Friday 2 March 2012

Friday at the Flicks - Bird Visitors + Sun Dog

Not a lot going on on the video front this past week. Here are three recent visiting birds that I don't see very often at the moment.



Late yesterday afternoon I was looking at some of the swirling cirrus cloud formations. I happened to glance generally in the direct of the Sun when I noticed a small section of cloud that was coloured - a Sun Dog. Only the second time I have seen this and it was the very devil to photograph but I did manage one reasonable shot:

Sun Dog 1

This rainbow effect is caused by the Sun's rays refracting through ice crystals in the clouds.

8 comments:

  1. I see that the Birdy Bistro continues to be well stocked and that customers enjoy the offerings...

    The sun dog photo is fantastic!

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  2. How amazing! Never heard of a Sun Dog, and obviously, never seen one! Absolutely stunning John! Tried to watch the video, but it took forever buffering! Ha!

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  3. Thank you Glo. It was quite a problem to capture the colours, eyes work better than cameras ;)

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  4. Great shot of the sun dog John.
    You get some great garden visitors too.

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  5. Maree: Sorry the video was playing up. Maybe YouTube was having a bad day. Just tried it and it is working OK here.

    The first time I saw a Sun Dog I had to go searching to find out what I had seen. Sun needs to be below about 40 degrees and the ice clouds have to be at the same height above the horizon as the Sun. Also it only lasts a short while as the movement of the Sun and the cloud loses the effect.

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  6. Thank you Keith. Visitor numbers are tailing of now with the warmer weather and with them pairing off and claiming territory.

    Only seen two Sun Dogs in 60+ years Keith so was determined to get a photo one way or another.

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  7. Nice to see the Stock Dove, John. I have an army of Feral Pigeons visiting regularly at the moment, some of them are quite pretty but they are a bit of a nuisance, eating so much and putting off some of the other birds I think.

    Great Sun Dog shot, I don't think I have ever noticed one. Lovely shot of Mr Blackbird paddling on yesterday's post also.

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  8. Hi Jan. I have to keep moving on a pile of Wood pigeons. They become become a nuisance putting off other birds.

    Right place, right time as far a seeing the Sun Dog went. The effect apparently only shows with high cirrus ice clouds and when the Sun is at the right height above the horizon. The sight only lasted a few minutes.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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