PRSky » Animals

Dolphin Event Tickets

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:48:42 +0000

My mother bought Event Tickets for us to go swim with the Dolphins, in New Zealand! What ever possessed my mother to take me with her on her holiday trip to New Zealand, I hope will still possess her when we get back. My mother and I have always been at odds. I’m thinking she has something up her sleeve, but for the life of me, I don’t know what it could be.

Well, after arriving in New Zealand and going on a few tours during our first couple of days there, we finally got to go on the boat which will take us out to where the Dolphins are. It took a couple of hours on the boat to arrive at the spot where the boat crew know where a pod of dolphins normally hang out. Before we arrived at the spot, we got a quick lesson on how to snorkel. I had no idea we’d be able to swim with the dolphins! I was really excited, I’m not that much of a swimmer, but how could I pass up a the chance of a lifetime to swim with Flipper?

My mother wasn’t interested in jumping in the water and socializing with the dolphins, but I was the first one to jump in. I followed all the instructions about swimming out to where the dolphins are, keeping my face in the water and making singing noises through the snorkel which is a kind of a dolphin call to make them come over. I swam for all it was worth, but I couldn’t think of a song to sing, so I just hummed and make strange noises. The dolphins came! I bunch of them! They swam right up to me to take a look at who was making all those weird noises. I was so thrilled, so blown away. They were so close to me, I could reach out and they let me touch them. I felt so honored and privileged.

We got the signal to swim back to the boat, I swam back and followed the instruction, bobbing around in the water waiting for my turn to get on board, but while I was waiting, I heard all the other swimmers disappointment about how none of the dolphins came near them. This news made me even more enthralled than I could ever have imagined. I really can’t describe how truly amazing it was to swim with this magnificent wild creature. My mother saw me and began to cry, I asked her what wrong and she told me that she hasn’t seen me smile like that since I was a little girl.

Dolphin Event Tickets is a post from: PRSky

South Africa Johannesburg to Capetown

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:48:21 +0000

South Africa, I found out, is a spectacularly beautiful country and, of course, rich in wildlife. I came to Johannesburg first and immediately got myself situated in one of the Luxury Hotels Johannesburg offers before I set out to explore the most southwesterly part where there are two unique habitats to explore; the stark heath-like fynbos and Karoo a vast semi-desert.

I was told to expect to see over 400 species, so I brought plenty of journal notebooks and drawing material. On my 2nd day in South Africa, I hired a car and wen to Blouberg, just outside of Cape Town. The views that Blouberg offers of Table Mountain is staggering, really, I had to hold on to a tree! My 3rd day to went to the waters off Cape Town because I heard it was the best pelagic spot in the world. I took a sailboat tour from Simonstown and was awed by the spectacle of the thousands of seabirds. There was well over 20 species all squabbling over the scraps being thrown behind the tour boat. I only recognized the Black-browed, the White-chinned Petrel, the Shy and Yellow-nosed albatrosses and the Sooty Shearwater. I’ll have to reference my birding book to figure out the other 15 species I didn’t recognize.

On day 4, I checked out Cape Peninsula. Exceptionally beautiful. I spent the day searching for fynbos endemics like the Orange-breasted Sunbird or the Cape Siskin. Then I made a visit to Kommetjie, the home of the Benguela-endemic African Black Oystercatcher, as well as Bank, Cape Cormorants and the Crowned. I continued on to Cape of Good Hope and stopped at Boulder’s Bay to play with the African Penguins. My final stop was at Strandfontein. It’s a series of settling ponds which support a remarkable variety of waterfowl.

On day 5, it was time to head back to Johannesburg and spend some time with people. Maybe I’ll be lucky and someone will be wearing feathers and flowers.

South Africa Johannesburg to Capetown is a post from: PRSky

On the Fly

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:29:24 +0000

My parents have a few birds nesting in their backyard. What I find really great about this is the nest if in full view when we use the outdoor sink on our patio. I brought my kids by the other day to sit and watch, they weren’t disappointed. The mother bird, first perched on the spout of the sink, then she flew up into the nest and it looked like she was feeding the two baby birds. My children were delighted. I had to shush them only a few times, they wanted so bad to climb up the tree and see the baby birds.

As we patiently watched to see how the mother bird fed her young, we noticed something interesting. She did have food in her beak to feed her babies, but she only appeared to feed them. Just as one of her young was about to snatch the food from her mouth, the mother bird would back away and then she hopped out of the nest and flew to a tree not to far away. My children and I just looked at each other, perplexed and then continued to watch her with even more curiousity. She continued doing the same motions as before, she’d fly into the nest, wait for one of her young to reach for the food in her mouth and then she’d fly away. She did this several times. At first, we weren’t sure what she was doing, but about the fourth time she swooped into the nest and again teased the babies with the food in her beak, one of the baby birds lunged at the food in her mouth and fell out of the nest and landed on the ground. My children wanted to run and pick it up, but I motioned for them to stay put and watch. The baby bird, flapping frantically managed to make it to one of the lower brances of the tree. The mother bird watched her baby birds attempt at flying from the view point of the sink’s faucet. She seemed proud almost, watching her babies first solo flight. She then flew down under the tree to check on the well-being of her young one and give the food she had in her mouth to the baby.

My kids just look at me when I said to them that’s exactly how I plan to get them out of my nest. Then I chased them all around the backyard acting like a mother bird with food in my mouth and they for some reason weren’t the least bit hungry.

On the Fly is a post from: PRSky