Wildlife October 2010

[Martinr]

Angie, having a similar rabbit problem, which means of dispatch did you use?

[TheOnionMan]

Mega-swarms of common European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) swept through my yard and neighborhood today, must have been several thousand birds.  For 10 minutes or so several neighbors and I stood and watched the spectacle, with almost deafening chatter (the birds, not the neighbors ), and amazing simultaneous sudden bursts of flight as they react reflexively in mass-mode, with thunderous flutter of thousands of wings beating at once... amazing.

My entry-level Nikon is good for certain types of photos, but is miserable on action photograph, and after snapping dozens of shots, only this one view is even worth showing.

[angie]

Angie, having a similar rabbit problem, which means of dispatch did you use?

One shot sorry. I bought a two traps and this rabbit never went near them. I tied everything trying to chase it out the garden, near enough killed me so this was my last resort. I love animals and even if I knock something down I have to go back and see if it's dead and not suffering. Silly really but I couldn't get on with my day wondering if it was hurt. I hope you get rid of the rabbit as I watched this rabbit get bigger and bigger and my plants getting smaller and smaller. Good luck.

Cliff that looks a really big spider. Scary.

Angie

[Paddy Tobin]

Ah, Jeepers, Cliff. It's a sad life - you went to Majorca and all you could find to look at were spiders.  I went to Madeira and photographed lizards. What does this say about us.

Good shots, though - your spiders.

Mark, these flying displays from the starlings are seen regularly here in autumn/winter but I don't ever recall seeing them flying so low. Quite amazing.

Paddy

[Armin]

McMark,

impressive image. Which berries/seed did they fed?

Every year 'flying squads', consisting of hundreds of starlings, overrun the Cornus sanguinea shrubs of my neighbourhood. In a hurry they pick as much as possible of the blue ripe berries which seem to be one of their favourites.
The whole spectacle lasts only a few seconds and the complete 'gang' takes off in order to come back and to repeat the invasion a couple of minutes later until the last berry has gone.
One has to be careful not to be bombed with bluish stuff

[TheOnionMan]

Mark, these flying displays from the starlings are seen regularly here in autumn/winter but I don't ever recall seeing them flying so low. Quite amazing.

Paddy

Maybe a thousand starlings landed on the road, but most were over the small crest of the road in this new view; lacking a decent zoom lens on this camera meant every time I tried to get close, they all flew off.  But the coolest thing was after that many birds landed on the road, a car came approached the crest of the hill, it slowed down to a near stop as clouds of starlings were startled.

Armin, they weren't eating... just a frenzied mass migration, landing in the tall oaks and maples all around.

[Anthony Darby]

Mark, your starling problem started in Central Park, New York, in 1890 when some idiot decided to release 60! Something to do with trying to introduce all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare into his local neighbourhood.

[ranunculus]

Ah, Jeepers, Cliff. It's a sad life - you went to Majorca and all you could find to look at were spiders.  I went to Madeira and photographed lizards. What does this say about us.
Good shots, though - your spiders.
Paddy

Bear with me Paddy ... bear with me ...!!!  

[Armin]

Mark, your starling problem started in Central Park, New York, in 1890 when some idiot decided to release 60! Something to do with trying to introduce all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare into his local neighbourhood.

Anthony,
the name of the idiot was Eugene Schieffelin and was the chairman of the American Acclimatization Society. The society was founded 1871 with the objective to introduce animals from Europe in the USA.
The first 60 were (imported) from England. Now they are more then 200 Mio. in the US.

[Anthony Darby]

Jings! I thought the population of brush-tailed possums now living in New Zealand, having been introduced in 1858, was large! There are now over 70 million of them and they get through 35,000 tonnes of vegetation per day. That's 12 million tonnes per year. Still nothing compared with the numbers of passenger pigeons in the USA in the early 19^th century. One flock could be upwards of 1 billion birds!

[Paddy Tobin]

Ah, Jeepers, Cliff. It's a sad life - you went to Majorca and all you could find to look at were spiders.  I went to Madeira and photographed lizards. What does this say about us.
Good shots, though - your spiders.
Paddy

Bear with me Paddy ... bear with me ...!!!  

OK, Cliff, so we can expect some of your lovely photographs to show the flora on your visit. Which reminds me that I must organise my photographs and make one of those "gardens I visited" posts.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Quote from: ranunculus on October 27, 2010, 08:53:36 PM
Bear with me Paddy ... bear with me ...!!!

I'm expecting photos of the rare Mallorcan Bear..... or is that Hans A 

[ranunculus]

OK, Cliff, so we can expect some of your lovely photographs to show the flora on your visit. Which reminds me that I must organise my photographs and make one of those "gardens I visited" posts.

Paddy
[/quote]

You can read me like a booker, Paddy!

[ranunculus]

Quote from: ranunculus on October 27, 2010, 08:53:36 PM
Bear with me Paddy ... bear with me ...!!!

I'm expecting photos of the rare Mallorcan Bear..... or is that Hans A 

The even rarer Three-legged seagull, Maggi ... watch this space!

[ranunculus]

Hi Maggi et al,
These rare seagulls were spotted on the walls of the magnificent (free) Visitors Centre (and aquarium) of the Cabrera National Park at Ses Salines.  This superb building and resource is certainly worth a visit and features a sizeable conical inner structure covered with murals that relate to the history, nature and art of the region. 


The octopus images were captured, not as you might imagine in the aquarium mentioned above, but in the shallow waters of a bay on the west coast of the island ... our first ever sighting of an octopus in the wild, this magnificent creature crept along underneath our gaze and hung around for at least two or three minutes before disappearing into the safety of deeper waters.

SES SALINES
OCTOPUS