Friday Photography - After The Rain
Water dripping everywhere ...
For Daenerys and all bird lovers, from an interview with Jonathan Franzen about why birds matter.
For most of my life, I didn’t pay attention to birds. Only in my 40s did I become a person whose heart lifts whenever he hears a grosbeak singing or a towhee calling and who hurries out to see a golden plover that’s been reported in the neighborhood, just because it’s a beautiful bird, with truly golden plumage, and has flown all the way from Alaska. When someone asks me why birds are so important to me, all I can do is sigh and shake my head, as if I’ve been asked to explain why I love my brothers. And yet the question is a fair one, worth considering in the centennial year of America’s Migratory Bird Treaty Act: Why do birds matter?
What are you guys up to, photographically or otherwise?
Comments
I imagine taking pictures in the rain
Can be a little tricky. Love the atmospheric quality though. Where were these taken?
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
The photos were taken in a dry moment
at my favourite local beach in West Auckland. Now it's just unbelievably hot and muggy. Thank you zoe.
Gorgeous
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hi Janis
Thanks for posting tonight. Wet as only New Zealand can get. Great to see that the rain is still there.
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Does NZ do AC like the US does?
I hate being chilled; my body goes that way. No AC in my house; it can get a bit stuffy before the leaves appear. Through closed and locked windows I can hear owls again. They make me happy. Likely Barred owls, but no cackles.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
No a/c for me, neither.
Not even set up.
Bring on da heat!
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
oh, my.
i can almost feel the moisture replenishing my parched skin; sublime! (it's kinda forgotten how to rain or snow where we live.)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUH7PM0-cpI]
Thanks for Friday Photos, Janis
It's been a dry winter here in San Diego. Less than 2" of rainfall so far this winter.
Some shots from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Is that bird for real?
The one with the beak that looks like it belongs on an eagle but is attached to a heron-like bird.
looks like a cross
twixt a platypus and a pelican?
I'm still laughing
at your vision. Thanks QMS, you're a treat!
It's for real, Janis.
It's a Shoebill and is found in central Africa.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
It's almost as tall as a human
and sounds like this ...
[video:https://youtu.be/__g6MitLAbM]
sounds like a cross
twixt a mule and a woodpecker. Now I'm really confused.
You are especially funny
in your confusion.
Thanks for the sound track, Janis
The Shoebill sounds as odd as it looks.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Gawd must have been on LDS the day
he created two of those birds. He went overboard on the colors on the first one. I have no idea why he would create the other one...
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I should edit the title of this POT
to 'Friday Laughs'
picture this
wish I could hold a camera steady enough to capture the eternal beauty in a passing moment. Ahh, next best is to try to give it a vocabulary so that it may live thru sharing, describing the incredible potential of imagination. for you janis b
I enjoy word images equally as much as image images.
Thank you. Eternal beauty to you ...
https://youtu.be/O1mgvLWOKQk
goodbye the beauty
memory limits? Still out there. Back atchya...
Thank you for the beautiful photographic images
set to such beautifully meditative music.
thank you for the wonderful images
dripping moss is one of my favorite sensations. This is just Peruvian panpipes, heavy and evoking dramatic beauty, slow and repetitive.
surely you don't mean latter day saints?
(LDS) Not thinking gawd made that one up. But I have seen gawd on LSD. Boy was she colorful!
Well, I saw something colorful
on "lds"... a lot of something actually as I was moving through the interspace...
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hope you brought some back
for the rest of us to enjoy! A challenge to contain in one shielded brain
Heh, it's a Utah joke
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Oh
now I get it. sorry my slow. Haven't been in Utah in several lifetimes. Just remember those funny gravity defying rocks near the 4 corners. Just figured the state was run by aliens then.
Yeah, really dry here too
And worrisome for the critters. Shoe bill eh? Thanks for the great shots SP. The blue parrot looks like it might have something to say to us.
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Evening, magiamma
The blue parrot is a Hyacinth Macaw that goes by the name of Sammy, and as parrots go he's very quiet.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Ahoy, Kiwi
Nice pics. Br8ngs back fond memories of my visit to the North Island back in 2000. Great people wherever I went. Dove and kayaked the Poor Knights Isles. Blackwatered rafted the underground caverns. Toured the Bay Of Islands.
Most memorable vacation ever.
Ahh, the sweet warm rain.
You are so lucky to live there.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
It must have been very rewarding to dive in the area
of The Poor Knights Islands.
It sounds like you thoroughly enjoyed the water element as well as others. I'm really happy for you that you had that experience. It must be a treasure.
Just a reminder to devote a minute to 'native',
whose memorial is in three days. Johnny the Carer(JtC) has a reminder in the left-hand column.
can you stare into the eye of a parrot creature
without seeing intensity? And to think that's only half of it! (Got one on each side-a-the head) Doan-cha know
Water, water everywhere....
But you wouldn't want to drink this stuff.
Thanks for hosting Janis.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
You're welcome Bollox
I try not to drink the water I swim through in most places, even here, in 'clean green' NZ. But rainwater dripping through moss is another story.
(Insert obligatory Fred shot)
Fred also thinks that birds are important....
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
...
But he looks so innocent!
hi Bollox
It's a melody in blue.
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I love looking for rocks for my garden
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Wow,
you found a snoopy rock!
It's a dual purpose rock
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Too funny snoopy
Another rorschach test or just a snoopy rock?
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Evening All and Thanks for the Fri Phōs
Charlie as a shadow of himself
Pogonip Labyrinth
Pogonip Koi Pond again
The Pogonip Greenbelt has 640 acres and 8 miles of trails. One of its four old-growth trees stands above the koi pond.
Global warming stirs the methane monster: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/12/global-warming-stirs-the-methane...
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Hopefully the greenbelts like Pogonip
will win the battle, in the end.
and all the best for Charlie.
Very touching photos magiamma. Thank you.
Aww thanks Janis!
Wow, I've been mentioned twice in two different posts today! I feel so loved.
Here's an Instagram-ed photo of some cupcakes I made for a Valentine's Day order:
I don't remember the name of the filter I used, but I like it.
It's gotten cold and windy here again and I've been too busy to go out birding anywhere. Hopefully next week the weather will even out more.
Love the NZ photos. If I ever manage to travel there I want to go to the Waitamo Glow worm caves. I'm pretty sure they were the inspiration for Blackreach in Skyrim. Have you ever been there?
I love shoebills too. They are so prehistoric; of course they would sound like a dinosaur!
@snoopydawg Your rock does look like Snoopy!
This shit is bananas.
I have been there,
and it's definitely worth a peek. Glow Worms provide a bit of magic.
Now I have to look up Blackreach in Skyrim.
Your valentine cupcakes and photo of them are fantastic.
Blackreach
I didn't like any of the pictures I found online so I went in and got one for you:
It is very deep underground in the game. There are rivers and waterfalls there too.
This shit is bananas.
oh wowsers
are those jellyfish mushrooms rising ever revitalizing something witnessed in the deepness once upon a time
Phosphorescent Jellyfish
or nocturnal arial mushrooms? Thanks Daenerys ; ).
totaly amazing cupcakes
I miss your bird photographs. I am looking forward to warmer weather coming there soon.
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wow
perfect would be a understatement for those cuppycakes!
Nice photos Janis
Looking at the pictures of the area where you live made me want to see NZ more than ever. Maybe after I win the super lotto I'll buy some land there.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
You can share my piece
The only problem is the six-month dog quarantine ; (.
Wonderful pictures and great laughs.
I'm not sure if the photos were more fun or the excellent conversation among posters here.
Thanks one and all and thanks for hosting janis.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Hello Pricknick,
and sweet, funny, beautiful dreams to all.
Sayonara
Great Backyard Bird Count is this weekend
I don't have feeders setup where I'm living now, so I went to the nature center.
We never had Pine Siskins in the yard anyway. Even a 'green morph'.
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
I made an eBird list
but not for the backyard bird count yet. Only four species showed up while I did--juncos, chickadees, nuthatches and a downy woodpecker. The blue jays were there earlier when I first got up. I need to get a nyjer feeder up for the finches, but I don't have anywhere to hang it right now. It's funny how much quieter they are when it's cold. This yo-yo weather has everyone a bit effed-up, I think.
This shit is bananas.
I wish.
All wild bird counts are dropping in my area and many others.
Our winters have been warming with extreme, short lived cold snaps and unusually small snow amounts.
And most don't notice.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
boids
The Shoebill was long called Shoebill Stork but I think recent DNA work showed it clearly was not a stork. I'd have to look it up but Pelicans might have been the near neighbor.
Here is a Great Kiskadee that was here in town at the park for a couple days early in Feb. It is a big sub-tropical flyctcher which dives into water for fish as well.
This is a Red-shouldererd Hawk on the yard fence, prolly Cotton Rat hunting.
One of my favorites, Scissor-tailed Flyctcher. Note how tail is held crossed, like scissors. They have a spectacular display flight in which the climb high straight up screaming all the way and loop over completely upside down doing a full 360 and gliding back down.
Thanks all for all the great posts.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Love the photo of the hawk
Nicely done. Good to see you again.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Some Jamming From This Week
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYXsaOcJweo]
Disc dog freestyle tricks resolve in predictable ways. I call this "the Release", as in,"So how is the dog releasing from the Flip?".
This is pretty standard in interior work, all the competent handlers read the dog and move to Intercept the Release and to facilitate flow. The thing is, competent handlers do it, but don't have it conceptualized or put into a ruleset.
In larger scale tricks, longer throws, this idea of Intercepting the Release is practically non-existent. Handler throws, usually directly out in front of the handler (12 o clock), and then waits for the dog to hustle on back or moves to pick up additional discs to be prepared for the next sequence.
Intercepting the Release on the larger scale moves, within Flatwork(the movement stuff between the throws and catches) creates amazing flow and truly dynamic sequences.
Vaulting on the run is a real dicey skill normally, it's pretty hard to line up and time. Not anymore.
Here's another with Epic:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDwgeWbOPs]
Anyway, wanted to share something fun and interesting this Friday. Tough week.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Yes he is amazing
Both of you are. Thanks so much for sharing this. It put a big smile on my face. Tell us more about your dawg. Name.. breed, I'm thinking border collie. If yes I've seen them working at herding cows during a roundup I went on in Idaho. Amazing dawgs.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Thanks snoop...
The first video features Loot, a 5.5 year old Border Collie. So spot on there.
The second video is of my younger performance dog, Epic. He is a Baussie, a Border Collie / Aussie cross.
Both dogs are rescues as are almost all of our dogs. I have 5 dogs total right now and my GF has 6.
We also have 4 assistance dog candidates that are in my GF's program. She works for a large non-profit turning shelter dogs into assistance dogs. They're pretty awesome.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu