Thursday, April 26, 2018

Creative Spot by Indra Anandasabapathy



Pelicans. Large birds hover over the water before diving to catch fish at great speed. They are protected by air sacks around the neck & shoulders. 
In flight resemble the birds from the movie Jurassic park.



Spoonbill roseate- native of south Florida

15 comments:

  1. Hi,Indra,
    I am happy to see that your are an admirer of flora and fauna.
    Observing natural beauties will certainly enhance our brain functions.I am sure,Speedy will certainly approve my way of thinking.
    By the way,we awaiting your expert opinion about the meanings of some Tamil words

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  2. Yes. Very good speedy.
    It looks more gray than blue, a loner and very dignified and remarkably streamlined in flight.
    ia

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  3. The birds are multiplying like rabbits on your post Indra!

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  4. Thank you Indra- Herons are such streamlined and elegant birds.
    There is also much myth and magic surrounding them.
    I read a beautifully written article with the title
    ‘Bird of Myth and Elegance’ by Les Line in the National Wildlife Federation website some years ago, and printed it out as I was so fascinated by it. For anyone interested, I have just checked- it is still available - a joy to read.

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  5. Shall refer this Rohini. Your wide knowledge and interests never cease to amaze me. Good on you!

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  6. Mahen, Your many talents don’t cease to amaze me either!
    A while ago when we were talking about herons, I sent the above article to Lucky so everyone could enjoy it, but it was not possible to get it into the blog in the format I had sent it, and I didn’t know any other way of doing it!
    However I have now found a link which I can send you if you haven’t already found the article . Hope you enjoy it.

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  7. Rohini. That was a great article and for the benefit of other readers, I am posting the link you sent me.

    https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/1993/Bird-of-Myth-and-Elegance

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    1. Just to whet the appetite (just copy and paste the text I gave on your browser folks- you can't just click on it in my post), you will see this, and this is just the beginning..read on!
      Picture this. The moon has set early over the marsh, and clouds have veiled the constellations. In the pitch blackness, a great blue heron stands still, as herons have stood for millenia. Fish dart in the inky shallows, sensed but not seen. And so the heron nibbles with its bill at a patch of feathers on its breast, then sprinkles powder onto the water. In a flash, a phosphorescent glow lights the scene, exposing a school of shiners. With a lightning thrust, the heron seizes two minnows in its twin-pronged spear.

      Beleve it or not? Not! Yet bygone stories of herons using a luminous powder on nocturnal fishing trips persisted well into this century. No wonder; Deliciously fantastic beliefs have followed the long-necked and long-legged birds through the centuries and across oceans. And even as scientific scrutiny has debunked the myths, the truth about these elegant creatures has proved no less beguiling than the fiction-inspiring as much poetry as research.

      Standing 4 feet tall, with a wingspread of 6 feet, a familiar sight in any wet place, the "hernshaw" of England and the "blue crane" that colonists found wading about the marshes of New England commands attention. A trio of herons surprised by philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau in the last century "seemed to oppress the earth, and hush the hillside to silence, as they winged their way over it."

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    2. I read the full article "Bird of Myth and Elegance" using the link. It was not possible to read it in the format Rohini had sent.

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    3. I am glad you did Lucky. It was such an informative one.

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  8. Nothing to do with birds but please visit my Amaradeva song post (Sasara wasana) and look at my last comment for something song lovers will love.

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  9. Thanks Mahen- enjoyed it very much even without the words!
    A beautiful lively melody.

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