full_metal_ox: A National Geographic cover mock-up, with three marigolds in an analogous orange-yellow color harmony. (Nature)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox
Content advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.

This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.

This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.

Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )

Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.

Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
full_metal_ox: A National Geographic cover mock-up, with three marigolds in an analogous orange-yellow color harmony. (Nature)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox
Lizards have been somewhat fewer in the apartment complex than last year, and the other night I learned a possible reason: a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) couple have set up housekeeping on the back lawn next door! (No pictorial tax as yet: their nest, less than five feet from the curb, overlooks a back alley heavily travelled by garbage, service, and delivery vehicles as well as human cyclists and pedestrians—meaning that they’re probably experiencing botherance enough without amateur paparazzi. (1)

Burrowing Owls are regarded as local mascots and rigorously protected here; standard procedure upon discovering an inhabited burrow is to erect a little designated perch for the owls and cordon it off, crime-scene style, halting any human construction until the young have left the nest.

(1) Rule of thumb is that if the owls are reacting to your presence, you’re too close; the risk of attracting gawkers is one reason that doxxing Burrowing Owls nesting on private property is frowned upon around here. Schools, museums, and other such facilities, however, will encourage on-site nesting, observable by remote cam.

I’m finding varying accounts of how capable they are of digging their own burrows, but certainly the owls prefer the convenience of found housing when they can get it, not only taking over burrows constructed by other animals but occupying such human artifacts as PVC pipes; it’s quite possible to build artificial burrows to attract them.
full_metal_ox: A National Geographic cover mock-up, with three marigolds in an analogous orange-yellow color harmony. (Nature)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox
Taken 15 May 2023, 19:13 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, at the Wright Stop Plaza(1) bus hub in downtown Dayton, Ohio.



This handsome gent was the last photo I took in Dayton before my departure for Florida, and I’m rather pleased with the role the strong contrasting lines of the paving stones and the bars of the metal bench play in the composition.

(Out of frame: the flock of English sparrows he was challenging for the rights to a popcorn spill. Also out of frame, except for the merest edge of her jacket to the right of my purse: the young lady conducting a live webcast on recovery and the Gospel from her smartphone.)

(1) The Wright Brothers’ names and likenesses are all over the Dayton area, from Wright Memorial Library to Wright State University to Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; these guys are our unofficial genii loci and patron saints.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These pictures are from Sunday, but it's after midnight so the timestamp will say Monday. See the savanna and house yard.

Walk with me ... )
calzephyr: Scott Pilgrim generator (Default)
[personal profile] calzephyr
The bird feeder had a visit from grey partridges the other day. I've accidentally startled them before--the sparrows toss seed down from the bird feeder and they don't care for corn--but it was so polite of them to use the sidewalk :-D

EDIT: Alt link in case Instagram isn't working: https://bsky.app/profile/purpleponyart.bsky.social/post/3lii5kvgets2f




ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we went out to the lake. The first few pictures are from my yard, though.

Read more... )
linky: A bird reaching towards a berry with its wings streched out (Stock: Birds - Fly)
[personal profile] linky
Three starlings resting in some branches.

Spotted many starlings, as well as what I believe to be a lapland longspur in the trees today. Took some pictures with my phone. Three more images under the cut, including the one with the bird I think is a lapland longspur. But it was so far away and I wasn't able to see it's entire body so it's hard for me to guess, so please feel free to let me know if I am mistaken!

Read more... )
turlough: three vintage suitcases piled atop each other ((other) there and back again)
[personal profile] turlough
I was in England last week and one day when I took a walk by the River Yare in Norwich I spotted a bird I didn't recognise among the usual greylags and mallards. A bit of internet research showed it was an Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca). The breed was apparently introduced to Britain back in 17th century and is now mostly found in East Anglia and along the Thames.

Click to enlarge:
brown and beige water bird
nanila: (kusanagi: amused)
[personal profile] nanila
IMG_2243
Yellow wagtail standing on the wing mirror of an old blue Toyota Yaris.

This is how we know spring has finally arrived. This yellow wagtail - I assume it's the same one - arrives every year to use our house as the stage for his mating dances. One year he spent his time prancing on the windowsill of my husband's office. Another year it was my office window. This year, he's decided that the best place to show off is the wing mirror and passenger door of our second car. He has also produced a prodigious quantity of poop to festoon the mirror's casing but it seems pointless to wash it until his ritual has paid off!

Three more poses )
turlough: tiny black & white bird among flowering apple blossoms, Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) ((other) bird watcher)
[personal profile] turlough
This morning a Jay (Garrulus glandarius) showed up at my bird feeders for the first time ever.

Click to enlarge:
beige-pink, blue, and black & white bird on the ground
yourlibrarian: Merlin in Snowflakes-deny1984 (HOL-MerlinSnowflakes-deny1984)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian


Last Friday our area got about 8 hours of first rain, then ice, then snow. Our balcony turned into a bird sanctuary as high winds kept sending all the precipitation sideways (and causing damage along the way). Read more... )

Birb?!

Feb. 22nd, 2023 10:29 pm
nanila: (kusanagi: amused)
[personal profile] nanila
2023-02-22_10-22-24
It's a phone photo but that's all we had with us when a flock of energetic long tailed tits descended on our parked car and started pecking at the windows. Youngest and I were startled and delighted!

turlough: tiny black & white bird among flowering apple blossoms, Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) ((other) bird watcher)
[personal profile] turlough
A small flock of Goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) visiting my feeders today and managed to get a pretty good photo of one of them. They're such beautiful birds but I'm grateful they don't visit very often - the rate they consume hemp seeds would soon ruin my finances :-)

Click to enlarge:
brown and black bird with red, white, and yellow markings on bird feeder
turlough: large red temple in the snow, Japanese woodcut by Hiroshige ((winter) art of the season)
[personal profile] turlough
I had a new visitor at my feeders today, a Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes). I haven't seen one of those in at least fifteen years!

Click to enlarge:
black and pale orange bird perched on feeder
nanila: wrong side of the mirror (me: wrong side of the mirror)
[personal profile] nanila
Redwing and ivy berries
The reward for going on a long walk on this icy morning was a close encounter with a flock of redwings feasting on ivy in the hedgerows.

+2 )
turlough: tiny black & white bird among flowering apple blossoms, Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) ((other) bird watcher)
[personal profile] turlough
This afternoon a small flock of Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) visited the maple outside my window and I managed to take this photo sequence of one of the females.

First she was crunching a seed
Click to enlarge:
beige and black bird in a naked tree

then she digested it... )

Bullfinch

Jan. 11th, 2023 01:14 pm
nanila: wrong side of the mirror (me: wrong side of the mirror)
[personal profile] nanila
IMG_9475
One of the advantages of giving up on the battle with the dandelions in the lawn is that it means more finches visit the garden, including this handsome bullfinch.

+1 with a beak full of seed )
(Photos taken back in May 2022 but I forgot to post them.)

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