The Daily Bird #333.

Robin, from Kengi, click for full size!

April Is The Cruelest Month…

My sentiment is not the same as T.S. Eliot’s though. On the contrary, I so look forward to new life blossoming forth. It rained today. Then it froze. Every bud is covered with ice. Click for full size.

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35 Degrees South: Pelican!

Gorgeous Pelicans, from Lofty. That first shot, perfection! Click for full size.

Leaf Buds.

Chestnut, Lilac, and Walnut, from rq, click for full size.

The Daily Bird #332.

Red-Winged Blackbird, from Kengi. Click for full size.

European Larch.

European Larch, one of Charly’s Bonsai trees.

“European Larch Larix decidua. Over 20 years old tree, grown as a bonsai for approximately 15 years. It was found as a seedling near train track where it would be destroyed in subsequent years. I am not too fussy about my trees adhering to Japanese bonsai styles, I do not use the wire or grafting too much and I let the trees mostly “choose” their form by themselves with me only slightly guiding the process through cutting. To a Japanese professional this would probably look as very shoddy work. This year the tree actually bloomed and I find larch blossoms very beautiful, which is why I am sending these as first.”

Back in SoCal, we grew Bonsai trees, and had around 50 of them. We did ours traditionally, our nursery owners were a lovely Japanese couple, who also provided a tree sitting service for when you had to be away, which was so very nice. I did go light on the wire, and tended more toward judicious trimming and cutting. To my eyes, this tree is absolutely beautiful, and I think Charly has done sterling work with it. Click for full size!

The Daily Bird #331.

A Greater Spotted Woodpecker from Charly, such a beauty! “This time it is a male. He has a strategy for cracking the sunflower seeds, which I was lucky enough to capture – he picks them one by one, places them in a nook between one column and the elevated edge of the feeder bottom where he hammers them to bits. I find this to be quite clever of him, he is the only one whom I spotted to do this and it was not a fluke – he did this multiple times, on the same spot.” That’s one thing that makers of bird feeders don’t take into account, all the birds who use the shove in a crevice and hammer method to get at the nutmeat. A good feeder has some nice cracks or crevices built in! Click for full size.

35 Degrees South: Pecking Order.

From Lofty: Today’s dinosaur collection in the drain round the back of the airport. Swamp hens on the water, silver gulls in line, ibis on the fence. Click for full size!

The Daily Bird #330.

A beautiful European Starling from Kengi. Click for full size!

Fly in Space.

From rq: I don’t know why, but these photos make me think of science fiction movies. Featuring an intrepid fruitfly that is probably a genetic mutant because this is in the lab and we use UV to sterilize. Click for full size.