Dreamfalcon

Nature and diversity at its best! Please make a comment if I’m wrong with a name.

A Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus – Gemeiner Bläuling):

Broad-bodies Chaser (Libellula depressa – Plattbauch):

Northern Damselflies or Spearhead Bluet (Coenagrion hastulatum – Speer-Azurjungfer):

Common Water Frog (Pelophylax esculentus – Teichfrosch) If you look up the latin name in wikipedia they give the main name as “edible frog” – how horrible is that…

Unidentified dragonfly:

And to our surprise a Leeche (Blutegel) – surprise, because we have never seen one before.

Posted in insects, nature
Tags: butterfly, damselfly, dragonfly, egel, frog, Frosch, leeche, Libelle, pond, Schmetterling, Teich

Last saturday at least ten little Blue Tits left their nest – never to be seen again.

But before they were able to take that little leap into the big world, it was hard work for their parents.

Flying to the nest more than once every minute – and of course off again:

The little ones waiting for the next protein delivery:

et voilà

and after taking the leap – another part of life has started.

For more bird posts from around the world – visit WorldBirdWednesday

Posted in bird portrait, birding, world bird wednesday - WBW
Tags: blaumeise, Blue Tit, Jungvogel, juvenile, nestling

A Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata – Grauschnäpper) made a surprising visit in front of the kitchen window today. This is an Old World Flycatcher. (Please click on the photo to enlarge).

It reminded me, that I haven’t put up the Flycatchers we saw in Panama – which are all Tyrant Flycatchers. (And for those who understand German, please note those amazing German names…)

The cute little ones are the Common Tody Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum – Grau-Gelb Todityrann)

and the Southern Bentbill (Oncostoma olivaceum – Gelbkehl-Krummschnabeltyrann) – I was so happy that I got a decent photo of this fast little bird.

One with a very funny “hair-do” is the Yellow-bellied Elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster - Gelbbauch-Olivtyrann). It’s crest is divided in the middle, therefor the head on the photo looks like it’s out of focus. (Click on the photo to enlarge).

Definitely not such a good photo is the one from the Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher  (Myiobius barbatus – Gelbbürzeltyrann), but the sulphur rump is visible.

The Fork-tailed Flycatcher (Tyrannus savana – Gabelschwanzkönigstyrann) was never very close, but close enough to see the impressive tail:

The Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus – Südlicher Fleckenmaskentyrann):

The Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis – Rotschwingen Maskentyrann):

The Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis – Rotscheitel Maskentyrann):

The Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius – Kurzschnabel Maskentyrann):

And these are the rather common Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus – Schwefelmaskentyrann):

and the Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus – Trauerkönigstyrann):

Posted in birding, birds
Tags: flycatcher, Panama, schnäpper, Schweiz, tyrant

There are of course many different insects of the Curculionidae family (“true” weevils or snout beetles), but this weekend I discovered this one: Lixus bardanae. Since I was in Italy and wanted to show its beauty to people otherwise not interested in insects, I called it “Insetto Pinocchio” – they will remember

German information on the insektenbox-Site

Posted in insects, macro monday
Tags: insect, Italy, Rüsselkäfer, snout

Hummingbirds don’t live in Europe and I’m absolutely not used taking pictures of them. We were so happy to see many and even take photos of some, even the photos have room for improvement.

The only decent photo is of the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (Amazilia edward – Edwardamazilie):

The White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora – Weissnackenkolibri) was sitting in the dark over Pipeline Road:

The Garden Emerald (Chlorostilbon assimilis – Gartenkolibri) didn’t sit still:

No it’s not the fruit: Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis – Schwarzbrust-Mangokolibri)

More Panama bird photos (click on the title):

• Woodpeckers
• Pigeons and Seedeaters
• Thrush attacking monkeys
• Trogons and Motmots
• Tanagers
• Cuckoos and Parrots

Posted in birding, birds, travel
Tags: Emerald, Hummingbird, Jacobin, Mango, Panama

We only have one Cuckoo in Switzerland therefor it’s always great to see different ones in an other country. While scanning the book “The Birds of Panama” before our holidays, I thought that seeing an Ani would be great. At the end of our Pipeline Road day it sat there in the tree, the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major – Riesenani):

That same day we saw the Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana – Eichhornkuckuck). But it was in the jungle and the Cuckoo was to fast and I only got a very very blurry photo. So two days later at the Parque Nacional Metropolitano I wished to see a Squirrel Cuckoo again to take some decent photos. We arrived at the lookout and there it was feeding on either bread crumbs or insects on the ground:

The parrots were usually very high up, but we were able to see three different kinds, two Amazones:

The Red-lored Parrot (Amazona autumnalis – Rotstirnamazone):

The Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa – Mülleramazone) always flying in couples:

And the chatty Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis – Tovissittich):

More Panama bird photos (click on the title):

• Woodpeckers
• Pigeons and Seedeaters
• Thrush attacking monkeys
• Trogons and Motmots
• Tanagers

Posted in birding, birds, travel
Tags: cuckoo, Panama, parakeet, parrot