Stephen Barnard is busy documenting the kestrels (Falco sparverius) on his property (there are two). Here’s one toting a vole home for dinner:
Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) and Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) at Silver Creek.
Lepidopterans from reader Mark Jones:
Here are photos of two common British butterflies, the small white (Pierus rapae) and small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), and a less common but damaged marbled white (Melanagaria galathea). They’re quite nicely detailed – there’s another little bug behind the tortoiseshell.
The photos are in order:
And Anne-Marie Cournoyer is busy documenting the fat and hungry squirrels of Quebec, as well as snapping birds on the side:
Parc National du Mont St Bruno. Unfortunately, this cute little guy has been desensitized to humans. He’s not afraid to come up to you and beg. He can even climb up your leg and forage in your bag! Why can’t some people be more responsible!
I have to admit that I’ve started “desensitizing” the squirrels who frequent my windowsill. Winter is coming on, and I’ve stocked up on seeds and nuts to help them out. They required a few days of training as I haven’t fed them much this year, but after three days they’re now coming regularly.
Parc National du Mont Saint-Bruno, a Black-backed Woodpecker, Picoides arcticus:
Cleaning time! It’s not the best shot, but I like the fluffiness and the different textures!
Trumpeter Swans are one of the most spectacular animals in the wild. Very lucky to have them around.
In the first swan photo there are two adults (in the lead) and two juveniles. By the way, I didn’t spook the swans in the second photo. I was far away on Picabo Road with a 700mm lens. They took off to join a large flock in a snow-covered field to the right.
Stephen, I really love your wildlife photos. There are several I use as my desktop wallpaper on a rotating basis. Soothing and beautiful. Keep up the great work!
The woodpecker is actually a downy woodpecker Picoides pubescens.
I agree.
a female downy.
Somebody really should fix that woodpecker attribution.
It’s been fixed in the comments, so what are you kvetching about?
It would be nice if the caption were fixed, that’s all.
As I said, it was already fixed in the comments. Seriously, you’re telling me to go back and change it so it would be “nice” for you? Jebus.
Very nice. The bug near the tortoiseshell might be some kind of aposematic hemipteran, but I am not sure.
Pretty impressive that that little kestrel can hold a vole in one foot like that!
Lovely lepidopterans Mark! In the US we call P. rapae the Cabbage Butterfly, of course. Amazing species, this, spread across the globe now. I used to do mark/recapture work with these.
Anne-Marie, those are darling Downy shots!
Thank you Diane!
Thanks Diane!
Sorry for my mistake. And thank you for correcting me. I learned something new today!
Lotta birds in the world–takes a while to learn them! The important thing is you caught the cute woodpecker being cute. 😉
Love the Downy pics! The top one is gorgeous with the texture of the trees, and, yes, the bottom one has nice fluffiness 🙂
Great pics! I like the squirrel’s pose quite a bit. 🙂
Wonderful photos, thanks everyone!
As long as the “desensitising ” food supply doesn’t replace the need to forage, I don’t see a big problem. If the “windowsill from PCCEgod ” doesn’t yield enough on the daily round, then less time will be allocated to exploiting this resource.
More worrying would be if the arrival of PCCE were to become a signal for all local sqrlz to hit the windowsill.
@Mark Jones: I like the composition (green background and pink and blue flowers) and bug forwardness of the large, “small tortoiseshell” shot.
Cheers Charleen(?), and others.
I like the composition too, although I’m not sure I can claim much credit for it, since these are taken with a fairly long lens whenever and wherever I spot a butterfly, and I hope that, with AEB, and as steady a hand as I can muster, there is a sharp shot among them. They do have a habit of fluttering off, at which my wife laughs.
Nice pctures of a Centaurea! (Knap weed…)