Isambard wrote: » Sika Deer? some sort of Deer anyway
Isambard wrote: » i think they must be Red Deer...anyone know for sure?
Hotei wrote: » Sika Deer.
TopTec wrote: » Brilliant picture OYE. So sharp, when you zoom in it shows off their wonderful markings. TT
OpenYourEyes wrote: » Thanks very much TopTec! Honestly, a photo of a Starling showing off their metallic colours and fine speckling has been on my photo wish list for quite a while. I was delighted to find this little guy on top of a cafe, not at all bothered by people coming and going, being hit perfectly by the sunlight and with a clear sky/background behind it!
Alun wrote: » I see from the Flickr page that it was taken in Bray. It wasn't down on the end of the promenade at the Boat House Coffee Dock was it by any chance? I always see loads of Starlings down there feeding off peoples' discarded crumbs, and they come up really close sometimes, within a couple of feet.
OpenYourEyes wrote: » That's exactly where it was I only stayed for a couple of minutes because I felt bad pointing my 600mm lens a few feet above the head of a guy having his coffee! (to his credit he wasn't bothered at all though!)
yoppy wrote: » How is that growing up there like that?
Jazlyn Incalculable Yo-yo wrote: » Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows by attaching to trees.
Most mistletoe seeds are spread by birds that eat the 'seeds' (in actuality drupes). Quite a range of birds feed on them, of which the mistle thrush is the best-known in Europe, the Phainopepla in southwestern North America, and Dicaeum of Asia and Australia. Depending on the species of mistletoe and the species of bird, the seeds are regurgitated from the crop, excreted in their droppings, or stuck to the bill, from which the bird wipes it onto a suitable branch. The seeds are coated with a sticky material called viscin. Some viscin remains on the seed and when it touches a stem, it sticks tenaciously. The viscin soon hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host, where it germinates and its haustorium penetrates the sound bark.[9]
