Charlie and the Nature Factory [Warning: Stunningly Beautiful Large Photo Images]

benbradley

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Depending on the caliber and type of shot, there may not be enough of the hummingbird left to photograph.
Yeah, there's not much meat on 'em either.
This thread reminded me of a book I once read. It was about a Great Blue Heron. I tried looking for it on Amazon but I don't think I found. There was a title by Avi and it was titled Blue Heron. But it wasn't what I was looking for.


I did find this book about photographing birds
I recall a book about a seagull...
 

Silver King

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I ran across this colorful specimen recently. It's a purple gallinule, a rare sighting for the area where I live:



3-23-12046-SM.jpg
 

Silver King

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Another image I've been meaning to share but forgot about until now.

Not sure how this stork got wet. She was completely soaked when I saw her. All I can think of is that she crash-landed into the lake by mistake or ended up underwater by some other means. If birds can feel embarrassment, she seemed to and turned her back to me after a few moments:



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rhymegirl

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Love that bird with the yellow legs! We don't have anything that colorful around here.
 

Archerbird

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Sorry if someone asked this before SK, but do you know what will happen to Charlie yet?
 

night-flyer

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I ran across this colorful specimen recently. It's a purple gallinule, a rare sighting for the area where I live:



3-23-12046-SM.jpg

Beautiful colors on that bird. Most of the birds here are gray and white except for the Bluejays and Robins.
 

heyjude

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Wow! Look at that gallinule! What a perfect shot. And the stork, so gorgeous. (Yes, his head is odd looking, for sure. Looks like a vulture!)
 

Silver King

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Sorry if someone asked this before SK, but do you know what will happen to Charlie yet?
If he keeps to himself and doesn't wander off too far from the lake, he should be fine for the foreseeable future, I hope. On the bright side, I haven't seen anyone harass him in a while, for several weeks at least.

I didn't recognize the last group of morons I saw that gave Charlie a hard time, a woman with her mom and two young sons. The boys, who were about ten and seven years old, were throwing pine cones at Charlie as he waded nearby.

I asked the boys why they were bothering the alligator.

"Because it's fun!" the younger one said while his brother eyed me suspiciously.

I turned to the women. "You know that's illegal, right?"

"Oh, come off it," the mom said. "They've never seen a live alligator before. This is a thrill for them."

What I felt like saying to the grandmother was, Did you raise that idiot by yourself, or did your husband help?

Instead, I said, "Your car is parked illegally on the side of the road over there."

I took a picture of their vehicle, then walked around to the back and got one of the license plate. They were all looking at me, so I took a group shot of them by the side of the lake.

Before I could wave goodbye, they were hustling toward the car and on their way, leaving the gator in peace for the time being.

Speaking of Charlie, here's a close-up of his handsome mug:



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Silver King

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Well, he certainly is a handsome gator. And good for you, SK, those people sounded like real pieces of work.
Afterwards, I kept thinking of things I should have said, in a nice way, to make them realize that they were intruding upon the moment instead of taking it in as quiet bystanders who were fortunate enough to come upon the alligator in its natural element.

I'm pretty sure most boys that age would want to bean an alligator with a pine cone; but that's the exact time when the adults in the group should discourage such conduct and explain why it's so very uncool instead of stand by and watch...
Gorgeous colours! Like a little, tail-less peacock! Thank you!
Come to think of it, it does look a little peacock-ish. :)
 

Wicked

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Instead, I said, "Your car is parked illegally on the side of the road over there."

I took a picture of their vehicle, then walked around to the back and got one of the license plate. They were all looking at me, so I took a group shot of them by the side of the lake.

Before I could wave goodbye, they were hustling toward the car and on their way, leaving the gator in peace for the time being.

Go get 'em, Tiger.
I loathe people like that.

I'm pretty sure most boys that age would want to bean an alligator with a pine cone; but that's the exact time when the adults in the group should discourage such conduct and explain why it's so very uncool instead of stand by and watch...

I would have been handing out butt whoopings after the second pine cone hit the water. Of course my boys were more likely to be stripping to their underoos, with grand plans of wading in and catching him.
A stunt they once saw their mother pull with a big snapping turtle. But we won't go there. *counts toes one more time to be sure they're all there*
 

Lyra Jean

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Go get 'em, Tiger.
I loathe people like that.



I would have been handing out butt whoopings after the second pine cone hit the water. Of course my boys were more likely to be stripping to their underoos, with grand plans of wading in and catching him.
A stunt they once saw their mother pull with a big snapping turtle. But we won't go there. *counts toes one more time to be sure they're all there*

Yeah, but how many fingers do you have? :D
 

heyjude

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Those turtles are vicious! Somehow they never know that you're trying to help them across the road...
 

frimble3

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I'm pretty sure most boys that age would want to bean an alligator with a pine cone;
:)
You're a nice guy, SK. I suspect the only reason the little darlings were using pine cones was a rock shortage in the immediate area. And good on you for speaking up! So many of us would have just shook our heads and moved along, rather than deal with the less-then-positive response.
 

Silver King

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You're a nice guy, SK...
I'm really not that nice, as my first reaction was to march up to them and raise hell. But I kept my emotions in check, mostly for the sake of the boys in the group, who didn't need to see their mom and grandmother yelled at by a stranger, or anyone else.

I'm still upset about the encounter, even though it was a relatively minor incident compared to what I've seen others do to Charlie. It's depressing also, to think those people didn't feel like they were doing anything wrong at the time. I mean, come on. Who in their right mind stands by and allows children to throw objects at wildlife? The kids don't know any better, I suppose, because they haven't been raised to appreciate and respect the outdoors. But the grownups in the group damn well knew better than to harass the alligator.

One day, when I'm in the right mood, I'll share a story about a man I encountered who tried to shoot Charlie with a crossbow. Any idea you've had of me being "nice" will go right out the window.
 

bettielee

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That is so frustrating. My parents screwed up a lot of things, but I'm very happy they instilled a love of nature and her creatures in the pit of my dark empty soul.

Sigh.

I do have an uncle that we no longer point out living creatures to - because he will shoot them or grind them under his boot.

Yes. Grind them. Under his boot. I'm still a little stained by that encounter.

However - I came in here to say I saw a show the other day on Travel Channel showing a restaurant by a pier that featured a group of Grand Tarpon that came by twice a day to be fed by hand. They made a big deal of it, so I waited for them to come back from commercial to show it- but it was badly edited. I saw only one big fish jump out, and they didn't even have good shots of the fish in the water. Denied.