This snake is Elaphe quatuorlineata.
T.
I think perhaps a Bar-tailed Godwit: Limosa lapponica ??Maggi , it must be a Bar-tailed Godwit ,but the latin name is still not clear .
I think I got confused but after a cup of coffee, now see clear again ...I think perhaps a Bar-tailed Godwit: Limosa lapponica ??Maggi , it must be a Bar-tailed Godwit ,but the latin name is still not clear .
On google I found also Limosa limosa as latin name for the Bar-tailed Godwit ? ???
Anyway we get ahead with it ,thanks to the forum again .I think the snake is sneaky :-\
No, I think the Black tailed is different, slightly longer beak, to,.... also taller..... I'm sticking with the Bartailed! :)
http://www.pbase.com/adpostma/image/85502431
Try this page for comparative pix...
https://sites.google.com/site/migratagis/shorebirds-gallery
I think you will find its the Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica the tail bars are visible in the photo. The godwits depending on the time of year can be quite variable as to plumage but the bars are always visible.
Sad news. I'm afraid that Munky the Blackcap is no more....
I discovered a pile of blackcap-like feathers under the bird feeder yesterday and she hasn't been seen since. I thought that this would happen as she stayed put when the other birds flew up in alarm at something....
Thought you should know....
No, I think the Black tailed is different, slightly longer beak, to,.... also taller..... I'm sticking with the Bartailed! :)I think you will find its the Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica the tail bars are visible in the photo. The godwits depending on the time of year can be quite variable as to plumage but the bars are always visible.For my 10 cents worth it is a Bar Tailed Godwit. Identification points are shorter upturned bill than Black Tailed Godwit and shorter legs
The plumage on a Black Tail is softer grey without the pronounced streaking. The supercilium extends behind the eye on the Bar Tail. The Bar Tail looks "dumpier" than the Black Tail. This is obvious when you see them together. In flight the difference is easy. The Black Tail has a black band on its tail separated from its rump by a white band. The Bar Tail amazingly has a Barred Tail and a white rump !
The Dutch name is Rosse Grutto and the French is Barge Rousse.
So many thanks to you all ,Maggi ,Paul and Tom .Tom thank you for the "technical" explanation ! I go to change the names on my digital pictures ... and I learned again something about birds .
Tom ,are you specialised in birds ? But Maggi and Paul seems to know also a lot about birds ...
On the other hand ,the snake is not clear for me.Tomas ,Melvyn and Maggi thanks for your reply but it looks that snakes are even more difficult then birds .My first tought on it was Natrix???So together with my own effort we got 4 names...I think it is juvenile Elaphe quatuorlineata. This species has different colour as young and as adult. Telescopus fallax has different shape (broad head and thin neck). Pictures from Corfu:
On the other hand ,the snake is not clear for me.Tomas ,Melvyn and Maggi thanks for your reply but it looks that snakes are even more difficult then birds .My first tought on it was Natrix???So together with my own effort we got 4 names...I think it is juvenile Elaphe quatuorlineata. This species has different colour as young and as adult. Telescopus fallax has different shape (broad head and thin neck). Pictures from Corfu:
1) E. quatuorlineata juvenile (my wife caught...)
2) and 3) same species, two adults
4) Vipera ammodytes juvenile for comparision
Please excuse my poor English.
T.
While I was out of action, my husband took a turn at feeding the birds this morning. It was snowing fast so he had a different idea for a 'bird table' to keep the ground underneath clear! For 3 hours a fieldfare defended the food from all comers, so I put more food on top of the table for the others. The garden isn't on a slope, by the way, I was trying to sneak a photo round the edge of the window so they didn't see me.
Real or fake?Got to be a member to see the link, Mark :-X
http://www.nativebirds.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=9120 (http://www.nativebirds.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=9120)
Crumbs, Mark, this stuff is addictive - look at one, then that leads to another!
Oscar is tame enough to walk close under the windows and can be heard making a repetitive subsong that sounds like, " Pork, Pork, Pork " Better than the harsh in-flight alarm cackle
What a site this would have been - 100s of red kites
http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?r=1 (http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures.asp?r=1)
and the chemical that is released when we stroke a dog is released by the dog also.
and the chemical that is released when we stroke a dog is released by the dog also.Is that dopamine Mark? Wish I'd seen the programme. May look on the i-player?
Oxytocin - the hormone that's released when a woman breastfeeds. It strengthens the mother/baby bond, and presumably soes the same for the owner/dog one.So it's almost a sexual thing? :o
and the chemical that is released when we stroke a dog is released by the dog also.Is that dopamine Mark? Wish I'd seen the programme. May look on the i-player?
The collie who knew 300 different objects by name was amazing.
That's an amazing command of language for a dog. I suppose his accent is that of his owner? ::)Most likely "dog" latin, Lesley?
Maggi, I just noticed that you have slipped over the 12,000 barrier.
Luit do you feed it?
Not doggerel?That's an amazing command of language for a dog. I suppose his accent is that of his owner? ::)Most likely "dog" Latin, Lesley?
Angie thats a lovely bit of walling round your pond,i'm a landscape gardener and i can't help but notice these things.
Anthony, is that pronounced 'Smew" or 'Shmoo", if the latter then I have a pic!! ;DSmew (Mergellus albellus) is pronounced as it is spelled. ;) (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/smew) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smew
Maggie i would love to see the photos of Angies husbands rock work and your right it is an art form,i have a chap who is 62 who i get to do all my dry stone walls(i can do it but this guy is artist)i just stand in awe at his work.I love looking at dry stone work when im on my travels(much to my wifes annoyance)the regional differences are fantastic.No luck finding them so far, I'm afraid. :-[
I expect you may find the deer dead later, Richard.... a friend in Aberdeenshire did after it ate her rhodos a few years ago.... no injuries, just well grown but dead deer. Her son is a vet and said he thought it was likely the rhodo foliage was the cause of death.
That's a chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Robin and Angie. They are quite adaptable in the winter and eat small to large seeds.
I expect you may find the deer dead later, Richard.... a friend in Aberdeenshire did after it ate her rhodos a few years ago.... no injuries, just well grown but dead deer. Her son is a vet and said he thought it was likely the rhodo foliage was the cause of death.A friend of a colleague regularly shoots roe deer. His family won't eat it unless it has been made into burgers or sausages! I despair! :'(
I've looked up many birds. There is always a large cluster of dots in southern Finland. Is there a bird clup there?
Unusually, the fieldfare is eating the crabapples from Malus 'Golden Hornet' which would appear to be unpalatable at this time of the year as they are all gone brown long since but the fieldfare is in the tree all day long even defending his perch against Mistle thrushes.
Survival of the fittest among the birds in our garden is very appropriate as Darwin's grandfather(?) Erasmus Darwin is buried in thevillage. That's my useless fact of the day!
Dave, before I read your post I guessed your kakariki had yellow genes. In the Uk they are known as red-fronted and yellow-fronted. The mutations available over here are amazing blue, pieds, yellow, cinnamon, buttercup, red splashed yellow. Are they available in NZ?
Kakarikis are famous for being the only parrot that can climb without using it's beak. That included upsidedown
It is referred to simply as "Jay" (Garrulus glandarius) in our old Birds of Europe... who knows how often the common name may have changed since then, though?Neither name has changed Lori. They are quite common in the woods near me, but rarely come into my garden.
Edit: And, I should add, it may well have been reorganized into some other species since that publication... I wouldn't know.
A friend in Holland just sent me this photo of a wonderful bird in her yard. She says in Dutch it is a Flemish Jay. Can someone identify it?
johnw
Yes, Angie, Jays are in the Crow family......... just really well dressed!
Usually they are seen flying across the road when you are driving through woods. You don't often get to see them close up.That's exactly how I saw one, many years ago, in the far south of the UK. East sussex, if I remember. Just a flash of blue and it was gone but never forgotten. :D
Susan
Walking up the road I saw tiny Wren hopping from rock to rock and then it disappeared into this hole - a winter hideout ::) 8)
Walking up the road I saw tiny Wren hopping from rock to rock and then it disappeared into this hole - a winter hideout ::) 8)I saw a couple of wrens yesterday. One completely disappeared right into a snow covered tussock of grass, and only when it reappeared was I sure it was a wren and not a mouse. The tussock is just to the left of the wren.
We should have a facility on this site for posting sound files - would have been interesting to hear a Robin mimicking a Blackbird
Anthony, I noticed that a spiders web was attached to the side topside of the hole - would the Wren have been after anything in caught in do you think? I stood for some while watching for it to exit the hole but it didn't. Will keep an eye on this spot in future in the hope of seeing it again - it was indeed late afternoon low light when I saw it hopping about.More likely to be looking for the spiders and any egg batches?
Two woodcock or snipe. Just shows how hungry they are
Just going through some old pictures. I thought that this was a magpie moth, but googling it I see it isn't. So, therefore I'm asking here. Should be an easy one...Your moth is a Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) and the beetle is a male Oedemera nobilis Stephen. The latter is a pollen feeder.
The second also needs a name - dig those thigh muslces...
Your moth is a Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) and the beetle is a male Oedemera nobilis Stephen. The latter is a pollen feeder.
I still don't have my car back, the less said about that the better ::)Right you are.....[attach=1]
Angie :)
I would suggest Pimpla sp.? P. instigator is one species, and their larvae are internal parasitoides of moth and butterfly larvae.Your moth is a Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) and the beetle is a male Oedemera nobilis Stephen. The latter is a pollen feeder.
Many thanks, Anthony. As you managed them, one more for you:
I would suggest Pimpla sp.? P. instigator is one species, and their larvae are internal parasitoides of moth and butterfly larvae.
Mmmm...question is how far out of the city centre did it have to go to find a woodcock?Not far, apparently, as there had been an influx due to the bad weather.
One of Derby's biggest pedestrian hazards can be avoiding the twitchers hanging round the statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie!
and time for the annual snow dance...
Stephen thats a fantastic find(not for the bird)we have plenty of spotted flycatchers in the woods near me i have never seen a pied though that would be dancing on the spot moment.Could you please post a pic of the pied when you get chance.
Do you have a picture showing the front of the bird too Stephen? A sad end to such a beautiful bird but wonderful that your wife recognised the significance of the Red-breasted flycatcher :)Quoteand time for the annual snow dance...
Hoping to see some photos of this event and find out more about the celebration ;)
At last I have managed to get a pic of a squirrel in the snow. It is easy to get them on the peanut feeder but they usually run off when I point the camera at them on the ground.
There are greys a few miles from here. Apparently they follow beech trees. The Forestry Commission wanted to cut some mature beech trees to stop the grey squirrels from spreading but locals did not want them cut. They no longer plant beech trees round the edge of conifer plantations as the greys cannot survive in pure conifer forests like the reds.
The wood is impregnated with alkalyd wood preservative to kill beasties and fungus so I am guessing we just have a bolshie woodpecker!...very strange
We have been trying to photograh our Haw finch but it refuses to settle!
defo deserves some kind to 'Athena' style caption
Quotedefo deserves some kind to 'Athena' style caption
What's the caption then? ::)
Quotedefo deserves some kind to 'Athena' style caption
What's the caption then? ::)
Look back in anger?
Quotedefo deserves some kind to 'Athena' style caption
What's the caption then? ::)
Look back in anger?
Good one Cliff 8)
or:
"Are you a man or a mouse?"
The wood is impregnated with alkalyd wood preservative to kill beasties and fungus so I am guessing we just have a bolshie woodpecker! We have been trying to photograh our Haw finch but it refuses to settle!Aha! Woodpecker on drugs! 8)
Lesser Redpoll - Carduelis cabaretNothing is there for no reason, so it must be required for holding onto what ever it preferred perch is, or be required for holding on to access food.
For a LBJ it's got some nice colours but what would it need that dagger for a back toe!
Lesser Redpoll - Carduelis cabaretGoing by my sister in law's canary: just to hold itself upright on a twig. :-X
........... why would it need that dagger for a back toe!
The Redpoll in N.Z. is Carduelis flammea-an introduction from Europe. The only difference I noted that it seemed lighter in colour than our U.K. specimens.I think the UV angle is a red herring, unless darker forms are selected against. It will be a gene pool thing. When ever populations are separated, isolation, mutation and natural selection will favour certain genotypes. It may be that lighter ones have an advantage over darker ones?
In fact, all the introduced passerines looked much paler than their U.K. counterparts. The Yellowhammer was especially notable in being "washed out" looking compared with the rich deep yellow here. An leading ornithologist we stayed with had noticed the same thing on his visits to the UK. His theory was that it was caused by the very high levels of ultra violet light found in New Zealand.
Local goldfinches didn't know lavender before I came here but now they swarm on the bushes in late autumn and through winter and eat the seed with great determination
The days were still and very hot (low 30s) and the air, even in the house, filled with wafts of lavender scent, a lovely time.
around 800 cows and 300 young bulls there at present
Do you have a picture showing the front of the bird too Stephen? A sad end to such a beautiful bird but wonderful that your wife recognised the significance of the Red-breasted flycatcher :)