Birds

Black-backed Magpie

Nikon D3000 on auto
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I was taking photos of bees when I spotted the magpie on the other side of the fence. The lane down the side of our house is being graded. No idea if the intention is to seal it, or not. Mr R is thrilled, as the road has been widened by a metre – he will have less grass to mow.

While idly Google-ing, I read that if the male magpie is taken away and relocated the female will often take a new mate withing hours. After all, she needs a new fellow to help feed her chicks and guard her territory. The new male often does a better job of feeding her chicks than their father. Probably because he was too busy swooping kids which is why he would be relocated in the first place.

Thanks for looking. Have a good day. 🙂

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Sally D's Mobile Photography Challenge

Bees in Equalized Colour

There are 5 Mondays in the month of August, thus Sally’s theme this week is editing and processing.  Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge. 

I took these photos of a bee on peach blossom this morning with the Nokia Lumia 520 windows phone, on auto.

In GIMP – I wondered what ‘auto equalize colour’ would do. My eyes popped.

Cropped in IrfanView. Scaled, auto equalized colour, and optimized for the web in GIMP (the free Gnu Image Manipulation Program). Then, on the page here, I thought they looked like they needed a bit of something else so I applied frame masking in FastStone Image Viewer (mask number 21 with black background). It looked more interesting than a black frame around the edge.

 

Mequalizedexspringbees 190

 

Mequalizedspringbees 167

 

Mequalizedexspringbees 182

 

Mequalizedexspringbees 181

 

Mequalizedexspringbees 165

 

 

I could play with images for days! Now I see why Sally is hooked on photo-montages.

I have been visiting blogs, too, so please do not pass out with shock should you spot me. I have been kicking myself, as I didn’t realise just how much I missed you all until I started catching up.

Thanks for looking!  Have a good day.  ❤

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