Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Albatross



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It was a rainy morning
good for doing chores
and then after 
I suggested that we detour 
out to the bluff
on Princeville
to see the albatrosses









 




the birds nest in the front yards
of residences on the cliff edge
There appeared to be a pair of birds
on most front lawns








  




and then we noticed
a brown ball of fluff








 




doing a 
little preening
alongside Mum









 




baby has a look 
of BIG BIRD
about him









 




You must keep your distance
so the birds are not disturbed









 




so baby did not notice me
watching him









 




as we drove away
we stopped to watch 
another two parents

do you see 
this bird has been tagged









 




the adults wandered off
through the hedge
and made a beautiful whistle call,
and when I asked Beloved
to back up a metre









 





I saw who they had alerted....




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To thee, thou Wedding-Guest !
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
 
Farewell, farewell ! but this I tell


He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small ;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.







from

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge






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16 comments:

  1. What is more endearing than new life? Perhaps, only parents protecting the new life.

    So adorable - thanks for sharing this Delwyn.

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  2. how wonderful!

    Aloha from Oahu my Friend!


    Comfort Spiral

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  3. They are funny looking, the little ones, but very cute funny! The adults are beautiful!

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  4. Delwyn, you have a special knack for finding avian parents going about their work. Love the juvenile albatross.

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  5. Extraordinarily beautiful birds, Delwyn. The photographs of parent and chick are wonderful.

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  7. Delwyn

    Beautiful pictures! Are these birds protected by the government? I was wondering since one is tagged. I love the baby pictures-so cute.

    As always, I learn something new everytime I read your blog.

    Take-Care

    Best
    Tracy :)

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  8. Oh Delwyn. You always have the most amazing pictures of birds. Thanks.

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  9. Hi Delwyn, I left an award for your on my blog. If interested you can pick it up in your own time. I see you are still taking amazing photo's of birds. I intend to look back on all your posts that I have missed out on, it will probably take a bit of time.

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  10. He does have a Big Bird look, albeit a somewhat faded one. He's adorable!

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  11. The young albatross's fuzzy spikey look certainly changes as they mature. Would like to watch it happen!

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  12. A very nice set of photos. Baby Alba is so neat.

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  13. Hi GW

    as Bonnie says it's hard not to love an infant animal...

    Hello Larry
    wouldn't you like to feel the softness of his downy feathers?

    Hi Wanda
    I need to google the albatross to learn about the life cycle...I wonder how long the infant is brown...I know that at Xmas time there are no chicks so he has hatched in the last month...

    Hello Meri
    I can't help but think of big bird each time I look at his cute face...


    Hello again Ann
    where have you been?
    It is lovely to have you back...


    Hi Ellen, thank you, Its not that I am a bird watcher or such but that I have grown to become a watcher in general...


    Tracy - hi, a good question and one that I need to research a little about...I will let you know what I find...


    Thanks Martin

    I think we all enjoy seeing birds and animals that we are not familiar with, especially ones of this size....


    Hi Dan

    I have my good zoom lens to thank for being able to get up close without disturbing the birds...and I love to tell a story ...


    Hello Lorac

    when you see the rise and waddle you realise what big birds they are...unusual in their size and form...


    Hi Bonnie
    we can sense the concern of the parent bird...and we love to anthropomorphise don't we? If that is such a word...It takes me back to Psych labs at uni where I was criticised for attributing feelings to rats who were running around in our Skinner boxes...ah so so long ago...and psych is so different now. The very first thing that was said in my first ever psych lecture was that psychology is not the study of the mind...but the study of observable behaviour...how that concept has shifted now...

    Happy days to you all

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  14. Hi Cloudia...aloha from a rainy day in paradise... but the rest of the clan have been surfing and so are happy...now it is time to snorkle...

    Happy days

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  15. I have only seen an albatross once - it was dead after a storm, washed ashore on a beach in NZ. I have never been lucky enough to see a young bird! What a fuzzy fellow!

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