A contribution to throw Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Odd Couples.
I had a couple of ideas for the challenge. Having started selecting photos featuring two different species I changed my mind and went for photos of two individuals of the same species.
Big and small Large White Butterfly caterpillars feeding on Nasturtium leaves in Hatherton, Cheshire, England.
One Herring Gull complains about something while being ignored by the second bird. Photographed on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
Adult and immature White-crowned Sparrows on the South Bruce Peninsula during autumn migration. The adult will have made the long distance migration before but it’s the first time for the immature bird which hatched from an egg on the tundra of arctic Canada in the summer.
Three great odd couples! Aren’t birds incredible? They fly such long distances yet they are so small. I never cease to be amazed by that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I’m not sure which is more impressive, a species such as the White-crowned Sparrows migrating between the arctic and the southern U.S. and Mexico or species such as the Snow Buntings that can survive -40 degrees in places like the Saskatchewan prairies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Snow Buntings? Never heard of that species. I will have to look it up. Incredible to survive in that temperature.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember dozens of Snow Buntings flying into a reed bed to roost at sunset when I was photographing a frozen marsh. It was -40 degrees but very little wind so no serious wind chill.
LikeLike
I have heard that wind chill is pretty nasty. As it is close to 100 F here atm, harder to imagine. The Snow Bunting would not survive here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I find the wind chill is worse when it’s a damp cold. In this part of Ontario we’re surrounded by water so there’s usually moisture in the air. In Saskatchewan the air is drier and it didn’t seem to draw the heat from your body the same way.
LikeLike
I did think humidity changes the feel of the air temperature. Altitude makes a difference too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As does the surroundings. We’re in the bush surrounded by trees which break up the wind. We’re usually feeling a degree or two warmer than the official current conditions reported from the local airfield which is exposed and on top of an escarpment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, yes, I see. The forest protects you from the full force of the wind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. It also means that you don’t know how bad the snow is until you drive out of the trees into the stronger wind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that could be a nasty surprise. And you need to have extra coats on standby in the car. Last week, I walked the dog before leaving home for work – a 45 minute drive. Sun was shining, and I dressed appropriately for a summer’s day in subtropical Australia. Half way to work, the clouds darkened and the heavens opened and torrential storm and rain meant that I was wet when walking from car to air conditioned office. I coped with thin clothes and could have picked up a cheap raincoat or cardigan if need be, but I was thinking that if you didn’t remember to have in the car on standby – heavy coats and goretex etc that you must sometimes need in winter, it could be an expensive or very uncomfortable day for you when you drive out of your forest and experience those kind of icy winds!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In the winter in Canada you’re recommended to have an emergency kit in the car including blankets, snacks and water. Apparently it was so bad around here last night that they closed the highway north due to whiteout conditions. We were sheltered in the trees and only heard about the road closure from a neighbour this afternoon. The highway is about 2 kilometers to the west of us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Listening to weather reports are a must then!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it’s better to listen to local radio stations rather than relying on the internet as they will sometimes report if roads maybe closed rather than waiting until they are closed. Last winter there was a 36 hour period when every road in the county was closed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Goodness. You were all trapped wherever you stood.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Two or three winters back we had a 48 hour period when every road in the county was closed. Everyone rushed to the grocery store when they opened the roads but the grocery store hadn’t been getting deliveries with the roads being closed so there wasn’t a lot on the shelves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a parrellel here with this phenomenon. When a cyclone approaches a major city, the petrol stations have lengthy queues and the supermarkets are suddenly devoid of basic items. People fear infrastructure damage leading to difficulty travelling around and the potential for flooding. Panic sets in pretty quickly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know if there’s much panic buying before a storm in Ontario, it’s more a restock of basics before the next storm hits. Sometimes businesses will close and send employees home if there’s a chance of them closing the roads. But there’s also days in the summer when certain businesses will close and send employees home if the humidex reaches the red zone. High humidity and high temperatures are as serious as cold and wind chills around here as we’re between two huge bodies of water so the humidity can be very high.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Out of curiosity, what would they regard as high temperatures?
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’s a table with temperature on one axis and humidity on the other but I’m guessing that the temperature needs to be 30°C before the humidity takes the humidex into the red zone. From what I remember, if the combined temperature and humidity makes it feel like 40 degrees or more it’s in the red zone.
LikeLike
30 degrees? That is better than our days lately. Between 34 and 40 with humidity anything up to 80 %. Very drippy! But unfortunately not get out of work free card here.
LikeLiked by 1 person