Unusual Flowers Are Blooming These Days - A Photo Essay
Unusual Flowers Are Blooming These Days - A Photo Essay
Today I needed to get a haircut. It's starting to get warm so it's time for my quarter-yearly haircut (only quarter-yearly cause there ain't much hair there). My barber, who is both a barber and a hairdresser (my wife uses her too) lives and works in the beautiful mature landscaped gated community around the corner. So it was an occasion to take my camera.
1. On the way we walked past the Normal University Experimental Primary School, which is next to our building, and saw the kids preparing for a drum lesson and march.
2. A little closer view
3. Now we're in the gated community, and my head is a little lighter.
4. Next to where those flowers were, this was on the ground. I don't know if it was alive or dead, but to me it looks like a baby owl (if in fact those are feathers), but I didn't think there were owls anywhere around here. Can anyone identify it - I didn't want to touch it.
5. Back to flowers - these are on a bush or small tree.
6.
7. I don't recall seeing this kind of flower before.
8.
9.
10. And the most beautiful flower, the Lotus blossom.
11. Worth posting another photo of them.
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Much better than the usual front page rancour.
Buzz,
These are your finest yet!
Can't be sure, but the unidentified bird looks like a nighthawk.
Great photo essay … the best of the best, Buzz!
Thanks, A.Mac. So far the identity of the bird has been guessed to be a baby Owl, a Swift, and a Nighthawk.
However, the Nighthawk is a Western Hemisphere bird, and from photos I've seen, its tail feathers or wingtips extend out more from the body.
I'm going to stick with Nighthawk-like or Whippoorwill-like birds or and related species.
Nighthawks are Western Hemisphere birds within the nightjar family, but one of those in the links below, is likely your critter, Buzz.
Order : Caprimulgiformes Family : Caprimulgidae
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal birds that usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs and very short bills. Most have small feet, of little use for walking, and long pointed wings. Their soft plumage is camouflaged to resemble bark or leaves.
The bird looks like a swift.
The yellow spotted flower is called a canna lily. We have tons of them growing at our house...want some?
Does resemble a baby swift ...
Thanks - I couldn't see its head.
Swifts are truly a 'miracle' of evolution. Finding one on the ground is rare except when they are in a nesting situation.
It is said that they spend 80% of their lives flying - they eat sleep and breed in the air only coming to earth every 9 or 10 months to raise their babies.
Their range covers all of Europe, Eurasia and most of China away from the coasts.
Thanks for that info, SP, I do appreciate it, and am now more informed about how unusual it was for me to have seen it and had the good luck of being able to photograph it.
Now that I looked a little closer, its right eye is visible, although partially closed, but I still did not see a beak which I have now seen in other pictures, is very small, so I guess its head actually is visible.
No thanks, nowhere to plant them, but there are lots of wooded areas surrounding us with lots of flowers.
We have those too. They can be pretty but I can't stand them. They always get eaten up by some kind of bug. I keep pulling them up and they sprout again. Pain in the...
We only have yellow ones. I want some red and orange ones. I like them because they block the view of the hideous concrete retaining wall we have in the backyard.
Not a bad way to spend some time, Buzz. NIce pics. I have no idea on the flowers, they all fall into that class I call 'pretty flowers'.
Headed to Halifax for a convention next month....hope to get lots of pix there.
Although I've been all across Canada west to Vancouver, I've never been farther east than Montmorency Falls in Quebec. I'm really sorry I've never been to the Maritime Provinces. Take lots of photos.
I have been pretty well along the whole American east coast though, from Boston down to Miami. Wish I'd taken photos when I was in Nantucket, but it was before I was serious about photography.
Those photos are beautiful!
Thanks, mag.
A fine stroll... Thanks, Buzz.
Thanks Bob, lots more strolls already posted, and lots more to come.
Beautiful photos Buzz.
I believe that the bird is a Swift.
You mean I actually got something right?
LOL, your right 99.44% of the time...Oh wait, that's soap...Let me rethink this...
Didn't that soap lose some of those percentage points when they used Marilyn Chambers' photo on the box?
Thanks Kavika. Now I see why I didn't think I could see its head. Its beak is tiny although I did think I saw slits for its eyes.
Agree with all, beautiful flowers.
Is it alright to ask where in China you live?
No problem, I often have indicated where I live. I live in the Shapingba District of Chongqing (during WW2 known as Chunking, where the American Flying Tigers were based). Almost 12 years ago I moved from Toronto to Zhengzhou, in Henan Province, and a couple of years ago lived for a year in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, but we're settled here to stay because Chongqing is my wife's home town. I've been posting photo essays about China for many years now, on a previous site with its name withheld due to fear of a CoC violation, and then on NT since its inception, of what I have seen in China.
Buzz, you seem to know quite a bit about America and our government may I ask if you ever lived here as well ? It seems you are quite happy in China, Its nice that you are. I am happy to live in America and dont see myself ever relocating overseas although I have always had interest in how other cultures live. Thanks and if you feel I am over stepping my place, I understand.
I'm just curious. From what I know (very little ) about you at this point, if I had to guess, I'd bet you have lived here for years if not more. You just seem to know so much about our country and the people here. So much so that If you didn't say you lived in China, I doubt anyone would ever even guess it.
thanks, Steve
Although I was born in and spent most of my life in Ontario, Canada, throughout my life I travelled extensively throughout the USA - east and west coasts, Hawaii, and I have visited and vacationed in many American cities, shared ownership with my brother of a golf club condo in Florida that we inherited from our parents, and as an officer of Variety Clubs International spent time at conventions in various American locations. Being deeply involved with folk music I was at American Folk Festivals in Washington (Festival of American Folklife), Philadelphia Folk Festival, and I was in the audience at Newport when Bob Dylan went electric - an iconic moment in folk music. I had quite a few American friends, and even formed a partnership with a couple of draft dodgers to open a Folklore Centre in Toronto, which was a very successful enterprise in the late 60s and early 70s. When I was 16 I had a girl friend who lived in a NYC penthouse, who bought me a book called "Understanding the Americans", but unfortunately I must have lost it.
Of course in Canada I lived within an hour or hour and a half's drive from Niagara Falls, NY, and Buffalo, and spent some summer's vacation time in Crystal Beach, Ontario as a teenager (a stone's throw from Buffalo), where many American teenagers spent summertime, and spent time there with Americans and even dated Buffalo girls.
But you must keep in mind that the first television stations we were able to access were American, and probably most of the TV we watched over the years was American, and of course, Hollywood movies. Canadians are really not that much different from Americans, except for spelling some words, and learning French as a second language.
I would have guessed you had lived here it sounds like you have been here a great deal although I didn't see that you said you had actually ever lived here. That surprises me, I would have bet you had. You just seem to know so much about America and our politics. Probably more than many Americans do. I guess that says a little about us eh ? And not much good.
Until America went into the nose dove it did back in 2007 I did not pay much attention to politics or politicians myself, I figured that's why we hired people to do those jobs, so I didn't have to.
But, when I lost almost everything I had worked for all my life I woke up. Now I research every politician from all parties and vote for whomever I believe is most qualified for each position I get the opportunity to voter for.
IMO both American political parties suck so I refuse to give either one the power of my affiliation.
Thanks for sharing your past with me. I really figured you had lived here for many years and still kept up on us. I didn't realize your interest was more personal choice than homeland sickness...
Who would have guessed ? LOL
Anyway thanks again. nice to here back from you.
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PS: Here is (I believe) that book you mentioned " Understanding The American"
If you would like to buy a copy here is a link:
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Thanks again Buzz, I Hope you enjoy your thursday in China.
Yes. I recognize the cover - that is the exact book I was talking about. However, I won't post banking or credit card info over the internet (I once had my bank account raided) so I'll not be purchasing the book.
Understandable, I just thought perhaps you would like to know it is still available in case you would have liked to have found it.
I too am very leery of using the net for anything financially as well, I too have had a credit card compromised. These days I hold both a credit card and a checking account especially for internet dealings. Low balances in both, ya steal from me, ya aren't gonna get much and its all protected anyway.
I adapted.
Good move on your part.
Thank you Buzz.
Then you have lived in not only different cities, but different regions too. Do you get a chance to explore the country side. Maybe visit the mountainous and or forested areas?
The Flying Tigers were a good distance inland.
Do you know if the Silk Road came past Chongqing or Chengdu? If so, do any markers or other identifiers remain?
I used to work for a company with a facility in Shenzhen, but looks like that is no where near where you have lived.
If you could pick a single favorite food from your time in China, what would you say it is?
Cheers
Why don't you go back into the archives of the Discovery group and the Creative Arts group to look at the photo essays I've posted that should answer those questions.
The Silk Road originally came in north of those areas, and ended up in Kaifeng which was once the capital in which the Emperor lived. The road went through Xi'an (then known as Chang'An, where the Terra Cotta Warriors are located). When I lived in Zhengzhou I was less than an hour's bus ride from Kaifeng, and vistited there fairly often - and I've posted quite a few photo essays about it.
You're right, Chongqing is not near Shenzen. My favourite food? Hard to say, there are so many, but I have always loved Sweet and Sour Pork (even before I moved to China). I do enjoy eating Moon Cakes as well, usually available during Mid-Autumn Festival.
Beautiful images , Buzz.
The critter looks like a baby owl, so cute. Animals camouflage coloring is always amazing to me.
That's just one of the things in nature that is fascinating. How everything "works" together always fascinates me as well.
Thanks, Pat. I thought it looked like an Owl as well, but a few people have identified it as a Swift.
good pictures
Thanks, Charger.
Love the lotus. They are water plants are they not? Would love to somehow be able to grow those.
There are two different flowering water plants that grow here (that I know about), the lotus and the water lily. Did you know that the Lotus roots are bulbous, and people slice and cook them as food? The lotus leaves and flowers rise up from the water, whereas the water lily leafs and flowers (which do have a similar appearance to the lotus) lay flat on the water. Here is a photo I took last year of water lilies:
The outer petals of the lotus flower are wider, whereas those on the water lily are narrower.
Wow.. these are amazing photos, Buzz. You did a lovely job capturing the beauty of the flowers.
Excellent photo essay!
Thanks Perrie, much appreciated. If it were not for A.Mac, I would never have been able to do it.