Democritus of Abdera - Philosophers

One of the solutions to the problem postulated by
Parmenides of Elea, was the hypothesis of Democritus of Abdera: matter is made up from atoms.
There was no real evidence for this idea (which was not completely new), but it explained why change was possible.
The atoms were always moving and clustering in various, temporary combinations.
Therefore, things seemed to change, but 'not being' never
changed into 'being'. (It was assumed that 'not being' was a vacuum, which means that it is in fact not a 'not being' because a vacuum exists in four dimensions.)
The consequence of this idea is that we are allowed to
use our senses, although Democritus warns us to be careful.

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Paris History - part 5

- 1799: A revolutionary general named Napoleon Bonaparte stabilizes the unruly government.
He becomes Emperor in 1804.
His emperorship puts a hiatus on France's struggle toward a Republic-- this is well-symbolized by Napoleon's moving into the former royal seat of power at Versailles.
The Emperor's taste for power and conquest lead to the colonization of large swathes of North Africa. He is defeated at Waterloo in 1815.
-Mid-19th century: The Paris that still largely remains today is constructed by Baron Haussmann, under the direction of Napoleon III.
Wide boulevards and a sewer system replace most of the narrow, cramped medieval and Renaissance-era streets of the city.
-1870: Following a disastrous war with the Prussians, the third Republic
is declared, marking the beginning of democratic institutions in France.
The Belle Epoque opens, another artistically and culturally fertile time in Paris history. Art nouveau architecture and artistic movements like impressionism take the world by storm.
-1920's and 1930's: Paris is one of the world's most important hotbeds of experimentation in art and literature. Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso
and the "Lost Generation" of English-speaking writers like Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound make Paris their home.

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Facts about falcons - 2

NESTING / EGGS / HATCHING
* Their range is about 30 miles with their nest in the center of their range.
They do not like other falcons within 3 miles of their nest site.
* Their favorite spot for a nest is on the edge of a cliff. Their nesting ledge is called an "aerie".
* They don't use a lot of nesting material.
Peregrines prepare a saucer shaped indentation in lose soil, sand, or grass called "scrape".
* The tiercel (male) arrives at the nesting site and begins a lot of fancy aerial displays to attract his mate in early Spring. Sometimes the male will select several locations for a nest and the female makes the final decision.
The female is the boss of the house, and the male is cautious around her.
* Peregrines are ready to start a family when they are about 2 years old.
* Falcons lay 3 - 5 eggs, 2 to 3 days apart.
The group of eggs are called a "clutch".
* Eggs range from soft pink to reddish brown and are slightly
larger than a chicken egg - about the size of a duck egg.
* The male and female share the responsibility of sitting on (incubating) the eggs.
The eggs need to stay at a constant warm temperature and dry, or the embryo
will not survive. If the air temperature is warm, the parents will leave the eggs briefly to hunt.
* The eggs also need to be turned, which we've observed occurs as the birds shift around on the nest. There are times that it looks like the
birds are actually rolling the eggs with their mouth or feet.
* The length of incubation is 33 days from the time "active" incubation starts.
* "Pipping" the shell is when the "eyases" (babies) begin to hatch out.
They do this from the inside with an "egg tooth" (a tiny sharp point) on the end of their beak. The egg tooth disappears almost immediately.
This process can take up to 2 days!

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Facts about falcons - 1

Peregrines adapt to their environment and live on every continent except Antarctica.
They can live in the mountains, deserts, forests, on sea cliffs, in cities and large urban areas.
They mate for life and return to the same nesting site every year.
They are known to substituted tall sky scrapers in downtown urban areas for nesting sites on cliffs.
A bit of trivia: While several states have adopted the cardinal, mocking bird, chickadee, and bluebird,
no state has a falcon as its state bird.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

* Falcon's scientific name comes from the Latin word, "Falco Peregrinus" which
means wandering falcon, traveler, or foreigner.
* There are 39 species of falcon - the Peregrine is one of five commonly found in Canada.
There are 3 subspecies of Peregrines ~ American, Artic and Peale's.
* 5 types of falcons live in the U.S. ~ gyrfalcon, peregrine, merlin, American kestrel, and prairie falcon
* Peregrines are the most well known of the falcons.
* Some like to migrate south to Latin America in the winter.
They can migrate as far as 10,000 miles ~ farther than other birds.
* Peregrines can live up to 17 years.
* The female is called a falcon, the male is called a tiercel.
* They vary in size depending on where they live ~ the biggest are in Alaska.
* Their wings are thin and pointed, and span about 40 inches.
* Slim birds with a small head.
The male is about 1/3 the size of the female.
Their bodies average 15 - 21 inches long and weigh about 2 pounds.
The female will weigh about 10.6 ounces more than the male.
* Adult Peregrines have blue-gray wings, backs, and heads, with white undersides marked with black bars going across the chest.
There faces are white under their chin. They have large, dark eyes
and very sharp beaks and yellow talons (feet).
* Peregrines make a "kek-kek-kek" noise, especially when angry or aggressive.
* They have very good eye sight ~ they can spot a meal up to a mile away.
* They are raptors (Latin meaning "to seize") - birds of prey / carnivores - and eat other birds ~ sparrows, starlings, gulls, ducks, and their favorite, pigeons. In fact, during WWII they were often shot in England to keep them from eating the pigeons that were carrying important messages to the forces.
* Falcons are the swiftest birds of prey and are very muscular.
In level flight the travel about 50 kilometers (31 miles) an hour. In a dive, called a "stoop" they reach speeds over 300 kilometers (186.33 miles) an hour!
* They have a unique way of hunting for food ~ they dive at their prey so fast that they overtake it by surprise, catching it in mid-air, and the speed kills the prey instantly. They are diurnal - they hunt during the day.
The capture takes less than 2 minutes!
* An adult eats about 70 grams (2 1/4 oz.) of food a day ~ that equals about 2 blackbirds.
* In the city it has been observed that falcons don't like to land on the ground ~ even if their meal falls to the ground, they won't go get it.
In fact, they don't usually fly lower than the level of their nest.
* They are at the top of the food chain, so adult peregrines have no natural predators.
They do however, face many threats from humans ~ use of pesticides, altering of landscape and habitats, egg collecting, hunting, and taking of the young for falconry. Baby falcons (eyases) are a tasty meal for owls, racoons, and mountail cats.

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petrol station in Eversden

pictures from a closed-down petrol station in Eversden
great subject for infrared

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Falco longipennis

French: Petit Faucon
German: Australischer Baumfalke
Spanish: Alcotán Australiano
Other common names: Little Falcon
Taxonomy: Falco longipennis Swainson, 1837, Tasmania.
Forms superspecies with F. severus, and perhaps also with F. subbuteo and F. cuvierii. Pale race murchisonianus of inland and N Australia commonly recognized, but probably invalid because intergradation occurs with dark birds of S humid areas.
Population on Lesser Sunda Is apparently a distinct race, although very limited information available. Two subspecies recognized.
The Australian Hobby or Little Falcon (Falco longipennis) is a falcon found mainly in Australia. It is also a winter migrant to Indonesia and New Guinea. It is one of Australia's smallest raptors and is about 30-36 cm long.
It strongly resembles the Peregrine Falcon, however it is much smaller and has darker plumage.
It inhabits open woodlands where it manoeuvres swiftly through the foliage in chase of other birds. It is very adaptable
and will visit urban parks and gardens, and remnant bushland.
They will hunt small birds, up to nearly their own size, and are often seen at dusk hunting bats and large insects.
When breeding it takes over nests of other birds.
The female incubates and broods young while the male hunts.
It gets its scientific name from its narrow long-flighted wings.

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Falco subbuteo

The Eurasian Hobby is a Southern African bird that belongs
to the Falconidae bird family group which includes birds such as Falcons.
The description for the Eurasian Hobby (Latin name Falco subbuteo) can be found in the 7th Edition of the Roberts Birds of Southern Africa.
This bird is known as Hobby Falcon in the Roberts 6th Edition.
There have been no changes in the Latin name for the Eurasian Hobby between the Roberts 6th and Roberts 7th Edition
The Eurasian Hobby is known in Afrikaans as Europese Boomvalk.
The Eurasian Hobby has a height of 36 cms and weighs around 200 gms.
The head is coloured black while the bill is coloured grey.
The Falco subbuteo has a white, black coloured throat, yellow legs and a brown coloured back. The eyes are brown.
Head is black
Eyes are brown
Bill is grey
Legs are yellow
Throat is white, black
Back is brown
Feeding Habits
This bird forages for food on the ground
The Falco subbuteo attacks its prey aerially and feeds on
wing or takes the prey to a secluded venue where it is killed, torn into small pieces and eaten
This bird is a noctunal feeder and is able to forage in the dark because
of the enhanced night vision. It also forages at this time because that?s when the prey comes out in the open.
The Falco subbuteo attacks smaller birds in flight and uses its sharp claws to break the bird's neck. Some of the birds are attacked in their nests while others are killed on the ground. The Eurasian Hobby eats the eggs of its victim.
This bird eats insects such as butterflies, bees, wasps, locusts and ants.
These invertebrates are usually hawked aerially, killed and then eaten .
Breeding, Habitat and Nesting Habits ...
The Eurasian Hobby is a monogamous bird which means that the bird finds and breeds with one partner for the rest of its life. The bird lays between eggs and they are coloured .
The nest is built high up in the tree canopy and is protected from predators by branches and the dense green foligae.
The Eurasian Hobby is mainly found in light and densely wooded forests, where there are Mopane trees.
This bird is very common in most of the Southern African Forests
Seen in Flocks, Singles or Pairs Normally ...
The Eurasian Hobby is mainly seen singly or in pairs in the wild.
It is also seen in flocks

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Falco rufigularis

The Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis) is a falcon that is a resident breeder in tropical Mexico, Central and South America and Trinidad.
It was long known as Falco albigularis; the name Falco fusco-coerulescens or Falco fuscocaerulescens, long used for the Aplomado Falcon
are now believed to refer to the present species .
Bat falcon adult males measure 24-29 cm (8-10 in.) in length with a wingspan of 56-58 cm (18-19 in.) females also range from 24-29 cm (8-10 in.)
in length but have a larger wingspan, which ranges between 65 and 67 cm (21-22 in.)
in length.
The head and upper parts of their body are black, with grayish edging to contour the feathers from their upper back to tail coverts.
Their throat and upper chest is white and tan extending to their neck.
They have a long black tail with many fine white or gray stripes, and buff tip.
The bat falcon has deep brown irises that may help camouflage while hunting at night.
They also have small hooked beaks that allow the bat falcon to easily tear its meat.

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Falcon fly

Falcon fly

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Falco amurensis

The Amur Falcon (Falco amurensis), formerly Eastern Red-footed Falcon
is a small raptor of the falcon family.
It breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China, wintering in Southern Africa.
Males are characteristically dark sooty brown, and may offer confusion with melanistic Gabar Goshawk, but the chestnut on the vent should prevent confusion here.
Also there may be some superficial resemblance to Sooty Falcon and Grey Kestrel, but those two species both have yellow feet and cere.
Separating male Amur and Red-footed Falcons is best done
by the white underwing coverts on Amur Falcon, whereas the underwing of male Red-footed Falcons is uniformly grey.
Females may offer a bit more confusion with a wider range of falcons as they have a typical falcon head pattern.
The grey on the top of the head should quickly rule out confusion with Red-footed Falcons. The female has barring on the lower belly. Red cere and feet rule out all other falcons.

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Falco dickinsoni

Dickinson's Kestrel (Falco dickinsoni) is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen.
It is also known as the White-rumped Kestrel.
Its closest relatives are the Grey Kestrel and Banded Kestrel and the three
are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It inhabits savanna and open woodland, particularly swampy areas near water.
It is typically associated with palm trees and is also often found near baobab trees.
It occurs in coconut plantations in some areas.
Its range covers most of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi along with north-eastern South Africa (mainly in Kruger National Park), northern Botswana, north-east Namibia, eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of Tanzania.
It is an occasional visitor to Kenya.
The total range is about 3.4 million km2. It is generally rather scarce but is commoner in some areas such as Zanzibar and
Pemba Islands. Loss of palm trees is a potential threat to the species.

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Falco ardosiaceus

The Grey Kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus) is an African bird of prey belonging to the falcon family Falconidae.
Its closest relatives are the Banded Kestrel and Dickinson's
Kestrel and the three are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
It inhabits savannas, open woodland and forest clearings.
It favours areas with palm trees, especially near water.
It often perches on exposed branches, telegraph poles and wires.
It is widespread in West and Central Africa but is absent from densely forested regions including parts of the Congo Basin. Its range extends east to Ethiopia and western parts of Kenya and Tanzania.
In the south it reaches northern parts of Namibia and Zambia and vagrants have appeared in Malawi.
The total range covers about 12 million km². In West Africa there is some movement northward in the wet season and southward in the dry season.

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Falco naumanni

The Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon.
This species breeds from the Mediterranean across southern central Asia to China and Bangladesh. It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan.
It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range.
The scientific name of this bird commemorates the German naturalist Johann Andreas Naumann.
It is a small bird of prey, 27–33 cm in length with a 63–72 cm wingspan.
It looks very much like the larger Common Kestrel but has proportionally
shorter wings and tail. It shares a brown back and barred grey underparts with the larger species.
The male has a grey head and tail like male Common Kestrels, but lacks
the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings.
The female and young birds are slightly paler than their relative, but are
so similar that call and structure are better guides than plumage.
The call is a diagnostic harsh chay-chay-chay, unlike the Common
Kestrel's kee-kee-kee. Both sexes do not have dark talons as usual in falcons; those of this species are a peculiar whitish-horn color.
This, however, is only conspicuous when seen birds at very close range, e.g. in captivity.

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Falco rupicoloides

The Greater Kestrel or White-eyed Kestrel (Falco rupicoloides) is a bird of prey belonging to the falcon family Falconidae.
It is one of the largest kestrels and is found in open country in southern and eastern Africa.
It occurs in open, arid areas where it inhabits grassland, savannas and semi-desert.
It is often associated with acacias.
It prefers areas where the ground cover is lower than 50 cm.
It is found from sea-level up to 2 150 metres, particularly between 800 and 1800 metres.
It is fairly common and widespread in the southern parts of its range but is scarce and patchily distributed further north.
The form F. r. rupicoloides breeds in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, parts of Angola and Zambia and in much of South Africa apart from the wetter regions
of the south and east. F. r. arthuri is found in Kenya and northern
Tanzania while F. r. fieldi occurs in Ethiopia, Eritrea, northern Somalia and probably northern Kenya.
The total range covers about 3.5 million km2.
The population is stable and is likely to be in the order of 100 000 to 200 000 pairs.
Most birds are sedentary but some are nomadic or dispersive.

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Falco tinnunculus

Falco tinnunculus is a widespread kestrel species, found throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Its range spans from Great Britain
to China and as far south as South Africa. In Europe, F. tinnunculus is migratory and winters
in southern Europe and sub-saharan Africa.
However, the majority of the breeding population in Europe is non-migratory.
Common kestrels prefer open, grassy fields and farmlands, which give them sufficient open areas to hunt.
They can sometimes be found in forested areas and marshlands. Common kestrels occupy a wide range of altitudes, from sea level to almost 5000 m.
Falco tinnunculus is among the smallest of all raptors. Adults range in weight from 150 to 190 g, with females tending to be larger than males. Common kestrels have longer tails and wingspans relative to
their body size than most other falcons, which allow them to be easily distinguished from related species. Common kestrel plumage ranges from gray to brown.
The back is usually a darker color than the breast, both are covered in dark brown or black spots.
The wings are tipped in black on the dorsal side and are pale underneath.
Males often have a more bluish-gray heads and tails.
Females are more of a reddish-brown color and have
barring on the tail. In both sexes, there is a darker stripe
or spot underneath each eye.

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falcons facts

I know falcons eat smaller birds.
I know falcons live in the zoo, and the forest.
I know falcons screeched.
A baby falcon is called a chick.
I know falcons sleep in the tree at night.

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Falco cenchroides

The Australian Kestrel or Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) is one of the smallest falcons, and unlike many
does not rely on speed to catch its prey.
This bird is apparently a very close relative of the Common Kestrel, and probably also the Spotted Kestrel.
It seems to have evolved of ancestral Common Kestrels dispersing
to the Australian region
in the Middle Pleistocene--less than 1 million years ago--and adapting to local conditions.
A very common and easily seen raptor, the Nankeen Kestrel is found in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, and is an irregular visitor to New Zealand.
It occupies any type of land that is not too densely vegetated, but in particular temperate grasslands and open woodlands.
In the tropical north and the sandy deserts of the west
it has a patchy and seasonal distribution.
Like many Australian birds, it has no clear migratory pattern: in the grasslands of the south, established pairs are resident year round
but many other birds migrate north during the austral winter
or roam the arid interior following food supplies.
A small, slim falcon (about 31 to 35 cm long), the Nankeen Kestrel is rufous or brown above and white or off-white below, with a black tail tip.
Plumage varies considerably in detail, and some birds can look very scruffy, but the slim build, small size and distinctive straight-winged hovering habit make identification easy.
(The only other Australasian raptors to hover are the elanid kites which are much lighter in colour and a little larger, and the Brown Falcon, which is much larger and more heavily built, and hovers only with difficulty).
Altogether, it looks just like a pale, less patterned, and smaller derivate
of the Common Kestrel, which it indeed is (see Gloger's Rule, Bergmann's Rule).
Diet is varied, with a large number of insects, but also small birds and reptiles, and in particular, small rodents, mostly mice.
Nankeen Kestrels are adaptable and hunt in a number of different ways: of these, simply perching in an exposed position
(such as on a dead tree or a telephone pole) and watching for prey is the most common, but it is their habit of hovering motionless over crop and grasslands that is most distinctive.
Typically seen singly or in pairs
they can aggregate into loose flocks of up to 30 when conditions are right. Pairs are typically monogamous and may or may not disperse to different areas during the non-breeding season.
The nest is any convenient structure: a tree hollow, cliff ledge or disused corvid's nest, for example, and is not modified or added to by the kestrels.

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Falco moluccensis

Spread throughout Australasia, Indomalaya, and most of Wallacea
the Spotted Kestrel inhabits grasslands with scattered trees, lightly wooded cultivation
and the edges of primary and tall secondary forest.
Along logging roads, it occasionally penetrates forests,
and sometimes inhabits clearings within forested areas. It has also been known
to live in areas of human habitation

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Falco duboisi

The Réunion Kestrel (Falco duboisi) is an extinct bird of prey belonging
to the falcon family.
It inhabited the Mascarene island of Réunion and
was part of the Western Indian Ocean radiation of kestrels.
Known from subfossil bones and the writings of Dubois published in 1674
this bird was larger than its relative F. punctatus on Mauritius, being about the size of a Common Kestrel, or around 35 cm from head to tail, with males being noticeably smaller than females.
This trait, while present in most birds of prey, is most pronounced
in the larger, bird-eating species and reduces between-sex competition by niche differentiation. It can be assumed that
the bird was of the same generally brownish coloration as its closest relatives, with a lighter underside and darker spots or stipples, the tail, brown or more probably grey, being banded and tipped black. Its feet were yellow and large relative to the bird's overall size.
The wingspan was 60-70 cm
its wings being more rounded than those of the Common Kestrel - just as in the Mauritius bird - for increased maneuvrability when hunting in the forest. It is probable, but not certain, that the only difference between the sexes was their size.
The bird fed mainly on birds
but certainly also on insects and the local gecko; Dubois noted that despite their
small size they were able to prey on (presumably half-grown) domestic chickens.

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Falco punctatus

The Mauritius Kestrel (Falco punctatus) is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae
endemic to the forests of Mauritius
where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines.
It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels.
It colonized its island home to evolve into a distinct species probably during the Gelasian (Late Pliocene.
It is the most distant living species among the
western Indian Ocean kestrels (Groombridge et al. 2002, qv Réunion Kestrel).
t can reach a size between 26 and 30.5 cm.
The weight is up to 250 grams. The males are slightly smaller than the females.
The wing is approximately 45 cm and are rounded, unlike those of other falcons.
The lifespan is 15 years in captivity.
The Mauritius Kestrel hunts by means of short, swift flights through forests.
It is carnivorous, eating geckos, dragonflies, cicadas, cockroaches, crickets, and small birds.

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