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


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Saw the loveliest bird, twice. In Indiana, and, just across the border in Ohio

The American Goldfinch (not my photo)

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Back in the land of the beautiful Red-winged Blackbird (not my photo)

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Look what I  discovered yesterday:  

 

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A nest full of American Robin chicks!   I find it interesting that their naked skin color is the same hue of orange as the parent's breast feathers.  I've been watching the nest for the last two weeks but just captured a photo.

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Fantastic picture, @Muledeer.  What an amazing nest, so neat, such a perfect circle.  I have been excited to see greenfinches back in my garden.  Their numbers nosedived owing to a parasitic disease, but it looks like there is some degree of recovery now.

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Aw, baby birds! It's been a while since I've seen a nest full of chicks that close up, but I've encountered plenty of fledglings. 

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That's a great picture! Baby birds from me too (not quite as 'baby') Baby herring gulls nesting on top of a chalk stack on the Kent coast  yesterday. I couldn't get any closer and it was windy  so many apologies for the  blurriness. ALso, can anybody explain the second photo please? Is it seaweed? Is it a jellyfish? It's a little under 10 inches/ 30 cm in width and was washed up on the beach. (That first photo is really bad!!)

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Spoiler

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Google image search was no help - it just saw it as a picture of sand. :P

 

But I found this, image of squid eggs.

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Thank you @daveb Switching between the two images, I'm sure squid eggs is what they are. Fancy that!

 

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I read today that the Purple Emperor butterfly has been seen in Eastern England. It was thought to be extinct in the UK. I've had a Cinnabar Moth in the garden today. Lovely red and blackish wings. Itt didn't settle. I think it was searching for ragwort and I don't have any in the garden. Sometimes I've seen ragwort completely covered by the black and yellow caterpillars. I used to see Cinnabar frequently when I lived up north. Much more rarely here in the south.

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Skycaptain

@Tunhope, happily the Purple Emperor has never been extinct in Britain. It's just seldom seen because it generally flies at the top of a woodland canopy. During the flying season, which is around now, you need to put overripe bananas on the ground in a woodland clearing and hope for the best. I know of serious entomologists who haven't seen one in 50 years, and others who see them every year.

The Purple Hairstreak is another, I've seen one in 40+ years, my father who is a very serious entomologist who's seen over 1000 different butterflies and moths, including the first Subangled Wave sighting in the UK for 30 years has never seen either in Britain 

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That's really interesting about the bananas @Skycaptain as they're not exactly a native fruit! I'm glad the butterflies are simply relatively rare, not extinct. You've obviously got your father's love of entomology.

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I keep meaning to ask: How do you set up a camera, when you've got hooves, @Muledeer??? animated-smileys-thinking-13.gif

Nice selfies, though! :P:P:P

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@Tja Some of us have opposing thumbs😉  The bigger challenge is reading and understanding the camera's operating instructions, because, as you know, most of us Muledeer are illiterate.

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A pair of ducks flew out of the willows alongside the road.  One of them collided with my vehicle while traveling 70 MPH.  I closed my eyes when it hit the windshield.   I had enough reaction time to think "you're not gonna make it..."     So I killed a duck with my truck tonight☹️

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4 minutes ago, Muledeer said:

A pair of ducks flew out of the willows alongside the road.  One of them collided with my vehicle while traveling 70 MPH.  I closed my eyes when it hit the windshield.   I had enough reaction time to think "you're not gonna make it..."     So I killed a duck with my truck tonight☹️

Oh man, I hate when stuff like that happens. I don't want to hurt the critters. But accidents do happen. :( 

 

How is your truck?

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Skycaptain

@Muledeer, these things happen. Just look at it this way, some carnivorous animal or bird is going to have a nice dinner 

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That kind of thing stays on one's mind. I'm glad you were able to keep control of the truck.

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There's another right behind me too.

 

We just spotted a cooper's hawk in our front yard with a dove trapped in its talons. Poor dove, but that's what hawks do. 

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A frog was visible in the garden pond - just keeping its eyes and nose above the water.  

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Up at mum's in Bradford today, there was a freshly hatched Small Tortoiseshell sunning itself on the flowerbed, and a parent sparrow was teaching the fledglings how to use the bird feeder 

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4 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

Small Tortoiseshell

Had to look that up as the only tortoiseshells I knew were cats and glasses. :P 

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10 hours ago, daveb said:

Had to look that up as the only tortoiseshells I knew were cats and glasses. :P 

Are you willing to share that information?  is it a bird or a reptile?

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I saw a grass snake swimming across a pond today at a water garden centre.

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I used to see Small Tortoiseshells a lot, but I don't think I've  seen any in the garden this year even though I've let a patch of nettles grow. A fair few Red Admirals though, and lots of Gatekeepers on the marjoram. It's in flower at the moment. 

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