The American Flamingo

A group of Flamingos by the entrance of the Zoo in Melbourne FL

Flamingo portrait

American Flamingo

The American Flamingo breeds in the Galapagos Islands, coastal Colombia and Venezuela and nearby islands, the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, and in the northern Caribbean in the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Cuba and Turks and Caicos. Most sightings in southern Florida are usually considered to be escapees, although at least one bird banded as a chick in the Yucatán Peninsula has been sighted in Everglades National Park, and others may be genuine wanderers from Cuba.

Its preferred habitats are similar to that of its relatives: saline lagoons, mudflats, and shallow brackish coastal or inland lakes. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood the young for a period of up to 6 years when they reach sexual maturity. Their life expectancy of 40 years is one of the longest in birds.

The American Flamingo is 120–140 cm in length; males weigh 2.8 kg and females 2.2 kg. Most of its plumage is pink, giving rise to its earlier name of Rosy Flamingo and differentiating adults from the much paler Greater Flamingo. The wing coverts are red, and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. It is the only flamingo which naturally inhabits North America.

The bill is pink and white with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.

The American Flamingo is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.



Hi my friends,


I promised you yesterday some bird photos... here they are.... and there will be some more coming :) I hope you like them. I captured them by my recent visit to the Zoo in Melbourne, FL.

Thanks for all the comments yesterday to my new avatar :) don't take it too serious... I've decided not to look in the mirror anymore in the morning...*smile*... to keep my illusion to be still "young and beautiful"...LOL...


Have a wonderful day!
Susanne

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A new self portrait...

Hi, how do you feel today????

Hi my friends,

that's how I look and feel sometimes early in the morning, looking in the mirror....LOL.... :)

I was yesterday in the Zoo shooting some animals, with my camera of course!

I always loved these funny looking animal faces, like this one of the Emu above. He looks like he is smiling and for the most I like the hair style - or the no hair style at all. I'll show you more pictures in the next few days with other animals I have photographed - before I bore you to much with my ZEN photography.

Thanks for stopping by, thanks for liking them anyway and thanks for all the wonderful compliments!

See you again - on the same spot, at the same time, right? ;)

Susanne

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Happiness is Happiness

I cannot tell if what the world considers 'happiness' is happiness or not. 

All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. 

All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.

~Chuang-tzu~

Hi my friends,

I let you now with these wonderful words to figure it out for your self what Happiness means for you!

Have a wonderful day - and thanks for all your compliments yesterday!

Susanne

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ZEN Photography II

To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.  

~John Burroughs~

Hi my friends,

I think I have found a new challenge for me with these ZEN quotes and the passion to match the pictures, looking for the right subjects with the quotes in my mind. It is so much truth behind these words! 

I love it, it's so much fun to capture new exciting things!

Thank you for all the comments and compliments to my last sunset(s) - I'm so glad you like it.

Have a wonderful Tuesday afternoon or evening or maybe is there already Wednesday?

Susanne

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My 1240th post today!

My 1240th post today!!!!

I do celebrate it with this beautiful Florida sunset - sharing it with YOU!

Hi my friends,

Unbelievable, it's that long time already since I'm blogging?  Almost every day I'm bringing something new up to my blog for you to enjoy and for me to connect with great friends. Thanks for all those numerous wonderful comments and compliments since I have started my blog. People came and people left over these years, new faces came up, staid a while and some old friends they are still here - LOVE you all!

As long I can and as long my old laptop is working clean and fast, I'll be here and share with you all my 

bla bla bla's and my photography - I hope you can still stand it, after so many years....LOL...:)

Have a wonderful day, enjoy your life and come see me again :)

Susanne

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My Wordless Sunday in 2010 - # 15

The Computer Bug and the Sunset

This beautiful sunset happened two days ago - but I was not able to post it earlier.

Hi my friends,

Two days ago I shot this wonderful sunset at the lake - and while I was out a computer bug was eating up my computer! Don't laugh, because it was not fun at all! 

The repair guy was here for over 7 hours and tried to fix both of our laptops, not just mine. And after he left, I was happy for maybe 2 hours and then something were blocking everything again - I had no connections at all! So, today is Saturday, we called the guy up again - he was here for maybe another hour and finally now it's everything the way it should be: it's fine and working - YEAH! :)

I have never realized so clearly how strong - and you probably too! - I am addicted and depending on this box called laptop :)

So, I hope I can work for a while again without any problems, cross your fingers for me.

Thank you also for all those kind comments from the last post!

See you tomorrow too? It's my "Wordless Sunday" Special coming up :)

Have a great weekend!

Susanne

***

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I grow plants for many reasons

Flower pots in the backyard

I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.
David Hobson

Hi my friends,

Time is running fast! It's already Wednesday or Mittwoch in German language. Let's celebrate "Mittwoch" and I want to say thank you for all the kind comments I got for my chairs photo yesterday with the song of Bryan Adams.

I appreciate every single comment!

Happy to see you visiting again.

Susanne

***

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I will be right here waiting for you

Waiting for you

I will be right here waiting for you

Lyrics Bryan Adams

Oceans apart, day after day
And I slowly go insane
I hear your voice, on the line
But it doesn't stop the pain
If I see you next to never
how can we say forever

(chorus)
Wherever you go, whatever you do
I will be right here, waiting for you
Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all The times
That I thought would last somehow
I hear the laughter, I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now
Oh can't you see it baby,
You've got me going crazy

(chorus)

I wonder how we can survive, this romance
But in the end if I'm with you, I'll take the chance

Oh you can't see it baby
You've got me going crazy

***

Hi my friends,

I love Bryan Adams songs, special this one!

Thank you for all the kind comments and compliments from yesterday. See you back visiting tomorrow also? I'll be waiting right here for YOU!

Have a wonderful day.

Susanne

***

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A pretty architectural detail

Modern architectural detail, captured in down town Melbourne, FL

Hi my friends,

it's always a big joy to see your visits and comments every day, or almost every day. Thank you so much, I do appreciate every single one.

This picture is from our last stroll in down town in Melbourne FL. 

It caught  my eyes because of the strong vivid colors, you can not miss it out. 

It's the facade of a very arty looking tiled house in the heart of down town.

Stay tuned with me, come back again and leave a comment, if you like my stuff.

Have a wonderful day!

Susanne

***

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My Wordless Sunday - #14

Let's have lunch together!

Let's have Lunch together!

Thank you ALL for your kind comments and compliments to my last post. I'm glad you liked that picture so much, I really appreciate every single comment.

And now it's time to get ready, to have lunch together....see you there...

Don't be late! :))

Tomorrow is "My Wordless Sunday" again, will you be there?

Susanne

***

Have also a look here

If you understand....

Zen Proverb

If you understand, things are just as they are; 

if you do not understand, things are just as they are.

***

Hi my friends,

I shot this picture at the same evening when I did the sunset shot some days ago.

I love ZEN proverbs and this one matches the picture the best, I think.

I hope you like it and I hope I don't bore you with all this :)

Have a wonderful day!

Susanne

***

Have a look here

If I had to choose a religion...

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Bonaparte was a wise man!

Thanks to all my friends for all the visits and wonderful comments from yesterday. 

Love you all...! 

Susanne

***

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The Golden Hours...

Books can be for more than learning
I saw this scene in an antique shop in down town. 

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.
James M. Barrie

***

Hi my friends,

I wasn't here since Sunday, to much things were going on, they have been finished first. We all have a real life also beside this blogging, right? :)

I wish you a wonderful day, enjoy my post - stay tuned and thanks for coming back visiting again.

See you tomorrow.

Susanne

***

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My Wordless Sunday in 2010 - #13

A Throne is only a Bench

Green is a pretty color ;)

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Hello my friends,

It's nice and warm in the Sunshine State today - and it's weekend again,yeah!

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are and whatever you'll do.

Tomorrow is "My Wordless Sunday", hope to see you there!

Susanne

***

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Waiting for the Pizza

Waiting for the Pizza

Captured in Down Town Melbourne

***

Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.
Anna Quindlen

Hi my friends,

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments to my ZEN photo from yesterday, so happy you liked that one so much :)

We took recently a stroll trough Melbourne's Down Town, a very pretty and picturesque place, cute and colorful architecture, nice coffee shops, some bars and also some galleries. There is something interesting and funny to see and to find for every one.  

In the next some days I'll show you more photos I've made on that afternoon. This picture of the bar stools in front of the Pizza delivery place is one of them.

I hope you'll enjoy!

Have a nice day  - and see you tomorrow?

Susanne

***

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A way of feeling...

Zen Design

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.
Aaron Siskind

Hi my friends,

Thanks for all the comments from yesterday, they are very much appreciated.

Susanne

***

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A Spectacular Sunset on the Lake

This was yesterdays spectacular sunset at Lake Washington!

I hope you'll enjoy it like I did to capture it.

Have a wonderful day!

Susanne

***

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The Wheel of Guidance...

I believe that the fight against crime starts in the home. Parents must take responsibility for their children and show them love and guidance from an early age so they learn to respect the rights of others.
Blanche Lincoln

Hi my friends,

I hope you had all a great and relaxing Easter Holiday.

Thank you for all the kind comments and taking your time to visit my blog.

I wish you a wonderful day - see you tomorrow.

Susanne

***

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My Wordless Sunday in 2010 - #12

The Christian Cross

The Cross 

captured somewhere on my travels in Wyoming

The Christian cross 

is the main symbol of the Christian religion. 

These crosses are usually found on Christian churches.

Jesus, who Christians believe is God the Son and their messiah, was crucified (nailed to a large wooden cross). This was a commonly used method for killing people in Roman times.

Christians believe that Jesus' death made the sins of all humans who trust in him, go away, and that they are forgiven. They also believe that Jesus was resurrected (came back to life) after three days. Because of this, the cross is a symbol for Jesus' sacrifice and suffering, but also a symbol of hope, forgiveness of sins, and victory over death.

There are several different Christian crosses that are symbols for different Christian groups or persons.

A cross with the body of Jesus on it is called a Crucifix.

The empty cross is usually favored by Protestants, and the symbol reminds them of the resurrection of Jesus, while the crucifix is favored by Catholic and Orthodox churches and is a reminder of Christ's sacrifice.

***

Hi my friends,

Tomorrow, the Christian world is celebrating Easter. I wish to you all who celebrate HAPPY EASTER.

Thank you also for all your wonderful comments and compliments to my post yesterday. I'm still thrilled about that honor of the recognition of my blog to get chosen to the list of the 47 BEST PHOTO BLOGS on the web, 

together with other great fellow photo bloggers. 

My congratulations to all the other 46 people!

Have a wonderful day!

Susanne

***

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printed, framed or stretched on canvas:

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The three great elemental sounds in nature...

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.
Henry Beston  

Hi my friends,

Thank you so much for ALL the wonderful comments and compliments to my post from yesterday! This photos above was made on the same spot at Cocoa Beach - but with a sight to the right side, where it was not that crowded at all. People here enjoyed more the silence, they preferred not to sit in a crowd of tourists.

I have something great to share with you and something what I'm very proud of it: 

I got an announcement this morning that my blog was chosen to be on the list of 

the 47 best photo blogs on the web. 

How exciting is that? I love messages like this - It makes my and my THANK YOU goes  out to those people who have chosen me. :)

Go have a look and read more about here! 

Have a wonderful day too!

Susanne

***

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A crowded beach

Cocoa Beach was crowded yesterday

Hi my friends,

Thanks for all your kind comments yesterday!

We went down to the beach in the afternoon. All the parking lots were more than full with cars and families were gathering under umbrellas. Daddies were fishing or tried to do so, kids were screaming, kites were flying and birds tried to catch some extra food.

The real life on a crowded beach! :)

See you tomorrow again? 

I know, it's Easter weekend coming up. A lot of you are for sure not sitting on the computers, like me ;)

Wish you all wonderful Easter days, enjoy life together with your families.

Susanne

***

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