Bird Moments Part 2

 Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.
-  Chinese Proverb

Blue Wing Kookaburra

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.
Lou Holtz 

 

Treecreeper

Have you ever observed a humming-bird moving about in an aerial dance among the flowers a living prismatic gem it is a creature of such fairy-like loveliness as to mock all description. W.H. Hudson, Green Mansions

Humming Bird

Use the talents you possess for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best.Henry Van Dyke

Wagtail

Willy Willy Wagtail sitting on a cow's tail cow did a pee and Willy had a cup of tea.

Could'nt resist throwing this in.One of my dad's favorites when I was small and the little ditty I have passed on to my children along with this one.

Ask ya mother for sixpence to see the giant giraffe with pimples on his eyebrows and spots upon his as....k ya mother for sixpence repeat.

Figbird

Located across Australia's Top end and down the Eastern seaboard to South of Sydney, found in forest edges, parks and gardens, the Figbird is a locally nomadic bird which roams in search of native and cultivated fruits and figs

Fig Bird

Hoodwinked Eagle 

Eagle attacking Mountain Goat

Lorikeet Feeding

The Rainbow Lorikeet is unmistakable with its bright red beak and colourful plumage. Both sexes look alike, with a blue (mauve) head and belly, green wings, tail and back, and an orange/yellow breast. They are often seen in loud and fast-moving flocks, or in communal roosts at dusk.

Minahs Chatting

A Bird

A bird came down the walk,
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.
And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

by Emily Dickinson

Swamp Hen

You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes
Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing
On his darkest day he believes in Spring
Douglas Malloch

A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week,
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.  


Dixon Lanier Merritt

Family of Cormorants

The Raven Edgar Allen Poe

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only 
 That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. 
 Nothing further then he uttered not a feather then he fluttered 
 Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before 
 On the morrow will he leave me, as my hopes have flown before." 
 Then the bird said, "Nevermore."  

Bob Marley Three Little Birds

Music Moments of the Sixties and Seventies

Linda Ronstadt Desparado

1971 in California, Don Henley and Glenn Frey meet as members of Linda Ronstadt's band.They record an album called Silk Purse with Linda. Its here they form a band and sign with Asylum records that band is the Eagles.joining them are Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner.Linda covers this song beautifully having such a close link to the writers probably helps.

Desperado,you aint getting no younger.
Your pain and your hunger,
They're driving you home.And freedom, ohh freedom.Well that's just some people talking.

Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late 

 

Rome Was'nt Built in a Day

Johnnie Taylor produced by the great Sam Cooke on the Sar Label.

   Sam Cookes legacy as a record company owner and record producer receives little exposure. Cooke and his long-time friend and singing associate J. W. Alexander started the Sar label in 1957 writing and producing songs for other artists like Johnnie Taylor. It was dissolved shortly after Cooke's tragic death in 1964. The rights to the recordings and the publishing were bought up shortly thereafter by Allen Klein, who was Cooke's last manager. Fifty-seven singles and Four LPs were issued on the Sar label and 11 45s and two LPs on its companion label, Derby Records.

Can You Feel It Michael Jackson

This was recorded at the end of the disco era 1980

All the colors of the world should be

Lovin` each other wholeheartedly

Yes, it`s all right

Take my message to your brother and tell him twice

Spread the word and try to teach the man

Who`s hating his brother, when hate won`t do

King Harvest with Dancin in the Moonlight

In the spring of 1971, the band signed a recording contract with the French record company Musidisc, and in the fall of 1971, the group recorded Dancing in the Moonlight in a small studio in the 18th district of Paris.  Eddie had to sing lead out in the stairwell, which was a natural echo chamber (as long as the neighbors didn’t come out during the recording), and the peculiar percussion sound they got was the result of using a toilet brush instead of some more modern percussion instrument.

This song has been covered by many artists including Thin Lizzy and Toploader.

Everybody here is out of sight
They don't bark, and they don't bite
They keep things loose, they keep things light
Everybody was dancin' in the moonlight

 Young Hearts Run Free Candi Staton

This song was written by David Crawford in 1976 based around Candi Statons personal life. An abusive relationship and turmoilshe was in at that time.

Love the line. Self preservation is what's really going on today.

Song of the River

        We are staying on the river this week be it the silver singing river of Bob Dylan's or the river of life in Leonard Cohen's Suzanne.There is the great Salmon River known as the River of No Return or share a moment with Shenandoah"s daughter on the great Missouri.So many feelings are stirred by these beautiful gifts.

River Song
Featured in that beautiful movie Marley and Me

Dennis Wilson

You can only see about a block or two

In L. A. that's the truth

I'm lookin' for some country life

Some kickin' room no more city life

I want the river

Rollin on River

Suzanne and the St Lawrence River 

Of all the great rivers in the World the St. Lawrence is the most remarkable. It constitutes by far the largest body of fresh water in the world. Including the lakes and streams, which it comprises in its widest acceptation, the St. Lawrence covers about 73,000 square miles.
  Leonard Cohen's  beautiful poetry was put together while spending the time of his youth and many hours of that was spent with Suzanne at her gypsy home on this river having tea and oranges.

St Lawrence River

Suzanne

Leonard Cohen

Suzanne takes you down

to her place near the river

you can hear the boats go by

you can spend the night beside her

And you know she’s half crazy

and she feeds you tea and oranges
that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
that you have no love to give her
then she gets you on her wavelength
and she lets the river answer
that you’ve always been her lover

Now Suzanne takes your hand
and she leads you to the river
she is wearing rags and feathers
from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
on our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
among the garbage and flowers

Shenandoah and the Missouri River

The Missouri River drains one-sixth of the United States and encompasses 529,350 square miles. It flows 2,341 miles from the Rocky Mountains to its merging with the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri.

The basin is home to about 10 million people from 28 Native American tribes, 10 states (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming), and a small part of Canada.

Shenandoah Sissel

Salmon River or the River of No Return

Few places in America, and nowhere outside of Alaska, provide a Wilderness experience to match the sheer magnitude of the Salmon River often referred as "River of No Return",

    The Salmon River domninates central Idaho. Its source is in the Sawtooth Mountains. The river flows north through Stanley, then veers west into the Salmon Mountains and the Frank Church Wilderness to Riggins, Idaho. The section of River between North Fork and Riggins Idaho is aptly dubbed the River of No Return.The Salmon River was called “The River of No Return” back in the early days when boats could navigate down the river, but could not get back up through the fast water and numerous rapids.  The romantic name lives on today.

River of No Return Marilyn Monroe
This is in Memory of my Dad his Number One Song 

If you listen, you can hear it call

There is a river called the River of No Return
Sometimes it's peaceful, and sometimes wild and free.
Love is a traveler on the River of No Return.
Swept on forever to be lost in the stormy sea.

Tomorrow is a Long Time Bob Dylan

There's beauty in the silver, singin' river,
There's beauty in the rainbow in the sky,
But no one and nothing else can touch the beauty
That I remember in my true love's eyes.

On The River

Mooloolah River at Dusk

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To a river so deep 

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

Through the valley of fear

To a river so deep

  River of Dreams Billy Joel

Banks of Maroochy River at Sunset

Catawba Wine Henry Longfellow

There grows no vine
By the haunted Rhine,
By Danube or Guadalquivir,
Nor on island or cape,
That bears such a grape
As grows by the Beautiful River.

Evangeline Longfellow

IT was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful River,

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wabash,

Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi,

Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian boatmen

Rhine 

Yangtze 

Congo River  

Mississippi River 
Danube

Pelicans on the Maroochy River

When the time keeps passing and the world goes round
and the sea is crashing at the cliffs and the sounds
erupting as the seabirds cry, you can watch the river
as the time goes by 

And you met the people and you knew them well
and you said you loved them and you rang the bell
in the tree of life you watched them grow
and the world is turning as the river flows

Charles M Moore

Looking up the Noosa River


Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea, yeah!
Lonely rivers sigh "wait for me, wait for me"
I'll be coming home,
Wait for me.

 Unchained Melody U2 

 Beautiful Mary River Maryborough

Big wheel keep on turnin',
Proud Mary keep on burnin',
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river.

If you come down to the river,
Bet you gonna find some people who live.
You don't have to worry though you have no money,
People on the river are happy to give.

 Proud Mary CCR

Beautiful Maroochy River at Sunset 

Watching the Sunset

Pelican on the River

Footprints in the Sand 

Sunset over Chambers Island

Day ending between Trees

Bird Moments

Our moments blog this week is on unique birds.These include the Lyrebird,Bird of Paradise,Barking Owl.Enjoy! 

Lyrebird the  Impersonator

 The Lyrebird is the world's best impersonator.  It can mimic the sound and songs of other birds perfectly but its talent does not stop there.  It is also known to have imitated sounds of chainsaws, dogs barking, babies crying, musical instruments and explosions. 

Bird of Paradise 

The Song and Dance Bird

There are more than three dozen species of the birds of paradise. Most are distinguished by striking colors and bright plumage of yellow, blue, scarlet, and green. These colors distinguish them as some of the world's most dramatic and attractive birds.

Their elaborate dances, poses, and other rituals accentuate their appearance and put on a phenomenal show for both female birds and any humans lucky enough to be in the vicinity. Such displays can last for hours, and in many species they consume a significant part of the male's time.Birds of paradise are found in New Guinea and surrounding islands. The manucodes and riflebirds species also dwell in Australia.

The Barking Owl

The Barking Owl is named for its harsh 'barking' call but can also make a much louder, wailing cry, which has given rise to another name, the 'screaming-woman bird.It can also turn its head 360 degrees.

Interesting photos taken of birds here on the Sunshine Coast

Seagull Noosa

Pelicans Fighting Rainbow Beach

Lorikeets in Love

Minahs Chatting Eumundi

  

Kookaburras on Epitaph

Bullfighting and Grand National

Sporting Traditions on the Chopping Block
Bullfighting

The spectacle of bullfighting has existed in one form or another since ancient days. For example, a contest of some sort is depicted in a wall painting unearthed at Knossos in Crete, dating from about 2000 BC. It shows male and female acrobats confronting a bull, grabbing its horns as it charges, and vaulting over its back.

    As bullfighting developed, the men on foot, who by their capework aided the horsemen in positioning the bulls, began to draw more attention from the crowd, and the modern corrida began to take form. Today the bullfight is much the same as it has been since about 1726.

    A bullfight typically lasts about 20 minutes, and the bull is stabbed numerous times before the fatal blow delivered with a sword thrust between its shoulder blades.The fighting bulls are specially bred and traditionally a corrida involves six bulls and three matadors, each of whom tackles two bulls.

  The parliament of Catalonia has voted to ban bullfighting - the first region of mainland Spain to do so.The vote took place as the result of a petition brought to parliament, signed by 180,000 people who say the practice is barbaric and outdated. The ban takes effect in January 2012.

Be aware this is a cruel sport. Its not sport in my opinion.

The Bullfight

Grand National

Aintree

  The first official races at Aintree were organised by a syndicate, headed by the owner of Liverpool’s Waterloo Hotel, Mr William Lynn. He leased the land from Lord Sefton, set out a course and built a grandstand. Lord Molyneux laid the foundation stone on February 7, 1829 and placed a bottle full of sovereigns in the footings. 

    The course staged its initial jump fixture in 1835. On Tuesday, February 26, 1839, Lottery became the first winner of the Grand National. In those days the horses had to jump a stone wall, cross a stretch of ploughed land and finish over two hurdles. The race was then known as the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase

 Todays race comprises two full circuits of a 2¼ mile (3,600 metres) course, where challengers will face 30 of the most testing fences in the world of jump racing.

The Fences

  Becher's Brook: Although the fence looks innocuous from the take-off side, the steep drop on the landing side, together with a left-hand turn on landing, combine to make this the most thrilling and famous fence in the horse racing world. The fence actually measures 6 ft 9 in on the landing side, a drop of 2 ft from take off. Horses are not expecting the ground the disappear under them on landing, riders need to sit back in the saddle and use their body weight to act as ballast to keep the horses stable.

   Becher's Brook earned its name when a top jockey, Captain Martin Becher, took shelter in the brook after being unseated. "Water tastes disgusting without the benefits of whisky" he reflected.

    Canal Turn: Made of hawthorn stakes covered in Norway spruce, it gets its name from the fact that there is a canal in front of the horses when they land. To avoid it, they must turn a full 90 degrees when they touch down. The race can be won or lost here, with a diagonal leap to the inside of the jump taking the fence at a scary angle, but reducing the turn on landing.

  Valentine's Brook: The third of four famous fences to be jumped in succession, it is 5ft high and 3ft 3in wide with a brook on the landing side that’s about 5ft 6in wide.

   The Chair:The Chair is both the tallest (5ft 3in) and broadest fence on the course, with a 6ft wide ditch on the take-off side.

In addition, the landing side turf is actually raised six inches above the take-off ground. This has the opposite effect on horses and riders to the drop at Becher's, as having stretched to get over the ditch, horses are surprised to find the ground coming up to meet them. This is spectacular when horses get it right and equally so, for all the wrong reasons, when they don’t.

Protests

 This year there were protests at the BBC HQ in White City, to highlight the fact that each year the BBC promotes and broadcasts this event, while covering up the terrible price paid by the horses which are killed or injured in the name of sport and profit.

 Five horse were killed at last year's Grand National meeting – the highest since 1997. During the past decade, 30 horses have died and many others injured at the event. The campaigners say that more than 500 horses have died on British racecourses since March 2007.

    Aintree racecourse said they recognised racing was risky and that they worked hard with organisations such as the RSPCA to minimise the risk. This year in Australia we saw the last steeplechase event on the racing calendar. They have been banned for good. I must admit i have mixed feelings about this as my memories as a child was the great steeplechaser Crisp leaping the hurdles at Flemington Melbourne and winning by big margins but I believe it is a positive move in the end. We must change to improve the world we live in.

     This is arguably the greatest Grand National and highlights many of the dangers involved too horse and rider. The Chair being the most notorious of the jumps and here you can see many falling including Grey Sombrero who had to be destroyed .The great jumper Red Rum versus the gallant Crisp.The thirty jumps over 7 and a quarter kms and the 1973 National I feel shows the spectacle as well as the cruelty.

Grand National 1973

Opening Ceremonies

2010 Fifa World Cup

   The World Cup opening ceremony featured top music artist around the globe.  The official 2010 World Cup song, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”,was performed by singer/songwriter Shakira. She teamed up with a local South African group Freshly ground.

Beautiful Shakira 

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

   In December 2007, Shakira traveled to Bangladesh to visit UNICEF-supported education projects. She also met with women and children affected by Cyclone Sidr.

“I am sorry for what happened to you,” she told cyclone survivors. “But things are going to get better again. I admire your resilience and your patience and how much you can still give when you have so little for yourselves.”

  “The true spirit of this World Cup involves making a lasting contribution”, Shakira says. “We can add to the legacy of this historic moment a platform committed to providing quality education for the children of South Africa and to ending poverty and inequality wherever they exist”.

   Shakira received a United Nations Humanitarian Award for helping children with her charity Pies Descalzos . Pies Descalzos, also known as the Barefoot Foundation, helps thousands of displaced children in Shakira’s native Colombia.

    The singer moved the 400 member audience with her speech. “Let’s not forget at the end of this day when we all go home, 960 children will have died in Latin America,” she stated.

     She then encouraged the public to help make a difference, saying, “This generation has so many ideas and technologies that my parents didn’t have access to, so let’s take advantage of this historical opportunity we have within reach to make this world a better place.”

Winter Olympics 2010  K.D.Lang

  

  Canadian pop music royalty shone brightly at the opening ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The top musical highlight was a stunning performance of Canadian poet/songwriter Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" by Canadian singer k.d. lang.

   
   Earlier in the ceremony top Canadian pop stars Nelly Furtado  and Bryan Adams performed a duet on a song titled "Bang the Drum" written by Adams. Sarah McLachlan joined the parade of stars with a solo performance at the piano. 

    In another powerful tribute to Canadian pop music, Joni Mitchell's classic "Both Sides Now" provided the backdrop for a moving aerial and dance performance. Finally, Anne Murray, one of the bestselling Canadian pop singers of all time, was one of the notable Canadian personalities chosen to carry the official Olympic flag into the stadium. 


Beijing Olympic Games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0IUMdDwkGs

Cricket World Cup

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Cricket_World_Cup 

Commonwealth Games Melbourne 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNsrzw8T4U4
Opening Ceremony Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Commonwealth_Games

Kookaburra Heaven

    Resting in Peace

    This Ga Ga moment occurred on a picnic at the Wappa Dam.The sun was setting and we were relaxing having our picnic, when we looked up into the tree above us to see a kookaburra looking down and as we looked across to another tree, there was another Kooka. 

   We proceeded to have our picnic and just in front of our table was an epitaph for a  young women as we read it a Kookaburra swooped down over our heads and landed on it  followed by another and another until the family of Kookas were now perched on it.

They remained there just looking at us obviously waiting for something too eat.

 

   My daughters and I kept looking at each other as these five Kookaburras sat on the epitaph looking at us.They remained there for ages so we took some photos.Its was such a peaceful place to be remembered.We read the epitaph a few times that afternoon Heidi Mcneigh 1971 to 1995  loved racing horses and now watched over by a family of Kookaburras we thought.Thought I would share this with everyone by putting it up as my Ga Ga moment this week.

Kookaburra

Egret Flying over The Dam

Kookaburra Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree
Merry merry king of the bush is he
Laugh Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra
Gay your life must be 

Family Of Cormorants

Wappa Dam

   
   

Kookaburra hold a special place in Australian hearts. They figure prominently in the folklore of many who have inhabited the continent.

The Laughing Kookaburra, with its unmistakable call, is the largest kingfisher in the world, and the  Blue-winged Kookaburra is not far behind.

As well as its popular fame, kookaburras have a fascinating natural history. They live in family groups.These were beautiful blue winged Kookaburras on this afternoon and they have left a memory on my daughters and me.

Dam at Dusk

Egret at the Dam

      Images taken of the dam on that afternoon as you can see i think there may have been some other families there that day five cormorants perched on the handrails above the dam.