Sharing Early Literacy Learning Journeys

Archive for the ‘Nature’ Category

A bird on a wire…

A bird on a wire: a colourful bird, on an ordinary electrical wire, on an ordinary suburban street – unlike Leonard Cohen’s ‘Bird on the wire” song of 1968.

???????????????????????????????But what bird is it?

Internet searches come up with ‘No result found’. I can’t insert information like ‘bird type’ or ‘common name ’ because I don’t know them. After viewing dozens of bird pictures, I cannot find this bird.

Fortunately, it stays on the wire for several minutes enabling me to keep clicking. Two more birds, just like this one, visit on nearby wires, but don’t stay long.

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Aahh – nothing like a good wing and tail stretch…

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and now, a head scratch.

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“I missed that yellow butterfly,”
I whisper to my friend.

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“Hey! Who are you?”
I shout to that intruder over there!

Any help in recognising this bird happily accepted!

And one more thing…. why does it have two feathers? strands? below the main tail?

Category:

Language Experience, Nature, Photographs, Travel

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Unexpected

This entry is later than expected because I had an unexpected computer glitch!

The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in your street (Robert Doisneau).

So, with camera in hand, we attempt to capture the unexpected – if the unexpected happens like…

??????????????????????a snapping turtle trundling across our lawn one sunny Saturday afternoon
– fortunately, photos were possible because it was slow as a …

Turtle on dock

and a midland painted turtle clambering on the dock
– with the bonus of an unexpectedly clear reflection.

??????????????????????After leaving the gym, we never expected to see
a giant stick insect resting on the car.

Joy and bliss can come from the little and most unexpected thing if only we program our mind to enjoy these little things (Unknown), like….

Tulips at old fence

these pink-orange tulips unexpectedly bright against
green grass and an old grey fence of a farmer’s field.

Life is full of surprises… or expect the unexpected …
Tilted lifeguard hut 2

but a tilting lifeguard hut, devoid of a solid base,
was an unexpected sight on a morning beach walk…

Lifeguard hutand even more unexpected, was the same lifeguard
hut swinging from a crane as it was gingerly placed
on the back of a big truck late in the afternoon.

Category:

Nature, Photographs, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, Writing

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The sea is galloping…

I feel like Christopher at the beach today,
in A.A.Milne’s ‘Sand-between-the-toes’…

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with the shouting sea…

and the galloping sea…

with sand in the hair…

and sand between the toes…

and nobody else is out!

It is a super dooper poem to read with children
and with thanks to All Poetry, here it is:

Sand-between-the-toes

I went down to the shouting sea,
Taking Christopher down with me,
For Nurse had given us sixpence each-
And down we went to the beach.

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.

The sea was galloping grey and white;
Christopher clutched his sixpence tight;
We clambered over the humping sand-
And Christopher held my hand.

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.

There was a roaring in the sky;
The sea-gulls cried as they blew by;
We tried to talk, but had to shout-
Nobody else was out.

When we got home, we had sand in the hair,
In the eyes and the ears and everywhere;
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is found with
Sand-between-the-toes.

© A.A. Milne.  All rights reserved

Category:

Children's books, Early literacy, Literacy, Nature, Reading, Travel

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers

These ‘layers’ are opposites in so many ways…
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The badlands of North Dakota

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A flower in a tropical garden…
but I couldn’t find its name – can you help?

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Nature, Photographs, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Revisiting the tropics… no. 3: Birds

Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes (Abram Urban) and being surrounded by trees, gardens and birds is a joy for me.

Amazingly, as I write these words, a yellow breasted hummingbird whirrs to my window. Suddenly s/he flies through the open door and hovers and hums in front of me. It’s only a few seconds. I smile happily and stare. As suddenly as s/he enters, s/he exits. Flits out, over the balcony, into the palms and paper barks… and then to who knows where?

Smiling again, I think of the variety of birds I see and hear each day.
Like colours and the tropics, birds and the tropics also belong together.

Wake early to the shrill, eerie, wailing of stone birds (or curlews) as they stroll through gardens and warily cross streets looking for quiet, shady hiding places to spend the day.

??????????????????????????????? Stone bird
Bush Stone-curlew

Walk to the beach to shrieking, squawking sulpher-crested cockatoos as they fly from tree to tree, calling and squabbling with their mates over breakfast.

??????????????????????????????? Sulpher-crested cockatoo

Pass a wary, silent, snow-white Torres Strait pigeon diligently pecking in the grass on a vacant block.

???????????????????????????????Torres Strait pigeon

Hear, but cannot see, doves cooing quietly in the paperbark leaves.

Walk along the beach and admire striking black, white and orange terns as they dig for pipis in the sand.

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Suddenly the confident, raucous ‘laugh’ of a kookaburra rings out. A distinctive sound. A happy sound. A chuckle… that is a warning to other birds to steer clear. Reminds me of Ibsen’s words, “Each bird must sing with his own throat.”

Category:

Nature, Photographs, Travel

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Revisiting the tropics… no. 2: Colours

Colours

If  colours are the smiles of nature, as Leigh Hunt said,
then the tropics are all smiles.

Cool colours.
Greens and blues of plants and skies.

Warm colours.
Reds, pinks, yellows and oranges.

???????????????????????????????Bright reds of ‘flame’ trees

PicMonkey CollageHot pinks of hibiscus combine with delicate ivory underneath

???????????????????????????????Smiling, sunny yellows of yellow bells

???????????????????????????????and fiery orange heliconia sassy.

Earth colours.
Light browns, dark browns
and every hue in between.

Then there are whites…
Stark whites (I daren’t say snow white!)
of buildings,
??????????????????????????????? a cool, calm frangipanni
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behind a bold, bright hibiscus.

Lots of smiles in the tropics…

Category:

Language Experience, Nature, Photographs, Travel

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves

These curves appeared in a sunny spot in the garden on consecutive mornings…

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An Eastern Garter Snake

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‘Eastern Garter Snake:  Probably the most commonly encountered snake.

Named after the fancy striped garters historically worn by men, they are

usually dark in colour with three yellowish stripes from head to tail, though

the pattern may be faint.’ With thanks to:
http://www.scisnake.com/download/snakesreferenceguide.pdf

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Language Experience, Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting

The weekly photo challenge, ‘fleeting’, immediately brought to mind one of my favourite quotes: “Cherish the children; their time is fleeting.”

But instead of children, chicks…

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Starling chicks, holed up high in a tree, squawking for food…

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and for a fleeting moment mama starling brings food to her babies…

and for a fleeting moment I click the camera …

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Category:

Nature, Photographs, Weekly Photo Challenge

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