Feeding Seagulls in Senate Square, Helsinki, Finland

Here is a popular spot for sitting and relaxing, on the steps leading to the Lutheran Cathedral at Helsinki's Senate Square.

(Senate Square Seagulls - Click to Enlarge)

While there I managed to get this photo of a man feeding some seagulls for the amusement of his kid.

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The Second Fastest Seagull - A Lesson

With all the importance being placed on participation and not actual results, many of today's children are not being prepared for having to survive in the real world. My family is not a fan of this new-style of everything is OK and everyone wins despite the results. As it so happens our recent trip to the Helsinki Zoo provided a valuable lesson on how performance does matter.

We were sitting having a snack and my one-year-old dropped a cheerio. This was great news to the two seagulls who were circling around us, knowing that it was a safe bet that these two kids would at some point provide them with a snack. To that point they only gave up a cheerio and it was at my feet. So I picked it up and tossed it on the grass. They quickly raced for it.

The fastest one of course got the snack. The second fastest one got nothing.

It was obvious to my kids that performance does matter and that it pays to be a winner. As it is sometimes said, second place is also known as 'First Loser.'

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Empire State Building Pigeons

Here are some photos of pigeons hanging out at the top of the Empire State Building.

Somehow they made it all the way up there. And you thought that pigeons were lazy.

Photos taken during a visit in August, 2003.

Pileated Woodpecker Photos

While having breakfast a couple weeks ago we noticed a pileated woodpecker in our backyard. So I grabbed the camera, fully knowing that it would fly away before I could get a shot. To my surprise, he decided to hang around for awhile.

After the extremely rare Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), this is the largest woodpecker in North America. Despite its size, this elegant woodpecker is often shy and hard to observe. Obtaining a close view of one usually requires careful stalking. Although primarily a forest bird, the "Logcock" has recently become adapted to civilization and has become relatively numerous even on the outskirts of large cities, where its presence is most easily detected by its loud, ringing call and by its large, characteristically rectangular excavations in trees. Its staple food consists of carpenter ants living in fallen timber, dead roots, and stumps. The woodpecker excavates fist-sized rectangular cavities, then uses its enormously long, sticky tongue to reach the ant burrows. - eNature

From the look of all the new holes in the trees, he has been hanging around.










(Pileated Woodpecker in flight, towards the camera. Wings up, tail behind.)









Copyright: Fred Fry 2007.