As I’ll be traveling till the end of the month starting tomorrow, there will be a hiatus on my saved wildlife photos until I return. But if you send me a batch when I’m on the road, I might put it up then. One never knows. At any rate, we have photos AND videos from a new contributor, reader Fritz. His notes are indented:
These pictures are from my yard in the Weinviertel ~50 km from Vienna. I also have two movies. The sitting bird is an Eurasian tree sparrow whose gender can’t be determined by appearance alone whereas the attacking bird is a female house sparrow (communication from an ornithologist friend). So the witnessed behavior can most likely be explained as a case of inter species aggression resulting from competition for an attractive food resource.
The other movie lacks gender labels: “Sparrows in the morning sun”:
The pictures were unidentified, but readers might fill in the gaps:
10 Comments
Wonderful pictures. The second photograph is beautiful. It might be a paper wasp (Polistes gallicus). I’m not sure.
I was thinking the European paper wasp (Polistes dominula), but it is very similar. I don’t know the difference.
The lizard looks like a male sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) and the frog like the common tree frog (Hyla arborea), both common central European species. And looking more closely, I see a second lizard in the first lizard photo, which being less green, should be a female sand lizard. I would assume they were courting or actually mating at the time the photo was taken.
I suspect the frog is planning world domination.
Neat! The mantis looks to be the European mantis, Mantis religiosa.
Nice pictures! I like the lizard with its open mouth.
The black bee is probably Xylocopa violacea, the violet carpenter bee (actually, is is black with a violet sheen on the wings, very difficult to catch on pictures). The solitary females bore their nest in wood, hence the vernacular name.
And the orthopteran is Tettigonia viridissima, the great green bush-cricket.
Stunning photos…thanks readers for the added id’s. I only knew the green tree frog.
We have a hummingbird feeder, and there is always squabbling over this attractive food resource.
I especially enjoyed the first lizard photo, something private about it, like a stolen moment where we get a glimpse of life in the under growth.
He looks like he’s smiling.
Beautiful! Thanks Fritz!