photosofbirdsofsrilanka

Saturday, June 7, 2014

BIRDS – TO ALL WATCHERS

Email forwarded by Dr. Lalith Perera.

Is there something atavistic about an earthbound creature’s fascination with flying? Could this be why birds have such a grip on our imagination? Think of it – Shakespeare’s starlings and jackdaws – Rossini’s thieving magpie – Lewis Carroll and the dodo….The Owl and the Pussycat …Messiaen’s extraordinary musical aviary … we’re always adding to the list. Somehow, it seems, our minds are refreshed and perplexed by birds. Although profoundly different we seek out similarities with their behaviour; then, perversely, we decide to envy their singularity; we ponder their savagery, then wonder if we should follow their example; even as we hunt them, we marvel at their resilience – windblown scraps flying against a howling gale, or sandmartins snuggling together in deep domesticity. ThE evening’s edition of Words and Music is an exploration of all things featherbrained – an all too human swoop from Wallace Stevens’ blackbird to the singing crows in Disney’s Dumbo; from the ambivalent sweetness of the dove you can hear in Du Fay or Penalosa to the slight and sensual figure of a wading girl that James Joyce transforms into a seabird. Whether a lark ascending makes your heart leap or whether you’re stirred by the brassy lure of a buzzard, prepare to take wing.

Happy bird watchers.

Over to you.

Lalith

A dancing pea-cock, Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka.

View 'en face'.

View from the rear.

Side view.

An admiring pea-hen?

This courtship dance took more than 10 minutes. The pea-cock was turning round slowly and a shivering went through the outstretched fan on and off. The pea-hen was relatively immobile and seemed disinterested on and off.