Rod Sorensen

Tony, When I read your comment, I was actually reminded of another unusual thing we saw the same day that makes your hypothesis very plausible. This pond is actually part of a park that has a small, maybe 30-40 acres, outdoor zoo. We drove past the pond on the left and saw the above pictures. Then about three hundred yards further up the road we saw a bald eagle sitting in a dirt field off to the right being pestered by red winged blackbirds. We don't see eagles here very often because we have no major bodies of water. I'm just wondering if that eagle could have been flying over the pond looking for lunch and created the above response. It's always great to learn new information about wildlife behavior. Thanks.

I apologize that my pictures are from an iPhone. Saw this duck/ducklings at a pond at a local park in WI. Only other duck anywhere to be seen was the mate of this female mallard. 21 ducklings which I initially thought were all the same size, but when they got out of the water I could tell 6 of the 21 were a little bigger. So it seems this is a least two hatches if not three. I can't come up with a logical explanation and am looking for other people's thoughts.

These are great. Thanks for posting, Tony!

DrBen has it absolutely right. Andy's male blackbird above is 100% a red-winged blackbird. The original post I'm not quite as certain on, but I'm about 90% certain it is a female black-winged blackbird. Here in WI you see the males all the time protecting the developing nest or occupied nest, or dive bombing bicyclists like myself (I've had them actually hit the back of my helmet numerous times). The females are down in the reeds, etc. with the nest or flying around looking like a lot of other non-descript birds. They are not distinct enough to be immediately identifiable.

Amazing birds. Saw one on a mini safari I did at Chobe in Botswana. I think it's the prettiest bird I've ever seen, although granted most of mine have been North American.

Bracket, bracket, bracket. :-)

In my last response, I also neglected to specify that I am assuming the TOTAL eclipse is what I will really want good images of. That will be in near darkness, so I would think a tripod is definitely mandatory then.

David, I went ahead and spent the money for these glass filters from Spectrum Telescope for my telescope and binoculars. Likely will also get one for my Nikon 600mm. Product Categories Glass Solar Filters They absorb 99+% of the suns rays. Not sure what that would amount to in f-stops, but I think handheld wouldn't work. I'm a rookie to solar eclipse photography, but have read a LOT trying to get myself prepared. John obviously has the useful REAL experience.

Yes, I really like that version. As far as ID, I'm a Midwesterner, so won't try to act like I know how to differentiate Rufous/Allen's. But looking at the article you link, it appears to me that your bird has the tail feathers of a juvenile or female Rufous. :)

Dieter, Odds would favor the much more common rufous. Are you in the narrow zone for Allen's?

Dieter, nice bird image. Clone out the green plant and out of focus branch and make it vertical and I think it would be amazing.

Mary, Got a great chuckle out of your included recipe, which I won't forward to my daughter, who has basically adopted this thing and would likely see no humor in it.

Tony, they are out in the boonies, so no obvious place this would have come from.

Did some more reading and if the internet is reliable, it looks like these Muscovys are a nuisance duck that are widely domesticated. I wonder if this wandered off from someone's farm to my daughter's house where it has now apparently been hanging around for a couple days.

That's the closest I can find in my books also, but some features seem a little off. And I wouldn't expect a Muscovy anywhere near here.

Looking for help on ID of this duck. It was roosting on my daughter's deck yesterday AM in NW Wisconsin. They live next door to a state marsh/bird preserve. I have never seen a duck like this, nor can I find anything like it in my bird books. Is it possibly a domesticated duck? Thanks for your help.

My daughter accidentally kicked a nest like this while playing at a friend's house back when she was about 7 or 8. Got somewhere north of 100 stings - I remember her sitting in the bathtub counting them. Fortunately she had no significant problems. Apparently only cried for about a minute. But now at age 30, she still hates flying insects that look like they might have stingers. Despite that, her husband is exploring setting up some hives on their hobby farm. :-)

Would you take $45 shipped. I can do check or paypal.

Shun, Feel free to move this discussion to the right forum, as it seems appropriate that this is debated somewhere on photonet. Thanks.

David, I'm honestly glad you like it and I agree the image posting is an improvement. Hopefully I can stay around long enough to change my opinion and join your camp, but I'm not there yet. :-) Rod

After many years on photo.net, I am having serious questions as to whether I will continue here. I hate the new site! My main interest here is the nature forum, but I also look at the images, visit the classifieds where I have both bought and sold, and visit other forums. I used to visit the active threads which usually included multiple different forums, but there is no longer a way to find them, at least that I can figure out. I have to take 15-30 seconds every time I come to the site to log in. Navigating is clunky. Etc, etc. I am sure that there are things that are better, but I KNOW there are many things that are worse. I feel like someone just wrecked a good thing by unsuccessfully trying to make it better. Can we please do something before a bunch of people go find a better place to spend their time?

Great Gray Owl - northern MN

I posted it from my iPad and can still see it there. If something happened with the cookies on my PC, why would it only delete my image?

So I was able to clear the cookies and get seemingly normal behavior, EXCEPT that now I can't see my own image post of the owl above on my PC. Can see it on my ipad. ?????