Entries tagged with birds

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Mallard drake at the Wright Stop Plaza bus hub.

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.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden

Continuing the photo tour of the yard, most of these are from the savanna and prairie garden.

See all of today's photography posts:
Photos: House Yard and South Lot
Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden
Photos: Back Toward the House
Photos: Garden Shed

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: House Yard and South Lot

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 ... )

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Leave only footprints...

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

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A post shared by Christine 🦄 🐦🌈🍁 (calzephyr77)

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Winter Feeding Frenzy

We were supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow today but instead it wasn't much more than what you see here. For about an hour we did get some steady snow but this mostly just made the birds ravenous. We filled these food plates twice today and they were cleaned out within an hour. The second time I had barely closed the door when the first birds popped up. Soon after there were about twice the number you see here -- the balcony looked like a dark mass of bouncing bodies. I never could get a big group again though because getting close enough to the door for a photo meant they flew off.

You can see more birds in the bush below our balcony (through the bottom of the railing). They tend to hang out there whenever we come out or when they're hiding out until the next flutter up to the dish. ( Read more... )

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Nature diary

It snowed today, and I was wondering what the beach would look like covered in snow, so I went for a walk to see it. It was very pretty!

The migratory birds are here now, and some of them spend the winter at the shore. I spent some time watching a flock of sanderlings and turnstones as they were looking for food in the mud. Some crows kept following them around. It looked like the smaller birds were scared of the crows and tried to avoid them. There were many seagulls, too. My birding app even registered the call of a loon! Loons normally live in North America and Iceland, but some of them migrate to Europe during the winter months.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Marsh Park in Autumn

Today we visited the marsh park.

( Walk with me ... )

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The ones who were sitting on our window today.

These are a pair of laughing doves that seem to be found here in Uzbekistan, but rarely show themselves.

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A little more photos and a more detailed story (in Russian) can be found here.

Current Mood: peaceful

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goldeneye with ducklings

I usually only see Goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) in our stream in late Winter/early Spring. This year one of the pairs looks to have nested here too because earlier this week I saw this mum with her three tiny babies.

Click to enlarge:

brown bird with three brown-and-white babies on the water

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Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos and Pigeons

Took these two photos a week or so ago up at the shops.

White ones are Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos. The others are just pigeons. There were about half a dozen of the cockatoos in total, and a dozen pigeons, but the others were too far away for the photo. Birds like to hang around in that spot because people sit at the nearby bus stop or in the park and eat their lunch.

( another one )

Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: Prairie Garden and Ritual Meadow

These photos are from yesterday in my yard. This batch is mostly from the prairie garden and ritual meadow.

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Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: Spiders and Vulture

These are more pictures from April 13 that I didn't have time to post then.

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Current Mood: excited

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Eclipse Pictures

Today we drove down to Toledo and Greenup to view the eclipse where totality would last a couple of minutes. We had a nice drive down.

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Current Mood: accomplished

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Photos: Flowerbeds

I took pictures around the yard today. These are from the flowerbeds and house yard.

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Current Mood: accomplished

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Lake Pictures

Today we went out to the lake. The first few pictures are from my yard, though.

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Up In The Trees

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!

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The pair of turtledoves on a dry tree. Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Current Mood: peaceful

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Egyptian Goose in England

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:

Current Mood: impressed

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a new visitor

This morning a Jay (Garrulus glandarius) showed up at my bird feeders for the first time ever.

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beige-pink, blue, and black & white bird on the ground

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Woodpecker!

I saw this bird while walking home from the library. The other birds around here are also getting more active and noisy, even though there's still most of a foot of snow on the ground and more predicted this weekend.