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Wildlife December 2011
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Topic: Wildlife December 2011 (Read 10042 times)
mark smyth
Hopeless Galanthophile
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Posts: 15254
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #60 on:
December 22, 2011, 11:58:58 AM »
Photos have appeared on N Irish bird blogs of sparrows and Blackcaps with Phormium pollen on their heads
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Antrim, Northern Ireland Z8
www.snowdropinfo.com
/
www.marksgardenplants.com
/
www.saveourswifts.co.uk
When the swifts arrive empty the green house
All photos taken with a Canon 900T and 230
Lesley Cox
way down south !
Hero Member
Posts: 16348
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Gardening forever, house work.....whenever!
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #61 on:
December 22, 2011, 07:09:58 PM »
It's very common here too with bellbirds and tuis. The flowers are shaped in such a way that the birds have to push their heads past the pollen sacs in order to reach the nectar. Then of course they take that pollen past the stigmas of the next flowers/plants. Various birds, especially the native wood pigeons eat the black seeds in due course. If it were not for that I'd get rid of the large, tatty and extremely ugly great clump in my garden tho' it would take a front end loader to dislodge it now.
I have at last seen live shining cuckoos in the garden. We seem to have at least six and I hear them every day without fail but they are very elusive to see and in the past I've only seen a dead one after it crashed into a large window at our previous place. They are about the size of a bellbird, or a slim starling and are bright olive green on their backs, creamy on the front, speckled with tan. They sound nothing like a cuckoo at all. It may have been a family of parent/s and young I saw yesterday, flying between gum trees and still calling madly.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
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Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #62 on:
December 22, 2011, 09:30:03 PM »
I would be surprised if shining cuckoos went round as a family unit as the female lays each egg in the nest of the grey warbler and abandons it. The resulting chick evicts the warbler chicks or eggs and is reared by the adult warblers. In the autumn it will head off to the Solomon Islands to overwinter.
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Lesley Cox
way down south !
Hero Member
Posts: 16348
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Gardening forever, house work.....whenever!
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #63 on:
December 23, 2011, 04:28:17 AM »
You're right of course Anthony. I didn't think of that, so maybe they just gather together for some social time, once the young are laid (excuse me). There were six here all singing the same distinctive song, if it can be called that, flying between the gum trees. I only saw them in silhouette against the sky, but no mistaking the sound.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
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Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #64 on:
December 23, 2011, 04:42:57 AM »
I love cuckoos.
Heard them often, but saw them rarely, in sunny D.
I do remember seeing lizard cuckoos in Jamaica. They are quite special and spectacular. I still have my copy of Bond, James Bond. I must look out for cuckoos here.
«
Last Edit: December 23, 2011, 10:45:50 AM by Anthony Darby
»
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
Hero Member
Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #65 on:
December 23, 2011, 10:27:10 AM »
Spotted this cicada in the garden today.
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Lesley Cox
way down south !
Hero Member
Posts: 16348
Country:
Gardening forever, house work.....whenever!
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #66 on:
December 24, 2011, 11:08:27 PM »
Your cicada, taking the spots as eyes, looks quite coy.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
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Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #67 on:
December 25, 2011, 12:23:03 AM »
Yes, Lesley, plus the two huge compound eyes.
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
Hero Member
Posts: 9647
Country:
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #68 on:
December 25, 2011, 07:24:28 AM »
The little springbok mantids have more than doubled their size since I last photographed them, and some have turned green.
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Lesley Cox
way down south !
Hero Member
Posts: 16348
Country:
Gardening forever, house work.....whenever!
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #69 on:
December 25, 2011, 08:59:43 PM »
White shorts will be the next development.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
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Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #70 on:
December 26, 2011, 01:31:11 AM »
Quote from: Lesley Cox on December 25, 2011, 08:59:43 PM
White shorts will be the next development.
I'm sure they'll be praying for them? White socks and sandals too:
Here are some pics of my emperor gum (
Opodiphthera eucalypti
) caterpillars, which are second instar, with some moulting into 3rd.
«
Last Edit: December 26, 2011, 01:33:17 AM by Anthony Darby
»
Logged
Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Lesley Cox
way down south !
Hero Member
Posts: 16348
Country:
Gardening forever, house work.....whenever!
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #71 on:
December 26, 2011, 04:00:13 AM »
Very handsome beasties but boy! they can get through the gum leaves! I could do with some here. I spend hours raking up the blasted things. They don't ever rot down to leaf mould.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
Anthony Darby
Bug Buff & Punster
Hero Member
Posts: 9647
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #72 on:
December 26, 2011, 09:23:35 AM »
I could send you some eggs if a female hatches tonight or tomorrow?
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Anthony Darby, Auckland, New Zealand.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution"
http://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk/Choir/The-Choir.html
Giles
Prince of Primula
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Posts: 1833
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Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #73 on:
December 26, 2011, 04:55:34 PM »
This might amuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/26/cat-kitten-loft-ladder-youtube_n_1169884.html
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mark smyth
Hopeless Galanthophile
Hero Member
Posts: 15254
Country:
Re: Wildlife December 2011
«
Reply #74 on:
December 26, 2011, 05:05:53 PM »
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3GJycgu-cs[/youtube]
Logged
Antrim, Northern Ireland Z8
www.snowdropinfo.com
/
www.marksgardenplants.com
/
www.saveourswifts.co.uk
When the swifts arrive empty the green house
All photos taken with a Canon 900T and 230
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Wildlife December 2011
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