Wildlife Autumn 2007 (spring wildlife Down Under)

[mark smyth]

40,000 must be a good sight

[Maggi Young]

I cannot imagine so many Cranes... I thought the large number shown in Gerd's photos were amazing enough. Super to see such large numbers of these big birds.

[Gerdk]

40,000 must be a good sight

Yes, but even 1000 are impressive. They are distributed over a large area, some were arriving and others left. But to watch around 1000 in the late afternoon landing is no overstatement.

Gerd

[Anthony Darby]

The butterfly (remember that) looks like a Delias sp. It is a member of the Pieridae (like the Cabbage White) and sometimes called Union Jacks.
see here: Re: Wildlife Autumn 2007 (spring wildlife Down Under)
« Reply #311 on: previous page.

[Armin]

40,000 must be a good sight

Yes, but even 1000 are impressive. They are distributed over a large area, some were arriving and others left. But to watch around 1000 in the late afternoon landing is no overstatement.

Gerd

Hi Gerd,
super trip (I guess) & pics.
Last year ~Oct/Nov. I watched ~50 impressive cranes (actually recognized their noise first) crossing my house in low altitude (40-60 meters estimated) late evening 11:00PM. Temperature was close to zero and sky was cloudy.
I found this unnormal as I experienced they usually take a pause overnight staying in silent places like wet meadows or wild fields until they continue their trip next morning.

Does anybody know cranes fly usually midnight - in the dark?
Is this a normal behaviour?

[Anthony Darby]

Geese often fly over us in Dunblane at night in very large skeins. Quite noisy they are.

[Gerdk]

[/quote]

Hi Gerd,
super trip (I guess) & pics.
Last year ~Oct/Nov. I watched ~50 impressive cranes (actually recognized their noise first) crossing my house in low altitude (40-60 meters estimated) late evening 11:00PM. Temperature was close to zero and sky was cloudy.
I found this unnormal as I experienced they usually take a pause overnight staying in silent places like wet meadows or wild fields until they continue their trip next morning.

Does anybody know cranes fly usually midnight - in the dark?
Is this a normal behaviour?
[/quote]

Armin,
During the week in Zingst I noticed cranes in the air even around midnight - very loud - but to me it was a  beautiful sound.
Here around Solingen I saw most of these birds during afternoon and very rarely at dusk and sometimes heard them during the night. Sorry, don't know what is normal for them.
Gerd

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks for the Butterfly i.d. Anthony.
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

I've done a bit more digging, and whilst it is a 'white', I think it is the Caper White
Belenois java teutonia?

[Armin]

Hi Gerd,
super trip (I guess) & pics.
Last year ~Oct/Nov. I watched ~50 impressive cranes (actually recognized their noise first) crossing my house in low altitude (40-60 meters estimated) late evening 11:00PM. Temperature was close to zero and sky was cloudy.
I found this unnormal as I experienced they usually take a pause overnight staying in silent places like wet meadows or wild fields until they continue their trip next morning.

Does anybody know cranes fly usually midnight - in the dark?
Is this a normal behaviour?
Armin,
During the week in Zingst I noticed cranes in the air even around midnight - very loud - but to me it was a  beautiful sound.
Here around Solingen I saw most of these birds during afternoon and very rarely at dusk and sometimes heard them during the night. Sorry, don't know what is normal for them.
Gerd

Gerd,
thank you. It seems flying in the dark is not a phenomena I thought. I share your impressions the sound of cranes is loud but beautiful. It is an amazing performance of all migratory birds how they manage the long travel distances twice a year.
It is a pity we humans can't accompany them now on their way to the south...

[Gerdk]

This afternoon at around 3 o`clock a swarm of 50 cranes passed my hometown.

Gerd

[Stephenb]

Lesley I would not drink any alcohol with the mushroom in MR buttercup's post since it gives the hangover of a lifetime. It is edible but without alcohol to drink!
It is given to people with alcoholism/problem with alcohol so that they would not be able to drink.
I am not 100% sure but in Sweden it is called ink mushroom and looks very similar and had similar name in English.

I have enjoyed all the pics so thank You all.
Regarding Rugby I must say that we in Sweden generally are totally indiferent to it.

Kind regards
Joakim

It's the Common Inkcap,  Coprinus atramentarius (Gråblekksopp here in Norway) which shouldn't be eaten unless one is teetotal (even alcohol drunk the day before can have unfortunate consequences). The Shaggy Inkcap doesn't contain the active chemical (coprine?) and these are excellent with a beer, but only eat the very young mushrooms before the ink appears....

Rugby: Like Norway, Sweden has a national team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Rugby_Union. Our team was most recently ranked 79th in the world! An ex-pat friend of mine won a national cap in Rugby a few years ago - he had played at school years before (his only qualification!). They lost 79-0 to the Estonians.  Our only team locally is all-women. The plan is to field a women's team in the next world cup

[Lesley Cox]

That's super information Stephen, about the Swedish rugby team, and the Wikipedia link. Just 70-0 to the Estonians? You'll be beating the All Blacks any time soon.

As for a women's rugby team, that's REAL wildlife.

[TC]

A few pictures taken on a trip to Macrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre 4 weeks ago.
I don't know of any animal that can relax like a seal hauled out on the rocks.  A cat seems positively jumpy compared with it.
We counted approx. 500 sheep coming up this single track road followed by three border collies.
The full moon was so bright that I had to take a picture of it.  For our forum members in the southern hemisphere, compare it with yours.  You should see it upside down.

[mark smyth]

how did you take such a good shot of the moon?