Air show with feathers.

[emfrat]

Mike, have you ever spotted snakes on the cam ?

No, mate I moved here in May'96, and a few months later I was reading in my hammock under the house, with some coolant ready to hand, and a 1.5m snake slithered across below me. Fortunately a hammock is not the easiest thing to evacuate in a hurry, so both of us survived. It may have been an Eastern Grey, but those are pretty rare, whereas Eastern Browns are common and come in various shades. That's the only one I have seen on my block. There are certainly snakes around the area because there's plenty of frogs, mice and so on in the farmlands. They like ground cover, but my yard is open grass. If you leave roofing iron lying around, they love to hibernate under that, so you store it safely upright, or use a rake to pick it up so that you are not on the open side
If you let them alone, they won't bother you.

Mind how you go, squire
Mike

[emfrat]

It was very busy at the birdbath earlier this morning, and thanks to a couple of Paleheads I got some 'action' pics for Charl - and the rest of you too

The two of them:



and the whole gallery is here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/tgK0yMb

[jpreou]

In 'similar' news, I watched a very intense dogfight for a couple of minutes between a magpie and a hawk at the local park!

[Splitpin]

Great shots Mike, I must spend more time with the camera at our local wetland reserve.
The only snake I've seen was in the cockpit of a Singapore Air Force C-130 in Auckland. I was doing a refuel on it and went up to the cockpit to get the Fight Engineer to sign for the fuel.....there I was, sat in the left seat, and this long shiny green thing appeared at the base of the control column ...moving upwards..... the FE displayed Ninja-like reactions and grabbed it around the neck (or the snake equivalent) and put it in a flight bag, after unwinding it from his arm.

I remember the MAF guy was called back to arrest the serpent ....which was, and I'll never forget .... an Oriental whip snake. I didn't check, but I assume his or her prospects for a life in NZ were cut short.

Sorry to digress, it's strange the things that trigger long ago memories.

[Charl]

"mildly venomous but shy", according to wildsingapore.com
Uhuh... we are so blessed without the serpents in NZ.

Nice ones Mike, the last shot in the gallery looks like a helicopter!

[emfrat]

In 'similar' news, I watched a very intense dogfight for a couple of minutes between a magpie and a hawk at the local park!

Cheers, Jeff - the other week I got a good sequence of two Wagtail parents escorting a Magpie off the premises



There are 12 more in the gallery here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/5Qh1bmc

[Charl]

Nothing like continuing an old thread...
We have heat coatings on some of the windows, and this little feller sees his reflection while flying by.
He is very territorial, and wants to kill that darned bird!



Hanging a shiny ball was meant to scare him off, as he will exhaust himself.
Now he often sits on the ball between bouts.



We're not sure but think he's a grey warbler

[Splitpin]

Charl, what a great revival post. That little guy is determined.
It's interesting to watch bird responses to visual and audible, not sure what the word is ....stimulus ?

We (at work) have a resident bunch of black back gulls that spend a lot of time on the playing fields. At this time of year, there are a few juveniles hanging around with the adults.
One, in particular, seems to have distanced him/herself from the flock(not a bunch sorry) and spends a lot of time looking and talking to itself in window and door reflections.

I also have a resident blackbird here at home....and I mess with him. I downloaded some blackbird calls on my phone when I hear him singing in the evening....I play the sounds.
The reaction is very interesting, he comes down to a point that I could almost touch him....no sound but giving me that sideways stare.

I'm lucky at the moment to be woken up at dawn by a pair of Magpies, that for some reason have decided the neighbor's roof is a good place to greet the day.

Birds .... love them.

[Charl]

Yes I'm also taken by the avians... there is a Blackbird who walks one step behind when the lawn is mowed.
He has tumbled to the fact that the worms, if not sliced and diced, at least are visible.
He won't let you too close on your own, but attached to a mower, you could step right over him!

As to the little Warbler at the window: when the light is right you cannot be seen at all from the outside.
So you can go within a handspan of him while he is carrying on with his aerial dance.
You cannot help having a profound sense of wonder at the ease with which he manages the flight regime.

[emfrat]

Mike, have you ever spotted snakes on the cam ?

A couple of months after Marty asked this, I caught this wriggly thing one night. Watch the top left quarter of the screen - you need to be quick
Link to YT: https://youtu.be/xpE4p1-3hb8