Bullfinches!

We have no snow yet, but the temps are below 0 °C sometimes, so we are filling the feeder with sunflower seeds. And at least bullfinches are here again, I had four pairs show up simultaneously this week, although I did not, unfortunately, get them all in one picture. I got seven individuals at once, but unfortunately, the focus was not on the tree with birds but on the tree behind them.

Back at the Zoo 6: The Birds of Prey

Always one of my favourite parts. Sadly but understandably they don’t fly them for the visitors right now, but still some amazing creatures.

A Predator Poses for Pics

Avalus has been out capturing the natural world for us, and this set of photos is spectacular.

And this morning I had this big bird of prey pose and flex its wings for me. Quality is not the best, as I was shivering on my bike (cold! Forgot my gloves! Again!) and the autofocus had its problems focusing the bird from about 30 m away. It was a majestic sight. The pictures don’t do it justice.

[Read more…]

Serenity

No words needed.

Mein lieber Schwan (my dear swan)

The above is a German expression to indicate surprise, often with some disapproval: “Mein lieber Schwan, did you see how fast that car was going?”. But there’s absolutely no disapproval for our new swan family. They are pretty relaxed for swans, so far.

The two youngsters. One of them keeps holding tight to their baby plumage while the other one has been wearing their adult white for a while now.

A Kestrel on Fire

I am glad for the photo-op late in the evening, but I hope this was just a brief pause between murderings of voles who are a scourge of my garden. I haven’t seen kestrels or signs of them near my garden last year at all, but this year I have seen at least two individuals, and that is a good sign. The voles infestation used to be less severe when they were around regularly – when I often found their feathers and pellets of undigested food.

I never thought I will miss the times when I had fresh bird vomit in my garden all the time, but those really were the good times.

The…. WOODPECKER

Boy was I happy to see this fellow peek over the sunflower’s head and pecking at the seeds. I have planted the sunflowers to feed them to birds anyway, so I do not mind him eating some a bit prematurely. Next year I will plant even more.

Jack’s Walk

It rained or drizzled for most of yesterday, and the forecast was for more rain today, but it turned out to be beautiful, so I decided to take Jack to the river. He’s been having some arthritic problems in his rt. shoulder, but this morning he was getting around well, so when he asked to go swimming I happily agreed. The river trail is flat and even and there are several places to stop and rest along the way because I knew Jack would get tired quickly. Which he did not. We stopped for about 10 minutes twice, but Jack went swimming 4 times, and he explored both sides of the entire trail. Bubba had a wonderful afternoon, but as soon as we got home he put himself to bed and he hasn’t moved a muscle since. He’s even slept past his suppertime by an hour or so and he looks set to keep right on sleeping. I hope he’s having happy dreams. Me, I’m having happy memories.

Have a Pheasant Day

A beautiful bird capture by Avalus,

I think this is a pheasant. They… kept their distance, plucking at winter wheat.

A Corvid at work

Something new from Avalus,

Then there was a crow, trying to open a walnut. I first took the photos and then a short film. And then my battery died the very moment the crow had enough of my staring.

And now, Avalus’ little movie. There’s a bit of wind noise, so you may want to turn our volume down.

Starling

I had an extremely bad year bird-watching wise so far. There are definitively a lot fewer birds around than there used to be.

For example, only a few starlings came by to harvest all the surplus aronias. And only one was visible enough to take a picture. Normally, at this time of year, the tree should be stripped bare by starlings and thrushes heading south.

I have not seen a single golden finch, greenfinch, or siskin the whole year. Neither have I seen any fieldfares, or thrushes, and just a few blackbirds, very sparsely. Chaffinch song is usually a constant presence the whole summer – and this year I cannot remember hearing it even once, despite chaffinch being supposedly the most common bird of central Europe.. And in the last month or two tits and sparrows – the consants of my garden the whole year – have disappeared too. Redstarts are still here, but wagtails never showed up.

I fear this is a real environmental problem and a local sign of a global catastrophy.

A Kestrel to Brighten Your Day

From Avalus, and dedicated to our own lovely kestrel.

This one was pretty special to me and so there are quite a lot of photos!

I was driving to work and I saw this kestrel (At least, I hope this bird is a kestrel xD) trying to land in low bushes and failing. So I figured it was a young bird.

Then it noticed me and got a bit of distance, flying around me at about 20 m for a few minutes before retreating to the top a lamppost next to me. From there it eyed me with some suspicion but eventually I was allowed to come near enough for some close ups (from about 5m away).

Then, it took off again, squaking and chirping at a cat. And another two kestrels joined the fray. The cat was not impressed. I was trying to get some video-shots but with me half-sitting on my bike, a pretty strong wind and the nice camouflage of the bird, I did not get good footage.

But I had a good feeling for the rest of the day, kestrels are really elegant birds! [Read more…]

Heron in a Hurry

From Avalus,

A grey heron, eying me suspiciously for a moment and then taking off in a hurry.

Affinity

Art, Fun, & Nonsense.

mind control music in cartoons

Let's talk on Saturday

Aside: Let's Bisect an LLM!

The Probability Broach: What have the Romans ever done for us?

Emojis and text-speak

Buzzard visit

One of my characters is coming out

Heated Rivalry

A psychic's con

Bullfinches!

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Back at the Zoo 6: The Birds of Prey

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A Predator Poses for Pics

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Serenity

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Mein lieber Schwan (my dear swan)

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A Kestrel on Fire

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The…. WOODPECKER

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Jack’s Walk

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Have a Pheasant Day

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A Corvid at work

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Starling

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A Kestrel to Brighten Your Day

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Heron in a Hurry

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