B is for – well, you might think I will be talking about or featuring Books for this B post. And while books are always the first word I recall for the letter B, today’s post is to do with birds.

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The Backstory:

As a teenager, I made my way to a summer camp – my very first and only one, in fact.

• The location – Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in Muthhodi, Chikamagalur.
• The occasion – a WWF organized camp for students. (Note: WWF stands for World Wildlife Fund, not World Wrestling Federation in this case 🙂 )

It was a tad pricey(which my dad did not mind one bit, oh! I do miss him). And a rare opportunity, at least for us in our remote town, where summers normally meant a visit to our grandparents’ or laze around our tiny little town in the middle of our state(literally). No one would have signed up for this in the normal course of things. But it so happened that I did, with a group of 6 or 7 other kids from my school.

So it was that we landed in Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary when it was a veritable unknown, as far as sanctuaries go. Today, googling the name returns many exotic tours, beautiful guest-houses, and more. So many more things to offer than that yesteryear when we visited. But to us kids, Bhadra was exotic, beautiful, and more, more so in all its simple grandeur!

Our wonderful WWF guides at the camp took us on hikes daily, warned us to look into our shoes first thing in the morning before we put our feet in (scorpions apparently loved to snuggle inside), showed us learning is fun, and instilled in me a life long love for birds.

While I am not as avid of a bird watcher today compared to all those years ago, birds remain one of my favorite things to shoot – with a camera, of course!

b is for birds:

So here are some captures for ABC Wednesday’s letter B, taken during family trips this last two Christmases.

The first one, the single shot below, was taken at the beautiful Elverhoj Museum in Solvang. My kids know my love for photographing birds and while I was inside the museum, they had stepped out and noticed this bird. They rushed in and hurried me saying that I need to see this now (well, it could have flown away!) and I am thankful to them for this capture.

Question for you, dear reader: As for naming this bird, I do not claim to be an ornithologist so would love to hear from you readers if you can help me identify this bird! I did use the Google Images search on this and it said the best possible /closest identification for this was the California Scrub Jay – please confirm!

This second series of photos below were of captures from our trip to Orlando last Christmas. A few are those of wild birds taken during our air-boat rides to look for gators and that was a fun ride indeed! The others were taken at Animal Kingdom.

b is for books too:

How could I resist? I am currently reading (yes, one more book in my current reads list) Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I kind of understand all the wonderful reviews it has based on what I have read so far. My review for this will be on my blog soon.

One quote caught my attention and I am sure many more will as I continue reading:

“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die ”  – Anne Lamott

The title of this book inspired the title for my post as well 🙂

You can check out my previous posts for the month and for Ultimate Blog Challenge below. Yes, I know more than a few days are missing. This is day 16’s post.

Day 15 Day 14Day 8Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7Day 9
Day 10Day 11Day 12 Day 13