Posting may be light today as I have an event to attend. But please send in your photos. I have about two batches left, and today I’m featuring the work of people who sent me only one or a few photos. Their comments are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
From Lee Jussim
A young muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) dining among pondscum:
Three from Claudia Baker.
On a winter’s walk one day last year, I came across this barred owl (Strix varia) high up in the branches of a tree. Just out there in the bright sunshine, having a snooze, open for anyone to snap a picture. What a beautiful sight. Made my day. The interweb says “originally a bird of the east (where I live), during the twentieth century it spread through the Pacific Northwest and southward to California”. They are fairly prolific around here (Ontario) and, according to a birding friend of mine, they are crowding out the other owls, especially the Barn Owl.
On an old spruce stump along my road, I spotted this fungus. When I tried to identify it, it was very confusing as there are so many. I think it is a Ganoderma lucidum, but I’m not sure. Perhaps a reader can weigh in. Sure are beautiful.
From Jon Alexander:
I just stumbled on some photos of a pigeon (Columba livia domestica) I took in 2013 from the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York City. (I straightened a couple today.) Not exactly the best photos of wildlife, but I like them. I don’t remember if I put a cracker there or if someone else put it there. But I imagine that some pigeons may have learned that crackers might be had with a little effort (or an updraft).
This is from Richard Pieniakowski. I have many good pictures from him, but must download them from a Google Drive. This is from October, and a barred owl, like the one pictures above.
I just wanted to share this photo of a Barred Owl I captured the other day with you. I think that readers would appreciate looking at this silent hunter.
And from Reese Vaughn, a duck (I think it’s a mallard hen, Anas platyrhychos):
Betty Brown Duck graces the deck on the resaca in Brownsville, Texas. The Williamsons, Kay and John, are her staff. I have asked if she is a mallard hen and how long they have been feeding her — she swims up for food on an elaborate deck that belongs to my friends Kay and John Williamson and they call her Betty Brown Duck. They may be able to send more pictures. Every morning they feed a swarm of nutria, fish, and water birds.
[ can’t … resist … ]
[ trying .. nnmmm… ]
Muskrat Love!
It’s fun to see these one-offs. What a nice variety of locations, including the Empire State Building (completed in 1931, my late father’s birth year).
* Jon Alexandr
I sometimes miss my hometown, especially Central Park. But the siren call of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Mount Tamalpais in particular, was irresistible.
(Of course I followed the New York City tale of “Flaco” the Eurasian owl that was let loose by some anonymous self-appointed do-gooder who apparently thought the owl would fare better in the “wild” than in the Central Park Zoo and, sadly — probably inevitably — it died within a year.)
Thank you for these.
Love the Barred Owl! So cool. 🙂
Nice assortment. Thanks everyone!