Late News - "GodZilla Lives! "

This hot summer days are an invitation for a walk in the park.
In these walks I found one curious lizard also enjoying the sun!
These are the photos:






































In the hole Looking at me:

White Stork - Ciconia ciconia (Cegonha)
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Description:

White Storks are tall (1 m., 2.3-4.4 kg) long-necked wading birds with long bare red legs and a straight pointed red bill. The white plumage of the head, neck, and body contrasts with the black wing feathers highlighted with a sheen of purple and green iridescence. A small patch of bare black skin surrounds their brown eyes. Sexes are similar in appearance, though males are slightly larger.

Diet:

White Storks are highly opportunistic feeders who will consume a wide variety of prey items including insects, frogs, toads, tadpoles, fish, rodents, snakes, lizards, earthworms, mollusks, crustaceans, and, rarely, the chicks or eggs of ground-nesting birds. Foraging storks search for prey visually while walking deliberately with bill pointed toward the ground. When prey is spotted, they cock their necks back, then jab the bill forward to grasp their victim.

Reproduction:

White Storks form loose informal colonies while breeding. Several pairs may nest closely together within sight and sound of one another while appearing completely oblivious to their neighbors. Though storks form monogamous pairs for the duration of the breeding season, they do not migrate or over-winter together. If the same pair reforms in successive years it is largely due to their strong attachment to their nest site.

Males usually arrive at the nest-site first. A male will greet a newly arriving female with the Head-Shaking Crouch display, as he lowers himself on the nest into the incubating posture, erects his neck ruff and shakes his head from side to side. If the male accepts the new arrival as his mate they will cement their pair bond with an Up-Down display. In this display the birds hold their wings away from their sides and pump their heads up and down. This is often accompanied by bill-clattering.

Nests are huge and bulky, constructed of branches and sticks and lined with twigs, grasses, sod, rags, and paper. Particularly old nests have grown to over 2 m in diameter and nearly 3 m in depth. Some nests have been in continuous use for hundreds of years. Both sexes participate in nest construction with the male bringing most of the material.

European Storks have been building their nests on man-made structures since the Middle Ages. They can be found on rooftops, towers, chimneys, telephone-poles, walls, haystacks, and specially constructed nest towers. Many homeowners will add embellishments such as wooden wagon wheels to old chimneys to encourage storks to nest on their houses. Nests can also be found in trees, on cliff-ledges, or occasionally on the ground.

The female usually lays 3-5 eggs, more rarely up to seven. Parents share incubation duties for 33-34 days. Young chicks are covered with white down and have black bills. Both parents feed the young on the nest until they fledge at 8-9 weeks of age. Fledglings may continue to return to the nest site each evening to beg for food from their parents. Young birds reach sexual maturity in their fourth year. Banding records indicate that wild birds can live and reproduce successfully past 30 years of age.

taken from Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos (Pato Real)
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The mallard is a large and heavy looking duck. It has a long body and a long and broad bill. The male has a dark green head, a yellow bill, is mainly purple-brown on the breast and grey on the body. The female is mainly brown with an orange bill. It breeds in all parts of the UK in summer and winter, wherever there are suitable wetland habitats, although it is scarcer in upland areas. Mallards in the UK may be resident breeders or migrants – many of the birds that breed in Iceland and northern Europe spend the winter here.

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Where does it live?
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Breeding

Found in large and small lakes and slow-flowing rivers, including park lakes, reservoirs, small pools and coastal marshes.
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Wintering

Flocks found on large water bodies and the sea.

Passage

As breeding and wintering
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Where to see it?

It is the commonest duck and most widespread so you have a chance of seeing it just about anywhere where there is suitable wetland habitat, even in urban areas.
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What does it eat?

Seeds, acorns and berries, plants, insects and shellfish.
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What does it sound like?

The female has a variety of calls including the familiar ‘quack’ which is often repeated many times. The male makes a quieter, low, ‘crrib’.
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When to see it?

All year round.

Coot - Fulica atra (Galeirão)
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All-black and larger than its cousin, the moorhen, it has a distinctive white beak and 'shield' above the beak which earns it the title 'bald'. Its feet have distinctive lobed flaps of skin on the toes, which act instead of webs when swimming. It patters noisily over the water before taking off and can be very aggressive towards others..

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Where does it live?
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Breeding

Likes areas of fairly shallow standing freshwater with a muddy bottom and plenty of vegetation at the sides. Mainly in lowland areas.
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Wintering

Sometimes found on shallow coasts, especially when freezing weather conditions make access to freshwater difficult.
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Where to see it?

Mainly on freshwater lakes, gravel pits, reservoirs, rivers and town park lakes when deep enough. Sometimes seen offshore, especially in winter if freshwater areas are frozen.
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What does it eat?

Vegetation, snails and insect larvae.
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What does it sound like?

A loud, resonant 'kut'
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When to see it?

All year round.

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
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A delightful small, long-tailed and rather sprightly black and white bird. When not standing and frantically wagging its tail up and down it can be seen dashing about over lawns or car parks in search of food.

.It frequently calls when in its undulating flight and often gathers at dusk to form large roosts in city centres.

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Where does it live?
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Breeding

Pied wagtails prefer habitats near water - river banks or lake edges with a stony or gravelly shore. Pasture, moorland, farmland - especially areas of mixed farming - coasts and estuaries, and parks and gardens.
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Wintering

They leave upland areas of Scotland and many birds can be seen around reservoirs, on caosts, on arable farmland and at sewage works. Large winter roosts may be found in reedbeds, bushes and even trees in urban areas.
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Where to see it?

They can be found across the UK, leaving some of the highland and northern areas of Scotland in winter. Best looked for near water and can be found in most habitats, even town centres. They gather together in large roosts, sometimes in towns, often assembling on roofs beforehand.
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What does it eat?

Insects
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What does it sound like?

Call a is a sharp 'chissick'; song is a quiet twittering
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When to see it?

All year round.

GOLDFINCH - Carduelis carduelis (Pintassilgo)

A highly coloured finch with a bright red face and yellow wing patch. Sociable, often breeding in loose colonies, they have a delightful liquid twittering song and call. Their long fine beaks allow them to extract otherwise inaccessible seeds from thistles and teasels. Increasingly they are visiting birdtables and feeders.

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Where does it live?

Breeding

Likes trees and bushes with areas of tall weeds nearby. Often breeds near man in parks, gardens, nurseries, orchards and churchyards. In wider countryside likes woodland edges and heaths and commons with gorse and hawthorn.
Wintering

Similar to breeding habitat, but forms into flocks which may range over waste land, coastal fields and flats, and rough pasture. Anywhere with plenty of thistles, burdock and teasels.

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Where to see it?

Anywhere there are scattered bushes and trees, rough ground with thistles and other seeding plants. Likes orchards, parks, gardens, heathland and commons. Less common in upland areas and most numerous in southern England.

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What does it eat?

Seeds and insects in summer.

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What does it sound like?

A liquid, twittering song with trills; twittering calls

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When to see it?

All year round.

BLACKBIRD -Turdus merula (Melro)

The males live up to their name but, confusingly, females are brown often with spots and streaks on their breasts. The bright orange -yellow beak and eye-ring make adult male blackbirds one of the most striking garden birds.

Where does it live?

Breeding
Blackbirds are birds of woodland and heaths which have readily adapted to farmland and gardens. They like areas with bushes, shrubs and trees, and nearby open ground and short grass.
Wintering
Blackbirds which come here for the winter like suitable cover for roosting - shrubs and trees - with feeding areas nearby. Often found along berry-bearing hedges and in open fields.

Where to see it?
Found everywhere in gardens and countryside and from coasts to hills, although not on the highest peaks.

What does it eat?
Insects, worms and berries.

What does it sound like?
A mellow, fluty song. Calls include 'chink, chink' and a clattering, ringing alarm phrase.

House sparrow - Passer domesticus (Pardal Comum)


Identification Tips:
Length: 4.25 inches
Small, seed-eating bird
Thick, conical bill
Pink legs
Extremely common in urban and agricultural areas

Adult male:
>Gray crown
>Black throat, upper breast, and small mask; less black on throat in winter
>Grayish side of neck and underparts
>Rusty-brown nape and upperparts
>Black streaks on back
>White patch in wing
>Gray rump
>Black bill in summer; yellowish in winter

Female and immature:
>Gray-brown crown
>Buffy line extends rearward from eye bordered below by gray-brown line
>Grayish-white underparts
>Black and tawny streaks on back
>Black wing feathers with wide tawny edges
>White patch on wing
>Yellow bill
>Immature males lack full throat patch of adults

Light Trails

Playing with exposure time is funny :) That a look at the results...

Snow Fun

This weekend brought one more surprise. The past Sunday the city of Guarda was visited once more by the snow.

Great gift of mother nature...

"G" of Guarda one of the city entrace...



My wheel fingertip

The roads became traps to cars, cleaning was needed...



The landscape


Landscape, view of part of "Serra da Estrela"

ICE

Yes it was cold, only now my memory card defrost. Thus, this photos are being posted only now!
As usual I hope you all like!

Portugal, January 2006

Water Fun

Water, water is and important and beautiful element.
Listen to my advice, spend some time watching it, in a close view.

Hoopoe - Poupa

Yes, I am still alive... and my Digital Camera is still working fine.

I have just take these photos, its a Hoopoe (ou POUPA em Português) its a rare bird, thus its a beautiful bird.

Scientific Name : Upupa epops

Status: Scarce passage migrant.

Habitat: On passage mostly found in coastal fields, dunes, golf courses, etc.

Description: Combination of pied and pinkish plumage and long crest unique.

Size: 26 - 28cm (10.5")

CATs


No is not the famous show of the Broadway... Yes its over my friends !
Its a simple CAT, is favorite game is...Hunting down small mice!
Mickey be careful...

GREY HERON - Ardea cinerea
(Garça Real)

Habitat:
All kinds of waters, from estuaries and marshes to lakes in city parks.

Description:
Tall with long legs and neck, and grey and white plumage, yellowish legs and bill. During breeding, legs and bill can become redder. In flight looks very large with broad, arched wings.

Size:
94 cm (37")

Info for the nature lovers

This photos were taken in portugal near Spain.