Thursday, May 28, 2020

Be Still Buddy

Be-Still Buddy, Kailua, HI, May 2020, Nikon D600 with FX 18-300mm VR lens, 300mm,
1/320 sec @ f5.6, ISO 500, -0.33 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

This is a Red-Crested Cardinal (really a Tanager) holding a Be-Still flower in its beak, and drinking its nectar.  These cute songbirds bounce through these trees (also known as Yellow Oleander), plucking flowers, holding them like trumpets, and then dropping them.

So many fall to the ground you could make quite a beautiful Hawaiian lei with them, except that the flowers (and all parts of this plant, especially the seeds) are poisonous to humans (and many animals).  Hence the name -- the result of someone eating parts of the tree -- they would literally stop moving and "be still."  Even the nectar, gathered by bees and transformed into honey, ends up containing toxins.

And yet will you look at that ... poison to some is nectar from the gods for these birds.  Nature certainly is fascinating.

And I'm quite fond of our Be-Still Buddy, reminding me to, "Be Still, Buddy" 😬.   But in my version, this is more like the inner stillness found during meditation.

Here's hoping that you -- my blog Buddy -- can spend some time today both in Stillness and in Nature ... and each and every day going forward.

Namaste!

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