still waiting for spring here

[Javelin]

Stopped at a conservation area on my way home to see if any interesting birds had showed up yet but it was so windy there wasn't much around to shoot.

Robin... also wondering what happened to spring i'm sure


Left over pine cones

[aster]

Both are nice impressions of nature javelin,

The robin appears to be either out of focus or moving, while the grass straws behind it look sharper and in focus. Something certainly is going on there.

I'm truely envious of all these lovely birds' photos being sent to the forum. Whle spring is already getting into a pace here, the only birds I can watch during the day are tiny brown sparrows, some green parrots flying fast by and some smart crows and seagulls. The crows and seagulls take baths in the waterpools on top of a construction and really have a ball and I witnessed the crows using little tools to build things for them for the second time in my life. All so interesting but too far for me to photograph for keeper photos without a 70-400mm G lens.

Soon you'll have your spring,

Yildiz

[Javelin]

Ye the robin is a little soft. but it was the most interesting of 4or5 I took of him. I think it's because I recomposed after spot focusing. you really have to keep on top of that lens I find. I so wish I had a proper focus screen on that camera, maybe i'll try Sony again and see if there doing it yet.

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Javelin Interesting..I've sometimes wondered how small birds survive in places like Canada where it gets very cold in winter, there most likely would be no blossom/nectar, no insect life, and grass seeds/small seeds almost impossible to find through the winter months....it's a mystery too me how they do it.
Greg

[Javelin]

Mostly they fly south for the winter. but if there is enough food then they will stick around.. the larger ones anyway. you'd never see something like a hummingbird staying here. They follow the warm weather north again in the spring, sometimes theres a little overlap like the snowstorm we had probably caught some by surprise but they don't seem stressed by it. Maybe that storm is why my beaver was so irritated ? maybe he knew it was coming?

[bossel]

The second one is really nice. Here, people started lying on the beach - is that a sign of spring

[Javelin]

They are here too but their snowshoeing and just tired.. course in France there all naked .. so no matter when spring arrives things are better there.. or maybe not

[Greg Beetham]

Javelin I'm just so accustomed too what happens here, all the small birds remain here through the cold dry months, it's not as cold as there of course but it would still be very tough going for a bird with their high metabolic rate (especially up in the mountains) and everything in dormant mode. (I have seen the odd rainforest bird, dead, most likely from starvation, in the yard over the years, and we are probably 30K from the nearest rainforest)
Thinking about it, yours would have too go south or perish, they would have to go to the southern US states I'd imagine, that's a long haul for a small bird....amazing.
Greg

[Javelin]

Mostly lack of insects and your right they usually do go into the southern states. but they are motivated to come back because theres not as much competition for food here. the winter months are seemingly when things recharge. and the place just explodes with life in the spring. We also don't get bugs as big as your either. they all die off every winter so they stay small and less scarey Not sure if you have monarch butterfiles there. they travel all the way to southern mexico and can cross the atlantic! I think it's their offspring that come back and nobody knows how the next generation knows to go back to their tarditional wintering areas.

Javelin I'm just so accustomed too what happens here, all the small birds remain here through the cold dry months, it's not as cold as there of course but it would still be very tough going for a bird with their high metabolic rate (especially up in the mountains) and everything in dormant mode. (I have seen the odd rainforest bird, dead, most likely from starvation, in the yard over the years, and we are probably 30K from the nearest rainforest)
Thinking about it, yours would have too go south or perish, they would have to go to the southern US states I'd imagine, that's a long haul for a small bird....amazing.
Greg

[Greg Beetham]

Yes, I know about the Monarch/Wanderer butterfly, it was covered in detail in an Attenborough (I think) program once, tis a mystery that one, the eggs must all be laid facing north or something.
Actually I have seen them here in the past, they are quite distinctive so there was no confusing them with something else, and sometime later I saw a blue version, same black lacework pattern but bright blue instead of the orange...haven't noticed any around for a long time now though.
Greg

[David Kilpatrick]

...the eggs must all be laid facing north or something.

Your brain is just deterioriating - you got this mixed up from the time you dated a Wiccan high priestess!

David

[Greg Beetham]

Ha! now I'm being accused of having a brain....
Greg

Ye gads another secret society I didn't know about...wiccans...

"Once we met in secret . . . . in the dark . . . .
And whispered our words into the wind"

[Dusty]

The second one is really nice. Here, people started lying on the beach - is that a sign of spring

Huummmm. Strange way you have there to mark the seasons. I suppose in the autumn they start telling the truth on the beach?

Dusty

[David Kilpatrick]

Dusty, in many areas of Britain the locals would happily say 'laying on the beach'.

David

[Javelin]

Dusty, in many areas of Britain the locals would happily say 'laying on the beach'.

David

Oh... that sure would break a few ordinances here! the travel mags would make the top shelf for sure