this is?

http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Estes%20Lake/?action=view&current=P1010042.jpg



Not a warbler at all. Female Goldfinch. The beak gives it away, as does the coloring.

Narrowing by habitat works best when dealing with birds, then you can narrow down much faster.

[Worldtraveller]

Yeah, but there are a lot of warblers and a few finches that inhabit that area. Good call though. The females often throw me off when I'm birding.

There are quite a few plant and flowers in those collections if you want to go through those, too. I'm terrible at botany. :p

[nygreenguy]

Yeah, but there are a lot of warblers and a few finches that inhabit that area. Good call though. The females often throw me off when I'm birding.

There are quite a few plant and flowers in those collections if you want to go through those, too. I'm terrible at botany. :p

I tried, your album is private or something! :dunno::D

And you can post the huge pics, the forum auto-resizes them

[Worldtraveller]

Yeah, but there are a lot of warblers and a few finches that inhabit that area. Good call though. The females often throw me off when I'm birding.

There are quite a few plant and flowers in those collections if you want to go through those, too. I'm terrible at botany. :p

I tried, your album is private or something! :dunno::D

And you can post the huge pics, the forum auto-resizes them
Hrm, everything's set to public as far as I know. The good ones are in the 'Hollowell Park' subfolder. (all the pics from the trip are currently in subfolders only)

[Worldtraveller]

I like this one a lot for some reason...any idea what kind of fungi that is?
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Hollowell%20Park-Cub%20Lake%20Trail/P1010103.jpg

And here's some unknown (to me) flowers:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Wylann/Estes%20Park%202010/Hollowell%20Park-Cub%20Lake%20Trail/P1010093.jpg

[nygreenguy]

Stinkhorn Mutinus caninus The name refers to its resemblance to a dogs penis. Its normally erect.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/DSC_1142.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/DSC_1148.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Plants = wildlife? Sort of I suppose.... :)

[David B]

Plants = wildlife? Sort of I suppose.... :)

I'd suggest that to a first approximation, discounting single celled stuff and fungi, plants are wildlife.

David

[nygreenguy]

Plants = wildlife? Sort of I suppose.... :)

I'd suggest that to a first approximation, discounting single celled stuff and fungi, plants are wildlife.

David

Why kick out fungi?

[David B]

Plants = wildlife? Sort of I suppose.... :)

I'd suggest that to a first approximation, discounting single celled stuff and fungi, plants are wildlife.

David

Why kick out fungi?

Why kick out single cell thingies too?

The point of what I was trying to get across - and I don't know that I am right - is that so much of what is living apart from fungi and single celled stuff plants make up so much of wildlife, that the mammals, reptiles, insects etc can, to a first approximation, be ignored.

Am I right? By biomass? By number of species? I'd have thought the former, not so much the latter.

David

David

[nygreenguy]

Why kick out single cell thingies too?

The point of what I was trying to get across - and I don't know that I am right - is that so much of what is living apart from fungi and single celled stuff plants make up so much of wildlife, that the mammals, reptiles, insects etc can, to a first approximation, be ignored.

Am I right? By biomass? By number of species? I'd have thought the former, not so much the latter.

David

David
By biomass and number of species, fungi and bacteria have them all whopped.

There is a unique fungal parasite to pretty much every living insect species alive. This right there gives them the sheer number of species. And the fact that fungi is found everywhere in the soil, it amounts to a pretty hefty biomass.

as for single celled critters, Im pretty sure they make up the bulk of the biomass on earth.

If you want to limit wildlife, I would suggest limiting to that which is readily observable!

[crazyfingers]

I saw a hummingbird today around my yard twice. Both times I went to get the camera and it as gone as hummingbirds do.

The light wasn't right to see the colors. Though as I understand it we only have one kind around here.

Anyways..... Friday we are off to Maine again for our last week vacation. Hopefully I'll come home with some nice photos and hopefully Earl won't delay our departure.

[David B]

There was a lot of wind early this week, and I came upon a tree which had been damaged by it. No wonder a large chunk of it fell off, since it was pretty hollow, though the hollow had its contents. The pic was taken in pretty poor light, but it will have to do.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1594.jpg

I saw a tiny, delicate looking spider, with very long legs, on a decaying blackberry. It was only later that I saw a millipede in the pic

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1629.jpg

I'm overcoming my long standing fear of spiders well enough to get close enough to get a pic of this rather spectacular golden coloured one.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1617.jpg

David

[Cath B]

No pics, but had a lovely view of a peregrine falcon soaring around the Isle of May (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_May) today.

Some eagle-eyed folk also managed to detect the resident white tailed sea eagle relaxing on the grass as our boat sped away from the island all too fast; but I, alas, was not one of them.

[crazyfingers]

We just got home from vacation on the coast of Maine near Acadia National Park. Got a few fun photos to share.

Hour house you know, if you've been watching any of my other posts, has critters. The cats got this guy who I let free down to the water across the road after taking the photo.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2004%2021%2024%2002. jpg

Bald eagle from the house. There were two. Only got a halfway decent photo of the second.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2005%2009%2039%2023. jpg

Later in the day this flew over the house. I am not positive what it is. I think that it's a juvenile bald eagle but would love your opinion for a positive ID.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2005%2009%2051%2035. jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2005%2009%2051%2045. jpg

Down at the shore we found these little crabs. They are both about the size if a penny excluding the legs.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2005%2012%2022%2022. jpg

This is a larger one. It was just sitting in the seaweed. I saw it twitch but told my daughter that it was dead. She piked it and it up and skittered away. The boys thought that it was a huge joke. So did she.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2005%2012%2050%2006. jpg

There is a sea cave called Anemone Cave at Acadia that's accessible at low tide and had tide pools inside. Very cool actually.

Here is a redish color Anemone.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2006%2014%2015%2013. jpg

Here is a white one. It's wild how it reflects the light back.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2006%2014%2046%2032. jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2006%2014%2047%2009. jpg

I have no idea what this critter is. Clearly it's a shell with many legs at the edge and even a tail. There were lots of these things. I have never seen the shells on the shore. New to me anyway,


http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2006%2014%2040%2055. jpg

Page 1

[crazyfingers]

There was a family of turkeys on our road. Several times we went by and they were there but they are good at hiding. This was the best shot we got. There were usually around 6 of them.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2007%2012%2012%2034. jpg

We took a hike wound Jordan Pond, really a good size lake, and there was this loon.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2016%2020%2016. jpg

It started to rain and it just decided to take a nap.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2016%2020%2036. jpg

Back at Mud Creek. Same crossing where I took the photos of the Osprey that I posed in July, is a blue Heron. Not so good a photo.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2017%2024%2024. jpg

Same place. I parked the car and took photos out the window. On the same lines that the osprey was sitting on was this kingfisher.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2017%2026%2034. jpg

It flew away and didn't make a dive for a fish.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2017%2024%2035. jpg

This sandpiper was also within view of my car window. Mud Creek is a popular fishing spot for birds.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2009%2017%2025%2029. jpg

Back at the house the two bald eagles were flying around together.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2015%2035%2050. jpg

Common loons of the variant coloration taken from the ledge of the shore looking down at the ocean. These live in the ocean. I see them there a lot.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2016%2057%2055. jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2016%2058%2030. jpg

Page 2

[crazyfingers]

Red squirrel. Same tree limb in back of the barn as last summer. Probably the same red squirrel too.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2017%2044%2046. jpg

On the access road to the Schoodic area of Acadia national park we saw Prickly Pork the porcupine along the road. He was planning to cross but as I pulled the car closer and started taking photos from the window he decided to walk past and not cross at that time. Very cute critter. Cute waddly walk. No reason to rush if you're a porcupine.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2011%2014%2040. jpg

At the Schoodic section of Acadia a cormorant drying itself after diving for lunch.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2013%2021%2003. jpg

This blue heron was flying in circles out by schoodic point.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2013%2047%2014. jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2013%2047%2017. jpg

A hare sitting by the edge of the woods.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2016%2008%2016. jpg

And finally, this moose really had me fooled for a moment. At first I thought that it was a sign for a glass shop.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2011%2015%2014%2030. jpg

Page 3/last

[4321lynx]

Common loons of the variant coloration taken from the ledge of the shore looking down at the ocean. These live in the ocean. I see them there a lot.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2016%2057%2055. jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/September%20Maine%202010%2009%2010%2016%2058%2030. jpg

Page 2

Deja-vu, on FRDB!!:)

Near loon -- changing to non-breeding plumage.

Far loon is a juvenile, likely first year. NB Partial white collar & pale bill.

[crazyfingers]

This puffed up titmouse was in the yard this morning. No idea why he's puffed up. He flew away a bit later.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN5158a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

About the bird above, given the blue top, I'm not so sure it's a titmouse but I've looked though my books and can't find anything like it...

[4321lynx]

Agreed. Very odd. Wonder what some really knowledgable birder would make of it.

[nygreenguy]

Wildlife guts

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/DSC_1598.jpg

[Mediancat]

It seems to be a tufted titmouse, based on the pictures I see online. Maybe it's a variant coloring or a young one.

Rob

[Mediancat]

A young red-shouldered hawk is definitely making its home in our neighborhood. Thursday came home to find it perched on a lamppost peering into a nearby bush, where a flock of wrens tends to hide from predators.

It flew off sans prey.

Also, an influx of craneflies; saw three or four today.

Rob

[crazyfingers]

I'm in Zhuhai China today and saw this very fast running critter outside the tradeshow.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_8119a.JPG

[nygreenguy]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/CypripediumarietinumRams-headLadysSlipper6.jpg

Cypripedium arietinum Rams-headLadysSlipper

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/Cypripediumparvifloradouble4.jpg

Cypripedium parviflora yellow lady slipper. Its like a double rainbow, but cooler.

[nygreenguy]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/GeumtriflorumfruitprairiesmokeGETR3.jpg

Geum triflorum prairiesmoke

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/LiliumphiladelphicumWoodLilly11.jpg

Lilium philadelphicum WoodLilly

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/LiliumphiladelphicumWoodLillyextremecloseup.jpg

Lilium philadelphicum WoodLilly

[nygreenguy]

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/PenstemonhirsutusHairyBeartonguegoodcloseup.jpg

Penstemon hirsutus HairyBeartongue

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/nygreenguy/Alvar%20and%20Green%20Roof/Alvar%20Plants/PhloxdivaricataWildPhloxPHDI.jpg

Phlox divaricata WildPhlox

[crazyfingers]

Two critters on an early fall day.

Chipper
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN5167.jpg

Mourning Dove
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN5194.jpg

[crazyfingers]

We made one last trip to Maine this fall to close up the house for the winter. I made a trip over to the Schoodic area of Acadia National Park.

These aren't great photos but I like them.

A loon in the ocean.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2014%2052%2037.jpg

A loon and a gull that got in the way of the photo.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2014%2053%2031.jpg

Now this is a first sighing for me. Over the years that we've been going here, I've never seen a seal. My first seal. He's watching me suspiciously.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2015%2003%2042.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2015%2003%2045.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2015%2004%2037.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2015%2004%2054.jpg

One good photo of a blue heron.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2015%2043%2009.jpg

Now this is a pretty poor photo but I have never noticed a loon flying before so it's another first for me. I know that Loons are extremely good at swimming under water and what I think is cool is how its wings so closely resemble flippers.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20Oct%202010%2010%2010%2016%2012%2037.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Yesterday morning my yard and neighbors was invaded for a couple of hours by thousands of common grackles on their way south. It's amazing how they fly in unison.

Here's a not so great photo up my driveway.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6206a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

A Bluebird on a wire.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6237a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6240a.jpg

[David B]

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1889.jpg

Taken at Bosherston today at high zoom hand held in not wonderful light in a pretty strong breeze.

Which I hope excuses to some extent the lack of sharpness. However I've been hoping to get a reasonable pic of these since I got the camera, and this is about the best of the load I took today, most of which are deleted already.

David

[Cath B]

Cool :)

[Mediancat]

Caught a northern shrike at a local nature center; a photo of the very bird can be found here, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thrasher72/5182481868/in/pool-ebird) though that's most definitely not my photo.

The shrike is a bit south of its usual range, particularly for this early in the year; the place had a good many more birders than normal.

Rob

[David B]

Usually down here I see Golden Plovers in huge flocks in winter, wheeling around in the distance.

This is a solitary one I saw fairly close up on my last visit to Scotland, taken on a cliff walk near St Andrews, which I forgot to post at the time.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1780.jpg

David

[David B]

I have some not very good pics of goosanders still on the camera - they are quite shy and at distance.

But the other day when at Milford Haven with a colleague who is a birder he pointed out to me a gull which is a bit of a rarity, though not as much as it would have been a decade or so ago. There seem to be a number of birds extending their range northwards. What do they know that Global Warming Deniers don't?

Anyway, it was a Mediterranean Gull, rather like a Black Headed Gull, though with some clear differences. I have some good pics of that - it was pretty close, and I had somewhere I could rest my hands while shooting.

I'll get them off camera and onto photobucket, probably on Friday, but maybe tomorrow evening.

David

[crazyfingers]

Last weekend the kids and I went to the store for a few things. It was about 30 minutes to sundown. In the parking lot there was a wonderful hawk sitting up top of the parking lot light as gulls often do. We went over to see it. A few other people stopped to look.

We got as close to the light as the light was high so looking up at a 45 degree angle. The setting sun was shining on it face on as we watched it as it scanned the scene. I wish I had my camera!! It would have been a wonderful shot with the setting sun right on it.

The kids were in awe. They are 7, 8 and 10 years old and love wildlife. My youngest is really big into learning the birds at our feeder and can name them off faster than I can and is usually right when I'm not sure.

"Wow that's a big bird!" he says. Then it spread it's wings and took off over us. "WOW!" he says. I told him that its wings were probably as long has he was tall. "WOW, that's so cool!" he says.

:)

[David B]

Mediterranean Gull, pair of Goosanders, one with a foot raised out of the water, and paor of winter plumage Little Grebes

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1920.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1906goosandercrop.jpg

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1941littlegrebes.jpg

David

[Ray Moscow]

The last 2 weeks in South Africa I saw:

Southern right whales -- but at a distance, and the pictures are crap.
Various African birds, including one that knocked the sideview mirror off my car (ginuea fowl, I think)
Baboons
Monkeys
Cape hyrax
White shark -- again, in the distance with only crap photos
Large mud wasp hauling a much large spider

A friend says he'll use photos from the last one in his biology blog -- I'll post a link in the science forum when this happens.

[crazyfingers]

This afternoon we went on our traditional Thanksgiving hike in the woods before dinner. We went to the pond where the beavers are making an extension pond.

Got an OK shot of what looks to me like a mink.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6359a.jpg

[Mediancat]

That looks like exactly a mink, sir. Good catch!

Rob

[crazyfingers]

That looks like exactly a mink, sir. Good catch!

Rob

Thanks for the confirmation! The dark pink nose isn't in any photos I could find.

I took three photos. The one above was the only one not too fuzzy. The first I could see it was long and skinny.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6357a.jpg

The second was not much.

The kids loved it too. They are familiar with the Thornton Burgess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Burgess) animal stories and were very excited to see the "real" Billy Mink. :)

[Mediancat]

Just to confirm, there seem to be five mustelids who live in Massachusetts, and this definitely isn't an otter or a fisher -- not big enough. And the long and short-tailed weasel seem too light in color.

Rob

[4321lynx]

Just to confirm, there seem to be five mustelids who live in Massachusetts, and this definitely isn't an otter or a fisher -- not big enough. And the long and short-tailed weasel seem too light in color.

Rob

Totally agree. It's a mink.
The weasels are slimmer and more slinky in build.

[crazyfingers]

Today I stepped out onto my driveway and this was in the tree by the side of the yard.

I think that it's a broad-winged hawk?

Yesterday I was on the phone looking out my door to the driveway and the side yard and I saw feathers floating down in clumps. Unfortunately I was on the phone with my boss and couldn't go see.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6369a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6368a.jpg

I took these two photos and then it flew off to a farther away tree. I followed and it left.

[crazyfingers]

This was in the yard today. Have not yet attempted to look through the bird books to identify it. It was not very large. From where I was standing it didn't seem like it would have been much larger than a rabbit. But it's hard to tell.


http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6407a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

I think that it's a female Goshawk

[crazyfingers]

Two more photos from today.

One of the multitude of sparrows that hang around our house.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6382a.jpg


Looks like a pair of European Starlings.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6386a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

There was a commotion by the bird feeder this afternoon and this critter snatched a downey woodpacker off the suit feeder and took it away.

I'd guess it was smaller than an American crow. It kept flying off with it and landing and I would try for better photos. It finally flew off with it into the woods and I quit following.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6433a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6434a.jpg

It looks very different from the one on the grass from the other day but I bet they had the same purpose in mind.

[crazyfingers]

Here is another photo. Similar lighting as the bird that was in the tree several posts up. I wonder if it's the same bird.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6421a.jpg

[Mediancat]

Small as it is, I think it's a juvenile -- possibly goshawk -- maybe red-shouldered?

Rob

[crazyfingers]

It was suggested on another board that it's a sharp-shinned hawk. Right size and neck and head coloring. It's a northern bird but is a winter visitor to Massachusetts. "Often seen swooping in on birds visiting feeders" bingo.

[crazyfingers]

This was in the yard today. Have not yet attempted to look through the bird books to identify it. It was not very large. From where I was standing it didn't seem like it would have been much larger than a rabbit. But it's hard to tell.


http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6407a.jpg

I saw this one again today. There was a commotion in the feeder area again and looking out I saw it perched there - all alone :)

I didn't get a photo but this is a photo of the feeder taken from inside the house where we look out. The hawk was perched on that semi-horizontal branch of the Rhodos between the green feeder and the thistle feeder below, right above the suit feeders.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6441a.jpg

So it appears that we have two small hawks, a juvenile coopers hawk and a sharp shinned hawk, that are now frequenting the feeder area. The kids were beside themselves that a hawk was sitting just by the window. I went for the camera but the kids were screaming with delight and jumping and so the hawk left.

[crazyfingers]

It looks like that juvenile coopers hawk is now successfully hunting at the bird feeder. That's at least two hawks now feeding on the birds at the feeder.

We might need to stop feeding the birds for a while if these hawks keep feeding on the birds.

Here it is eating the catch about 8 feet from my front door by the rhododendrons, 5 feet from the feeder.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6448a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6450a.jpg

This is what he had - what he didn't fly off with. I'm betting a titmouse or a junco, but probably a titmouse as I have not seen the junco's arrive yet this fall.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6466a.jpg

Here he is about 5 minutes later. I like this photo. On the fence between me and the neighbor with the roof of the neighbor's barn in the background.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN6472a.jpg

[espritch]

The point of what I was trying to get across - and I don't know that I am right - is that so much of what is living apart from fungi and single celled stuff plants make up so much of wildlife, that the mammals, reptiles, insects etc can, to a first approximation, be ignored.

Am I right? By biomass? By number of species? I'd have thought the former, not so much the latter.


I remember driving along a country road here in NC and being struck by the fact that pretty much all the life I saw was green plants of one sort or another; trees, bushes, grass. I think people tend to notice animals more than plants because they are the exception, not the rule.

[Ray Moscow]

Those are really good Coopers hawk photos!

We have fieldfare out front this morning, eating sloes and rosehips:
http://philturner99.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/fieldfare.jpg

(not my photo)

[pakeha]

This was found on a bramble leaf. A quick look online hasn't helped me identify it. Any ideas?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1115.jpg

David

Hi, im new here. Will be buying the Pentax X90 very soon :)
uhm, we have catterpillars like that here in aussie. they are called spit-fires.

[Mediancat]

I wish my first attempt to contribute a personal photo to this were other than mallards, but these ducks were seen on the Falls River in Mt. Washington, MD:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs759.ash1/165067_178765435478447_100000349741989_515220_6341 4_n.jpg

Rob

[Sensi]

fixed it, this is wildlife because I let it go :D

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1371.snc4/164306_179410935416556_100000429531388_522547_5240 64_n.jpg

[David B]

This was found on a bramble leaf. A quick look online hasn't helped me identify it. Any ideas?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1115.jpg

David

Hi, im new here. Will be buying the Pentax X90 very soon :)
uhm, we have catterpillars like that here in aussie. they are called spit-fires.

I now think it might be a Yellow Tailed Moth.

From http://wildenvironmentalist.blogspot.com/2008/06/norfolk-birding-holiday-4th-june.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BF7a8GKQtv4/SF6kJdRNN4I/AAAAAAAAAOM/iNkmPnDfowI/s400/IMG_3067+-+yellow+tailed+moth+caterpillar.jpg

David

[Mediancat]

fixed it, this is wildlife because I let it go :D

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1371.snc4/164306_179410935416556_100000429531388_522547_5240 64_n.jpg

I'm not much of a fish expert -- what is that?

Rob