Autumn Swan Watch, some pictures

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LovelyLadyLux
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

We don't have too many swans here. Canadian geese migrate past here and often stay. This is a duck. Not sure what kind

Thanks for fixing my last photo FABlux - you'll have to fix this one too cause right now I'm just not getting photos to come out on here. I was watching all the spaces when I cut and pasted am sure I've added none but I'm just not getting photos to print on here.....Frustrating 'er wot......??

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Sorry for the photo not coming out. I've been editing and trying and trying to get it to print....


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Post by Bearded Brian »

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Hi LLL as you can see I've had a go with your picture. The first is your link from the above post copied - no joy. 2nd I copied the link from the album - worked. Finally copied your final link - worked.

The only thing different with the first one is that you have Image

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Post by FABlux »

Thanks Brian :)

I vaguely remember something about BBcode :? Barry says you need it enabled in your profile, is yours LLL ??
Last edited by FABlux on Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Kiya »

:lol: :lol: @ Fran...thought someone would tell me to turn it upside down :lol:

Horus thanks for info will have a looky if I get out & about, the weather as usual not to good.
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Post by Grandad »

Contiuing the swan theme.....another one from Sunday morning.

I like it because of the inky blue background against the pure white feathers :)

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Grandad :gg:
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Post by Grandad »

And following up on LLL's problem of posting pictures, I still cannot post from my album when in Google Chrome. I can upload to the album but then have to go to IE to add a picture in a post.....even though the address is the same in both servers. (IE is SO much slower that I tend to avoid it) I DO have the BBcode thingy enabled in my profile.

Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone got a clue how to resolve it???
Grandad :gg:
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Post by DJKeefy »

I fixed LLL post, all I did was edit the post (did not alter nothing) and then just submit the entry again.

So it looks like a browser problem, LLL try another browser just to see if that is the problem.

Grandad I thought Chrome had a explorer addon ?
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Post by DJKeefy »

Test using Chrome:

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Post by DJKeefy »

Well it works for me in chrome, so you must have some settings turned off, though ive no ides what, have you tried updating java ?
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Post by Horus »

Nice pictures LLL :) can't say what that one is :? are you sure that it is a duck and not a goose? hard to see the shape of the bill.

Lovely Swan picture Grandad, great water colour :) don't you just love it when you capture that bow wave as they plough through the water. :D
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Post by Kiya »

Went walkies yesterday for some swan pics, couldn't believe when I got home I'd taken more than 100 pics, I've only kept a few I like, there is a couple taken by Macro the rest are all AV mode.

Think I was concentrating on the bumps on heads more than taking the pics, looking at them am sure they're all males.

MACRO
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Next all AV mode
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I like this 1 showing the water droplets
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My favourite
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More water droplets
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Definately a male
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I was ready to run when I saw this 1 charging......lol
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Post by Horus »

Great pictures Kiya, unfortunately the water droplets don't come out too well in these forum photos. What a pity that you missed the close shot of the swan with its wings flapping, that would look really good especially as you seem to have frozen the wing motion, :) is it good enough to crop down?
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Post by Kiya »

Horus...I dont think so, looking at the original it is focusing on the swan in forefront & the background blurred.......not 1 of the better pics but I do like the wings spread open..........I'll try & catch that sometime.
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Post by FABlux »

Those are beautiful Kiya & I love the contrast of the swan against the inky blue water in yours Grandad

Mabruk all of you :clap:
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

FANTASTIC shots Kiya - you've captured the 'lesson' that didn't happen which was getting something close up in a photo as well as something far away! Do you know what setting you had to capture this in the charging swan photo?

(I'm trying to get a heads up for our next photography class here cause this is what we're going be learning!! ;););) )
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Post by Horus »

I often think that on occasion you can take a photo and get an effect you were not really trying to capture at the time. In this one, I was more concerned in getting a picture of the Swan in what was unfavourable light conditions due to the sun being in my eyes and I did not have a polarising filter with me. However I like the sparkly almost star like effect that it has made on the water.

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Post by Kiya »

LLL most of the swan pics were taken with the AV mode the settings for the charging swan pic are AV mode, F/5, Exposure time 1/3200 sec, ISO 400 but I was trying to focus on the swan in the fore front which was moving at the time, catching the charging swan was an accident really & taken in a rush, if I was focusing on the charging swan only it would have been a lot clearer.
here it is cropped which shows a lot of noise & blur.
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Post by jewel »

Superb pictures all of a truly fabulous bird......loving them all!!

My contribution is a hazy one shot in St James park in summer, and one on the local canal with her 6 cygnets we watched grow :)
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A few "swan" facts:

The graceful mute swan is Britain's largest bird and one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. There are six other species of swan in the world, but the mute is the only resident one you will see in Britain i.e. it stays in Britain all the year round. During the winter months you may also see the whooper swan and Bewick's swan. Whooper swans visit the north and west of Britain in large numbers, arriving in the late autumn and remaining until the spring, when they fly on up to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. Bewick's swans come in from Siberia and occupy the eastern and southern parts of England. In some areas, both these visiting swans can be seen together. Large numbers gather together in three main groups; on the Derwent Floods in Yorkshire, the Ouse Washes of East Anglia and at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

The male mute swan, known as the cob, fiercely defends the territory that he and his mate, the pen, share . If an intruder, such as another male swan, dares to invade his terrritory he uses a threat posture, raising his wings and back feathers, while lowering his head and moving powerfully through the water. This display usually frightens away the intruder.

Mute swans pair for life and they mate and begin buiding a nest in March and April. The nest is built on the ground, near to water, in an undisturbed place.

The cob collects reeds and sticks, bringing them to the female so she can arrange them. The nest is often a very big platform-like structure, and may be the pair's old nest which has been rebuilt and used year after year. Although the cob and pen look very similar at first glance, they can be told apart by looking at their beaks. In the spring and summer the cob's bill is a brighter colour than the pen's, and the black knob is more bulbous. The cob is never far from his mate on the nest, keeping an eye out for intruders. If a potential predator gets too close, he will hiss at them (mute swans are quiet birds on the whole, but are not really mute!) and if necessary will charge at them with flapping wings

The cygnets stay with their parents until the next winter by which time they are losing the brown plumage that replaced the grey down. It will be a full year before they are completely white, and they are ready to breed when they are three or four years old.

For centuries, mute swans were known as 'birds royal' because only the king or a few specially favoured subjects could keep them. They were often served up, roasted, at banquets - a roast swan must have required a very large plate! :o :(

Flight feathers from the female swan were used as writing implements then known as 'pen quills' and later as 'quill pens', until the 'quill' was left out and only the word 'pen' remained. So our present-day ballpoints etc. take their name from the female swan!

Over the last 30 - 40 years, the mute swan population has fluctuated. Many swans living on rivers where coarse fishing is popular died because they were swallowing lead fishing weights with their food. Lead is very poisonous. Since 1987, the use of lead weights has been banned in the UK and its swan population has recovered. Another hazard for swans is carelessly discarded fish hooks and lengths of nylon fishing line - both can cause a swan to suffer a painful death. :cry:
I don't have a plan......so nothing can go wrong!

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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Was outside eating breakfast when this fellow walked by. He was one of the tame(r) resort birds at the hotel I was at. Just found him beautiful and wanted to share (or not)

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My BBcode IS enabled. When I went back Fablux I realized I had deleted the / of the /img as I was playing around trying to make the photo come out. For the long time I could not post any photos. Then for awhile I could post photos but now not a hope......Sorry about this.......
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Post by FABlux »

What the hell is that???

Lovely feathers but, being bald, he looks like a turkey or vulture in a tutu & feather boa :lol: :oops:

As for the photo I'm even more confused! I clicked edit on your post, then went to the album, dropped in the code, did preview & saw 3 pictures, deleted my code again & the image was still there. (I deleted the duplicates)
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