To describe my lifelong fascination with flight and with creatures that fly I like to echo the words of John James Audubon who in 1839 wrote of himself as "...one who never can cease to admire and to study with zeal and the most heartfelt reverence, the wonderful productions of an Almighty Creator."
A few times every winter I notice Dark-eyed Juncos picking something from the moss clumps on my Vine Maple tree, and eating whatever they are finding. I'm still trying to determine for certain which part they are eating. I suspect it is the spore cases, or "sporangia." You can see some of the action in this video clip by copying and pasting it into your browser's address line:
I haven't had any time for birding on this current road trip, but today (just hours before heading home tomorrow morning) I had a chance to revisit the Botanical Gardens here in Penang, Malaysia. I did hear and see lots of birds at a distance, but the only good look at a flying creature came when this amazing 6-inch-wide butterfly swooped and whirled over a pond up a side trail in the forest. In the same area there was a group of Leaf Monkeys high in the leafy branches, and they sometimes "flew" from branch to branch.
