Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~

[Myssterry]

Lovely walk round the nature reserve today, the first nature walk for weeks owing to Little Dog's accident.  He wasn't ready to come too, so I took my bins and made it a bird watching walk.  I saw magpie, jackdaw, little grebe, mute swan, mallard, coot, moorhen, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, thrush, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, blue tit, long-tailed tit, wood pigeon and feral pigeon.  Add on the greater spotted woodpecker in the garden before I set off and I have had a good birding day.

[daveb]

7 hours ago, Mizzletoe said:

so I took my bins

My first thought was "why did you take garbage bins?"

(then I realized you probably meant binoculars)

[Skycaptain]

Yes, that's a common abbreviation 

[daveb]

9 minutes ago, Sleighcaptain said:

Yes, that's a common abbreviation 

Never heard it before - maybe one of those UK/US differences.

[Muledeer]

9 hours ago, daveb said:

Never heard it before - maybe one of those UK/US differences.

Cool - I just learned three new British words this week, thanks to AVEN:  Bins, twiglets, and PAYE 

[Tyke]

6 hours ago, Muledeer said:

Cool - I just learned three new British words this week, thanks to AVEN:  Bins, twiglets, and PAYE 

PAYE is pronounced letter by letter, by the way. Not as one word. It stands for Pay as You Earn.

[Muledeer]

http://www.krtv.com/story/37161745/elk-rescued-from-icy-water-in-wyoming-video

 

Here is a link to a video clip of the rescue of some elk that fell through the ice in a Wyoming reservoir.

 

About twelve elk were rescued and at least two went under.  They tried to cut a channel to the shore with chainsaws but the ice was almost two feet thick so the elk had to be roped and pulled out of the water one by one.  It was a herd of cows and calves migrating to their winter range.

[Avian]

My name/avatar is not random. I adore birds and would love to meet with other aces for something like this.

[Blackthorn]

Storm Eleanor passed over us last night.  Winds were up to 100mph in the Pennines.  Have had a few birds visiting the garden this morning trying to cling on to the feeders.

[LVG]

I can't keep up with the demand on my feeders. The sparrows are eating me out of house and home. I wish they'd find someone else's feeders to devour. 

[Tja]

Watched a crested pigeon perform a mating dance for his mate.

Then, whilst sitting on the patio, a wild parrot landed on the table I was sitting at and I fed it some seeds.

Later, I witnessed a rare sight, as a Euro (which, cats explained, is a Wallaroo) came by for a visit.

Now, I'm enjoying a spectacular thunder storm.

[Tja]

Has anyone heard of pink lightning?

I thought I was seeing things, but, @Autumn Sunrise verified it was pink.

[daveb]

4 hours ago, Tja said:

Has anyone heard of pink lightning?

I had not (but I haven't seen a lot of lightning (and thanks for spelling it correctly! I see too many people putting an e in there; that's a different word.)

 

Be careful about googling the word though. Especially for results from things like the urban dictionary (as usual - what is wrong with humans?).  

[Muledeer]

@Tja I have seen lightning come in different shades of light - blue, purple, yellow, white, and pink.  I think it depends on what kinds of particulate matter is in the atmosphere during the thunderstorm.

[Tja]

I looked it up:

Blue lightning means hail in the storm clouds.

Pink means particles in the air which absorb the light, whether moisture, or dust, etc.

Lightning, while snowing, though rare, can be pink or green.

It's white when it's dry.

Fascinating stuff.

[Tja]

8 hours ago, daveb said:

I had not (but I haven't seen a lot of lightning (and thanks for spelling it correctly! I see too many people putting an e in there; that's a different word.)

 

Be careful about googling the word though. Especially for results from things like the urban dictionary (as usual - what is wrong with humans?).  

 

7 hours ago, Muledeer said:

@Tja I have seen lightning come in different shades of light - blue, purple, yellow, white, and pink.  I think it depends on what kinds of particulate matter is in the atmosphere during the thunderstorm.

Also, I think it was pink, because today was the first day for legalized marriage for homosexuals in Australia!!!  

Good on you, Australia!!!

[Skycaptain]

^^ sniggers 

[Myssterry]

Saw a goldcrest in some brambles today, so close I could have reached out and touched it.  (Not my photo)

 

[Skycaptain]

On the train today, coming into Lancaster there was a heron stood at the edge of a pool in a stream, obviously on the lookout for breakfast 

[Autumn Sunrise]

I think @Tja's made himself some extra friends while he's been here  There are about half a dozen King parrots now regularly hanging around near his bedroom verandah, waiting for a handout of sunflower seeds. They seem to be becoming quite tame!

 

We had a fantastic visit to the dingo sanctuary in the Southern Highlands yesterday. They are such beautiful animals, and amazingly friendly. Dingos have had a lot of bad press, but apparently they can be kept as pets, if you're willing to make the commitment. They bond strongly to humans, and love having the companionship of their owner. Although they've been portrayed as dangerous animals (dramatic licence, maybe?) they're not normally vicious at all. (The ones that are observed to be dangerous are more likely to be dingo-dog hybrids, presumably with a bad combination of genes.) They do, though, need a high level of commitment from their "human". In fact, their worst vice seems to be a strong tendency to keep going if they get free, which can be rather awkward 

[Decaf]

I'm into photography.
I don't have a zoom lens or telephoto, so I've never done any wildlife photography, but I enjoy landscapes.
Recently I've been doing some infrared photography, which I find interesting.
I'm using an IR filter, so the exposures are long - approx 25 seconds on a bright day, so obviously it involves a tripod and a cable release.

 

 

[Tja]

Those are stunning, @Decaf! Gorgeous!!

[smack12776]

3 hours ago, Decaf said:

I'm into photography.
I don't have a zoom lens or telephoto, so I've never done any wildlife photography, but I enjoy landscapes.
Recently I've been doing some infrared photography, which I find interesting.
I'm using an IR filter, so the exposures are long - approx 25 seconds on a bright day, so obviously it involves a tripod and a cable release.

 

 

These are amazing. Stunning!

[Blackthorn]

Counted seventeen goldfinches in the garden today.  This time last year I was getting one or two.  Maybe because we are having a cold winter (for England).  The other day also had a visit from five greenfinches.   Hope they turn up for the Big Garden Birdwatch in a couple of weeks!

[Autumn Sunrise]

We had an amazing experience this morning! We were sitting in the dining room, finishing our breakfast, when through the glass doors we spotted first one, then two willie wagtails in the garden on the fire-fighting pump. Then we realised that there were two more, a little smaller and quite fluffy, and we realised that we were seeing two parent birds teaching their babies to fly. How wonderful was that?? 

[Myssterry]

I had a colourful visitor to the garden today, a male bullfinch.  He was perched on the birdbath having a drink.  The jay was there yesterday - another of our more colourful birds.

[Muledeer]

Here is a fresh Mule deer photo from last summer:

[daveb]

Funny how the tree almost looks like it's growing out of the deer's head. Also, looking at the velvet on the actual antlers.  

[GeoAmy]

Houston had a 50deg F temperature swing this week!  Went from 22 wednesday morning to 72 this afternoon!  I went for a walk at the park behind my house and went all around the big lake, which is 4 miles. I logged 19 bird species in eBird.  I saw 5 black-crowned night herons, which was a first for me there.  I think the lack of leaves on the trees made them easier to spot.  Also saw some loggerhead shrikes, the tricolored heron in his favorite corner of the lake, a red tailed hawk, a group of Caspian Terns, and 2 greater yellow legs that I didn't expect to see there.  It was a good day to be outside, especially after the "deep freeze" (by Houston standards)  we had earlier this week. 

[daveb]

Then I vaguely recalled an old story from some book from my childhood, of a deer with a cherry tree growing from a pit that got lodged in its forehead. Found this image

 

Apparently the story is from Heinrich Bebel's Facetiae.