Our theme this week was "fire in the sky." Thank you to everyone who shared their photos on our Facebook page. We hope you enjoy this week's Friday Fotos, and, as always, we hope you'll share this stunning gallery with your favorite peeps — you know the drill: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and the social media list goes on.
Literally translated as “mountain water”, Shan Shui is a specific style of Chinese landscape art that rose to prominence in the 5th century during the Liu Song Dynasty (wikipedia). In the depiction of pristine rivers, ethereal mists, and hallowed mountains, the artist's ultimate goal is to capture the ch'i, or vital breath, of the world around them. This ch'i must be caught even at the expense of realism, for if the artist misses it, they have lost the very essence of the landscape.
Will they ever come to the States?!
It's autumn and it's smoky. At this time of year the smell of burning stubble pervades our local landscape, although perhaps less so than in years gone by. A gradual shift to low or no-till farming systems has seen a decline in this practice in recent times.
Birds of prey are often attracted to fire - in northern Australia large flocks of raptors, often numbering in the hundreds, will gather to feed on animals disturbed during burns.
Some birds provide more of a thrill than others ... White-bellied Sea-Eagles for example. It is astonishing to think that they breed right here in central Victoria, with one pair doing so successfully over recent years at Lake Cairn Curran. With so much activity on the lake in recent weeks, I've been worried about the fate of the latest breeding attempt.
To me, one of the iconic sounds of the Australian bush, is the unmistakable and haunting call of the Whistling Kite. A common raptor in our local district, it can be heard calling throughout the year. The typical call is described as a ... 'long, clear whistle, followed by ascending reedy oboe-like notes'.
I encountered a pair a few days back at Joyce's Creek and managed to catch the bird pictured below calling enthusiastically.
