Masked Lapwing

Sometimes I would see a small flock of  masked lapwings (Vanellus miles) foraging on the grass around the bikeway and try to capture a pic or two of them but they would fly off screeching or something when I try to come closer . The bird calls aren’t very nice to begin with, almost irritating in comparison with other birdcalls.

 However, I managed to get up close with a masked lapwing in a park the other day as this one stood its ground.

It’s easy to see why.

She had a chick and she gave me real loud alarming warning calls that probably meant “Don’t even think about it! ” in human terms . Although I did get a little closer but not too close - I’ve been rammed on my legs by a mother hen once when I picked up some chicks and that wasn’t very pleasant so I really don’t want to find what this lapwing would do.

This chick is rather cute though, don’t you think? Check out the fluffy stuff around its neck!

 

For more great bird pics, visit Bird Photography Weekly #62.

The sky is overcast

- The sky is overcast
With a continuous cloud of texture close,
Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon,
Which through that veil is indistinctly seen,
A dull, contracted circle, yielding light
So feebly spread, that not a shadow falls,
Chequering the ground–from rock, plant, tree, or tower.
At length a pleasant instantaneous gleam
Startles the pensive traveller while he treads
His lonesome path, with unobserving eye
Bent earthwards; he looks up–the clouds are split
Asunder,–and above his head he sees
The clear Moon, and the glory of the heavens.
There, in a black-blue vault she sails along,
Followed by multitudes of stars, that, small
And sharp, and bright, along the dark abyss
Drive as she drives: how fast they wheel away,
Yet vanish not!–the wind is in the tree,
But they are silent;–still they roll along
Immeasurably distant; and the vault,
Built round by those white clouds, enormous clouds,
Still deepens its unfathomable depth.
At length the Vision closes; and the mind,
Not undisturbed by the delight it feels,
Which slowly settles into peaceful calm,
Is left to muse upon the solemn scene.

William Wordsworth

Rainbow Bee-eaters

Rainbow bee-eaters

Wings fuelled

by the knowledge of bees

 

turning on axles of air

each crescent beak

 

An orange-coloured talisman

Once snowy-headed elders

 

gathered honey bags

in turpentine forests

 

feathery blurs eating bees

hovering miracles

 

alongside ancient cliffs

flashed brightly

 

Your film exposed to them

transparencies

to stay love by catching day

light on pages

 

the translucent calligraphy

of wings

 

by Robert Adamson, The Goldfinches of Baghdad

Such a mirage of my mind..

When I was in primary school , every Monday morning , we would have assembly and the whole school would have to sing  a few songs . One morning , we sang and and after we finished the music teacher asked, “Who’s that person with that voice?” Nobody owned up.

She was adamant  and insisted every row to sing a line or two. She played the piano and went row by row to see who it was. It wasn’t very hard to pinpoint whoever it was. The children didn’t sing very eagerly (except that person.) And the next morning , when we were lining up outside to go into class she came up to me and asked me to join the choir. I said okay.Being naturally bashful as a kid,  I didn’t apply to be in the choir… but that was how I got in!

A song the choir had to sing for a school play, loosely based on the Arabian Nights  : 

Such a mirage of my mind

I have travelled far to find

Visions fragile as a breeze

An illusion made to please

mirage be mine , mirage be mine

Blazing in the desert glare

See the answer to my prayer

One to perfect to be real

At who’s feet I long to kneel

Mirage be mine , mirage be mine

Put your gentle hands in mine

As we tread the sands of time

Love forever join like hands

Strong against the drifting sand…

Skywatch: A study with a view

I was taking pics of trees in the Botanic Gardens when I came across these guys. Actually, I didn’t notice them at first, as I was busy taking pics of the tree they were sitting under, from a distance. Then when I came closer, I noticed they were gawking at me , like wondering what on earth is she doing? !… So I thought I ‘d get my own back. Hehehe. (Sorry guys if you happen to stumble across this post. All in good humour.)

 

Cute intellectual types, having a study group session in Spanish judging from the books on the table.

 

A lovely place to study or read a book. This is how the view looks like from where we were. 

 I love the way the mangrove tree grows slanting up from the river bank.

 

 

The famous landmark Storey bridge in the distance where they organize climbs to the top if you’re into that sort of thing.

 

For more blogs with sky pics. visit Skywatch Friday.

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled..

It’s Spring in the Southern hemisphere but my memory still connotes this time of the year with Autumn. 

A song I used to sing in primary school, practically all primary school kids in the UK would have sung  this song at some point…

Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell.
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All the things I love so well.
So I mustn’t forget…
No I mustn’t forget…
To say a great big thank you I mustn’t forget.
 

 

Go to this blog for full lyrics.

You can also check out the melody at youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9mvrkQbzgc

Scarlet honeyeater

Some cropped shots I got of the scarlet honeyeater when I went birding with Wren and Birds Queensland (though they didn’t turn very well I’m afraid). I thought the burst of colour it represented was quite spectacular in contrast with the drab and dull bush environment it lives in. Definitely my fave bird that day!

 

Twas the 15th of September

I ‘m a bit techie challenge at the moment and having trouble linking to pics gallery as they have changed the way of doing things here. So I’ll do a blogpost without pics this time.

Keeping with the ship theme of the previous post, a song I remember from my childhood and thought I’ll  write it down before it corrodes from my memory…( I wonder if anyone still remember this song!)

You are suppose to sing it with a lil celtic flair or accent or whatever:

Twas the 15th of September

How well I do remember

I nearly broke my poor ol’ mother’s heart

For I shipped with Captain Nipper

On a big four master clipper

Bound away down south for foreign parts

 

And the wind began to blow

And the ship began to roll

And a devil of a hurricane did blow

Aye aye yo!

It nearly broke the stuffin

Of the good ship rug-a-muffin

Bound away down south for foreign parts…

Skywatch: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

 

Part of the film “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” was shot at Cleveland Point in Brisbane where I was a couple of week ago. It is the third instalment of the Chronicles of Narnia adapted from the book of the same title written by C.S. Lewis. It  is scheduled for release in 2010. That’s next year.

I was taking pics of shorebirds beforehand and didn’t take much notice of the ship until I read the notice that said it was for a movie production. So I googled it later on to check which movie it was for and got stoke that it was for Chronicles of Narnia which happened to be one of my favourite books when I was a kid. (Still is.)

 

They were already dismantling the ship when I took this one .  I’m not too happy with the pine tree on the right that kept hindering me from taking a clear shot of the ship.

 

 

Anyway, here is one I took a week earlier whilst driving  past so it isn’t very sharp. I gather they were still filming on location when I took this one but there wasn’t any parking nearby so I left without coming out from the car. (If only I knew then that it was for Narnia…)

 

Also,you can see a bird’s eye view of the hugely constructed dawn treader from this site .

 

For more wonderful blogs with sky pics, visit Skywatch Friday.

Pied Oystercatchers

Some pics of Pied Oystercatchers (Haematopus Longirostris) and an Eastern Curlew (Numenius Madagascariensis) I saw at the seaside. I wasn’t able to get down to the said beach itself  as it was fenced off for a film production.  I got pics of the film set of which they were dismantling that day and probably will post it for Skywatch Friday. The film is based on one of the books of a series written by my fave author when I was a kid but enough of that… and onto the the bird pics.

The Pied Oystercatchers are going this way —>and the Eastern Curlew is going <— (that way), in case you didn’t noticed that already.

 

A close up of a pied oystercatcher. This is the first time I saw this specie and find the colour intensity of its plumage etc invigorating as compared to that of seagulls which I’ve seen countless times at the seaside.

 

For more great bird pics , visit Bird Photography Weekly .