♥♥ Happy New Photo Year 2014 ♥♥

♥♥A collection of shots of an Osprey catching a big fish April 2013♥♥

♥♥A collection of shots♥♥

of an Osprey 

catching a big fish 

April 2013

I was on my way to Aspa-Maden, curious to see if I could spot 

something interesting. When arriving I could see that the nearby

fields had been flooded with water from all the snow which

had melted during the past weeks. To me that gives me a golden

opportunity to be able to get better shots since I am not able 

to get close ups on birds and animals which are too far away.
When the fields are flooded the birds gets closer to where 
I am able to be.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

I suddenly discovered that there was an beautiful Osprey hovering 

up in the sky. The osprey circle flew high above the lake with its 

wings slightly spread and suddenly he got a sight of a fish. With  
hanging leg the raptor was hovering and dives down towards prey 
with a giant splash. It was amazing to see. The Osprey have a 
vision that is well adapted to detect a fish from the air. They can 
actually spot the prey when being very high up in the air above the 
water surface, and when they decide to try and catch the fish they
hovers and then dive with their feet first into the water.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Instead of posting a lot of shots, I decided that a collection like this 

would be more interesting to see. Fish is the 99%, main diet for the 

Osprey, however they may prey on rodents, rabbits, hares, other

birds and  small reptiles.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

The Osprey was fighting with the fish for a while in the water, luckely

it is rather shallow at the spot where the field is flooded.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

The Osprey is very well adapted to a diet of fish, they have an 

amazing gift, with reversible outer toes, sharp spicules on the 

underside of the toes, closable nostrils to keep out the water 

when diving into the water. And they have backwards-facing 

scales on the talons, which act as barbs to help hold its catch.

But even with all these things it still looked like the Osprey 

had a rough time lifting from the surface with the lively 

fish fighting for its life.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

  Then the fish was still and the Osprey was able to lift

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

  When I took these shots I could clearly see that the fish was rather 

big and that it looked really heavy. After this series of shots, the 

fish wriggled and the Osprey lost altitude and dropped down to 

the water surface once more before he managed to rise to a higher 

altitude heading towards the nest or his favourite eating spot.    

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Amazing to see how big the fish was, my guess is that it could 

be one of the Northen Pikes (Esox lucius) which have gone up in 

shallower water to spawn.

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

The Osprey went away and so did I, happy and grateful for being 

there at the right place at the right time, and for being able to 

take some shots to show you all. 

Sunny greetings/Maria 

♥♥A Day out 20 April 2013♥♥

♥♥A Day out 20 April 2013♥♥

Gnesta, Slängen

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 Can you see the Common Buzzard? The Buzzard is very hard to discover and is very well 

camouflaged where he or she is hiding after diving from the clear blue sky before the poor 

prey knew it the Buzzard ended its life. I myself would never have seen the bird, if I had 

not seen the speedy dive from above.

 

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 

 Close up, cropped and still it is difficult to see the hungry Buzzard.

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 I looked around in the area, hoping to see another Common Buzzard. At this time of the year

the mate is usually in the nearby, and I was lucky to catch the mate arriving from the wood, 

coming towards the spot where I was standing.

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 Suddenly the Common Buzzard spotted something, could it be my presence, even though 

if I was standing rather far away with a field between us?

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 The Buzzard turned away back into the wood!

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 But suddenly I noticed another Common Buzzard approaching the field from the wood, 

and I thought that it would be very interesting to see what would happen. Down on the 

ground the first Buzzard was still enjoying the lunch.

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 The newly arrived Buzzard then spotted the mate, and perhaps rival and turned to head 

towards him.

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 When they got closer to each other the mate attacked the newly arrived Buzzard, and 

I am very excited and happy to have caught this shot of the attack. It was amazing to see

how the mate, used his claws to scare the intruder. Sometimes the male and female 

could make playful attacks however I did get the feeling that "this pair" was the 

one down on the ground feeding and the one making the attack above.

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 The winner let the other Buzzard go after a short time hunting him or her in the air, and 

then flew back as making a circle over the field. 

The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)

 The looser tried to get away as fast as he or she possible could. When comparing the 

difference of size between them when observing them at the attack, this one looked 

a bit smaller than the other one. 

 Öster Malma

Öster Malma Castle

 

 Arriving at Öster Malma I decided to walk alongside the new wild life Park towards the 

lake Malma, after a short while I had arrived at the backside of the beautiful catle.

If you want to read more about the history of the castle you will find more information

here;  http://www.jagareforbundet.se/en/Oster-Malma/History-/

Wild boar (Sus scrofa), also known as wild pig

 I went back to the spot where the car was parked and headed towards the wildlife park area 

where the wild Boars live. It is amazing to be able to get this close to the wild Boars.When

being out in the nature you can see traces everywhere, but you have to be very lucky to

see a wild Boar. Now and then you can suddenly see them out on the field daytime, 

but those occasions are few I believe so I think that it is very nice to be able to get 

some nice shots on the ones living here in the wildlife park at Öster Malma.

Wild boar (Sus scrofa), also known as wild pig

 First time I went to get photos of them here at the park, I thought that they were rather cute, 

despite of their reputation and rough appearance. However when downloading my shots 

I noticed that the look in their eye was not something which made me feel like 

wanting to go into the enclosure and give them a pet. However today 

I thought that they looked more relaxed and was very occupied with eating.

Wild boar (Sus scrofa), also known as wild pig

  I also took a short movie with my Nikon D300s, and I will try to add it 

here as soon as I know how to do so.

The Bullfinch, Common Bullfinch or Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

  I spotted a Bullfinch in the bushes, can you see where it is?

The Bullfinch, Common Bullfinch or Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

 Close up/cropped at a bit more easy to spot the Bullfinch.

Common Hepatica, liverwort, kidneywort, pennywort (Anemone hepatic)

  Every spring there are some early flowers which makes us very happy to spot, one is the 

amazingly beautiful Anemone hepatic, in Swedish "blåsippa"

wood anemone, windflower, thimbleweed, smell fox and helmet flower(Anemone nemorosa)

  The second one is the beautiful Anemone nemorosa in Swedish "Vitsippa"

Commonly known as Coltsfoot(Tussilago farfara)

The third spring flower is Tussilago farfara, in Swedish "Tussilago" and this is my 

personal favourite since the Tussilago is the very first spring flower seen and to me 

it looks just like a beautiful little sun.

 Aspa Maden

The Common Crane, or Eurasian Crane  (Grus grus)

 Aspa Maden is a perfect place at springtime, many different birds gather here and this 

is the best place to spot the first Common Crane, the Northern Lapwing, greylag goose, 

Canada goose, Grey Heron, and many other. 

The Northern Lapwing,  Peewit or Green Plover (Vanellus vanellus)

More photos will be added soon

Welcome back later!

//Maria  

♥♥A Day out 14 April 2013♥♥

♥♥A Day out 14 April 2013♥♥

♥♥A Collection of shots with The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)♥♥

♥♥A Collection of old shots ♥♥

with The European roe deer 

(Capreolus capreolus)