May 5, 2011

The Red-fronted Macaw, Ara rubrogenys, is a parrot endemic to a small semi-desert mountainous area of Bolivia. It is highly endangered, and there may only be 150 or so birds left in the wild; it has been successfully bred in captivity, and is available, if not common, as a pet.     The adults at about 60 cm (24 inches) and 500 grams are the smallest of the standard size macaw (2/3 the size of a Blue and Gold macaw), and larger than the mini-macaws.

They are varying shades of yellowish olive green with teal blue tail feathers and teal blue primary feathers with black veins and inner edges. They have red ear patches and red blending into orange on their forehead to crown, and shoulder covers. They have bright orange blending into greenish yellow under their wings. The red feathers on their legs give the appearance that they are wearing red leggings. People frequently comment on how much more beautiful these birds are in real life - their pictures just do not do them justice.

A Special Sign Of Affection The Red-fronteds use the colorful under-side of their wing to attract your attention. When a person they like approaches, they immediately tilt their body down on the far side and raise their wing on the close side so that they expose their beautiful underwing coloration.  They may also cup this wing around their bird or human friend (an endearing gesture). Because of their feather softness and down undercoat, they are very pettable.  They will keep the underside of their wing exposed to you as long as you express willingness to pet it.

Vocal Communication Red-fronted macaws are excellent talkers, but their voice is a bird tonal quality; they are not perfect tonal imitators such as the African Gray.  They tend to speak appropriately (say good-by as someone leaves), but speak when they want to speak, usually not on command. Red-fronted macaws coo.  They coo with contentment when they are held by their caring keeper.  They also have the potential to make a louder noise if they so choose (as the wild parents sometimes demonstrate) , but they are not vocal over extended periods of time as are some other birds, such as conures. Their call is not the " honk " of the larger macaws, but more of a trill. They mostly restrict their noise to squawking--with excitement when you first make an appearance in the morning or come back home after an absence, and in play during the day. Greeting them and giving them a brief pet calms them down. As babies they have a very rhythmic squawk that may be quite constant as they are being held. This "baby" squawk disappears several months after weaning. The Red-fronteds are intelligent birds who quickly learn trick training in a single or few short sessions. Since they may like to lie on their back anyway, teaching them to play dead may be quite easy.

Bonding and Playing Red-fronted macaws tend to form strong pair-bonds with mates or humans. However, in the absence of their owner, they immediately form another strong pair bond with the next available person. They are typical macaws in that they like to "rough-house" and play games of intimidation with each other and with the humans. They may bite each other's feet and squawk, but they know just how hard to do it without hurting each other, and seem to enjoy the game. With humans they also challenge by mouthing, and if the human jumps back, they know that they gotcha (they have just proven that they are dominant). Humans need to learn how to handle macaws--move in on them, not away, after they have challenged you, holding their upper beak firmly, talk soothingly and let them know that you are the dominant one. Hand-fed birds are eager for the companionship of people, but are capable of entertaining themselves for periods of time when the companionship is not offered.

High Activity They are excellent flyers and can even hover in flight.  When Red-fronted macaws learn to fly they really thin down, more so than most other species. They fly lightly and can go straight up, sometimes leaping into the air as though the wind caught them and tossed them there for an instant's hover before coming back down to earth to the exact same place they started. Red-fronted macaws are precision flyers, going directly where they want with clear intention. When their wings are clipped, they still are reasonably active in the cage, hanging from the top of the cage by their toes or playing with swings, ropes and toys. Because of their activity level, a large cage is preferred. The Red-fronted macaw is an ideal size for a pet, large enough to appeal to those that desire a larger bird, but small enough to be handleable or to accompany you in public.  The bird, always an attraction to strangers, has a calm personality and is not upset or hyperactive in new settings or with new people.  He may or may not allow strangers to pet him.

Red-fronted Macaws are unique birds. They are extremely affectionate, intelligent, playful, gentle spirits in graceful, moderately sized bodies. They are the noisiest babies in the nursery, honking loudly whenever someone enters the room. The baby Red-fronted macaws run to the side of their tub nearest the brooder door to see what is going on and if they are about to be taken out and cuddled. "ME! ME!" they seem to be saying. In addition to being extremely vocal, Red-fronted macaws are also extremely cuddly with each other and with their hand feeder. Once they start exploring from their natural baskets and eating a bit on their own, the frequent vocalizing gradually reduces to only vocalizing when they really want something. When toddling around after emerging from their baskets, young Red-fronted macaws seek people out and enjoy napping on their laps. Otherwise they collapse in feathered heaps wherever they find themselves. They often sleep on their backs, a sight which can be unnerving to the uninitiated. Young Red-fronted macaws will lie on their backs and play with their toes, or play with a toy, and some will even continue this behavior into adulthood. They will also play on the floor with each other and roll around like kittens or puppies, wrestling and holding each other's feet. As the young Red-fronted macaw chicks begin to mature, they become coy and won't look directly at you. As they continue to mature, they will become friendlier again and grace their owners with their charming and unique behavior.

As they mature, Red-fronted macaws remain physically affectionate. They love to cuddle and tunnel under towels or blankets. One of my breeder Red-fronted macaws, Loro, observed me sitting on the edge of a table talking with some students and gesturing with my hands. He came up and cocked his head and watched for a little while. He climbed into my lap, put his head down between my trousered legs, stood on his head and waved his tail back and forth like a metronome in front of my face! He instantly got what he wanted--to be the center of attention.  (As told by a Red-fronted breeder) Red-fronted macaws are also the most empathetic of the macaws. They will sense and respond to your every changing mood. This can be good and bad, as they mirror your mood and respond with affection or agitation. The main downside to Red-fronted macaws is their voices. They are loud and frequently try to communicate with their voices. They are considered a bit on the squawky side, and that is the primary reason someone would not select one for their home. However, the squawkiness tends to decline as they become mature. In practical terms, Red-fronted macaws are social and can be quite loud when left alone; if they know their flock (family) is nearby but out of sight they will call to them to stay in touch. They are extremely flock-oriented and want to be in the middle of things. They need a lot of interaction. While they can be incredible companions for people in single-bird households, they especially thrive in households with multiple birds, since there is always someone to talk to and feel companionship with. Red-fronted macaws are a delight to have around and bring much energy and joy to their homes. A large well-made cage and lots of toys for chewing are necessary. Feed this wonderful macaw a pelleted diet with some high quality seed/nut mixtures. Lots of fresh veggies, fruit, pasta, grains and white meat--well cooked--should be in the bird's diet.

Chrysuronia eliciae

THE GREAT TREES OF MARIPOSA GROVE, CALIFORNIA

CROSSING BAYOU PIERRE

As night closed in on the Port Gibson battlefields the situation calmed.  The Confederate forces made an unmolested retreat across the Bayou Pierre as the exhausted Federal troops paused.  The horrible work of recovering the dead and wounded was begun.  A curious Fred Grant, the general�s son, decided to lend a hand.  A brief look at the mutilated corpses was enough to scare the young man away from that detail.  Instead he moved on to assist with the wounded at a field hospital that was being established at a log house nearby.  He found the situation there equally disturbing.  He later wrote of the experience: �The scenes there were so terrible that I became faint and ill and making my way to a tree, sat down, the most woe-be gone twelve year old lad in America.� The day long fight had been costly for both sides.  Union losses totaled 975 (131 killed, 719 wounded, 25 missing) while the partial returns from the Confederate forces set the toll at 832 (68 killed, 380 wounded, 384 missing).  Despite the heavy losses Grant was determined to take up the fight on the morning of the 2nd. At dawn the Union troops moved forward to find that the stubborn Confederates had left the field.  Bowen had moved his troops first across the Little Bayou Pierre and then Big Bayou Pierre, burning the bridges behind them.  At 0900 they finally made camp.  The exhausted men fell on their arms.  There was no hiding Grant's whereabouts or intentions now.

The Battle of Raymond

The Battle of Raymond was fought on May 12, 1863, near Raymond, Mississippi, during the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. The bitter fight pitted elements of Union Army Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee against Confederate forces of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Department of the Mississippi and East Louisiana. The Confederates failed to prevent the Federal troops from reaching the Southern Railroad and isolating Vicksburg, Mississippi, from reinforcement and resupply. The ranking Confederate officer, Brig. Gen. John Gregg, attempted to achieve tactical surprise and rout the Federal force, but he was in turn tactically surprised and routed from the field by the Union XVII Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson. The Union forces outnumbered the Confederates three to one and in artillery seven to one. The Union casualties at Raymond were 68 killed, 341 wounded, and 37 missing. The Confederate casualties were nearly double: 100 killed, 305 wounded, and 415 captured.

SLEEPING SUN

MARDI GRAS

Edo--once also spelled Yedo or Yeddo--is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868.
The One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the last masterwork of the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige (also known as Ando), is a series of landscape ukiyo-e prints whose subject matter is views of the city of Edo and its outskirts. It is composed of 118 prints designed by Hiroshige I, one print by Hiroshige II and a Table of Content, totaling 120 prints as a complete set. The series, along with his Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, is not only the most renowned polychrome woodblock prints of famous places�by Hiroshige, but also, with its bold compositional contrast between foreground and background and assimilation of the Western linear perspective, represents an apex of the landscape ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period.	Its superb artistic quality was also recognized in Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, and the marked influence it exerted on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters such as Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin is well-known. Furthermore, since the Tokyo Association for the Crafts of Traditional Woodblock Printmaking completed its project of reprinting the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo in 2003, the number of exhibitions and publications related to the series has risen. At the same time, new scholarly works on its development of pictorial compositions and its place in a wider historical background have been undertaken in recent years, showing its continuing vitality as an object of research.

ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO) NUMBER FORTY-NINE

FUDO FALLS, OJI

A winding river course cuts through the projecting bluff of the Musashi Plain.  In the rainy summer months, dozens of small cascades plunged into the river from the higher ground above. Certain of these waterfalls came to be singled out as the "Seven Falls of Oji."  The Fudo Falls was the best known for its combination of religious, curative, and scenic allure.  Religion came first, for the falls were approached through the precincts of the Shojuin Temple, founded in the sixteenth century by a holy man practiced in the way of Fudo, a Buddhist deity depicted wreathed in flame and grasping a sword in his right hand.  Later, an image of Fudo was placed just to the right of the waterfall (out of sight here) and was said to have emerged from the falls themselves.

Dahlia tenuicaulis Everblooming Tree Dahlia

Struthiomimus Struthiomimus ("Ostrich mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. It was a long-legged, ostrich-like dinosaur. Struthiomimus had a typical build and skeletal structure for an ornithomimid, differing from genera like Ornithomimus and Dromiceiomimus in proportions and anatomical details. It is known from several skeletons and skulls,and its size is estimated as about 4.3 metres (14 ft) long and 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) tall at the hips, with a weight of around 150 kilograms (330 lb). As with other ornithomimids, it had a small slender head on a long neck (which made up about 40% of the length of the body in front of the hips). Its eyes were large and its jaws were toothless. Its vertebral column had ten neck vertebrae, sixteen back vertebrae, six hip vertebrae, and an unknown number of tail vertebrae. The tail was stiff and was probably used for balance. Struthiomimus had long slender arms and hands, with immobile forearm bones but limited opposability between the first finger and the other two. It had the longest hands of any ornithomimid, with particularly long claws. The three fingers were roughly the same length, and the claws were only slightly curved. Its shin was longer than its thigh, a cursorial feature. Among ornithomimids, though, its legs were only moderately elongate. Its feet were elongate, and the metatarsals were tightly appressed, with three toes tipped by claws with very slight curvature.

pixdaus.com

BLUE AND WHITE VESSEL

THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN (circa 1453)

Andrea Mantegna (c. 1431 � September 13, 1506) was a North Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His flinty, metallic landscapes and somewhat stony figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting.  He also led a workshop that was the leading producer of prints in Venice before 1500. Mantegna was born in Isola di Carturo, close to Padua in the Republic of Venice, second son of a carpenter, Biagio. At the age of eleven he became the apprentice of Francesco Squarcione, Paduan painter.  Squarcione, whose original vocation was tailoring, appears to have had a remarkable enthusiasm for ancient art, and a faculty for acting.  Like his famous compatriot Petrarca, Squarcione was something of a fanatic for ancient Rome:  he travelled in Italy, and perhaps Greece, amassing antique statues, reliefs, vases, etc., forming a collection of such works, then making drawings from them himself, and throwing open his stores for others to study.  All the while, he continued undertaking works on commission for which his pupils no less than himself were made available.

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