Photographer Melanie Barboni is an assistant researcher at UCLA’s Earth, Planetary and Space Science Program where she installed a hummingbird feeder outside her office window in hopes of seeing the elusive birds and maybe snapping a photo. Two years and several feeders later, she estimates there are over 200 birds that now stop by her window every day, over 50 of which she’s bestowed with names because she can recognize them on sight. Barboni was raised in Switzerland where hummingbirds are practically non-existent and she only read about them in books. She likens the view from her office at UCLA as a dream come true, a place that she’s referred to as The Hummingbird Whisperer. (via Laughing Squid)
Posts Tagged ‘animals’
What’s up with the weather?
September 18, 2018We are about to experience rains from the tail end of Hurricane Florence. For those of you in the storm zone, here is a quick reference guide for hurricane categories.
It is Tuesday, so . . .
What am I sappy duck blogging?
September 7, 2018
“Minnesota-based wildlife photographer Brent Cizek was headed back to shore before a summer storm when he spotted the common merganser he would later nickname “Momma Merganser.” At first the mother duck was being followed by a brood of more than 50 fluffy ducklings, however when spotted the group again, the total had grown to 76.”
“I happened to find this group of mergansers purely by luck, but I was absolutely amazed by what I saw,” Cizek tells Colossal. “At the time I didn’t know anything about the species, so I wasn’t sure if what I witnessed was a common occurrence or something out of the ordinary. All I knew was that I had never seen anything like that before.”
“The scene is extraordinary indeed. Although the aquatic birds are known to lay their eggs in the nests of other ducks, a female duck can only incubate 20 at any given time explains Kenn Kaufman, field editor for Audubon. It is most likely that several dozen of the ducklings lost their mothers and were adopted into Momma Merganser’s own brood.”
Wht am I sappy cat blogging?
August 10, 2018
“On April 1, 2018, Japanese toy-maker Bandai announced a new lineup and innovative figurines. Nekobusou, or “Armored Cats” in English, were essentially adorable kitty transformers that could wrap themselves with lethal killing machines. The company must have known that they were on to something right away. The original tweet racked up almost 3000 retweets and likes, which presumably prompted the company to go ahead with the idea. Or maybe they were tasting the waters all along. Regardless, Armored Cats are coming.”
Gunsmoke and Knitting 