You'd think ducks don't need to take baths, but they do. They somehow manage to throw water over their backs with their heads: This little splash was made by a duckling with an imperfect diving technique:

Frontal light: Grazing light: Backlight: Just saying.

Now there's a boring title! Fortunately, the butterflies are not. I present: nice photos of some of the butterflies I have seen over the past few days, for your viewing pleasure, and nothing else: A meadow

This butterfly that landed on a linden tree in front of me yesterday is a map (Araschnia levana), landkaartje in Dutch: These butterflies have two generations a year; the one in the photo above is from

Strange happenings in the insect world. Yesterday, I saw this fly sitting on a flower with a hoverfly just above it: The top fly kept its position very accurately: When the larger fly moved, the hoverfly

I found these two yesterday in a park, pretending to be leaves. (They were, I wasn't.) They are called common brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), citroenvlinder in Dutch: I prefer to shoot these against a purple

I think this one saw me before I saw it: I spotted it yesterday; it was much younger than the other ducklings swimming about, so I it could be from a second brood. Most of the ducklings are quite big already,

I was going to post this tomorrow, but now seems a good time: Bon appétit!

Looks regal, doesn't it? Not decentralised at all, this lot. I'm going to carve it a little staff to wield. Photos of that in this theater Real Soon Now.

I forgot to include these two in yesterday's post, because I had forgotten I had them: Now that I have been complete and thorough, I can sleep well again, that is, once the curse is removed. So, if somebody

A few days ago, when I was looking for a completely different butterfly, this one landed in front of me, all ready for its meal. It was a painted lady (Vanessa cardui), known as cosmopolitan in the colonies,

I clicked a link to a strange resort Where strangers meet and do consort All blinkered with desire And a winter fog moved thickly on Now, who will be a witness When the fog's too thick to see And I saw

These are photos of the European tree frog (Hyla arborea), boomkikker in Dutch. They live in and near peat bogs in my region of The Netherlands, but they are quite rare and difficult to find, also because

I present to you some nice views as seen in the local peat bogs, "local" being Twente, The Netherlands, near the German border. These peat bogs are still alive, meaning that peat is still being

Oh Lord, won't you buy me A big whopping vote Some people are paying But I don't self-promote Worked hard all my time here But still no gravy boat Oh Lord, won't you buy me A big whopping vote Oh Lord,

Swans are usually portrayed in elegant poses, effortlessly gliding along in splendid isolation, their beautiful curves and haughty demeanor emphasised by an artily blurred background and, if available,

Two more photos of captive exotic birds, photographed through a wire mesh you can see in this post using a combination of a large aperture and aiming between the wires: Here are the older photos I shot

The Eurasian white admiral (Limenitis camilla), kleine ijsvogelvlinder in Dutch, is a fairly large butterfly with a wingspan of about 65mm (2.6"). In The Netherlands, or "here", as we say,

Let me out, please! Fading away in captivity (warning: sit well back, arty shot): There actually are a few populations of exotic birds in the wild in The Netherlands, mainly rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula

The ducklings are growing up rapidly, but they still travel in convoys lead by mum. Thanks for watching!