There may be a few days without photographs this week as I wait for pictures to arrive, but posting will also be light for several days because I have STUFF to do. Bear with me; I do my best.
Today, however, we have birds, birds coming from the lens of Uwe Mueller. His notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Here is another batch of photos taken on the East Frisian island of Spiekeroog, Germany, as with my pics from the 16th of March.
A Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) with its distinctly red eyes in flight. Due to its black-white appearance and its long red bill, it is jokingly called the ‘Halligstorch’ (halligen stork). A hallig is a small island which is only barely higher than the tides and typical of the coastal landscape of the North Sea:
A Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) taking off from the beach:
Afterwards the kestral stayed in the air near us in the so-called “Rüttelflug”, a way of flying over a fixed point in the strong wind and looking out for prey. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera ready when it spotted something and went down:
A Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata) with its long bill searching for food in the mudflats:
A European herring gull (Larus argentatus) in flight:
This Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) swam in front of us for quite some time. I guess it was waiting for food. but was much more polite in doing so than the European herring gulls— known to steal food directly from the hands of humans:
A Greylag goose (Anser anser) in flight, holding its head straight while flying a curve:
A Western jackdaw (Corvus monedula) passing by closely:
Two Common pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) quarreling over the same stretch of grass . Their fight nearly looked like a ritual. First they bowed down opposite to each other and lifted their tail, probably to impress the opponent:
And then they dished out at each other:
A picture from the typical dune landscape of Spiekeroog:
Beautiful shot of the Jackdaw.
Thank you Uwe Mueller.
May I?
Wunderbar
/pop German
Wildlife aside, I knew nothing of these North Sea barrier like islands until this post. They look to be much like our Virginia Chesapeake Bay eastern shore and North Carolina outer banks islands. Big. moving dunes! Thanks.
One of my favorite books is Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, sometimes described as the earliest thriller. It is set in the Frisian islands, so I am particularly interested in these fine
photographs.
Nice close-ups. Is it the surprisingly wide wingspan on the herring gull that lends it its name? Wow. I love the expression on the black-headed gull. I also enjoy seeing the landscape there. Thanks
Love the pictures, especially the Kestrel taking off. That picture truly captures the initiation of motion and the push-off power of the legs.
The facial expressions on those pheasants don’t suggest anything awry, but the one pouncing on the other gives the scene away. Love how the “victim” is looking up at the attacker. Well done.
You really caught some incredible moments there. The pheasants in action are fantastic.
All the photos are terrific.
Beautiful photos! I especially love the birds in flight, and the pic of the Pheasants facing off is spectacular.
Truly wonderful pictures, and for those linguistically interested, I’ll add that -oog in Spiekeroog is Frisian or Low German for island and derives from the same root as the first syllable of island (old English: ieg-, the silent s of the modern orthography is French influence). Other modern versions of this old Germanic root are Swedish ö (as in Öland), Icelandic eyju and high and standard German Aue.
Very nice pictures, thanks so much.
Gulls nicking people’s chips is a common occurrence in the UK, and much complained about. Recent research suggests that we should be much more understanding of these intelligent birds, which are having to adapt their behaviour because we are wrecking their natural sources of food. See for instance today’s Times (may be paywalled): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thieving-gulls-intelligent-deserve-respect-krh3rmmz5
David Attenborough Planet Earth S3. The penultimate episode deals with just this subject, adaptations to the human made environment.
It is amazing and humourous in parts to what some animals have come up with. But the last example about the king cobra is, well…
I enjoyed this so much I’m not giving it away.
Apologies if you’ve seen it already.
Impressive set! Pheasants are the most beautiful and ubiquitous temperate bird. I’ve seen many in the wild, and have never witnessed the behavior you captured. Very interesting indeed! Love the landscape, very similar to sand dunes I’ve visited on the Northwest coast; it looks like there is a forest of sorts in the far background. I hope you continue submitting your excellent photos from a unique part of the world.