Wordless Wednesday

21 april, 202121 april, 2021 / Leya / 34 kommentarer

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #144 – Taking Flight

19 april, 202119 april, 2021 / Leya / 89 kommentarer

Birds, butterflies, bees and other insects, airplanes, balloons, bubbles, kites….well, this week, Tina invites us to be creative and choose whichever flying objects that catches our imagination and our lens. Go to her amazingly beautiful post to visit Kiawah!

I don’t have a perfect long lens, so I will stick with the Galapagos Islands, where you have no need for a long lens, but get to see and love all wildlife close-up, just by your side. And, they do have one of the funniest birds for taking flight…

Also called the waved albatross, the Galapagos albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) is the largest bird in the Galapagos, with a wingspan of up to 250 centimetres (8.2 feet). They breed exclusively on Española Island.

The Galapagos albatross engages in a rather elaborate courtship dance, and as our timing was right, we were lucky enough to see this on our trip to the Galapagos Islands in 2016.

The dance involves a good deal of bill circling and bill clacking. There is also head nodding, and waddling. The waved albatross makes a strange sound during the dance, not dissimilar to the moo of a cow.

Once an albatross has selected a partner, they mate for life.

Albatrosses live much longer than other birds; they delay breeding for longer and invest more effort into fewer young. Most species survive upwards of 50 years, and the oldest recorded was ringed in 1956 as a mature adult and hatched another chick in February 2021, making her at least 70 years old. In fact she is the oldest confirmed wild bird and the oldest banded bird in the world.

These birds weigh between 2.7 and 4 kilograms (6 – 8.8 pounds) and males are typically quite a lot heavier than females. When taking off, albatrosses need to take a run up to allow enough air to move under the wing to provide a lift. We saw them run up to the edge of the cliff and jump off to propel themselves into the air. I was sitting 5-10 meters from the action.

However, landing is also quite tricky for this large bird. Because the albatross has a high stalling speed, the landing can seem rather clumsy. (Who doesn’t remember that Disney movie with Orville the Albatross…?)

Seeing a waved albatross fly is quite the sight, they are amazing flyers, soaring dynamically. They stay in the air for many hours and they rarely stall. That’s why sailors used to believe these birds were supernatural.

Due to their great wingspan the bird glides gracefully while up in the skies. In fact the wingspans of the largest great albatrosses (genus *Diomedea*) are the largest of any bird, exceeding 340 cm (11.2 ft),

In nautical lore, albatrosses are a sign of good fortune, and killing one is meant to bring bad luck. As in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Thank you for your responses to last week’s Colorful April challenge – you shared some amazing examples of April’s incredible beauty. We look forward to seeing your interpretation of this week’s Taking Flight challenge – please remember to link to Tina’s original post and to include the Lens-Artists Tag. We hope you’ll join us again next week when we welcome our Guest Host, Priscilla of Scillagrace . Be sure to check out her ever-thoughtful and interesting blog.

Stay safe and well.

Silent Sunday

18 april, 202116 april, 2021 / Leya / 9 kommentarer

And the wrinkled rhubarbs finally arrived!

17 april, 2021 / Leya / 28 kommentarer

For Debbies SixWordSaturday

Thursday Thoughts

15 april, 202114 april, 2021 / Leya / 45 kommentarer

We truly live in a magical world – not only in my many corona jigsaw puzzles.

As the sun is warming up my forest, I walk slowly and rejoice in the small signs of life returning from its winter sleep.

The brook is alive again, and lying on the ground I could easily fall asleep listening to its happy rippling. Milo and Totti do not agree with me there…they run into it, happily splashing while I quietly laugh at them – trying to save my trousers from getting all wet.

There is a special light in the air, a light that only arrives with spring…soft, silent and promising. And the song thrush throws his clear tunes into the open sky.

The little wren is fluttering in every corner of the dense forest floor – letting his clear voice be heard while he is watching me watching him. Isn’t it magical how such a tiny bird can harbour this great voice? He will not let me photograph him though…

Tiny buds are coming out – and soon the forest will be all green. I always love the forest, in all its shapes and costumes, but maybe the most this time of the year. In spring it is ”transparent”…and I can see everything before it becomes hidden in green plumes.

The sun is luring the ants to come out. Seeing them swarm like this always makes me think what a dreary life they must have. Work. Only work. When I was a child I felt so sorry for them – no fun ever! My mother and I used to give them a lump of sugar – a feast to wonder at. Of course I did the same thing with my own children as well.

The spring wonder is arriving. And I am more grateful than ever – it has been a long and hard year.

Wordless Wednesday

14 april, 2021 / Leya / 26 kommentarer

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #143 – Colourful April

13 april, 202113 april, 2021 / Leya / 73 kommentarer

Amy asks for a colourful April this week – and usually it is, even in Sweden. This year though, has so far been some degrees colder than usual. But, there is a positive side to it as well …

Sweet April showers do spring May flowers. – Thomas Tusser

To get you in the mood – tulips from Keukenhof in the opener!

However, with the lack of colours (except for the hepaticas I posted in the last challenge) this April, I first decided to use April colours from earlier years, starting with my garden magnolias. But, after a day on the hunt in the forest… I changed my mind. Surely there must be some colours to capture this year as well!

A sea of last year’s grass softly carried my feet up to the old sallow.

The silken colours against the grey trees –

And the lower you go towards the ground…

…the more colourful it gets. Mosses and lichen, mushrooms and leaves.

I got the soft colours I was looking for…

…even if modestly displayed. Nettles and the alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage are keeping each other company. In Sweden we call this tiny yellow plant ”golden powder” Due to drying wetlands, I understand it is becoming rare, and it is protected in several countries.

Wood anemonies are usually abundant in April, but 2021 the snow and cold has kept them down so much that I doubt we shall see them carpeting the forest floor this year.

Anyhow – spring has sprung, and the colours are beginning to arrive here too. Hope you are enjoying lovely weather and delightful days!

Finally a big Thank you for using your abundant imaginative powers for last week’s You Pick It! Inspirational, diverse, sweet, thrilling, magical…we have enjoyed your choices to the full! Now we hope to see you here again for Colourful April. Please use the Lens-Artists tag and add a link to Amy’s colourful original post!

Next week Tina will be your host. Stay tuned, take care and be kind to others and to yourself.