Monday 6 February 2012

A Walk in Schönbrunn Park
Vienna in Winter


Red Berries
against a blue and white winter sky

A Red Squirrel
kindly letting me come close enough
to capture a picture with my 50mm lens

Schönbrunn Palace
View from the Gloriette
A noisy flock of red-legged seagulls
takes a short break in the reflecting pool

only to swoop up again,
restlessly screeching through the sky

Photographed during a walk through Schönbrunn Park
Hietzing, 13th District
Images and text © by Merisi

8 comments:

  1. That red squirrel is prettier than our red squirrels.

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  2. Wonderful place ! Wonderful Wien and so cute squirrel !

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  3. So wonderful, Merisi!
    I love that adorable Mr. Squirrel!
    xo

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  4. Charles Gramlich:
    I was not aware that there are red squirrels in North America. The trees in our backyard were populated by grey squirrels.

    From Wikipedia.org:

    * The red squirrel is protected in most of Europe, as it is listed in Appendix III of the Bern Convention; it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In some areas it is abundant and is hunted for its fur. Although not thought to be under any threat worldwide, the red squirrel has drastically reduced in number in the United Kingdom. Fewer than 140,000 individuals are thought to be left,[9] approximately 85% of which are in Scotland. This population decrease is often ascribed to the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel from North America,[10] but the loss and fragmentation of its native woodland habitat has also played a major role.

    ** In Norse mythology, Ratatosk is a red squirrel who runs up and down with messages in the world tree, Yggdrasill, and spreads gossip. In particular, he carried messages between the unnamed eagle at the top of Yggdrasill and the wyrm Níðhöggr beneath its roots.

    I had never heard of Ratatosk, quite the fellow, I'd say! ;-)

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  5. The New Diplomat's Wife:
    Cute, indeed!
    The little ones have dark, almost black fir, they are the sweetest things. ;-)

    Nathanaëlle,
    Wien is wonderful in so many ways! :-)

    Country Girl:
    Indeed, indeed! ;-)

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  6. Just beautiful! That red squirrel's ears look like they are horns with the wind blowing the fur up! Pretty cute.

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  7. That red squirrel shot!! You seem to have captured his whole little soul in that moment!

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