VERY DIFFERENT BIRDS!

Heidy-Ho, Blogging Pals!  Hope your summer has been fantastic thus far!

It's a little nature post today.

My first photo is from a very early morning walk.  I had noticed a few small "V"s of these birds one morning and reported to the spousal-unit that "there must have been 50 to 100 of these beauties in several groups flying over me" during my stroll.  Based on their "S" curved necks and very long legs trailing, I determined they were likely egrets.  (If you want to research the difference between herons and egrets, feel free... but it is mostly coloration and I'm not going to spend that much time!)

The next morning, I paid a bit more attention and was delighted to discover my original estimate of numbers was short.  "There must have been between 200 to 300 this morning" was the report to the spousal-unit.

Imagine my surprise one early morning following when I came to a halt and watched the sky above as literally HUNDREDS, perhaps nearly a thousand, of these lovely creatures flew over m e in "V"s ranging from 3 birds to 20+ birds!!  I have determined there is clearly a rookery or at least a substantial roosting area nearby.  There are definitely plenty of waterways nearby so I am not surprised.  At any rate, they are very quiet and fly lower when there are clouds and higher when there is clear sky above them.  I keep watch for them now every day but have given up trying to get any reasonable count.  There are just too many... and I am just glad for that!!

Look closely at the upper left to see a particularly large group of egrets flying overhead as dawn breaks

Obviously when we say "birds", the winged variety comes to mind.  There are other "birds", however, that aren't so immediate in our brains.  One of my favorite "other" types of bird is the intricate bird-of-paradise flower.  In fact, it is my very favorite flower... and I don't even much like orange as a color!!  The beauty of this particular flower, however, allows me to ignore the orange color while admiring the beauty of the configuration and combined colors of this bloom.

I had always lamented that I did not have one but assumed it would be difficult to grow and require a lot of maintenance that I wasn't sure I was interested in performing.  (Remember... to succeed in my yard, you must be able to make it on your own!)  About three years ago, I ran across a single plant at a local nursery and decided to buy it just for fun.  I wasn't even sure it would make the first year, quite honestly.  I put it in a large pot and moved it, covered, into a protected corner for the past two winters.  It did grow nicely but there were never signs of flowering.  That was okay.  It was hanging in there, remaining alive, and that meant there was always hope.

Well... hope springs eternal.  Here are a few photos during August 2012.

Look closely for 3 separate bloom stalks with pointed tips

The first bloom begins to peek out giving a hint of the glorious colors

The first set of petals on the first bloom

The second set of petals on the first bloom

So... I am happy to have the first bloom and look forward to the remaining two blooms.  It appears they will bloom in sequence as opposed to simultaneously but that's just fine with me.  To have blooms when none were expected... well, that's just fun for me!

Until next post...