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Maximilian

The dark side - I've been there
CR Pro
Nov 7, 2013
5,665
8,492
Germany
Very cute! Can you believe, last night -20C here in central Alberta and the Canada Geese are arriving anyway. That's very close to a record low that was set last year - hope it's not a trend!
And here close to Nürnberg the winter lasted about 3 days
Some cold nights, even down to -12 Celsius.
But only 3 days of snow. Eternal fall.
Moss has taken over all of my lawn.
 
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Very cute! Can you believe, last night -20C here in central Alberta and the Canada Geese are arriving anyway. That's very close to a record low that was set last year - hope it's not a trend!
Here in Calgary, South Alberta, finches showed up a week ago. Cheerful and cute birds. I hope they survive the current cold front (-12C today).
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Jack Douglas

CR for the Humour
Apr 10, 2013
6,980
2,602
Alberta, Canada
And here close to Nürnberg the winter lasted about 3 days
Some cold nights, even down to -12 Celsius.
But only 3 days of snow. Eternal fall.
Moss has taken over all of my lawn.
I guess we all have our positives and negatives. We're called sunny Alberta and I love the sun especially when it's April and -20C. It doesn't help much for camera use outdoors though.

Jack
 
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Bert63

What’s in da box?
CR Pro
Dec 3, 2017
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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22,529
Is this a male or female? We're curious which is gathering the nest materials.
Quote:
The male and female work together to build their nest, taking nearly three weeks if it's early in the season, or doing a rush job of less than a week, if it's getting late.

The nest is shaped rather like a bottle, usually with a roof and an entrance hole near the top. They construct it in a bush or in the fork of a tree, from moss, camouflaged with lichen with interwoven cobwebs and sometimes bits of paper stuck on the outside.

To make the inside cosy for the eggs and chicks, a feather lining is added. They need a lot of feathers - as many as 1,500! Where do they find that many? Long-tailed tits pick up stray feathers along the way, or they may visit the bodies of dead birds to 'recycle' their feathers


And, here is the nest viewed from the top and the side.

2B4A3172-DxO_longtailed_tit_nest.jpg3Q7A2457-DxO_longtailed_tit_nest.jpg
 
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Valvebounce

CR Pro
Apr 3, 2013
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Isle of Wight
Hi Alan.
I just hope he is not there for your long tailed tits! At the hide where I volunteer we witnessed the local Kestrel leave his perch and swoop through the bird feeders, fortunately all the tits saw him coming and took cover! It surprised us how quickly they returned (a couple of minutes at most) once he returned to his perch, a telegraph pole about 50yds away. He often spends ages sitting on this pole grooming or just watching, we have seen him go down and catch something on the ground below, possibly a vole.
It makes us laugh, a visitor will come down and get all exited, there is a Kestrel on the pole here and you are all looking at the tits and squirrels, yea he’s been there an hour on and off and we all have so many shots of him, it is boring now!

Cheers, Graham.

This afternoon, a male Kestrel.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,355
22,529
Hi Alan.
I just hope he is not there for your long tailed tits! At the hide where I volunteer we witnessed the local Kestrel leave his perch and swoop through the bird feeders, fortunately all the tits saw him coming and took cover! It surprised us how quickly they returned (a couple of minutes at most) once he returned to his perch, a telegraph pole about 50yds away. He often spends ages sitting on this pole grooming or just watching, we have seen him go down and catch something on the ground below, possibly a vole.
It makes us laugh, a visitor will come down and get all exited, there is a Kestrel on the pole here and you are all looking at the tits and squirrels, yea he’s been there an hour on and off and we all have so many shots of him, it is boring now!

Cheers, Graham.
No, he is about 1/2 mile away. I am more worried that we have a couple of magpies in the garden. One of them was perched just above the nest.
DSC_7738-DxO_magpie.jpg
 
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ISO64

CR Pro
Jul 2, 2015
168
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More luck than brains, kind of... This is a photo of an European blackbird, males are ordinarily black with just a splash of yellow beak. Sometimes, a genetic. game of chances gives an unusual combo of white and black feathers. This is not an albino bird, the proper name is leucistic blackbird.
Not my usual gear, took 55-2504/5.6 as a lens. I walked by this place countless times with whites on 7D2, but the bird did not bother to show up. And if I had no camera, the bird would just sing from the branch :)

IMG_4611.jpg
 
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Jul 29, 2012
17,656
6,352
Canada
Very nice pictures, guys!
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