borisbolshakov's Favorites

1-24-20 Bald Eagle eating a duck or a raven.

This adult had stolen the meal from a small group of juvenile eagles which were squabbling over it. When I walked over to see what it was eating it skreeled & hissed at me to stay back and resumed its repast.

Then, it gave me "The Glare" - the one that drives nightmares so I backed out of its territory - about a foot, and it went back to ripping it's meal apart and gulping down large chunks of meat, bones, feathers.

We have over 500 Bald Eagles here and while both life forms have learned to have respect for each other it is well understood by us lesser creatures that at certain times of year (nesting season) - Eagles Rule. They've been practicing Dino's for a long time, apparently lack any sense of humor and have no compunctions about attacking intruders about the head and shoulders. A bird with a 6 foot wing span and 3+ inch really dirty talons can do a lot of damage.

Some nesting eagle pairs are known to be very territorial and more aggressive so... most folks here - when near those nest sites avoid wearing certain kinds of hats (no one knows for sure which kind since hats and eagle strikes vary from year to year), shiny reflective things or pushing rattling carts out of the Post Office between May and September.

The last two fotos show how the bird will anchor its beak and then extract its talons before moving its foot to a new spot while eating. This helps hold down the prey and prevent it from being stolen by other eagles. If you toggle the images back and forth you can see the action.

Features of Camellia japonica.

Feature
The wild Camellia japonica flowers are single-flowered red. Double-flowered is a cultivar.

Although there are horticultural varieties that bloom from autumn in September, most of them bloom in early spring from February to April.

The original flower color is red and does not contain magenta. The improved variety also does not contain magenta.
Stamen is tubular.
When the flowering is over, the petals do not scatter and fall down in the state of flowers.
There are no fine hairs on the tips of branches, veins on the back of leaves, and ovary.
The leaves are large and shiny, and the serrated edges of the leaves are inconspicuous.

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ヤブツバキの特徴を記したものです。観察日は1枚目の写真の日時です。

特徴
秋咲きで9月から開花する園芸品種はあるが、多くは早春の2月頃から4月頃に開花する。
花色は原種は赤色で、マゼンタ（鮮やかな赤紫色）を含まない。改良種もマゼンタを含まない。
雄しべは筒状
開花が終わると、散らずに、花の状態のまま落下する。
枝先、葉の裏の葉脈、子房などに細かな毛が無い。
葉が大きく艶があり、葉の縁の鋸歯は目立たない。