Favoritos de jacqu0

Ciconia ciconia are no longer migrating to warmer areas during the winter.
Observation at the same location with negative temperatures:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/197153574

With Ardea cinerea in the background: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/198502100

Very docile, once they settled down. Tended to drop to the ground if disturbed (perhaps a defense mechanism against bats?), but happy to perch on a finger. Picked this one up and placed on this leaf for a nice photo op. Wingspan 8 cm.

If séculaire du cimetière de Lalacelle (61)
https://www.monumentaltrees.com/fr/fra/orne/lalacelle/2782_leglise/
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106111762
https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4783402443

Very impressive beech trees, which are several hundred years old. They are the remains of an old "Hutewald" - an agroforestry system fostering widely spaced oak and beech trees to produce acorns and beechnuts, which in turn fatten wild boar in autumn.

Some of them seemed to grow like Ficus bengalensis: branches bending down to the ground, re-rooting, and from there growing into another beech tree.

Check out these links (in German):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urwald_Sababurg
www.nabu-hofgeismar.de/altkreis-hog/reinhardswald/urwald
www.nw-fva.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Sachgebiet/Waldnaturschutz_Naturwald/Jahrbuch10Urwald.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.1963.tb02901.x

I've rarely seem impressive oak trees like these, which are supposedly between 500 and 800 years old. They are the remains of an old "Hutewald" - an agroforestry system fostering widely spaced oaks to produce acorns, which in turn fatten wild boar in autumn.

Check out these links (in German):
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urwald_Sababurg
www.nabu-hofgeismar.de/altkreis-hog/reinhardswald/urwald
www.nw-fva.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Sachgebiet/Waldnaturschutz_Naturwald/Jahrbuch10Urwald.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.1963.tb02901.x

What caught my attention is that huge pair of eyes staring at me like an Owl.!!

They were restless, flying from one plant to another...

I witnessed this scene for at least 5 mins before they flew into a thicket...
I was lucky to get this shot.