Sunday, March 25, 2007

Spoonbills, sports and politics


Bad, bad weather today. Yesterday was hot as hell with shocking blue skies, but the night brought in grey clouds, strong winds and driving rain. Managed to catch these spoonbills, a species common in south-east Australia, in between two showers.
What about the elections? Labor Premier Morris Iemma was re-elected. Go to Sally's to read about the voting procedures. You can also go to the Sydney Morning Herald's website for detailed results, but be warned: their main headline isn't about the elections at all but about an Aussie victory in cricket against South Africa (in the World Cup, admittedly). Oh Aussies, true to their reputation: sport comes first, always!

Temps maussade aujourd'hui. Hier il faisait 34° et un ciel bleu d'enfer mais la nuit a apporté des nuages gris, des vents forts et des averses en rafales. Entre deux grains, j'ai pu prendre cette photo de spatules, ainsi nommées pour leur bec arrondi en cuiller, une espèce assez fréquente dans le sud-est australien.
Et les élections ? Eh bien le Premier ministre travailliste Morris Iemma a été reconduit dans ses fonctions. Pour voir le déroulement du vote, allez chez Sally. Pour tous les résultats, vous pouvez consulter
le site du Sydney Morning Herald, mais soyez prévenus : leur gros titre ne concerne pas le résultat de l'élection mais une victoire australienne en cricket contre l'Afrique du sud (bon, en Coupe du Monde, c'est vrai). Ah ces australiens, fidèles à leur réputation : le sport avant tout !

26 comments:

Pod said...

lovely shot madame! especially for my strangely colourblind eyes. what a difference between yesterday and today!! sweltered at a wedding yesterday and today i am flirting with my slippers!! oh la la ;0)

Gregory Sey said...

C'est beau. On dirait qu'ils marchent sur un miroir.
Comme quoi, le mauvais permet de faire de très belles images.

Nick said...

What strange birds (to my strictly European eyes anyway). Strange weather too, but that's autumn for you.

angela said...

Lovely birds and reflections.
We had snow yesterday. Weird.
Angela

Anonymous said...

Another nice colour scheme, and the square crop works well. I was watching the Australia/SA game as well - your friends and colleagues must be very bleary eyed this morning if they watched it live

hpy said...

N'appelle-t-on pas les spoonbills des spatules en français?

Jilly said...

Love this photograph. So natural, beautiful birds. Reminds me of when I lived in Cairns and seeing the waterbirds in the swamps.

Be grateful Aussies put sport ahead of politics. C'est le contraire en France a ce moment la!

Bisoux - Jilly x

~tanty~ said...

We had a nice weather yesterday :) Lovely birds!

don said...

lovely birds!! We in holland have seen a few seconds of the cricket game. For or team it is the first time that the can play on this big event. We need to learn a lot........

Anonymous said...

I love the reflection of the birds on the wet sand!

Julia said...

Superbes oiseaux! Beaucoup plus spectaculaires que mes cygnes d'hier!

Anonymous said...

I forget that you are entering or in autumn and we are, here in Ohio where I live in the states, looking forward with great anticipation to the return of the birds and for warming weather and for things to sprout out of the ground. I love your spoonbill photograph. I have nothing as grand to offer on my blog, but do have a grackle.

Thank you for your stopping at my place and for your comments. I so much appreciate being acknowledged in this world. So many are not.

Abraham

720 Pixels

Kalyan Panja said...

Lovely birds...Wonderfully captured shot!

Kate said...

Watching birds is a pleasant activity and these look like admirable subjects. You photographed them quite well!

Victoria said...

I love this shot! The lighting, the reflection and the positions of the birds are all perfect!

isa said...

It is worse in the States. The papers devote more space to "who fathered Smith's baby" than to the casualities of the unpopular war...

Dave said...

Very cool looking birds!! You seem to always get a neat shot in!!

Nathalie H.D. said...

HPY, merci chère ornithologue salvatrice, j'ai corrigé mon texte en français pour remplacer Spoonbills par Spatules.

Merci à tous pour vos commentaires qui ont couvert l'ensemble des questions abordées, les oiseaux, la photographie, le mauvais temps, la place de la politique dans les medias et... le cricket, un sport totalement incompréhensible pour moi et qui reste encore aujourd'hui LE grand fossé culturel entre le monde d'influence culturelle anglaise et le reste du monde.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Thanks to HPY who gave me the French word for Spoonbill, Spatule (logic when you think of it).

To everyone, I very much enjoyed your comments which covered the whole range of topics from birds to photography to bad weather, to the place of politics in the media and... to cricket!

This sport being totally incomprehensible to me (a topic of great cultural significance discussed many times before) I am always surprised to see how many of you actually care about it LOL

kuanyin333 said...

Great commentary to go with a beautiful photo!

Cergie said...

"Spatule" en effet, j'en ai vu à la ménagerie du jardin des plantes l'autre jour. En tout cas le bleu du ciel que tu traques si bien d'habitude se reflète en même temps que ces magnifiques oiseaux bleus

edwin s said...

beautiful...trés beautiful.

as for sports, the aussies must be pissed that a Korean beat Grant Hackett in the World Championship swim meet in Melbourne. THAT could've been front page news too.

Kerry-Anne said...

>nathalie, about cricket - "care about it"? try "eat, sleep and breathe it"! We're all feeling a little bruised this morning after that nasty defeat. But we'll be back... :)

Olivier said...

superbe, la couleur bleue est naturelle ?

Deb said...

love the reflections in this photo!

Kala said...

great photo and yes, Aussies love their sport! I know some haha They are so naturally talented and athletic!