Birdies are ballet masters.
Forget the plie’.
Birdies excel at the grand battement!
They extend their limbs,
with precise acumen!
Even the goosies get into the game!
Cheers to you from Oz’s high stepping hoofers~
Prima Ballerinas in order of appearance: Australian Wood Duck, Masked Lapwing, Cape Barren Goose
The Holler is quite buggy so it is most helpful for this little guy to catch both the spider and the spider’s catch all in the same web!
Rock Wrens are diligent feathered bug catchers.
They are always hunting and eating.
Rock Wrens are year round residents at The Holler and they are the only species in their genus, Salpinctes.
Rock Wrens are glorious songbirds whose music fills our days. Click to hear their vocalizations:
Cheers to you from The Holler’s hungry, musical and industrious wrens~
Of flying fairies.
It’s a bit tricky to take a photo and feed a hummer at the same time!
Most of The Holler Hummers are packing on calories now to prepare for migration.
Black Chinned Hummingbirds, like the one pictured above, travel to western Mexico or the Gulf.
Rufous Hummingbirds (above) have one of the largest migratory bird journeys in the world, flying up to 3,900 miles each year. Rufous populations are in decline due to habitat destruction and they are now designated a threatened species.
Some Anna’s hummingbirds stay year round at The Holler.
Responsibly maintained backyard bird feeders have helped vulnerable hummingbird species thrive.
They have brought dwindling population numbers up and expanded the territory of many species.
During migration, hummingbird hearts can beat over 1200 times per minute, their wings can flap 80 times per second, and they often fly alone.
Cheers to you from The Holler’s magical flying fairies~
Teach me,
that just because,
we cannot see something,
doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Cheers to you from unseen beauty everywhere~
Hovering in mid flight,
reaching speeds of 60 mph,
with a tongue that is longer than their body,
the only bird in the world that can fly backwards and upside down,
weighing about a tenth of an ounce,
and battling for turf and territory daily with their lethal spear beaks,
hummers are flying,
works of art,
with attitudes!
Cheers to you from The Holler Hummers~
I thought it might be time to post some more Holler Hummers.
Hummingbirds in your backyard,
make everyday brighter.
They accompany me on my gardening rounds,
and buzz the camera when I am taking their photos.
If the feeder’s empty,
they swarm my office window until I get up and fill them!
They are quite persuasive,
for such wee tiny critters, weighing only .11 ounces!
Cheers to you from The Holler’s ever entertaining colibris~
This gorgeous pair of red tailed black cockatoos was photographed at the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley in Victoria Australia during our February trip.
There are five sub-species of red tailed black cockatoos in Australia, with two sub-species under serious threat.
Healesville Sanctuary is dedicated to the recovery of 27 threatened native Australian species.
It’s animal hospital treats over 1500 sick or injured native animals each year, and it has an active breeding program for threatened species.
Although I was able to photograph other black cockatoos in the wild during our February trip, these were the only red tails I was lucky enough to see.
Cheers to you from Australia’s iconic red tailed black cockatoos~
For more on Healesville’s important work see:
https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/habitats/main-track/australian-wildlife-health-centre/
Quiet beauty.
For difficult days.
Fragile.
Strong.
Like you,
and I.
Orchids grow,
in volcanic rock.
Beauty blooms from fire.
Cheers to you and keep on blooming~
Sticking his tongue out at you!
Actually, don’t be offended. It was at me not you.
There were joey’s too!
Like babies everywhere, they spent their time eating & sleeping.
While the parents kept vigil.
Adults are well equipped for both fight & flight.
Cheers to you from Australia’s normally quite polite roos~
I was watering The Holler flowers,
daydreaming, not paying attention,
when out of the corner of my eye, I spied,
baby Hunca Munca and her three little brothers,
desperately climbing and clinging to the fountain grass.
I had inadvertently flooded their nest!
Needless to say, I gave watering a rest.
Cheers to you from all the living creatures at The Holler~
Note: For more about Hunca Munca see, “The Classic Tale of Two Bad Mice,” by Beatrix Potter.
