Long tailed tit juveniles look a little weird when they're ready to leave the nest. Cute, but also a little gross!
True, though something tells me the choices will be controversial for a certain crowd......
Foreigner
joined 2 years ago
I suspect they picked those so they wouldn't have to "pick favourites" among the different European monuments
L'expression des vaches est assez fréquente en France mais très vulgaire donc on ne l'utilise pas aussi souvent que pleuvoir des cordes par exemple.
The halberd expression I've only personally heard once from my wife who is a walking French expression generator. There's a new one every other day. I generally hear the rope expression used a lot more.
According to this expression it's "frequent" but no idea what that means: https://www.lesexpressions.fr/expression/il-tombe-des-hallebardes
In France we have a few more:
Il pleut des cordes (It's raining ropes) Il pleut à sceau (It's raining buckets) Il tombe des hallebardes (it's raining halberds)
I'm also quite partial to "on s'est fait saucer", literally "we got sauced", which refers to getting soaked in the rain.
I partly covered this in my response below. If we're talking about eradicating disease-carrying mosquitoes from populated areas (and or invasive), then sure that makes sense. But studies that say eradication (even of the harmful ones) would have no negative consequence are very much debated by researchers. It's reddit, but here's a well cited comment from a researcher who works with mosquitoes that does a better job of explaining why it's not that simple: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/1icgbrg/comment/m9qxizu/
I totally get the animosity towards mosquitoes. I spend a lot of time birding in swamps and often leave with no fewer than 20 giant bites (and another 10 from fucking horseflies). I used to be in the same camp as you, until someone explained to me that mosquitoes are one of the few species that can survive in places where conditions are harsh, and they're food not just for land dwelling or airborne animals, but also aquatic species. They're also important pollinators, especially males since they feed on nectar and not blood.
Eradicating them 20 or 30 years ago would have probably been fine, since other insects could benefit from less competition and likely take up those niches. Today however, insect populations are literally collapsing all around us, and it's only getting worse. There is less and less food available for those on the bottom of the food chain, and the effects are going to trickle up all the way to us. Mosquitoes may be one of the few species able to ride out the apocalypse we're currently wreaking on nature.
I think local eradication is still important around human populations, especially for disease-carrying varieties. But leave the rest of them alone. We've levelled enough destruction on ecosystems. Save that energy for the true villain - bedbugs.
The only animal I think is truly worth eradicating is the bedbug.
Every other insect from the mosquito, to the tick is an incredibly important source of food (especially protein) for other animals, especially in places with very harsh conditions where other insects struggle to survive. I used to hate and fear insects but now I know they all have their place.
All, except the bedbug. These things are specifically designed to hunt us and pretty much only us. They have precious few predators, much less predators that rely on their existence. They deserve obliteration.
I've personally found that weaving is definitely faster, but you have to be strategic about it. If there are three or more lanes, often people will weave between the two left-most lanes (right-most if you live in one of those weird countries where people drive the wrong way), thus clogging up those lanes. I find that if you stick to the 'slowest' lane you actually end up going faster, especially on highways because there are cars in that lane trying to get off and clearing space in front as you go. This falls apart when you have a very busy exit, but usually you can avoid it by looking at traffic on waze or google maps.
It's Kasuga and Nomoto from "She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat". Very cute manga.
Netflix killed Inside Job but made 8 seasons of Big Mouth. They deserve what they're getting.
I was on a trip recently in Extremadura in Spain and it was an amazing place for owls, especially little owls. They're pretty abundant and chill so I was able to get some nice shots which I wanted to share here with fellow superbowlers:
We also saw a couple of Eurasian Eagle Owls, which were on my list to see this year:
Sadly did not catch the Scops owl but we did hear one at night!
If you're a birder in Europe, you absolutely need to go to Extremadura if you have the chance (and not just for owls). I swear the skies felt incredibly empty when I got back home.
After a couple of failed attempts to find them in another area, I spent three days in a spot where multiple short eared owls had been spotted. There was a group of at least 4 in one field who'd come out each evening around sunset to hunt. During the day they'd be sitting camouflaged in the high grass.
What I found interesting is that even though they were hanging around near each other at rest, when it came time to hunt, they would frequently rush at each other and squabble. Clearly they weren't among friends.
Another funny behaviour was how they would react to crows that also hung around the field, and vice versa. It's common for crows to harass birds of prey in a group, loudly crying out (it's one way to find out where there are owls even). But these crows acted a bit differently. Individual crows would from time to time come and annoy an owl just sitting around minding its business, but not as frantically as I'm used to seeing them. But what was even more incredible, the owls would do the same to the crows. It happened several times, but I've not seen something like that before.
I had a blast watching these guys and gals, it was a great way to cap off 2025. With that, I wish all superbowlers a great end of 2025 and/or start of 2026!
I got a tip for a LEO winter roost and sped over when I got the chance. There were no less than 10 owls in the tree! Apparently this specific spot has seen up to 50-60 owls in some years. What's incredible is that this willow tree is right next to a primary school in the outskirts of a small city. There are people coming and going all the time. People know the owls are there and come have a look but they stay unbothered (they do peek at you lazily though). I really wonder why they picked this specific spot, it's really unexpected given how busy and loud it gets.
Here is a shot of another two amigos in the group:
And one more where I felt like going a bit more artsy:
I stumbled upon a few long eared owls somewhere I wasn't expecting to find them. Couldn't get a better shot but was so happy to see them very clearly for the first time. They're not very big but their stare is intense.
I took this photo last month about an hour outside of Paris in France. I went to this spot looking for barn owls and stumbled on this guy, which was a hell of a treat! I did see the barn owls in the end but it was too dark to take a decent shot without a tripod. They were super close too, one flew over my head making a ghostly rolling screech. It was magical.
I also heard a tawny owl nearby! Not sure what it is about that particular village but owls seem to be major fans. I'll definitely be heading back!
A resident Tawny Owl sitting cosy in their nest. The photo was taken last week in Paris, this particular nest has been used by tawny owls for at least 10 years (likely the same owl?)
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Yeeeee team bird let's goooooooo
I posted this elsewhere but if anyone is curious about the different species:
€5 - Wallcreeper €10 - Common kingfisher €20 - European bee-eater €50 - White stork €100 - Pied avocet €200 - Northern Gannet