FMTSO: Wild Critters

Birds flying off into the sunset… (1 November 2013)

for Friday My Town Shoot Out: Wild Critters

Wordless Wednesday: Little Sparrow

http://wordlesswednesdayagain.blogspot.se/

Ruby Tuesday: Peek-a-boo

For Ruby Tuesday 2

 

“Spring is sprung,
the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdie is.
They say the bird is on the wing.
But that's absurd.
The wing is on the bird.”

~ Anonymous ~

 

(See other versions/origins of the expression “Spring has sprung” here)

Shadow Shot Sunday: Black Swan

“Hello… Who is that down there?”

Shadow Shot Sunday

Ruby Tuesday: Birdfeeders

I wonder what the real birds think of these?

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See more RED at Ruby Tuesday

Watery Wednesday: Goldeneye

The most common birds in the river where I live are mallards; but I also keep seeing one Goldeneye, sometimes hanging out with the mallards, but often on his own. Back in the spring he had a mate, but now he appears to be single. Looks a little sad somehow, but perhaps I’m letting my imagination run away with me…

Watery Wednesday

Watery Wednesday: Feeding the Birds

Mallards and Swan Geese in a town lake which is also a bird sanctuary.

“Hey… Nothing left for me??”

Watery Wednesday

Watery Wednesday: Flamingos

Yes, still at the zoo ;) … The flamingos always seem to prefer the corner of their pond farthest away from the public, and in the sharp contrast between light and shadow on the day I was visiting, it was very hard to tell how my attempts to zoom them in would turn out until I got home and got the pictures up on the screen! I’m fascinated by how they can twist their necks like that… (below)

Watery Wednesday

A Rooster for Ruby Tuesday

 

There are some farm animals within the zoo as well. This rooster was giving a powerful performance as I passed by.  His ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’ (in Swedish: ‘kuckeliku’!) might even have been enough to wake a lion! (see previous post)

 

See more RED at Ruby Tuesday

Watery Wednesday: Bird’s-eye View

Yesterday morning the lake lay still like a perfect mirror.
This view was taken from the top of a birdwatch tower, but there were very few birds about. I happened to run into a friend up there (in the tower) who is an ardent birdwatcher (not just in fine weather!) and he said it was too still for the birds… Most of them prefer a little wind under their wings!

Two young coots (according to my knowledgeable friend)

    

The Tower, reached by narrow footbridges through the wetland.

This post is linked to Watery Wednesday

Watery Wednesday – In the Rain

Young seagulls out for a walk on the pier in the rain :)

Watery Wednesday: Mallards

Can you tell whether I’m real or just a garden ornament?

Oh I like this flower-bed! The colours suit me, don’t you think?

Shadow Shot Sunday: Black & White

Mallard with ducklings in the river

… … …

Shadow Shot Sunday at Hey Harriet

Watery Wednesday: Ready, Steady… Go!

A couple of more pictures from the bird sanctuary lake.
The gulls like to sit each on their own pole, waiting…
Until they spot FOOD!

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Watery Wednesday

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Shadow Shot Sunday: Black Swans

More pictures from the bird sanctuary.
The black swan comes from Australia.

The two kinds of swans that ‘belong’ in Sweden are both white – mute swans, and whooper swans. In the bird sanctuary however, besides the black ones, they also have a couple of black-necked ones, which are native to South America. But this time I only spotted the black ones.

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Shadow Shot Sunday

Watery Wednesday: Immigrants

Swans or Geese? Actually these are Swan Geese – I think… They come from Siberia or China; but live in a bird sanctuary lake here in my town (in south west Sweden).

The lake is a beautiful place and serves as a sort of sanctuary to a lot of human hearts as well. Not far from here, there is a residential area where a lot of immigrants and refugees from other cultures live. On my walk around the lake, I met several women wearing veils, which indicates that they came here from some other part of the world.

Watery Wednesday: Goldeneyes

Most of the ducks in the river are mallards, but these two (if I’m not
mistaken) are Common Goldeneye (Swedish: Knipa). I keep seeing
only one pair of them among all the mallards – all year round -
so I’m assuming they are one and the same couple!

(cropped from the picture above)

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Watery Wednesday

Kaleidoscoped Birds (for Adrian and Pauline)

I decided to postpone my October Calendar picture until Sunday,
and use my theme-free Thursday for another kaleidoscope instead.

Adrian expressed appreciation of my recent kaleidoscopes of flowers,
and Pauline wondered wittily if we would now be seeing
kaleidoscoped birds from Adrian… That will be up to him to decide;
but I of course could not resist the experiment…! So look closely at the
pattern above… Can you see the birds? Here is the original:

I suppose I had better reassure you, like they do sometimes on TV…
No actual animal cruelty was involved!

 

My Calendar 2011 *January* + Shadow Shot Sunday

Oh, this February is a dreary month from photography point of view – at least so far. So I’ve decided that over the next two weeks (starting with this post), I am going to share pictures I chose for my Wall Calendar 2011 (which only exists in a few copies I had printed for myself, family and friends).

You will recognize today’s picture from my header. (If you happen to look at the post at a later date, the header may have been changed, though!) It is perhaps more of a ‘reflection’ picture than a ‘shadow shot’. But there is still a tension between light and shadow in it, so I hope it will be approved of as contribution for Shadow Shot Sunday.

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Mondays I will be posting collages for Mosaic Monday as usual, no calendar pictures. As for the rest, I think I’ll be able to fit most of the calendar pictures in with the other weekly challenges I’ve been trying to participate in from here lately. We’ll see how inspiration flows…