Pink Flamingoes Enjoy the Lake

As a child I remember wanting to visit the state of Florida.  I was fascinated by the state since it was home to the unique and delightful pink flamingos.

 I attribute my fascination with the birds to the fact that I grew up in a part of the country where winter season was from early November to the end of April.  This meant we had snow for fully half a year and much of that time was very cold.  I dreamt of  tropical climates, palm trees and an exotic lifestyle.  In my very limited life experience, pink flamingos seemed to fit into the fantasy.

Flamingos are showy birds in that they are tall, have a gloriously coloured beak, long pink legs, a gracefully curved neck and pink plumage. We didn't have such wonderfully coloured birds in my part of the world.  These characteristics would not serve the bird in my part of the world because of the lack of good camouflage.

 Years later I managed to make my way to Florida but by this time had forgotten about pink flamingos and my time in Florida was very brief.   I  was only in Miami to transfer to points south and not for sightseeing.  The best I could do was get to the beach front for a short time.  That turned out to be a bit of scary experience (perhaps a story for another day).

At last when years later I made it to Kenya, East Africa, the pink flamingos were there to greet me at Lake Nakuru.  They were breathtaking especially since there were just so many of them. My pictures do not do justice to the sheer number of them.

I hope you enjoy these beautiful birds as much as I do.

I believe these particular flamingos are called the Lesser Flamingo.

You can learn more about the flamingo here.

Participating in Wild Bird Wednesday.



Have a look there for more beautiful birds.

Beautiful Morning Sky

I couldn't sleep one morning a few days ago because seagulls were screeching or squawking incessantly at about 5 a.m.

I went out doors and took these photos. There were far more than a couple sea gulls but they were flying so fast!  I hardly had time to capture them in flight.

Also I noticed that overnight the blossoms had sprouted from the tree buds.

Within a few short days of taking these photos, the blossoms are almost fully mature. It is rather early for this to happen. Several weeks to0 early. 

You can see the fuzzy shapes of birds in the sky.

How is the weather where you live?

Hope to see you around in the blogosphere soon :-)

Linking up with Skywatch Friday this week.

Have Slices? Will Bag!

I want to say a big thank you to all of my new followers. You are all appreciated. I hope you will not just pass by once but come again and come often. It would be great too if you leave comments or check out some of my older posts.  If you see any problems like photos that aren't where they should be, let me know so I can "fix" it.

I promise, I'll be by to visit you soon.  If I take the time to read your posts, I will also take the time to comment.

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And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.

Acts 2:46

I have a meat slicer which I inherited from my mother last year and I've never used it.  I was wondering if it would do the job of slicing the bread I made on Monday (see post here).

I brought it down from the upper cabinet, washed it up and used it. It took me awhile to remember that you need to hold down two buttons at once and move the bread at the same time. The slicing was no problem, once I got the hang of it.

I'm rather pleased with the results.  The 4 loaves of bread will last all month.

I was able to get 17 slices out of the larger loaves, and 12 slices out of the smaller loaves. I froze the two larger loaves and kept the smaller loaf out for use. The 4th loaf has been sliced with a knife on an as needed basis. I'm guessing that slicing the bread with the slicer makes more slices so the loaf of bread would last longer. But I can't compare the two methods since I didn't count the slices from the loaf I am slicing manually.  In any case, I far prefer the machine slicing method! The loaf at the top of the photo (below) was already in the freezer when I decided it needed a photo opportunity, lol.

The bread crumbs will be dried and added to my bread crumb "bag".

In other news, I haven't been very good about tending to my garden because we are getting enough rain to keep it nicely water.  The garden is giving me pleasure with it's brightly coloured flowers and nice shades of green leaves.  The herbs grow far too fast for me to use them all.  The very tall plant to the lower right of the bird bath is parsley. I didn't know it could grow so tall!

The bird bath needs to be cleaned every now and then as all the blossoms from the tree above it get in the water.  But the little birds love to come and splash on a sunny day. You can see there are a few clouds in the sky but overall the day was bright and hot. It's back to rain on Friday. It saves me from watering the plants.

Submission for SkyWatch Friday. Please check in there and see submissions from around the world.

A Little Bird Came to Visit

Little sparrow come

Splish and splash, and dunk again,

Delight in your bath

{me, May 28, 2012}

 

Please join others here for Our World Tuesday.

Little Chickadee

I am away for awhile visiting elderly relatives. I don't have many posts scheduled during my trip so I would recommend having a look back at some of my posts in 2012. You can simply click the "Older Posts" button below this post or check the side bar on the right and investigate the archives. I will catch up with your blogs soon.

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I spotted a little chickadee eating in the garden below the tree branches. I managed to snap a photo or two before it flew away. It is difficult to spot but you can see it's white marks on the side of it's head.

This chickadee looks like it's been eating well.

I was preparing to take my 3rd and likely best shot of the bird when it suddenly flew off!  Oh well, I will catch it another day, lol.

Here is what it looks like up close. This photo is taken by Kevin Bolton and is located at the All About Birds website.

The chickadee makes a lovely sound when it sings. Here is a short video so you can hear it.

If I get a change later I will add this submission to Camera Critters. Please go there by clicking this link and you will see more cute critters.

I Spy with my Little Eye

... something that is grey!

It is so seldom that I get to photograph the little birds that come to my patio. No matter how stealthily I move across the room (indoors) with my camera to try and take a photo, the birds fly away. I'm determined that this year I will capture some of them at the encouragement of my friend, Jo, over at Memorable Meanders.  So Jo, this one is for you *wink.

I'm not sure what it is but hopefully someone will be able to inform me.

Here it is "eyeballing" me, lol.

Whatever this bird is called, it is obviously eating well.
I will look up the bird later in my new Smithsonian Bird book for the western region.

This is my first submission to camera critters. You can find a link here and see a lot of other cute critters.

A Little Yellow Bird Came To Visit

In my last visit to Nairobi, I had a little visitor over breakfast. In fact several birds came by through the open window at the hotel but I was only able to capture one in a photo. It isn't the best quality but I'm hoping someone can identify it for me.  Update:  Nelson, from Safari with TAfrica, has identified this bird as a weaver. Thanks Nelson!

Here is the bird perched on a wooden rail between the dining tables and the open windows.

Boat Tour on Lake Baringo

A big welcome to my newest followers, Follygirl and Nancy at A Rural Journal. Thank you both! 

My readers may reach their blogs by clicking on the underlined names.

An unforgettable experience during my stay at Soi Safari Lodge was my boat tour on Lake Baringo. I hesitated to go on the tour due to limited time but the irrepressible tour guide, Sylvester (pictured above) was so charming and so persistent. He ultimately convinced me to go on the tour and tailored the everything to my needs.  Sylvester surprised me when he started speaking French to me because he knew I am from Canada. Alas, my French is too rudimentary to carry a conversation, even a simple one.

I took many photos and  I've decided to combine a number of them into collages so I can share as many as possible in this post.

First up is a collage of the hippos. There were a number of them in the lake and we were able to get quite close. In the reeds there was also a crocodile and though I did see it skimming just below the surface, it was difficult to get a photograph.  The house in the mosaic is privately owned by foreigners.  There is also at least one campground nearby but I didn't have time to check it out.

 

Bird life is abundant in the area. In the space of a few minutes I found several species of birds.

I was hoping to see the African Fish Eagle such as in our guide's bird book, but no such luck. My boat tour took place later in the day.  Several tours had already gone out and the eagle was not hungry.

The guides will purchase a small fish from fishermen right on the water.  They then throw the fish up in the air and the eagle, if hungry, will swoop down and catch it.

I was very intrigued by the fisherman's boat.  The boat is made from wood that is extremely light and buoyant. It feel and looks like cork but I've learned that it is "ambatch" or balsa wood.  The people of the Njemps tribe are the ones that make the boats with this wood.

There were a number of different boats on the water that day.

The scenery in the area is spectacular, whether you are viewing from the water or from the shore.

These men really got my attention. They were taking cows to market in Marigat. I've never seen cows transported this way before but there are no roads to where they live.

One of the 6 or so cows that was being transported was having a very difficult time of it.

As you can imagine, cows are precious cargo so there is no way these men were going to let anything happen to the cows before they got to market.  I saw the men next day in the town of Marigat a few days after market day.  They no longer had cows with them and they seemed to be enjoying a break in town.

You can make out the rooftop of the distinctive Soi Safari Lodge.

Here is a close up of the main building of the Soi Safari Lodge as the boat nears the shore.

More tourists are eager to get in the boat and go on tour.

This concludes my tour of Lake Baringo.  If you missed my post on the Soi Safari Lodge you might want to read it here.  I hope you've enjoyed the tour of this area.  Please join me again soon as I will be stopping at another beautiful place not too far away.  Please also check in at other Scenic Sunday submissions for more fabulous stories and scenes from around the world. Simply click below.  I hope to see you again.

Please leave and comment and then come back and click the widget to see more of Scenic Sunday from around the world. Enjoy!

Pelicans Seem to Float on Lake Nakuru, Kenya

Pelicans on Lake Nakuru, Kenya.
I say they seem to float. Or perhaps their little feet are paddling away under the water.

Click on the widget and see more Watery Wednesday entries.

Birds, Thrifting & Catalina Chicken

It has been a very busy week of cleaning, shopping, laundry, care giving, and cooking. I also had an important meeting while here in Kamloops & I must escort my elderly relative to the doctor's office on Thursday so my trip home has been delayed by a week and a half.

My mom has been looking for a new doctor for well over a year as there is a terrible shortage of doctors, especially those willing to take new patients. So when we got the call from a doctor's office where mom has been on a waiting list for several months we jumped at the opportunity to see the doctor as soon as possible.

The winter here is still dull and since I go out every other day or so, it isn't much fun to snap photos. I did however enjoy capturing some photos of bare trees. The sun was out bright and early this morning for the first time in over a week so. The brilliance of the sun made me realize that it won't be long before this city enjoys the beautiful Spring weather they always get. It won't be long before the trees in the photos below are wearing leaves.


One thing I love about the bare trees is you get to see the bird's nests and they always make a wonderful picture don't you think?

I had a treat today as the birds in the tree below were singing so loudly. I later realized that they were happily feeding at a bird feeder and most of the birds were not visible to me. I did manage to capture one or two in a photo. Can you spot one?

While I was out and about I went thrifting and was quite pleased with my finds. One of the things I purchased was a lovely needlepoint cushion. I was so delighted with it though upon closer inspection, I see that the needlepoint is factory done. I only paid $1.99 Canadian and so I think it was a good buy.

I also purchased a nice bohemian bag for sauntering down the street with in the summer when I don't want to carry a larger bag. I also bought a beautiful plum coloured chenille scarf. The bag was a $1.99 and the scarf was 99 cents.

I decided to treat my mom to a new dish today. It is called Catalina Chicken and it only requires 4 ingredients (chicken, cranberry sauce, onion soup mix and catalina salad dressing). The chicken was delicious. I must thank Katy my new blogging friend and you can find her recipe here. Mom and I enjoyed the dish a lot!


After dinner, I watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver. I was deeply saddened to hear that the young Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died while training on the luge run. I was touched that he was not forgotten in the comments made by Olympic officials and participated in the minute of silence in this young man's honour. If there is any comfort at all for his family, it is that this young man died living out his dream and he was so happy to be at the Olympics. His hard work and dedication were not in vain. May he be an inspiration to all who challenge themselves over the coming two weeks of Olympic sport.