Some diverse photos today. First, the birds: a hairy woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) from Stephen Barnard. Check out those tree-gripping feet: two toes forward, two toes back:
Also from Stephen, a beautiful male American kestrel (Falco sparverius):
A spider and a moth from reader Jonathan Wallace:
The spider is Araneus diadematus, known as the Garden Orb Spider. It is a common and quite conspicuous species due to its relatively large size and habit of making prominently positioned webs. This one made its web across the front of our kitchen window and I enjoyed observing it for several days. Sadly, however, not long after the picture was taken I was at my desk watching a small flock of foraging Blue Tits and Great Tits prospecting our back yard when I saw one spot the spider and pick it off the web!
The moth is Alucita hexadactyla which is a fairly common species here in the UK and it is known as the Twenty-plumed Moth in the vernacular. The scientific name is more accurate (as one would hope!) as hexadactyla means ‘six fingered’ and, in fact each of the four wings is made up of six feathered fingers or twenty-four plumes in all! I can count only twenty in the photograph, but I assure you that that is just because some of the hind wing plumes are concealed beneath the forewings!
And one bird from reader Barn Owl:
Here’s a photo of a common urban bird, the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) for your “tank.” This one was checking one of my fruit trees for ripe figs, and retreated to the fence when I walked out onto my patio. There’s a pair of mockingbirds that nest in the cottonwood tree in my backyard, and another pair that nests in the neighbors’ live oak. All are noisy and curious, very fond of ripe figs and tomatoes, and sometimes appear to be playing games with my dogs.
Mocking birds. I remember fondly waking up one morning, while staying with family in California, to a mocking bird running through his/her repertoire of bird calls right under my window.
What a beautiful thing to hear.
Near our house, when spring comes, they start their calls at 2-3am. You can hear them clearly through the closed windows. I have been sorely tempted to allow our indoor cat to become an outdoor cat on those occasions.
Blue Tits and Great Tits. Adam sure did a good job in naming those animals. Now I know why the English teacher never taught the variety of bird species to us. Being an arachnophobe, I’m instantly a fan of Great Tits, particularly those that eat spiders.
Ironically, my astrological sign is Scorpio, so I should be afraid of myself.
Orb weavers will be shy and I have never been bitten by one, despite cumulative hours spent handling them. But you don’t need to hold them to enjoy watching them closely. Just throw a live insect into a web, and watch the action. The effect (I find) is to feel a little bond between you and the spider.
Is that the mocking bird from the film The Hunger Games?
The lighting on those birds, Stephen, is perfect. Those shots will fit nicely into the spectacular bird book you should be working on.
Very good. What is toasting my marshmallows right now are the color patterns in the wings of the plumed moth. Please note that the colors on the separate plumes line up to make a complete pattern. I think I know how they would develop that in the pupa, but it is still way cool.
Hmm I’m not sure I agree. I think this coul possibly be a case of pattern-seeking and the old ‘random distribution does not lead to even distribution’ problem. You could be right, there could be a developmental pattern there. But OTOH imagine if there were no developmental pattern and just semi-random splotches alternating with independent ‘V’ patterns on each plume…would it look all that different from the way it looks now?
Yes. The cryptic light and dark splotches that span from plume to plume are not all that random.
Just to ramble on about the plumed moth (which I guess I think is an amazing insect): why do they have plumes for wings? There might be an advantage in flying, but right now I am wondering if it makes them less visible to echolocation from bats.