Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread

Started by Jubal, October 18, 2019, 10:35:28 PM

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Jubal

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

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

Pentagathus


Jubal

Quote from: Pentagathus on August 16, 2021, 02:54:12 PM
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
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Jubal

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

Silver Wolf

"Less of a young professional - more of an ancient amateur. But frankly, I'm an absolute dream."

Pentagathus


Jubal

I think that's a fairly newborn echidna puggle rather than a mole?
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

dubsartur

Do you bring a camera with lens that can move back and forth, or just a cell phone camera?  You make good closeups.

Jubal

Quote from: dubsartur 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.

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

Jubal

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

Jubal

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...

Jubal

Well, having failed to put an update here for a year I guess we're skipping later 2023, here are some Vienna spring wildlife of early 2024 for an Easter cuteness update :)












A field hamster, Meidling cemetery

A souslik, Perchtolsdorfer Heide

A globularia flower, Perchtolsdorfer Heide

Two pasque flowers, Perchtolsdorfer Heide

Wild irises, Perchtoldsdorfer Heide

Tooth-wort, Schonbrunn palace woods. It's a parasitic plant!

Squirrel, Schonbrunn palace woods

Squirrel with corydalis flowers, Schonbrunn palace woods

Souslik, seen on my 30th birthday at Perchtoldsdorf

Black woodpecker, Perchtoldsdorf

A jay, woods at Perchtoldsdorf

A siskin, woods at Perchtoldsdorf

Hepatica (liverleaf) flowers, woods at Perchtoldsdorf

Adonis flower buds, Perchtoldsdorfer Heide

Canada goose, Alte Donau Wasserpark

Female red-crested Pochard, Alte Donau Wasserpark

Female red-crested Pochard eating water weeds, Alte Donau Wasserpark

Greylag goose, Alte Donau Wasserpark
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

Spritelady

Here are a few photos of my own to contribute, largely taken at a wildlife sanctuary in the Lincolnshire Wolds!

     


     



Silver Wolf

"Less of a young professional - more of an ancient amateur. But frankly, I'm an absolute dream."