We have a nice mix of photos and a video today. First, reader Rick Longworth struck up a friendship with an African owl. His notes:
A few years ago my wife and I did a flying vacation (rented Cessna) across South Africa. We encountered dozens of species, mostly in parks and preserves.
We stayed for a few days at a lodge in Pongola Game Reserve. Settled in our cabin, we heard a commotion outside and upon investigating we found a spotted eagle-owl (Bubo africanus) with a dead bat dangling limply from her beak. She flew quickly through the open door with her gift as if to insist we take a greater interest in the bat. She seemed to think we were her brood of chicks and she wanted to keep us well fed. The next day we learned that Nandi, as she is called, had been raised by people at the reserve, and her generous behavior was no surprise to them.
And a reptile for good measure, sent by reader Tony Eales:
While out looking for little creepy crawlies to photograph I had an encounter with a very laid back Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)—either a female or a young male. It was so co-operative I was able to get in close with the macro lens and get close-ups of its eye and tree-climbing claws.
An astronomy photo from Tim Anderson, also in Australia:
This is a picture of the great Carina Nebula, which is adjacent to the Southern Cross and is one of the most intensely active star-forming regions in the sky.Imaged in “narrowband monochrome” – sixty 60-second images each of emissions in Hydrogen alpha, Oxygen and Sulphur, plus a luminance layer. Made with a 10″ Newtonian telescope and an ASI1600MM camera.
Tara Tanaka has been busy, and we haven’t heard from her in a while. Here’s a novel video from her, in which she imagines what a baby eagle is saying (be sure to enlarge this by clicking on “vimeo,” and turn on the sound). And don’t miss the projectile defecation at 1:34.
[not the word awesome but another one that has the same overt meaning] pics!
I didn’t realize chicks at that age were concerned with sanitation, if that’s what they have in mind.
I reckon Mum knew what was coming and stayed at the other end of the nest until it was over!
What a great experience you had with that owl! Very cool indeed!
An all ’round fantastic offering this morning! Thanks everyone! 🙂
He seemed pretty determined to shoot that processed fish as far as possible!
I think this is the first time that WEIT has appeared in my “projectile defecation” google alerts.
Too funny!
Very good. Not just a video, it’s a documentary.
Watchers of eagle cams refer to “projectile defecations” as “poop shoots.”
I hadn’t heard that, but I can see why!
“The next day we learned that Nandi, as she is called, had been raised by people at the reserve, and her generous behavior was no surprise to them.”
It was at this point I said out loud, “oooohhhh, very interesting…” This is rare for me. Well-played, Mr. Longworth. Well-played.
Not to take anything away from the rest of today’s contributors, especially Mr. Anderson (said in Hugo Weaving’s villain voice). I’ve never seen such a photo from an amateur astronomer.
Very enjoyable! Also makes me wonder what the eagles Lucy and Desi are up to.
Enjoyed hearing the crows calling in the video. They fly away for the winter where I live (nobody seems to know where they go). So hearing them now is a reminder of a sound of better times, one you don’t even realize that you were missing.
Very astute, Lars. I have to confess that the audio was taken from a video I shot in my backyard last year, and I needed something w/o the extreme wind of the cold morning with the eaglet. I wondered if anyone would notice!
Spectacular owl and bearded dragon photos – I love the eye to eye close-up. It brought back memories of the horned lizard I had as a child.
Absolutely adorable owl! The nebula and others were nice too.