Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Antananarivo – often abbreviated to “Tana” – is the very congested capital city, and major metropolis, in one of the world’s most materially poor nations.
Many of its “entrepreneurial” residents cannot afford to buy or rent a walled and/or roofed structure in which to ply their trade.
This post’s street-working barber lacked anything remotely resembling his own “salon”, but his professional expertise and “service, with a smile” attitude were readily apparent.
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Most gecko species are nocturnal.
The 50+ known species in the genus Phelsuma are an exception, as per their common name: day geckos.
If you are lucky enough to see a day gecko, you will be able to see it under natural light.
For most of these mostly very colourful species, if you wish to see them in the wild, you will have to visit Madagascar…
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Photographically speaking, birds on the wing are – in equal measure – irresistible, humbling and frustrating.
Their irresistible/frustrating aspect is especially apparent when a photographer attempts to capture/convey how a bird launches itself into the air, or returns to earth/tree-branch/rooftop/ledge/water’s surface…
“Successful results” are guaranteed to be rare events, and one’s “successes” usually prove “qualified” rather than “total”.
This post’s image is one such qualified success…
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This post’s subtitle owes an apology to Wendy Carlos.
(Wendy, who was originally named Walter, is most famous for her 1968 LP “Switched-on Bach”).
This post includes a musical bonus; like the featured image, it involves Tibetan Buddhism…but not J.S. Bach.
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General rule, when photographing animals, humans included:
ensure that their eyes are fully visible, in sharp focus, and looking at “you”, the viewer.
As is true of so many “rules”, this one is worth knowing.
Generally, it is a good idea to abide by it…but sometimes, the better idea is to break it…
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This little series concludes in northern Namibia, with a very elegant species of Antelope.
In the 1950s General Motors appropriated its name.
The “real thing” bears zero resemblance to any lumbering, oversized, grossly inefficient “Yank Tank”.
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Reportedly, this species – a southern African arid/semi-arid savannah/grassland specialist – will sometimes fly 120 kilometres from its nest, in order to find water.
Happily, for many Burchell’s sandgrouse this is no longer necessary; boring humans – well, humans who sink bores – have proved a boon to Pterocles burchelli.
Named after an English naturalist, they are somewhat pigeon-like in appearance…but not in their abilities and behaviour.
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As you can see in the image above, when a predator is not obviously present, the level of vigilance/alarm/nonchalance exhibited by its prey can vary greatly, from one individual to another.
This is true even within a small, close-spaced, single-species group.
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Two questions arise when considering all three birds in today’s featured image.
The obvious one: “clearly, their wings are not black, so how do they merit their name?”
The other one: “why is Himantopus himantopus in the Guinness Book of Records?”
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This post’s Tibetan Plateau location is higher and wilder than was true of #8 in this series.
The Chang Tang – also rendered into English as “Changtang” – is a very harsh environment, mostly grasslands at more than 4,000 metres above sea level, punctuated by mountains.
Much of it is protected in one of the world’s largest national parks, but climate change’s impact – here, mostly negative – is proving particularly extreme, rapid.
Goa – or Tibetan Gazelle – live here in still-considerable, but declining numbers.
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