What do Auntie Hattie and a baby flamingo have in common? We both have trouble standing on one leg.

http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2010/10/fluffy-flamingo-chicks-at-woodland-park-zoo.html

Comments

[Joy]

Oh, that is so darn cute I could die. Hey, were those birds laughing there at the end? I have the same thing in common with that little fella; but I think he did better than I would do. ~Joy

[Henry Hank Chapin]

CUTE and a glimpse of their natural life. I am very partial to birds as they have a spiritual connotation to me because they can fly and leave the mundane world, the Earth. My favorite painter is Morris Graves who painted many birds ("Bird Singing in the Moonlight," "Blind Bird," "Wounded Gull," "Dead Pigeon" etc.). Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" views them symbolically as "blithe spirits." I saw a pueo (Hawaiian owl) zip across my yard once and, because of circumstances at the time which would be hard for me to defend today, I figured it was my grandmother paying me a visit. Half of my own paintings are of birds. Don't get me started on birds.

I started on birds when I was the age of ten and went on bird walks with my grandmother, known to us kids as Country Grandma. I went on a bird walk her at her farm in Massachusetts, and she saw that spectacular bird, the Pileated Woodpecker. But I couldn't see it. Symbolism: age and wisdom could see what a child could not. I still have never seen that rare bird. But now Pileateds are not so rare, like the deer, they have made a comeback. Now my daughter sees them all the time in New York. I told her that the Pileated Woodpecker is her aumakua (Hawaiian word for one's family totem animal). I need to take a moment and consider what the awkward, beautiful Flamingo represents to me. How about ohana (Hawaiian for family)? The birds ion the video certainly took care of their baby, the way all birds do. As I said--don't get me started on birds....

[Hattie]

Joy: The chick will improve. Me? Well, I'm working on it.
Hank: You and my sister are (wait for it( birds of a feather. I love birds, but they make me nervous, except for crows (the ones you see on the Mainland) and seagulls. These "trash" birds are my favorites. They are smart and enterprising and thrive in the most uncongenial circumstances. They remain wild. Pigeons and doves, however, I don't care for that much, or for fowl in general. Except to eat.

[Cop Car]

Henry--The first pileated that I saw was in the Missouri Ozarks. Now, living in south central Kansas, I see on fly over on occasion.

Hattie--Really, really cute video. Thanks for sharing!

Loved the photo of your snow-capped mountain, too.