Hanami

Hello!

The Volksgarten in Vienna has become a fixture over the past years. My focus points alter during the year, from lilacs in early spring to sleeping beauties aka roses in December.

Mid May is the perfect season for some intensive Hanami, flower viewing. The variety is such a pleasure. Vienna never ceases to mesmesrise

 

 The big picture:

Some sweet backlighting ...

Girls feeding their social media accounts. Plus a monumental London plane tree in the background. The trees's trunk has a circumference of 20 ft. The young tree in the foreground gets supported by poles.

After sunset ...

 

Overly sweet and intense impressions get neutralised by soothing grainfields. 

They vast fields awaited me in the outskirts of Vienna.

I hope you had a not too stressful May-season, given the current circumstances.
Paula

Synurbic Skywatch Soundtrack

Good morning!

this week's Skywatch Friday is supplemented by sound. Not any sound, but the beautiful sound of a synanthrope species. What a privilege to wake up to the morning voice of the blackbird.

Please click to listen:

Synanthropes are animals and plants that thrive in the human world. Matt Walker, editor of BBC Nature online refers to them as synurbic.

East, 6am

Dusk? Dawn?

Can you tell the difference?

West, 7pm

The day turned out to be a top Skywatch Friday, with all the clouds finally making way for the looong and desperately awaited sunbeams. The sun makes everyone and everything rejoice, including butterflies.

Butterfly caressing the Natural History Museum Vienna

Happy Easter!

Paula

Upcycling the Fat Balls

Hello!

January 2018 has been not too exciting so far, and almost dull. Grey skies, no snow at all and at the office we have successfully been passing all sorts of viruses and germs along.

Time for some DIY play.

Even though winter has not been very frosty until now, the birds are regular visitors at the fat balls in front of the kitchen window. They happen to be quite picky when picking from the fat balls. The peanuts were gone in no time, whereas the average fat ball did not meet their taste.

Looking at empty nets in front of the window is not a satisfying view - neither for the birds, nor for me.

I opened some empty nets and filled them with walnuts.  The walnuts turn ranzid so fast. Even the ones I buy at the supermarket with a due date way ahead are already rancid when I opened the bag. ... leaves me with plenty of bird food.

Great tits haven proven to be the largest bird pupulation in Austria. A common sight at the window. 

The bird is thoroughly inspecting the new menu.

Look who's here!

Ususally Blue Tits make way for Great Tits, Blue Tits are about 1/3 the size of a Great Tit.

The Blue Tit has no intentions to make way, pretending to be interested in the "lesser" menu ...

... only to taste the new menu as soon as the Great Tit has left.

The station has been really busy. The birds don't seem to mind the rancid taste of the walnuts at all.

 
Since I have been leaning at the window, I pictured the sky which is 100% dull. It has been like this for days.

10am. It's is a sunny day, few hundred feet above this blanket of clouds and mist.

Friday is Skywatch Day in the Blogsphere. A regular skywatcher is Rosemary (Share My Garden).

This skywatch was last week, right after sunset in the late afternoon:

The moon happens to be very, very beautiful in 2018.

Have a lovely weekend!
Paula