Those bees just love the sunflowers.
Category: Pretty Critters
Magnificent & Funny
Herons are magnificent birds, elegant and beautiful. I can sit for hours and watch them, it never gets boring.
But when they fly, the spell is broken a bit. They still look impressive, majestically gliding along, but – oh dear, those funny feet.
Do Not Disturb
Getting ready for an well deserved afternoon nap:
But then every nap is well deserved.
Operation "Save The Children"
Down by the river everybody is busy hatching the new families. Some black-necked stilts were quite fast this year; their tiny little fluff balls are already out and about. As every year the parent birds are on high alert: Anything larger than a stilt is a potential danger to the chicks.
What do black-necked stilts (being rather small and fragile birds) do to protect their young as long as they can’t fly? As soon as the parent birds see anything dangerous approaching, they start to lure the assumed predator away.
Hey, I am here. HERE!
Look, something is wrong with me.
I can’t fly.
My legs are giving up.
I’m done – broken wing, can’t run any more.
If the assumed predator now approaches the stilt, the bird musters up the last remnants of strength to fly again. Not very far, then it has to land again… that wing, you know… just a bit farther away from the spot where the little ones are hiding. This game continues until the stilt calculates that the distance to the hiding place is long enough – end of operation, miracle cure, the stilt flies away and returns to the spot where the chicks are safely tucked away, in a nice grass thicket or such. There the other parent joins in to give the “all clear” signal.
# 1 has left cover.
# 2 made it safely back too – hurray, the family is united again.
Tiny Faces Of A Huge Problem
According to the Los Angeles Animal Services the city is populated at any time by approximately 26,000 – 48,000 stray dogs and 3 million feral cats.
In 2006 alone 46,000 animals found their way into the Los Angeles shelters, where they are kept for 52 days plus 7 additional days in the hope that they will be adopted. In 2006 this hope did not come true for 28 percent of the dogs and 57 percent of the cats. They were euthanized.
Enter the private and non-profit organizations, who run no-kill shelters for strays and also rescue animals from the city shelters to find new homes for them. These places, like the city shelters, are constantly battling with overcrowding and under funding. Most of them could not survive at all, where it not for volunteers giving their time (and money) to keep the safe havens for dogs and cats alive and operating.
The two tiny critters in the photo are foundlings, delivered to the Sante D’or Foundation on Sunset. There they will be available for adoption, together with their feline friends, rabbits and sometimes dogs, also looking for new homes.
The Raven
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door –
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door –
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Edgar Allan Poe ‘The Raven” 1845
Perched he was, together with his raven feathered mistress, high above me on top of the Wrigley Memorial on Catalina Island.
Ravens mate for life, but comes mating season the male has to bring the female presents of twigs and branches to repair last year’s nest. These two were apparently in the midst of preparing to raise a new family, because that was how I discovered them – the male came flying in with a particularly nice small branch. Once he sat on the ledge I noticed that it was indeed a raven; when sitting still their long throat feathers flutter in the wind, which makes these birds easily distinguishable from crows.
After some arranging of the new addition to the abode, high up on the memorial, the male raven took off again; maybe Madame was not yet satisfied.
Apparently the time of perching and sitting and saying nothing more is still a way off for this particular member of the species; his mate seems to keep him busy.
Bliss Is… Not Being Lunch
“What’s for lunch?” said the California King Snake (Lampropeltis getulus).
“Not me,” answered the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis).
Well, good luck. California Kings Snakes do not only like lizards, rodents and birds, they also do not mind having a Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) now and then; it’s good that they are immune to the toxins of venomous snakes.
Zut Alors!
I knew it, the day would come, and today it happened. The cats have hogged the trackball.
What’s next? Online orders at “Chez Chat” – the place which advertises with the slogan ‘We spoil the coolest cats in town with purrrfect service?”
Are they going to have Finch a l’Orange and Buffalo Mice delivered?
One thing is certain; I will keep a close eye on the credit card statements.
Cute With An Attitude
Even though most hummingbirds in SoCal wing it over to Mexico to spend the winter there, some stay, so that one can watch them all year long. In Spring, however, the main flock returns and one can see them everywhere.
Apart from their amazing flight abilities they also have a major attitude – they fiercely defend their territories and their feeding sources. Watching a full-blown hummer battle is quite a sight; these tiny birds really have a go at it. They do not hurt each other, but if the intruder does not fly away after an initial bluffing charge, occasionally one can see a feather or two fly.
This little member of the species however had nothing to fear. Either no other hummingbirds had discovered its feeding source – or it was replenishing spent energy after driving away all rivals.
No Paparazzi, Please!
It is quite amazing how the felines in this house react to being photographed; Julchen poses to no end, she loves having her picture taken, she could be a regular Marilyn Monroe, making love to the camera. Well, at least she always adopts the role of sweet kittie, harmless, gentle and subdued:
Which she is not, actually (at least not very often).
Iko-Chan hates the camera as an intrusion into her privacy. She regards the flash as a personal insult, the very thought of being frozen in any moment of time on a hard drive annoys her. Most of the time she adopts the role of the very angry diva, ready for a hissy fit:
Which she is not, actually (at least not all of the time).