Birds of the Imagination

A  L  O  H  A   from   Honolulu!

 In Such a Place as This

" Art enables us to 

find ourselves and 

lose ourselves 

at the same time. "

Thomas Merton

" Pictures must not 

be too picturesque. "

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Queen of Hearts?

“ Jo had learned that

 hearts, like flowers, 

cannot be rudely handled,

 but must open naturally…” 

                     Louisa May Alcott

Hawaiian name, KOLEA

[KO-LAY-AH,

   its call in flight]

 Ai no ke kolea a momona hoi i Kahiki

 Hawaiian proverb

'EATS a lot, the kolea,

till fat and sleek,

then rows for

it's old home.'

[my literal translation]

These birds Summer on the 

treeless tundra of western Alaska

 til late August when they depart for Hawaii 

migrating at altitudes up to 20,000 feet. 

They are thought to average 

fifty miles per hour.

 Most birds who migrate over 

vast oceans soar and glide.

The Kolea can do neither 

but must continuously 

beat wings twice per second

 for about fifty hours 

over some 2,500 miles 

of open Pacific!

No, they do not swim

or rest on the water-

Do you know of a bird 

who works harder to migrate?

 "Imagine that flight you made 

from L.A. to Honolulu—

only without the plane." 

Dr. Oscar "Wally" Johnson, 

 Montana State University

ornithologist 

link

Linking to

Wild Bird Wednesday

Thank YOU

for making the flight!

              Warmly, cloudia