My Animated Short Film: The Legend of Smok

This stop motion animation, which I designed, constructed, photographed, narrated and made into an animated short, is my submission for the Council of Educators in Polonia Tenth Annual Young Talent Award 2012 sponsored by Krakus. It is called THE LEGEND OF SMOK.

The them of this year's contest is The Legends of Cracow (perfect timing since my return from a semester living in Krakow!). My animation tells the legend of the dragon of Wawel hill in Krakow, the Smok.

Thanks to Pan Andrzej Pekala, my Komputer teacher at Szkola Podstawowa Salwator school in Krakow, where I worked on stop motion animations and Pani Edyta Wydmanski, my teacher at Szkola Polska im. Marii Sklodowskiej-Curie in Chicago, who encouraged me to enter this contest.

Equipment used:
- random Lego pieces to build the scenes
- Nikon Coolpix camera to shoot each frame
- Windows MovieMaker to create the animation.

18 Feb 2012

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - DUDEK

Dudek Photo from Internet

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - SPECIAL EDITION: Polish Birds we've never seen and most want to see: DUDEK

Name: Dudek

Latin Name: Upupa epops

English Name: Crested Hoopoe (pronounced: Hu-pu)

This entry is about the Polish bird NONE OF US has seen and we most want to see! The hoopoe has a brownish orange chest and a brownish orange head. It's crest on the head is stands up when alarmed. It has a black tail and wings that both have white stripes (if you are a birder you would call stripes "bars"). Call is a soft repeated-hoop-hoop. It is from 9.8-12.6 in. and with a wingspan of 17.3-19 in.

More about the Dudek (in polish)(if you want you can use google translate) at: http://www.hoopoe.com.pl/

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Photo from Internet

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - GAWRON

Gawron on a Fence Photo by Ann November 2011

Latin Name: corvus frugilegus

Polish Name: Gawron

English Name: rook


Rook's are big black birds that in the sun can appear purple (see bottom right photo). They have a yellowish black beak. There tail is 15,5-18,5 cm. long. The length of the body is 44-49 cm. If you see pigeons and jackdaws feeding on a pice of bread there should be some rooks in the background.  They will wait and wait and then finally scare the other birds away and will feed for a little while.

Foto J. Haslam/Ptasieogrody.pl

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Atlas Polskych Ptakow Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds: Łabędź niemy

Swan on Wisla; November 2011

Polish Name: Łabędź niemy

Latin Name: Cygnus olor

English Name: Mute swan

SWANS:

Juvenile Swan on Wisla

You can also find mute swans in Chicago and areas by the great lakes. They have a orange bill with a black hump on the back of it. Males are all white and juveniles are brownish. A juvenile has a blackish-brownish bill with no hump on the back the back. We see loads of them on the Wisla river by Wawel (Royal Castle) and near our apartment in Salwator.

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Photos by Ann













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Photos by Ann

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - BAżANT & SóJKA

Birds my Parents have seen in Poland but not me!!

Bazant by J. Bohdal @ www.naturfoto.cz

Polish Name: Bażant      

Latin Name: Phasianus colchicus

English Name: Ring-necked Pheasant

My dad has seen a pheasant on the path outside Blonia and my mom saw a Pheasant out the train window from Warszawa do Krakowa.

You can also see pheasants in Chicago but mostly in the more rural parts of illinois. They have a big tail, white ring around the neck, and a colorful head. Their body is brown with little black marks.

Sojka - photo Wikipedia PL

Polish Name:  Sójka


Latin Name: garrulus glandarius

English Name: Jay

My dad has seen one but me and my mom haven't. They have very beautiful wings with blue. They have a brown body, a bluish tail and black on part ow the wings.


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Photos from Internet

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - KAWKA

Pair of Kawki in Siedlieckiego street; Jackdaws by David 2011

Polish Name: Kawka

English Name: Jackdaw

Latin Name: Corvus monedula

Jackdaw by David 2010

You can't see them in the U.S.A. but they are very common here. If you are feeding pigeons there should be 1-5 jackdaws also. They are a lot more smart. They wait for a big piece, then scare away the pigeons, and instead of eating right there, they fly way to a branch then eat it there. They are all grey and black with a somewhat blue eye. They have a black mask. Much more timid then pigeons.

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Wikipedia Polish entry on Kawka: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawka

Wikipedia English entry on Jackdaw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackdaw

Atlas Polskych Ptakow: Stas' Atlas of Polish Birds - GAWRON

Gawron on a Fence Photo by Ann November 2011

Latin Name: corvus frugilegus

Polish Name: Gawron

English Name: rook


Rook's are big black birds that in the sun can appear purple (see bottom right photo). They have a yellowish black beak. There tail is 15,5-18,5 cm. long. The length of the body is 44-49 cm. If you see pigeons and jackdaws feeding on a pice of bread there should be some rooks in the background.  They will wait and wait and then finally scare the other birds away and will feed for a little while.

Foto J. Haslam/Ptasieogrody.pl

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