Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
I was pleasantly surprised to see that so many cinemas are still alive in southern Italy.
The not-so-pleasing September 2023 surprise, however, was that it appeared that almost all of them were screening the same film – a definitely-not Italian one, very loosely based on a reputedly underwhelming Agatha Christie novel.
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If you are a Pelican Yoga regular, you have already seen Barbara Cartland’s and Barbie’s avian avatars. (in #10 of the “quirky moments” series)
This post’s “punkish” cub is a member of Africa’s most oft-misrepresented mammal species.
His kind are very much smarter and much more “social” than most humans realise.
Contrary to common human belief, spotted hyenas are primarily predators rather than scavengers.
Lions are much more likely to “steal” from hyenas than vice versa, and spotted hyenas are much the more efficient hunters.
Over the last several thousand years hyenas have had rotten “press”, but they are not rotters.
Nonetheless, the young hero of this post’s appearance and demeanour were decidedly “Rottenesque”.
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Members of the kingfisher family are typically very confident; these predatory birds are not much preyed-upon.
Fish are not invariably their primary prey, and not all kingfishers live near rivers or lakes.
Pictured is the most ubiquitous of Asia’s kingfishers, Halcyon smyrnensis – the white-throated kingfisher.
By itself, this perky individual’s demeanour was almost enough to qualify it for inclusion in this series…
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Presumably, the living lizard had no sense of the pictured circumstance’s synchronicity, let alone any awareness that a human passer-by might find it quirky or amusing.
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Technically, the country in which Alice Springs sits really is a desert environment.
It is, however, far from barren.
Central Australia is beautifully vegetated – botanically “rich”, not “poor”.
Trees and flowers are not its only beautiful plants.
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This post’s photo is far-from-perfect.
Nonetheless, I think/hope it conveys a sense of just how fleet-and-flurrying (and splashy) is the to-and-fro of zebra finches at a drinking/bathing “station”.
In arid regions such “stations” can themselves appear and vanish, very rapidly.
The pictured pool sat at the base of the eastern wall of Jessie Gap on 14 June 2023. (photo is copyright Doug Spencer. Jessie Gap is a short drive from Alice Springs)
Musically, I agree with the listener who suggested that if J.S. Bach had heard Chris Thile play, there’d be a set of Bach mandolin suites.
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The Curdimurka rail siding – near Lake Eyre South in the SA outback – saw its first train in 1888.
The last one went through in 1980, nearly three decades after the pictured water tank and gigantic water softener lost their raison d’être, when diesel electrics replaced steam locomotives in 1951.
This “big softie” was erected in 1943-44, so its working life was very brief.
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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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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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Recently, in a “to cull, to tweak, or to let it be?” mission, I waded through nearly 10,000 images.
I suddenly realised that most of my “single species” wildlife photos involve either a single animal, a pair, or a group/flock/herd of more than four individuals.
Three, I think, is the rarest single-species group size…or number of individuals a photographer can “isolate”, successfully.
This little celebration of “companies of three” will range over three continents and at least one island….
It begins in one of my favourite parts of the island continent.
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