Reader’s wildlife photographs: Cleo update and two birds

September 6, 2015 • 7:45 am

As I said in the Hili Post, today is part of Labor Day weekend all over the U.S. Don’t expect much substantive, as everyone is on vacation, nobody wants heavy reading on a holiday, and I have a ton of stuff to do before I leave for Poland, Sweden, and Atlanta in late-ish September.

In the meantime, please enjoy one bird photo from Stephen Barnard (bottom) as well as these new photographs and captions (indented) from Joyce Carol Oates, whose new Bengal kitten, Cleo, is serving as a test case for me. Her kitten came from the estimable breeder Anthony Hutcherson of Jungletrax Bengal Cats. Judging from the photos, Cleo is a handful, both literally and figuratively.

Kitten-collaborator pondering latest on laptop.  Probably will be lunging at it to “delete.”

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Kitten resting between bouts of — shall we say “liveliness”—
(she is still confined to this room & adjoining bathroom)

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But there is hope–one eyelid is closing….

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It has happened!  Cleo has fallen asleep!
very strangely calm & quiet in here.  does not seem quite right.

(mayhem not visible in the picture–papers on floor, broken things, overturned wastebasket, scattered pens.)
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And for those of you who need genuine wildlife, I present two gorgeous picture of two gorgeous swallows, both from Stephen Barnard of Idaho. Here’s his notes:

I get four swallow species on the creek: Tree, Violet-green, Cliff, and Northern Rough-winged. The only way I can photograph them in flight is when they’re flying into a strong headwind. They are, in my experience, the hardest birds to photograph in flight, which is what makes it fun.

First, the violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina):

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And another wingéd wonder, a cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota):

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27 thoughts on “Reader’s wildlife photographs: Cleo update and two birds”

  2. Swallows are darty little things & very hard to photograph. I get tree and barn swallows here. The barn swallows like to try out nesting locations in my car port & beak off when I go out there. They have been discouraged though as they leave a mess if you allow them in there.

    1. The Cliff Swallows attempt to build nests on my front porch and I tolerate them, but the nests invariably fall down.

      1. We get what I assume are Chimney swallows since they build a nest in our chimney. I like the melodious cheeps they send down to us from the fireplace.
        Occasionally one will get past the damper and be trapped in our fireplace. I then get to catch it and let it go outside. I consider this a privilege as they are lovely birds with large eyes.

  4. Cleo looks like a delightful handful. We had kids. The got into things. We adjusted. They start going up and down the stairs when they are too little to do it safely? We put up a gate. They start getting into the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen? We put in little safety latches. One started climbing out of its crib at night, and so I built up the walls of the crib. When that failed I put a lid on the crib! These times are long over, but I still occasionally find a safety plug in an electrical outlet.
    Looking back on all that I do not recall that it was even stressful or annoying. Just an adjustment, which is something we higher primates can do. We put up with a lot from the things we love.

    2. My kids are 28 and 30 and I just recently found one of those safety plugs in an outlet behind a chair. We had a safety latch on a kitchen cupboard for a few years before kids, as we had a garbage hound….Now we just have to rig the laundry room door so that the kitties can get to the litter, but the houndie cannot…

    3. “… a lid on the crib”

      Where were you when I needed you?!

      😀

      Thanks for instigating the fond memories.

  6. Who can resist that inquisitive little face…

    I think she’ll be calmer once she has more space to explore and to run. The other feline in the household will provide entertainment for little Cleo as well.

    //do not insert Monty Python quote about swallows here

  7. Amazing sharp swallow pictures, Stephan. I love to watch them catching bugs on the wing, but can’t even imagine trying to photograph one.

    2. The Whimberley mount helps a lot, mainly because I don’t have to hold up the heavy kit.

  8. That is exactly the room I would have imagined Joyce Carol Oates preparing for her new Bengal kitten, Cleo, who is adorable.

  9. Anyone else notice the enigmatic, partial text in the first photo, on the screen of what appears to be a rather old Macbook (judging by the power connector).

  10. For some reason this post reminded me that we haven’t heard how Jerry Coyne is going for a while. Any news there or have I just missed the update?

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