Thursday, January 28, 2021

Crops & Clips: Shots in the dark

Getting out into the local Wounded Wetlands so early makes us more conscious of celestial events. A meteor shower is an excuse to stop and look up. The phases of the Moon are interesting. The full Moon casts long shadows and can be so bright that it causes night blindness. The surroundings look much darker as our pupils constrict in reaction to the glare. 

For two or three days after its rising, the full Moon can provide a backdrop for early morning bird photos.   

Around sunrise, several male Boat-tailed Grackles gathered together in a bare tree. During the non-breeding season the males flock together separately from the females and compete for dominance in elaborate displays. The dominant males will join the females who occupy the breeding territories. Although males who are lower in the hierarchy may also join the colony, only a few of them will succeed in mating within the harem. 

Here, the dominant male is probably the one highest in the tree:    

The "top" male ruffles and rattles his feathers and snaps his bill, calling out harshly in a loud, long and varied non-musical "song:"

Part of the males' dominance display involves pointing the bill straight up. The competitors seem to take turns doing this while screaming all the louder. They may come to blows, or a challenger may be chased off. A single alpha male may remain lord of the same colony for several years.

Since the Moon was quite high, I had to creep up nearer through the brush (watching out for snakes and hoping my intended subject would not fly off) to get these shots--

Before:

After:

A Northern Flicker, illuminated by flash, provided another "Moon shot":  

Before sunrise, I snapped a photo of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron as it passed over Planet Venus (out of focus but conveniently appearing larger):

I used fill flash to capture this Great Egret on the lake before sunrise:

On a foggy morning, a Great Egret settled down :

Imitating reality, I layered a flock of White Ibises over an image of the full Moon:

The Moon is an interesting subject even as it wanes towards its final quarter. Sunlight catches the high tops of the mountain chain (Montes Caucasus) which partially surrounds the right upper part of the second largest lunar "sea," the Mare Imbrium (sea of Showers):

A very old Moon peeked through the clouds on January 11:

Another advantage of getting out early is witnessing the sunrise:. 

We usually only see the western horizon at dawn, but I decided to set out on the Levee Trail, which runs along the canal and provides a view of the eastern sky. On January 9 I was richly rewarded. This is a view to the south:

The foliage along the bar ditch was turned into gold by the early morning rays:

The best bird of the morning was a male American Robin. If lucky I may see one or two each winter, although they twice appeared in  large flocks. He called continuously, as if seeking to find others of his kind:




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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Thursday, January 21, 2021

Bald Eagle balancing act

After arriving to monitor the local Bald Eagle nest, I was getting out of my car when the female of the pair flew over my head and landed on  top of a tree just across the street. I quickly grabbed the camera and captured a burst of images as the magnificent bird steadied herself on a slender branch:


Jewel, as she is known, soon took flight and headed straight to the new nest under construction:



Pride, her mate, was roosting nearby:

The pair has established a new, alternate nest only about 109 yards (100 meters) to the east of the old one. The latter has been used continuously for at least 14 years. It is not uncommon for Bald Eagles to change or create alternate nest sites, although some have been known to occupy the same nest continuously for over 30  years. 

They presently have a new use for their old one-- it has become a cafeteria of sorts. On December 27, Pride was there, eating a fish:

The next day, Jewel was doing the same thing:

Eagles have been known to cache uneaten prey remains in a nearby location which they can watch and defend.  

On January 2, both eagles got an early start on adding branches to the new nest. When I arrived at about 9:00 AM, the male (Pride) was on the nest. Several watchers had been observing for over an hour. The sky was overcast and visibility was limited, poor for photography:

The structure has grown and now almost fills the gap between the two main support branches. The nest platform is slanted at an odd angle. Normally it would be horizontal, so it will be interesting to see how they will accomplish this:

The female (Jewel) had just flown out searching for sticks. She flew up into the tallest Australian Pine along the road to the east:

Jewel disappeared into the foliage of the tree and flapped wildly as she tried to break off a large living branch.  She was really struggling with the branch. She worked to pick it from the tree by using her weight, actually flying upside down, but the limber branch held fast to the tree:


I had never seen anything like this before. She finally gave up the struggle and returned to the nest with a smaller prize:


The Full Cold Moon was to set about 20 minutes before sunrise on December 29. I hurried out towards the lake...


...but only about 10 minutes before it was to touch the horizon just to the left (south) of the Pine Bank, clouds  moved in and  spoiled the show:


I gave up hope of seeing the Moon again and continued walking to the north. To my surprise, the Moon appeared on the other (right) end of the Pine Bank, below the clouds for an enchanting minute or two:


A Great Egret posed against the pre-dawn sky:


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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
________________________________________________

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Remembering Agramonte

Ten and a  half years ago, Agramonte and I celebrated my birthday in Batavia, Illinois. In his third year of life, the purebred Tibetan Mastiff was such a good friend:

He was our canine Grandson (Nieto). Our human Neitas took part in the celebration (Why are there only 7 1/2 candles on my cake? I think they know why!):



They welcomed Agramonte into their home just before Christmas in 2007:


He knew he was loved:

Agramonte played in the snow. His winter fur was so dense that he could sleep in a snowdrift:

We first met him when we "migrated" back to our second home in April, 2008. Agramonte was 5 months old:

He grew up very rapidly. Here he is at 10 months of age:

When one year old old, he weighed 108 pounds and his mane was growing:

Neighbors sometimes thought our granddaughters had a lion on a leash. He loved the girls and was very protective of them, not in a fierce way but he would stand between them and any possible threat. One day I walked Agramonte with them to a small playground in a nearby park. The girls played on the swings and slides, so I decided to walk Agramonte a little way down the path. However, when we reached a turn where he could no longer see the children, he stopped dead, sat down and absolutely refused to go any further. I tried to make him stand and lead him on until I realized he did not want to lose sight of his treasured little friends:   

Here he is at 10 years of age in 2017, as he watched me barbecue a chicken in the back yard. If he wanted to, he could have overpowered me and inhaled that bird:

Moncada, another Tibetan Mastiff and Agramonte's little "brother," joined the family in 2018.  This is how the mastiffs spend most of their days:

A few days later, Cazador, a black Standard Poodle puppy, made them a doggie threesome:


Agramonte, the alpha, greeted the newest member of the pack:


Agramonte always loved the snow. His mane became huge during winter:



We last visited Illinois and saw Agramonte in early April, 2019. Sad to say, this was my last photo of him, with Cazador, back in September, 2018:

Our Illinois family flew down in April 2019 to join us for a short but memorable vacation on the Florida Keys.  "The sun comes up and the sun goes down. The hands on the clock keep going around..." And then there was the Coronavirus.

Tranquility Bay sunset:




April memories: Sedate Black-necked Stilts in formal garb, reflecting... 


...and a Northern Cardinal. There are old traditions-- “When a red cardinal visits your yard, it’s a visitor from heaven”. . . "The red cardinal bird symbolizes the phases of restoring when going through great difficulties with greater hope in God"... "Seeing a red cardinal after a death can be a message for you from the divine"... “When a cardinal appears, a loved one is near...,”

During our last visit to Illinois in May, 2019, it was clear that Agramonte's health was failing, He retained his sweet disposition despite a loss of energy.

The COVID restrictions have kept us apart since then. 

Despite treatment, his attempts to walk became increasingly painful and impaired. Finally he could not even stand up. For a large breed at 13+ years, his "dog age" calculator says that both he and I are about the same age. 

The veterinarian just made a home visit and helped Agramonte say goodbye.

A little spark of consciousness has been extinguished, and the universe is somehow diminished.

Goodbye, Agramonte, you big friendly, fluffy, furry phlegmatic doormat of a dog.

Sunset in Batavia, Illinois:

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Linking to:

Fences Around the World


Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
________________________________________________