Santa Monica Beach at Sunset

If you ever get the chance to be in Santa Monica, California, make sure to stick around into the evening. Oceans provide stunning sunsets and its almost like someone flips off a light switch when the sun finally shrinks over the horizon...one moment the sun is casting its rays at the beach, the next moment its gone over the horizon, not to return until the next morning. Here are some photos that I got while visiting some relatives a while back.

Above: Gulls follow a boat in the sunset.

Below: Clam holes in the moist sand.

One last hunt for clams before the sun goes down.

A Gull watches the sun set.

Black-footed Penguin

 The African or Black-footed Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) are native to the coasts of southern Africa, with the most famous location being Boulders Beach near Cape Town. Standing over 25 inches tall, these large aquatic birds are quite popular in zoos and aquariums (I took this photos at a zoo in Washington). 

Nesting Flamingoes and a Happy New Year!

It feels like 2010 went by very fast, doesn't it? Oh well, 2011 is here and I hope that you all had a great New Year! I sure did as I got to get out and take some winter, snow-filled pictures, eat alot of great food, and saw the movie "True Grit" (it was very good, by the way). Anyway a couple months ago I went to a zoo that had a large flock of Flamingoes on display and I got the chance to photograph these extraordinary birds nesting! One of the newly hatched babies was - according to a zookeeper - only a couple hours old.



The Keel-billed Toucan

One of my favorite bird species is the Keel-billed Toucan, with all of its bright colors and unique habits. Native to Central America and areas of South America, this fruit-eating bird can be over 20 inches long, with their brightly colored bill sometimes growing over 6 inches in length.

Tropical Dove

Photo of a tropical dove relaxing during her morning sun-bath. The bird in the photo look like a Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopilia humeralis) or a Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata).



The photo is shot with 24x digital zoom, so the photo quality is not pleasing.

Two beautiful backyard birds

Here are a couple of very beautiful birds that are native to the Eastern and Central U.S. during the summer (they migrate to South America for the winter). They are frequent visitors to birdfeeders...I actually took these photos right in my own backyard here in Minnesota.

The top photo is a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) (with this photo you can't really tell, but the bird's chest is bright red).

The lower photo is an Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) which is one of the few bright blue birds on the planet.

Computer issues...SOLVED!

I'm happy to say that the computer issues that I have been having over the past couple of weeks have been, for the most part, taken care of so I'll be able to return to my usual posting routine. Thanks for sticking around everyone!

A Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao).

A male Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

A Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis).

Singing Northern Cardinal

Here is a photo that I took recently here in Minnesota of a male Northern Cardinal. He was busy singing so I managed to get a couple photos before he flew away. I slightly cropped this photo. Enjoy!

Winter, Winter, and more Winter...isn't Spring here yet?

I'll be honest. Winter isn't my favorite season. Here in Minnesota, it gets WAY too cold for my liking. However with the cold can come some great photo opportunities (snow, seasonal birds, etc.) so I try to get out and photograph as much as possible in this giant outdoor freezer. Here are a few photos that I took a couple weeks ago.

Some Pine Tree branches covered in snow and ice.

A male Northern Cardinal. (Note that this isn't a seasonal bird species here, we have them year-round)

Some snow close-up.

Tropical White-breasted Waterhen

Photo of a tropical Waterhen with a bounty making a dash to the bushes.



About White-breasted Waterhen

The White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) is a waterbird of the rail and crake family Rallidae that is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. They are dark slaty birds with a clean white face, breast and belly. They are somewhat bolder than most other rails and are often seen stepping slowly with their tail cocked upright in open marshes or even drains near busy roads. They are largely crepuscular in activity and during the breeding season after the first rains make loud and persistent croaky calls.

In Sri Lanka, this bird is known as Korawakka in Sinhala Language. In Sarawak Borneo, this Waterhen is known as Manuk Keruak in Bidayuh Language.

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Happy 2010 everyone!

Wow, I can't believe that this decade is already over! It seems that it wasn't very long ago that it turned 2000....anyway, I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and great New Years! Here are a couple winter pics that I scored in my backyard. This freezing weather is crazy!

Black Crow

Photo of a black crow with red eyes perched on a papaya tree. Look like the crow is possessed but it's not. The bird could also be a Common Raven aiming for the ripen papaya fruit.

Above: cropped photo of a black crow.


Above: Photo taken at house's back yard with 12x digital zoom.

The true crows are large passerine birds that form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-sized jackdaws (Eurasian and Daurian) to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents (except South America) and several offshore and oceanic islands (including Hawaii). In the United States, the word "crow" is used to refer to the American Crow. The crow genus makes up a third of the species in the Corvidae family. Other corvids include rooks and jays. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australia. A group of crows is called a "murder," though this term usually appears in poetry or similar literature rather than ordinary usage.

Related posts:
* Borneo Frogmouth Owll
* Freak papaya from Borneo


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Bald Eagle

At the Minnesota Zoo, they have a bird show. After the program one day, there was a trainer holding a Bald Eagle up on the stage as people filed out of the stadium. Most people walked past but I thought it was a great opportunity to get some photos of our national bird. I'm glad I stuck around, see for yourself!

Bald Eagle facts: The Bald Eagle is a large bird, with a body length of 28–40 inches, a wingspan of up to 96 inches, and a mass of 5.5–15 punds; with females being about 25 percent larger than males.

Flamingos!

Almost anyone will agree that Flamingos are one of the most interesting bird species there is - if not one of the most interesting animal species (seriously, how many animals can you name that are pink?). Their unique body shape and habits add to the plethora of weirdness that this bird has, making it a distinct favorite for zoos and animal parks to house. The following photos were all taken at the San Diego Zoo.

Duluth

Duluth is one of Minnesota's larger cities, residing on the coastline of Lake Superior. It is world-renowned for having the most active freshwater port in the world.

   A Sea Gull in flight.

The famous Duluth lift bridge (sorry for the bad photo).

A memorial.

One of the many ships which come in and out of the port. Some of these ships can be over 1,000 feet in length.

Zoos!

In the down economy people are less likely to travel very far for a "vacation". Therefore, there has been a nation-wide uptick in zoo and museum attendence as they can provide a unique experience without the distance a usual vacation would have.

So here are some pics from zoos across the country that I have taken in recent months...

Borneo Frogmouth Owl

Photo of mysterious tropical Borneo Bird. The bird is probably a family of falcon, eagle or the Borneon Bristlehead. The bird for unknown reason build a nest on a jackfruit branch which is expose to the weather element .



UPDATES:
* Responses from my Flickr gallery confirmed that this bird is a juvenile FrogMouth Owl (or Bornean Frogmouth - Batrachostomus mixtus).







Video clip of the mysterious bird



Lucky Bird



My mum informed me that she spotted this bird and try to explain that is look like an OWL but not exactly an owl. This mysterious bird is definitely not an owl. Anyway, after taking a few shots of the bird, I buy some 4Digit lottery on the number 0310 (imagine O=0, W=3, L=1 and a 0) and it strike first prize ! yay ! Enough prize money to buy a few units of DSLR or smartphones.

So now it's time to pamper myself. Should I treat myself with a new unit of NIKON D90, a BlackBerry or purchase another 1,000 Gaharu seedlings?


SEO: Juvenile Owl | Frogmouth Owl



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