Grüße aus Sambia!

Grüsse aus Sambia! 

Safari ? No - just another conference ... God save the conference organizers for picking such beautiful places :)! 

These are pictures from a family visit to the Zambezi river and Victoria Falls in April 2010. 

sparkling

bathing in the Zambesi above the falls... 

... and giving each other a shower ... wash your ears! 

 drying cormorant

 open-billed stork

See you when I am back ! 

Seagulls in Berlin

I had an inquisitive visitor on our rooftop terrace in Berlin last summer: a rather nosy and very large bird that seemed to fly reconnaissance missions on me  when I was peacefully sitting on my terrace. It came quite close, quite fast and on a direct flight path, looking me in the eye in what I found to be a rather menacing frightening look ... It was a very large seagull, a herring gull or "Silbermöwe" (Larus argentatus) checking me out. 

They were a couple. They had three kids growing up on the roof on the other side of the road in the same height as the terrace of our flat - which was quite close, 30 m across, obviously a little too close for comfort for them. They would not know I could not fly over ...

young seagulls whining for food

These seagulls have been observed to breed in the inner city of Berlin since 2010. Our terrace was only finished in 2016 on the rooftop of a new apartment block, which must have taken them by surprise suddenly finding humans at this height and in such proximity. 
They are 175 km from the  coast but either don't mind the freshwater lakes or prefer the "junk" food they find in the city. Food is not scarce here. 
On the flat rooftops they find the gravel that they like to build their nests on. 

We only observed them in their late adolescent stages just before they learnt to fly. They were constantly and loudly demanding more food; the poor exhausted parents were busy carrying goodies to their healthy strong offspring. 

practising the first short flights watched by the siblings

On July 20, they all took off early in the morning to explore the surroundings and I did not see them for several days. After that, I only occasionally saw them again, circling in the sky.

I have seen a couple returning to the same spot this year. I wonder whether they will breed here again and hope they won't mind me watching. 

  

Plant of the Month : Scilla mischtschenkoana

This tiny flower called "Blausternchen"  - little blue star (in German) -  belongs to the genus Scilla which has dozens of different species of pretty spring flowering bulbs. Most spread easily when left to thrive undisturbed. 

It is related to the more well-known Scilla hispanica (now called Hyacinthoides hispanica), which turns large areas of English woodland and parks blue in April and May.

  

Scilla mischtschenkoana is the earliest of these Scilla, in some years coming out before the snowdrops. It is eager to show its face to the earliest sunrays: its leaves push through the surface wrapping a ready-made finished blossom. One often sees its flowers already opening when barely above the dirty ground, sometimes looking a bit shoddy and torn already before fully open.  Don't they know, they should be patient and wait until their nice slender stems have grown to show off the beautiful petals with the fine blue lines? Stems will elongate later like tulips in a vase. Each stem carries several white "stars". I am always surprised by this behaviour and wonder whether I did something wrong last year that they are stuck in the ground. But the stems will reliably grow longer later on in the month.  

Its difficult name comes from the Russian botanist P.I. Mischtschenko, spelt with the strange kyrillic letter Щ  that needs seven characters in German pronunciation "schtsch". 

Two Days in Washington DC - The Monuments

Lincoln Memorial

Abraham Lincoln keeping a watchful eye on his busy folks

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Korean War Veterans Memorial 

This is even more impressive than the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Very tired looking stainless steel statues in rain coats holding weapons stand searching in the underbrush. Their ghost-like reflections on the granite wall make this memorial feel very alive. 

Washington Monument

sits on a slight elevation and has wonderful views along the axis of the National Mall. Unfortunately it is closed "indefinitely" due to construction problems with the elevator.

the view towards Capitol Hill

the view towards Lincoln Memorial

World War II - Memorial

a rather pompous and garish piece in 1930s-style with many fountains, more festive than sombre 

Several memorials are grouped around the Tidal Basin:

Jefferson Memorial

beautiful in evening light 

In a few days the cherry blossoms will open for their festival.

Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial

This is a very extensive memorial site with several "rooms" 

I don't know any other memorial where the hero is depicted seated in a raincoat with his dog next to him. 

Martin Luther King Memorial

Arlington Cemetery 

I skipped this visit - tired feet. This is the view from the other side of the Potomac River.

View over White House and Monument at night

Victory statue on World War I  memorial (another Goldelse..)

All in all my smart phone health app tells me I walked 26.7 km with  41.671 steps....