Nature Pics

[RoseMorninStar]

That looks heavenly Impy! It doesn't look like it's crowded for such a lovely area. Did you have nice weather?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Today's friends!


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[Frelga]

At a wild guess, a peregrine?

I watched a jay harass a crow yesterday. Apparently, crows do the same thing to eagles. The smaller birds fly above the larger ones, between the wings, which interferes with the aerodynamics. The vicious pecking doesn't help, either.

The crow was stuck on a pole with the jay patrolling nearby. It attacked the moment the crow tried to take off.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Your guess is as good as mine, but at least from a distance it doesn't look like the red shouldered or red tailed hawks (or of course the turkey vultures) that I usually see.

The interesting thing is that unlike the usual corvid versus raptor battles that I see (in which the corvids gang up on the raptor), these two seemed to be having a good time flying together. Probably an illusion, but I'm going to take it as a hopeful sign!

[RoseMorninStar]

Nice!

I saw 2 sand-hill cranes fly overhead yesterday as I was filling the bird feeders but I didn't have a camera. I just enjoyed watching them sail on by.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I had one person suggest that it might be a juvenile osprey. I'm not convinced.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm told by someone else that knows about these things that it is likely a juvenile red-tailed hawk.

[Jude]

South Downs National Park, just outside Winchester.

I didn't run into any barrow-wights, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

If only Willow were here to protect me...

IMG_0016[1].jpg (276.75 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

IMG_0018[1].jpg (264.18 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

[Jude]

Can anyone identify this bird, spotted in Salisbury?


In Salisbury by jcamville, on Flickr

For some reason, the word "egret" comes to mind. Would that be correct?

[Frelga]

I would say an egret, yes. The solid white color and the plume on the head suggest it. But I am only a student.

[RoseMorninStar]

I agree with Frelga's guess. Egret. Lovely shot. Are you taking photos with your new phone? Is it an iphone?

[Jude]

Yeah, I finally joined the 21st century and got a smartphone. And I have to say, it's making navigating around strange cities a lot easier.

There are canals all over the place in Salisbury, and great paths along them. There was a swan that decided to take a break from swimming and walk along the path with the rest of us. I took a picture of him and uploaded it to flickr, but for some reason the "share" button isn't appearing for that one. Any suggestions?

[RoseMorninStar]

Hmm. I can see the 'share' for it. Let's see if I can get it to work. The new phones are great for navigation.
Jude's swan photo:

[Jude]

Hey, you got it to work! I wonder why I can't?

Anyway, it was so unusual to see him waddling along with the other pedestrians, when you usually see them moving gracefully in the water.

[RoseMorninStar]

Hey, you got it to work! I wonder why I can't?

I don't know, I didn't do anything fancy or sneaksy.

Swans are quite different on land than in the water. As an aside, almost all of the ducks and swans we saw in New Zealand were black.

[Inanna]

Yeah, I finally joined the 21st century and got a smartphone. And I have to say, it's making navigating around strange cities a lot easier.

And there’s your answer for hiking shoes Ads.

[RoseMorninStar]

I didn't take this photo, but it was taken not far from here. Something like this may be a common sighting for those of you who live in mountain states, but it's pretty exotic for around here!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

What a beauty!

[Inanna]

Wow. Incredible, beautiful and scary.

[RoseMorninStar]

My crocuses say spring is finally here. We shall see.