Giraffes know that two heads,
work better than one.
You can look two ways at the same time,
and one head can prod another along!
Three heads are even better than two,
but prone to disagree about directions.
Compromise must be worked out.
Four heads can be confusing,
but giraffes will usually agree.
I wonder, why can’t we?
Cheers to you for the cooperative giraffes of Kruger National Park.
(Note: This is a reworked post from photos taken in 2015.)
A burrowing owl,
at his Salton Sea home in California.
He stayed out for his modeling shoot,
and didn’t fly off or run into his burrow.
He was definitely ready for his close-ups!
Burrowing owls (athene cunicularia hypugaea) are a California species of special concern and are listed as endangered in Canada and threatened in Mexico due to excessive development and habitat loss.
This is his Salton Sea home.
Cheers to you from Southern California’s sociable burrowing owl~
Feeling a bit stressed out these days? (The Beagle Channel Argentina).
Who isn’t? (Banff National Park Canada),
Let’s escape (Coastal Norway),
to peaceful places (Vancouver Island Canada),
and forget our worries (Zermatt Switzerland),
for awhile (Huahine French Polynesia).
I will do another peaceful images post after this (Yellowstone National Park),
because we all benefit from balancing negativity with peace and beauty (Grand Teton National Park).
Cheers to you and remember the beauty~
Pensive Vervet Kruger National Park.
South African zebra Poses for her portrait.
Happy ostrich is ready for a close up,
while artfully made up Ms. Giraffe puts on the glam.
Barbary Ape in Gibraltar looks ready for a serious conversation.
Magellanic penguin stares me down in Ushuaia, Argentina.
California Channel Island Fox poses quite smartly,
while a elephant seal pup in California spins happily in the sea.
Bald Eagle in British Columbia Canada looks at me judgmentally.
Cheers to you from your portrait perfect friends ~
to a garden of dreams,
where worries vanish,
in a tulip trance,
while daffodils dance.
There are over seven million tulips,
in the Keukenhof gardens in The Netherlands.
A perfect place to dream your day away.
I am home for the winter at The Holler, but send you springtime cheers from Keukenhof~
If the headlines are stressing you out,
why not fly with me to visit some flamingos.
These lucky flamingos in Argentina, take off, at the slightest hint of trouble,
and flaming go!
Greater Flamingos,
and Lesser Flamingos, are just as adept at flaming going!
Wish we all could do the same.
Cheers to you from The Holler~
Note: I am currently hunkering down at The Holler and am posting some older photos you may not have seen.
Wild Australian magpies are inquisitive, wise, friendly, and fun to interact with. Like most creatures, they are usually respectful to you, if you are respectful of them.
But, they do swoop!
Swooping means they attack humans, other animals, cars, etc., causing about a thousand human injuries in Australia each spring. See:
https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/how-survive-magpie-swooping-season
They swoop if they perceive their nestlings are in danger….
or maybe, if they are having an irritating day.
Like all corvids, they have excellent memories and hold grudges, so if you bothered a corvid in the past, you better steer clear during swooping season, or else be ready to duck down really fast!
Cheers to you from Australia’s marvelous-memoried, moody-magpies~
I can so relate.
Thanks to covid, it has been seven months since my hair has been professionally cut.
I cut my hair with my husband’s buzzer and it looks much like this kookaburra.
Actually, it looks much better on a kookaburra!
My friend told me, I look, “natural,” which is nice friend speak for “God awful, but real.”
I’m cool with real.
If it’s good enough for the Kookaburra, it’s good enough for me.
Cheers to you and keep smiling~
Hungry gull,
in Coeur d’Alene Idaho,
doesn’t believe in catch and release,
and never feels too full to fly!
Yellow billed stork in Kruger National Park catches catfish at Sunset Dam,
and needs a leg up to swallow it whole!
Cheers to you from your feast & fly feathered fowl friends~
Fishing during the salmon run,
in the Knight Inlet,
British Columbia, Canada.
This set of four cubs was unusual. The smaller cubs will have a harder time in winter.
The bears congregate to gorge on salmon and pack on fat for the winter.
Fights break out over territory in the river,
but none we saw were serious.
The bears are extremely adept at swimming,
and seemed to enjoy taking rests in the cool water.
Even the cubs love to fish and eat!
This mama griz and cub we encountered on the trail in Glacier National Park. An inland bear and cub, not stuffed on salmon, is a far more threatening sight, and you can see mama go on high alert!
She soon relaxed, and even nursed in our presence, after she saw we kept our distance. (You can see these photos by clicking on the following links).
Cheers to you from the precious and endangered grizzlies of North America~
For more of my photos of coastal and inland grizzlies see:
https://cindyknoke.com/2015/09/17/grizzly-daze/
https://cindyknoke.com/2017/01/24/the-grizzlies-are-sleeping/
Note: I am going through photo archives and sharing select photos you may not have seen.
