A woodpecker nest discovered!

Oh, how happy we are! Yesterday we were on the road, when my friend called me and said, “Listen?” A truck passing by made me not hear anything, but a little later I heard! The sound of young birds, hungry young birds. And when I looked into the tree I was standing next to, I saw a perfectly round hole. Woodpeckers!! My friend, who is an excellent spotter, has discovered a woodpecker's nest! There may be no explanation that we went home to get our cameras right away.. And because the tree in question is on private property, asking the owner if we are allowed to photograph. That was no problem, so we back, and photographing from the car. Woodpeckers zijn namelijk schuwe vogels, en zoals vele vogels houden zij niet van een camera. By staying in the car and photographing from the car, we hope not to disturb the birds. We're talking here about the spotted Woodpecker. A bird smaller than I expected, also given the noise coming out of the nest. Father and mother Woodpecker do their best to provide the children with food, a beautiful sight! We'll check to see if the coast is clear before Mom or Dad plunges in. By the way, that's fast. Before you know it, they'll be gone.. The neatly round hole is big enough for mom and dad to slide through. It seems that the eggs have just hatched: the nest is well kept clean by the parents, and it seems that eggshells are being cleaned. It's hard work, such a nest full of children: Mom and Dad unload each other at a fast pace, and that sometimes means you have to wait for each other.... Hey, hurry up, I want to go in.! Yeah, I'm gonna.... (the picture is not sharp, the woodpecker was too fast!) Hey, hey, now I can get in.... The photo below is blurry, but indicates at what rate the parents pay off each other. ( My camera takes up to 60 photos per SECOND! ) One leaves, the other shoots up, into the nest. I've been told that in the nest there are 4 to 7 eggs, and so 4 to 7 young are now fighting for food. And again, a parent with an eggshell disappears, clearing up that mess! With a final cleanup picture I leave the nest for today. We will try to follow the nest, within three weeks the boy should fly out, we hope to be able to take a lot of pictures before that time.... Obviously, I don't reveal the place where we find this nest, we don't want to disturb the birds. The pictures are of course all taken by me with my Olympus OMD EM1-MRK 2, and not free to use. #naturephotography #spottedwoodpecker #nest #pretty #nognomed #thrilled #thrilledei

Missiles: The Cost of an Exploding Education

The recent escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine brought with it the traces of the pain of death and destruction caused by missile attacks on both sides.I do not want to delve into the ethnic or cultural origins of the conflict itself, but at a cost that, for me, is ignored. I mean the expense it represents.On the Palestinian side with Hamas, we are talking about two thousand rockets fired at an average of $ 400 each, yielding a figure of $ 800,000 (about 658,589 euros).While those fired by Israel from its Iron Dome system cost $ 50,000 each; So, if we place the same proportion, that is, 2 thousand rockets, it gives us $ 100,000,000 or about 82,323,700 euros.These € 82,982,289 are the equivalent of the cost of the most expensive university tuition in the Netherlands for about 5,533 students per year.But in Venezuela, where private university education lags far behind those costs, the number would skyrocket to benefit more than 50,400 students.The world needs - to be civilized - less weapons and more books.#education  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Misiles: El costo de una educación que estalla La reciente escalada del conflicto entre Israel y Palestina trajo consigo las huellas del dolor por la muerte y la destrucción que causan los ataques de ambos bandos mediante los misiles. No me quiero adentrar en los orígenes étnicos o culturales del conflicto mismo, sino en un costo que, para mí, es ignorado. Me refiero al del gasto que representa. Del lado palestino con Hamas, hablamos de dos mil cohetes disparados a una media de $400 cada uno, arroja una cifra de $800.000 (unos 658.589 euros). En tanto que los disparados por Israel desde su sistema Cúpula de hierro tiene un costo de $50.000 cada uno; así que, si colocamos la misma proporción, es decir, 2 mil cohetes, nos da $100.000.000 o unos 82.323.700 de euros. Estos 82.982.289 de euros son el equivalente al costo de la matrícula universitaria más costosa en los Países Bajos de unos 5.533 estudiantes al año. Pero en Venezuela, donde la educación universitaria privada está muy por dejado de esos costos, la cifra se dispararía para beneficiar a más de 50.400 alumnos. El mundo necesita -para ser civilizado- menos armas y más libros.