Daily Picks - # - More than Photos -- Jerry Barton, Austria

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Jerry Barton > White Heron in Vienna
2013-04-21 Today's shot isn't technically great - the stupid birds don't know enough to get close to the camera :) I went out a couple days ago to see if I could find a white heron in Vienna, and I did. They usually do not breed this far north - an hour or so south of Vienna is their usual area. This one is technically in Vienna - by about 100 m on the southeast tip of Vienna in the Danube Wetland Nationsl Park.
Many thanks for the wonderful comments on my peach blossoms. We are off to the countryside today and I hope to get a picture or two of the apricot blossoms.

Jerry Barton > Peach blossoms
2013-03-20 We have a small young peach tree in the garden, against the shed wall where it is somewhat protected. There were no buds until a few days ago, and now it is in full bloom. I think Nature is trying to catch up.
Thanks for the kind comments on yesterday's hawk.

Jerry Barton > Soaring
2013-04-29 A common hawk (buteo buteo) flying above the grasslands in the National Park along the Danube River. Looking for mice or perhaps a small bird.
Many thanks for the comments yesterday on the young heron - and for the kind thoughts. It will be another week or two before I can sit comfortably on a hard organ bench :) , but everything is fine.

Jerry Barton > Mama, I'm hungry
2013-04-18 I've been gracing various hospital rooms for the last several weeks, but all is well now. And spring has finally come to Vienna. Eggs are hatching. This young grey heron must have been kept warm during the last snow storm. A close crop with a long telephoto.

Jerry Barton > The Easter Bunny is coming!
2013-03-25 Do you want a chocolate egg? As seen at an Easter market near Vienna.
Many thanks for the comments on the storks. I think the main problem is that there is little for them to eat at the moment - and a fresh inch of snow on the ground. By April it is supposed to get warmer.

Jerry Barton > First Storks
2013-03-24 The woods around the town of Marchegg, on Austria's eastern border, are home to many white storks. They migrate to South Africa for the winter and arrive back in late March. This is the first couple - arrived on the 21st or 22nd. I hope the rest will wait for a week until our latest cold spell and snow are gone.

Jerry Barton > High stone mark
2013-03-22 The Danube moves a lot of stone, but I didn't think it was necessary to measure the level. This post was only a short distance away from yesterday's swan shot. Just a bit of whimsy today after yesterday's well received shot. About that shot: It was a warm sunny day and I was waiting for a silver heron to return (I have some fuzzy pictures of one in the distance), so I just stood at the edge of the water for about 15 minutes until the swans ignored me and started nuzzling each other. Many thanks for making that shot one of the day's top ten.

Jerry Barton > "In spring [not only] a young man's fancy lightly turns to love"
2013-03-21 Welcome to spring! Seen yesterday along one of the arms of the Danube, in the national park.

Jerry Barton > "I hope the water isn't cold"
2013-03-19 I *told* you I would be posting heron pictures. Here is another. With a laughing cormorant in the background.

Update: Not a GBH (Great Blues are only west of the Atlantic) but a GH (Grey Heron - usual in Europe). In a picture without scale (like this one), they are easy to confuse. The GH is a lot smaller.

Jerry Barton > Towards the Sun
2013-03-18 A Mallard duck rises from the waters of an arm of the Danube and is hit by the sun,.
Many thanks for the comment on the cold heron. Still cold, still windy. The next two days are predicted to be balmy, then back to snow. Hard on the birds (and the humans)

Jerry Barton > Cooold
2013-03-17 This is the companion to yesterday's shot. Taken yesterday morning. Temperatures well below freezing at night, around freezing during the day. By Tuesday we are predicted to have balmy spring temperatures again, but right now it is too cold to stretch out anything or worry about attracting a mate. Just fluff up and find a sunny spot.

Jerry Barton > Warming up
This shot was taken two weeks ago, and early March was still a bit early for courting, so I assume this guy was just practising his display skills. I need to return and see how he is doing now.
Many thanks for the comments on my amusement park shot. The cold & snow of the last few days is now past, so spring can start.

Jerry Barton > Not quite Spring
2013-03-15 Today is the official opening of the Prater amusement park for the new season. A few die-hard fans of beer and ham hocks will be lining up at the beer garden (Schweizerhaus), but with temperatures below freezing, gale winds, and a bit of frozen precipitation from time to time (snow yesterday) - most rides are still in hibernation.

Many thanks for the comments on the roe deer shot. I will return to the cemetery for more shots when there is more sun (and higher temperatures and less wind).

Jerry Barton > Wild Life in Vienna
2013-03-14 This is a shot of a wild Roe Deer in Vienna's central cemetery. The cemetery is large 2.5 square km (one square mile) and has many wild animals. A shot of the buck is here: http://www.jerrybarton.eu/gallery/7986304_r9xtwT#!i=2407584704&k=qfvFLMc&lb=1&s=A These small deer are common throughout Europe, and in German are not called 'deer' ('Hirsch') but rather 'Reh'.

Especially here in the "old Jewish section", it is quiet and overgrown. This section had become full even before the second world war, and extensive damage was done to it during the war - from the Nazis and from bombs and from Soviet troops. And of course for many graves, there were no remaining families to take care of the sites. Since 1991 a volunteer organization has started to repair and maintain the damaged memorials.

Thanks for the comments on the basking turtles. Because of released turtles like these, the common mid-European swamp turtle is struggling.

Jerry Barton > Free and Invasive
2013-03-13 The one on the right is a red-eared slider, "the most popular pet turtle" (Wikipedia). Native only to part of North & Central America, this one is living free in one of the Danube arms. The one on the left, which seems to be keeping the larger one at bay, is a yellow-bellied slider - also native to North America. Both of these, or their predecessors, probably were pets that were released.
Many thanks for the comments on my cormorant shot. Much appreciated.

White Heron in Vienna
2013-04-21 Today's shot isn't technically great - the stupid birds don't know enough to get close to the camera :) I went out a couple days ago to see if I could find a white heron in Vienna, and I did. They usually do not breed this far north - an hour or so south of Vienna is their usual area. This one is technically in Vienna - by about 100 m on the southeast tip of Vienna in the Danube Wetland Nationsl Park.
Many thanks for the wonderful comments on my peach blossoms. We are off to the countryside today and I hope to get a picture or two of the apricot blossoms.