they evolved as a cliff based species, i spose many cliffs are near salty food. more research needed.
i had been wondering what it was for a while, the woodies don't have them, some seabirds do, some don't, most terrestrial birds don't seem to have them a few do
ps the odd white blob on the nose acts as a "kidney" for salt for many seabirds
pigeons seem to have the drain and miss the bib beak hook for skull anatomy
umm
The pictures are very slightly pixilated on my screen, but not enough to worry about. Nice pictures. We have mainly woodies round here, probably because we have lots of trees and no cliffs, even man made ones.
We have wisteria flowers outside our bedroom window and was watching a bumble bee on one of them just now. We sometimes tend to get bees coming in at this time of year too as they get lost looking for the flowers, or looking for a quick way back to the hive.
thr minii sammison one is pretty much as shot, i.e. at about iso 26000/F10 in a dark place and fast enough to catch mousey
it looked grainy from the start
that one just had a a crop and a few tweaks for exposure and balance
the pigeon one started at a decent amount of frame in better light etc
it was far too huge for DS, work in progress
Mousey is a bit grainy; probably the high ISO number. The pigeon is slightly pixilated, but both are good enough on my screen.
Think we may have seen a tawny owl flying off from near the 'yard' yesterday. It went pretty fast, and disappeared just as we pulled up in the van, but looked like an owl as it had a short, fat, head in front of the wings. Think tawny as quite brownish. We know there are a lot around as we heard them on Monday evening, but first we have actually seen.
sgt.colon
Joined: 27 Jul 2009 Posts: 7380 Location: Just south of north.
Posted: Fri May 20, 22 7:22 am Post subject:
Well the Swifts are back and I'm getting some decent views of them, as they are setting up shop again above our bathroom window. It's amazing how they don't look to slow down as they approach the house.
Seeing those sorts of birds while boating on the canals is interesting. They come in as if they are going to fly into you or the boat and then dip into the water. Either picking up insects or water.
Talking of wildlife, have just found a tick on my arm. No idea where it came from as I have hardly been in the woods this week, and that is their normal source.
Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 6533 Location: New England (In the US of A)
Posted: Sat May 21, 22 9:03 am Post subject:
We remove ticks constantly this time of year. They can be found anywhere rodents can be found, unfortunately.
What do you do to avoid getting Lyme disease? There is talk of a human vaccine soon, but no sign of it yet.
Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 6533 Location: New England (In the US of A)
Posted: Tue May 24, 22 4:36 pm Post subject:
There was an effective human vaccine but anti-vaxxers killed it decades ago.
Our primary defense is checking for ticks. I also recommend thorough evening showers. The main thing is to take advantage of how long they typically take to choose a spot to actually take a bite. Contrary to conventional advice, I recommend shorts and sandals. I intercept a lot more ticks that way. Folks wearing pants just find them higher up on their bodies....
If you have a tick bite that may have been there for more than 12 or so hours, or bullseye rash, or flu like symptoms in the summer, than the doctors usually prescribe a one time prophylactic course of doxycycline.
I tried to get a test for Lyme disease, but apparently it uses antibodies, and I had a bulleye rash some time ago, so will almost certainly have them. If I get one again, I will try to get treatment.
I was sitting yesterday watching a bluetit going backwards and forwards to its nest. It has set up home in the tube of a fore end loader that we rarely use, so it is parked in our 'yard'. The year before last one died in there; not sure if it was a fledgling trying to get out that didn't make it or an adult, so nothing last year, but they are back again now. We also have some in a bird box that is wedged in the creeper on the back of the house, and sometimes see them.