Author Topic: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread  (Read 15207 times)

Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #30 on: February 28, 2021, 12:15:10 PM »
A non-wildlife cuteness found on the webs:

The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #31 on: August 13, 2021, 07:18:46 PM »
Not posted any wildlife shots in ages, so here's a bit of Viennese summer :) These are from several walks and locations around the city & in no particular order:



A Brown Argus butterfly


A wall lizard, seen at a small ruined castle in the hills


A Lesser Purple Emperor - the incredible blue sheen is iridescence & visible only at some angles


A young wild boar in the woods near the city.


Brintesia circe, the Great Banded Grayling butterfly. I don't actually know why it's named after the witch of Odyssey fame.


A male red-backed shrike, known as "butcher birds" for keeping larders of impaled insects on thorn bushes.


An alpine longhorn beetle, very strikingly blue, found in the Lainzer tiergarten.


A curious baby field hamster, from Meidling cemetery.


Some more hamsters, watching some humans pass by a few metres away,


A red squirrel - probably young given its lack of ear tufts.


A sugary pink water-lily at the Alte Donau Wasserpark.


A cygnet. Most baby swans are grey (hence the "Ugly Duckling") but this one was a striking white more like the adults.


A European pond tortoise. Smaller and spottier than the bigger painted turtles that are now more common in Europe's cities.


A yellowhammer, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide, singing raucously.


An orchid, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide - probably a Woodcock Orchid.


Orobanche, or broom-rape, a parasitic flower (hence the lack of green) that taps into the roots of another species.


A burnt orchid, at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.


A meadow brown - common, and very variable in exact markings - with Perchtoldsdorf in the background.
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Pentagathus

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #32 on: August 16, 2021, 02:54:12 PM »
Wall lizard is cool lizard

Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #33 on: August 22, 2021, 10:57:21 AM »
Wall lizard is cool lizard
Yeah, they were living in the two remaining walls of an old castle tower up in the forest. I quite liked the idea that once the knights had gone, the little dragons crept back in :)



Also please enjoy this small kobold with big hat:


Source: https://twitter.com/siggymcc/status/1428391033419620358
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Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #34 on: December 28, 2021, 04:00:48 PM »
Time for a dump of my autumn and early winter pictures from Vienna, I think :) More of the usual really when it comes to wildlife, but I think there are a few nice pictures in there and I hope you enjoy them.


A painted tortoise (feral pet species) at the Old Danube Wasserpark.

A male black redstart at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.

Autumn gentians at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.

A hovering kestrel at Perchtoldsdorfer Heide.

A wild field hamster at Meidling cemetery.

Another field hamster at Meidling cemetery.

A goldfinch at Vienna's central cemetery.

A green woodpecker at Vienna's central cemetery.

A female house sparrow, near the Neue Donau Ubahn station.

A red squirrel at the Old Danube Wasserpark.

A wren foraging atop a beaver's dam on the Donauinsel.

A kingfisher at the Old Danube Wasserpark.

A nuthatch in the Volksgarten, central Vienna.

A red squirrel at the  Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.

A brown rat at the Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.

A jay at the Erholungsgebiet Wienerberg.
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Silver Wolf

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #35 on: January 27, 2022, 05:43:45 PM »
No description available.
"Less of a young professional - more of an ancient amateur. But frankly, I'm an absolute dream."

Pentagathus

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #36 on: January 27, 2022, 05:54:33 PM »
He has a mole on his hand

Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #37 on: January 27, 2022, 07:43:22 PM »
I think that's a fairly newborn echidna puggle rather than a mole?
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dubsartur

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #38 on: January 27, 2022, 09:28:23 PM »
Do you bring a camera with lens that can move back and forth, or just a cell phone camera?  You make good closeups.

Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #39 on: January 27, 2022, 09:45:11 PM »
Do you bring a camera with lens that can move back and forth, or just a cell phone camera?  You make good closeups.

For my stuff? I have two cameras, both with decent optical zooms - a 30x zoom camera with a good macro and flip-up screen (Panasonic Lumix TZ-90), which I can use for flowers and invertebrates and the really close stuff, and a heavier 60x zoom camera (a Canon Powershot SX-70 HS) which most of the recent stuff is taken on, that's very good for the longer range shots. I don't really know much about cameras, that said - I'm not someone who fiddles with settings or lens switching or anything much, I focus a lot more on just trying to get closer or at better angles to the animals.
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Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #40 on: December 14, 2022, 08:46:31 AM »
It's too long since I did a wildlife photo dump, so here are some pictures from yesterday's walk on the Donauinsel:


A swan on the Danube. Majestic and full of spite as usual.

Little grebes, tiny fluffy diving water-birds.

A cormorant perches high above the Danube's waters.

A blue-tit forages for winter food.

A squirrel curls almost motionless on the corner of a branch, saving energy and being a little warmed by winter sun.

A moorhen (behind) and, more interestingly, a little water rail in front - only the second time I've ever photographed one.

Water rails are named for their strangled-sounding 'railing' cries...

...but they're rarely seen, preferring to skulk in ditch vegetation or reed-beds.

Another bird I don't see much, a middle-spotted woodpecker - smaller than its commoner great-spotted cousin.

The middle-spot has a bright full red crest which can be seen here: the great-spot just has a red dot at the back of the head.

Middle-spots can sometimes be mistaken for young great-spots, but the shape is quite different.

A treecreeper! Not sure if it's common or short-toed, the differences are quite subtle.

A great white egret, a large bird closely related to herons, perched high up a tree. Also not something I see often.

The beaver inlets on the Donauinsel are rather pretty and good for wildlife.

It may take a second glance to spot the little grebe in the middle of this picture!

A male gadwall, one of the less common ducks that we get as winter visitors.

A kestrel lit by the evening (well, 3:30 but that's about the same thing at this time of year) sun.

On my way back I came across someone walking their pony. It was very fluffy.
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Jubal

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Re: Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread
« Reply #41 on: March 31, 2023, 10:53:41 PM »
A few recent-ish bits of Vienna wildlife:

The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...