Free Republic

No new stuff, these are from the archives, some going back several years.Various cameras, I've worn out several. I believe they were made to be used

A top Russian female newsreader has caused a stir after appearing to offensively show US President Barack Obama her middle finger during a live newscast. Online footage of the incident, which occurred earlier this month during an afternoon news bulletin on the privately held REN TV channel, is being avidly viewed in both Russia and the United States. In the footage, Tatyana Limanova, an award-winning senior newsreader at the channel, can be seen briskly reading out an item about how Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has just assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Cooperation organisation. She is then heard...

The birds which cannot cope with the demise of Communism Several bird species which live behind the former iron curtain have been unable to adapt to the demise of Communism, scientists have found. Jasper Copping 9:30PM BST 22 Oct 2011 A study has identified several species of songbirds which have suffered following the demise of the Soviet Bloc after being unable to cope with the consequences of the changes it unleashed in eastern Europe. While some birds have thrived after adapting to socio-economic changes affecting their habitats – such as the regeneration of eastern bloc cities and the emergence of...

Title and link only -- Gannett stationhttp://wusa9.com/news/article/161065/158/Woodpecker-Saving-Daughter-Costs-Mom-500

In 4 hours and 15 minutes I will mark my 7th anniversary oN Free Republic.JimRob and all of you, you are part of my extended family now and I am deeply honored to know you.And, THE RAIN CAME AND FILLED UP THE POND AGAIN!!!

I got out early today, got to beat the heat. This years new birds are starting to show up, the young Yellow Crowned Night Heron looks to be right out of the nest.Yellow Crowns aren't uncommon, they're just shy and wild so they aren't seen as much as the other herons and egrets. Tricolored heron, Egretta tricolor Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea, immature, just out of the nest Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea Great Egret Ardea alba Snowy Egret Egretta thula

After hours waiting beside an African river, Arnaud Germain thought he finally had the perfect shot of his favourite bird. But as the wildlife photographer trained his lens on the colourful kingfisher, he got a rather different snap than he was expecting. All of a sudden, a crocodile and a hippo burst from the tranquil waters straight in front of him, locking jaws in ferocious battle. Arnaud desperately tried to refocus his camera on the river monsters as they fought on the banks of the Shire River, in the Liwonde National Park, Malawi. After hours waiting beside an African river,...

HOLDENVILE, Okla. — Just about everyone thinks Eric Torpy is a birdbrain. In October 2005, Torpy asked an Oklahoma County judge to tack on three more years to his 30-year prison sentence for armed robbery and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. “He said if he was going down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird’s jersey,’’ Oklahoma District Judge Ray Elliott told the Associated Press back then. “He was just as happy as he could be.’’

Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay My oh my What a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way. Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder, It's the truth; It's actual; Everything is satisfactual. Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Ay Wonderful feeling, Wonderful day!

At low tide the mudflats of the saltmarsh will have large areas covered by colonies of little Fiddler crabs, the males busy waving the larger of their claws to lure females to his burrow. Fiddler crabs dig down a foot or so, the burrow curves as it descends.The White Ibis has a curving beak, how convenient is that?It was about high tide when I got to the marsh, this White Ibis was the only moving thing in sight. It was putting down those Fiddlers like popcorn. The Ibis are pairing off ready to nest now, but this one was all...

A little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine makes things start happening around here. A Great Egret was fishing the lake when I got there but the Great Blue Heron chased it off. They are about the same size but the Great Blue is a lot more aggressive, they will claim and dominate a stretch of water. They make exceptions, the Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons and Tricolor Herons don't eat the same diet as the Great Blue so they are often tolerated.The Red Shouldered Hawk is a little late this year but it's likely one of the...

I got to the little pond just as the tide was starting in, nothing there yet but the Great egrets and Snowy egrets were fishing way out in the marsh. Nothing came in close but one Great egret. I moved back toward the pond and the White ibis came busting in. The Ibis feed further up in the cordgrass and Spartina than the egrets, they seem to wait until the tide gets up in the vegetation some before they feed. There is a cold front coming in, gray skies and spitting rain all day.

There is water in the pond and the Snowy Egrets can bathe again. From the look of their plumage pairing off and nest building time is almost here. The yellow lore ahead of the eye will turn crimson when hormones reach a peak, some red is starting to show now.I've missed my little pond, it's been dry too much this winter. The birds could ice skate on it last year, nothing but frozen mud on the cold days this year.

The Daffodils are popping, the bees are busy and the birds are almost ready to pair off and build nests. Today, in sunny St. John's County Florida.

I came home from the gator farm one day last April hot, tired and ready for a nap. I dumped the memory cards to my remote hard drive for later. I only ever processed one of the 2 folders, just now stumbled over the other one.It's almost time to go back again!From last April.

WASHINGTON, Officials with the Library of Congress in Washington said a female Cooper's hawk was captured after spending a week trapped in the facility. Matt Raymond, the library's director of communications, said the hawk is believed to have flown in through a window Jan. 19 and spent a week evading capture in the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The hawk, which fed on frozen quail from a trap without being snared, was caught using starlings as bait by a Raptor Conservancy of Virginia team at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The team spent about 25...

The recent mysterious deaths of birds and fish are causing alarm among naturalists around the world. Birds are literally falling dead out of the sky, and fish are washing up dead on shores and rivers across North America and around the world. The reaction from the mainstream media seems strangely subdued, as if they're all just blowing this off as some unexplained quirk about the natural world that should be largely ignored. NaturalNews readers think differently. We are concerned when thousands of dead birds fall out of the sky for no apparent reason. The sky itself may not be falling,...

SANTA ROSA -- Days after massive bird die-offs in the south, Sonoma County officials Tuesday had a mystery of their own as more than 100 bird carcasses were discovered near Geyserville. California Highway Patrol Officer Jon Sloat said the birds were discovered on to Independence Lane at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The California Department of Fish and Game was notified and a local warden responded. He took several of the birds away to be identified and tested by a biologist, Sloat told the San Rosa Press Democrat. The birds all appeared to be the same species – small in size...

Birds Falling From the Sky Not Unusual The only unusual part of the recent spate of bird (and fish) die-offs is that people witnessed them. Thousands of birds and fish have died in large groups over the last week. Scientists say events like these are normal in the wild and are usually caused by weather or disease. Most mass animal deaths occur far from human eyes, but that might change with development. It has been a bad week for wild animals. Starting just before the turn of the New Year, 500 red-wing blackbirds died together in Louisiana. Some 100 jackdaws...

As we approach the end of time amid a flurry of bloody feathers, fish carcasses, and plentiful crab cakes, Google has, as it always does, given us a means of approaching our imminent demise easily and with style. A new Google Map created yesterday – “Mass Animal Deaths” – shows areas of the world that have experienced a recent wave of animal deaths, complete with a link to an article explaining each instance, as well as the number of animals found dead in each case. From dead snapper in New Zealand to birds exploding over Arkansas, troubling animal deaths are...

A state lawmaker has filed a bill to explicitly permit residents to ward off trespassers by exhibiting a firearm. "We want to make it very clear to the courts that protecting our property is an absolute right," said state Rep. Betsey Patten, R-Moultonborough, who filed the bill at the Statehouse Monday while group outside the Capitol protested the imprisonment of a Moultonborough resident for criminal threatening for brandishing a firearm when a woman trespassed on his property. Patten acknowledged that if the bill were to become law it would not help Ward Bird who is serving a three- to six-year...

When a bird is putting her nest together, nothing and no one is off limits. (Video at link)

I made my first expedition with the new glasses today, I can see pretty good again!The pond is almost dry, we need some sustained rain, the little showers just won't keep up with evaporation and seepage. The Snowy Egret is a young bird, one of last years, still got yellow high up on the legs. This years chicks have more yellow.The Little Blue Herons are mature birds, the White Ibis mixed generations. They don't chase the chicks off like the Herons and Egrets do.

A Roseate Spoonbill's pink color is due to iodine in it's diet. A good food supply is good for color.This one seems to be well fed. There is a Snowy Egret hiding behind the spoonbill, it didn't want to pose.

The tide was dead low when I got out today but I rode by the pomd anyway. It is usually best at high tide, when the saltmarsh is too deep to wade.It was wall to wall waders, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons and White Ibis, plus a Roseate spoonbill out slumming.

It was hot today. I had a Dr. appointment, About time I got out of there the tide was high. I figured the birds would be headed to the little pond to drink and bathe. They started showing up about the time I did. The Great Egrets like to squat down and soak for a while, then they stand up and shake. When they're down in the water they don't look very big.

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, U.S. officials often had to rely on grainy satellite photos to decide whether facilities on the ground were intended for producing weapons of mass destruction. Now imagine that instead of overhead satellite imagery -- or even high-flying unmanned aircraft -- they could send in a flock of microdrones that could actually fly right over, or even inside, such facilities. Even better, these drones -- equipped with chemical sensors that could pick up possible weapons work with near certainty -- would resemble typical birds, like pigeons, making them nearly impossible to spot. This...

I hit the trail today, one of the charity thrift shops has a great horde of used books and I was out of reading material. They aren't junky paperbacks like you find some places, these look like new. Coming home I rolled by the county boat ramp. The birds are finishing up nesting season and starting to just hang out again.Too hot for an old man to stay long! Great Egret, Ardea alba

We had some heavy rain, my favorite little pond is brimming with fresh water again. This duck is a Florida Mottled Duck, Anas fulvigula. They are non-migratory, only found in Florida. They can breed with Mallards, and the non-migratory Mallards created by people feeding them will likely absorb the Mottled Ducks and wipe them out as a distinct species. Drakes and hens look much the same.Mallards aren't supposed to be in Florida during breeding season but they are now common year round. The Wood Stork had just conned a fisherman out of a big mullet and was washing it down....

This little marshy pond is not far fron the alligator farm, this flock of Roseate Spoonbills is probably nesting there.They filter through the mud on the pond bottom and filter out the little edible organisms.

A Great Blue Heron scores lunch. I might be able to get closer to this one but if they get curious about something they might decide to give it a poke. That beak is serious business.

We're in a transitional period, the birds are nesting and hunting far and wide to find nest materials and food for hatched chicks. The flowers are just starting to really pop. This time of year the only big concentrations of wading birds are the rookery areas. They hunt far and wide when feeding chicks. This is a Tri colored Heron, an amaryllis and a really pretty multicolored rose.

Can you stand on your nose like this? The Ruddy Turnstones fly to the Arctic to breed, this one is just waiting for the right weather. These are Willets. Little Blue Herons are white when they leave the nest, the blue and purple comes in gradually.

Pretty day, the birds were out.

AP) STONINGTON, Conn. (AP) - Authorities say an aggressive red-tailed hawk has attacked at least five people recently in a Connecticut town, including a woman who needed medical care after being cut on the head. Police in Stonington, a shoreline town bordering Rhode Island, warned residents Wednesday by e-mail and through the town's reverse 911 system to watch out for the large hawk. Recess and gym classes at a nearby school were held indoors.....

There are several Great Blue Herons who hunt at Maria Sanchez Lake, I can recognize this one because he will come right up to me. I really needed a shorter lens on the camera to get all the shots available.This bird is agressive, when he hunts a large part of the lake belongs to him. He is getting ready for breeding season and looking good!The Red Shouldered Hawk flew across the lake and landed right next to the road. A lot of people around the lake have bird feeders and the hawk eats songbirds. Put your feeders near brush so...

The Sun came out today, big time!

Had to go to the lab and bleed for them, apparently I still have a heartbest! I got these shots on the way back to the swamp. Maria Sanchez Lake is on the edge of downtown St. Augustine. It is tidal, formed by a dam built by Henry Flagler when he started building hotels.The birds love it in rough weather, it is a good place to find shelter out of most of the wind. The Snowy egret and White ibis are both last years chicks, the egret's leg will turn black and the Ibis will lose the brown plumage as...

In summer and up through last month the Ibis around here tend to be in groups of 4 to 10. Today they were starting to congregate in preparation for breeding season. I've seen flocks of about 200 birds, but in some areas there may be a lot more in a flock. This shot doesn't include all the birds in the flock I saw today.

After days of doom and gloom we got a little sunshine today, just a little though! The birds are starting to gear up for breeding season, the Ibis are forming larger flocks and you can see plumage changes starting. I got some more shots for later, gonna take a nap before I process them.

The wind was strong out of the East today, some 30 knot gusts. Most of the birds were hunkered down. Great Egret and Little Blue Heron.

"..... collision with a large bird....... the airline is still investigating the cause of the incident......"

Back in the 80s Minolta was making an excellent series of 35mm cameras they called the Maxxum. Minolta is gone from the camera business now, but Sony bought the camera designs and carried on. The Maxxum lenses fit and function perfectly on Sony DSLRs and are a source of high quality lenses at great prices.I've had a 70-210 f4 Minolta "Beercan" for a while and I just picked up a 75-300 "Big Beercan" for some more reach. They are better than my newer "kit" lenses. They are rugged, you could probably drive tent stakes with them, but I don't mind...

The Pelican is one of last years chicks, it's appearance will change as it ages. The yellow legs on the Snowy Egret will turn black but the feet will remain bright yellow.This is Maria Sanchez Lake in St. Augustine, when the l;ight is right the reflections are beautiful.

They're back, in from the frigid north. The Drakes get here first with just a few hens in the flights, and the rest of the hens follow a little later. The little bitty guys are Pied Billed Grebes, strong swimmers and divers. They can feed in deeper water than the Mallards who just stick their butts up and dabble in shallow water. Past the Grebes to the left there is a Red Eared Slider turtle coming up for air. There is no season such delight can bring, As summer, autumn, winter, and the spring. William Browne (c.1591–c.1645) "Variety"

Palaeontologists delighted to discover 213m-year-old remains of feathered meat-eater that retain intact air sacs in their bones The remains of a two-legged meat-eating predator that roamed the Earth at the dawn of dinosaurs have been uncovered in an ancient bone bed by fossil hunters.

In a particular part of Florida the White Ibis is known as the Chokoloskee Chicken. There is at least one FREEPER near Chokoloskee, they are a wild and rowdy bunch down there! North Florida FREEPERS, on the other hand, are genteel and cultivated! It's cloudy, wet and windy. Everything is hunkered down and waiting out the weather. The onshore wind has pushed the water way up in the marsh and the birds are hanging out on little islands.

I've been cooped up since last Tuesday, finally got out today. The weather is gray and dark, rain coming later from hurricane Ida. She is giving Ray Nagin ulcers now! The grackle girls saw me coming way down the beach, I had 15 or 20 on and around the car in a short time. I don't know if they recognize the car, or recognize me. I try not to attract them inside, they aren't housebroke, LOL! The gull with spots is a young Ring billed gull, the gray bird is a Laughing gull. It's common for them to flock together.

They make it look so easy!

The Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, just cannot catch a break. First, a coolant leak destroyed some of the magnets that guide the energy beam. Then LHC officials postponed the restart of the machine to add additional safety features. Now, a bird dropping a piece of bread on a section of the accelerator has, according to the Register, shut down the whole operation. The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident,...