Random Picture Thread

recommended by the average Josephine​

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I occasionally get two Great Horned Owls that nest in my back yard. Judging by the bones in the pellets they cough up, most of their diet consists of field mice. They leave the squirrels and most of the birds alone. I have seen them take a dove every now and then. And the doves have a "fright molt" when they are captured so there are feathers everywhere. If you ignore the owls, they just sit up in the tree and look down at you. However if you make eye contact they usually fly away.

 

Magnificent picture Jolly, the right one seems to be quite a bit bigger, thanks for posting . .

 

My favorite "back yard" birds are the black bellied whistling ducks. I provide nesting boxes for them to hatch their young.


After the ducklings hatch the parents call to them from under the box and they bail out to join them there.


When all are accounted for the family heads off to the local ponds and creeks.

 

The female is the larger one.

 

I've heard Fe is from the Latin ferrum (atomic number 26), so female is the iron version of the male, I'll guess . .

 

As per the song Jolly . . . - - (Thanks to Hoyt for the original posting.)​

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Although about the melody, I'm not sure who inspired who there . . .​

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I hope you had a happy Memorial Day.

 

I guess so for most, as besides the deeper meaning and being a US federal holiday, it also marks the unofficial start of the summer vacation season . .

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‘‘ 31 May 1870 photograph labeled "Street View, City of St. Paul.—Decoration Day" by Charles Alfred Zimmerman of St. Paul, Minnesota. This parade marked an observance which became known as Memorial Day in the United States. ’’

 

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More rain. Lots more. Two more days of it to come. This isn't going to be any fun.

 

The boys on the ice - BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_boys_on_the_ice

 

Time traveler? Found this in a cemetery in central Texas.

 

A beautiful ribbon map of the entire Mississippi. Zoomable. I particularly like the one in the little case with the crank handle.

This 11-Foot 'Ribbon Map' Puts the Whole Mississippi River in Your Pocket https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mississippi-river-ribbon-map

I've heard of (in Jonathan Raban's 'Old Glory,' iirc) A related thing, where the view from a boat, or a carriage, of an entire journey would be painted on a scroll, perhaps a hundred metres or more long, and this would be unrolled past the window of a stationary cabin to give a virtual journey to the stationary occupant.