What time of year is this? A big set of storms came through here last night, a real drama queen of a storm system, with tornado warnings going off all over (but no touch-downs as far as I know). What was really swell was how it glided past and around us, so we could gawk like tourists on the back deck and enjoy the thrilling light show– from a safe distance.
By the way, do you notice how the shapes of the oak branches resemble the lightning bolts?
Drawing The Motmot 
I love the majesty of a storm. Fab photo!
I love the photo and am amazed at the synchronicity, having just published a post on both lightning and the Oak tree. I also had a look at you paintings, beautiful beautiful art.
That’s a great shot!!
Your photo and the sounds you describe look and sound like a Wagner opera. Looks like you had the best seat in the house for Nature’s show.
That’s a breathtaking (spelling?) photo.
Wow, that’s quite the storm. There was something similar in northern Labrador last night apparently – during snow! Very odd. Fabulous photograph and great blog.
I only know the sparrows, and now that it is winter here (in Spain), I feed them rice. They like that and show up in large numbers and are great fun to watch, as they spend almost all their time on the window sill only looking and jumping around the rice to make sure it is safe to take some.
I thought “motmot” was a wordplay, as it means word-word in French.
I didn’t realize the meaning of “Motmot” it’s actually the bird’s call. The first time I heard one in the forest of Trinidad, our guide stopped, tilted his head and raised one finger, saying mysteriously, “Listen. It is the sound of the Motmot- it speaks its name”.
I love that it also means “wordplay”!
It does not mean “wordplay”, but since at first it meant nothing to me, I thought it had to be some wordplay. US English if full of wordplays, and foreigners get tripped up.
I made a JPEG of 2 pages of that bird book: sketches and hand-written explanations. As you will see, the priority was to teach beginners to look for birds and get to know them. Most people need to be told what to see: the bird is big, it is black, its tail is long. It has to be explicitly stated for people to look and get the point.
Your sketchbook plus handwritten notes would make a wonderful book for all kinds of people, not just people who try to draw. If conventional publishers can’t see the point, you could set it up at no cost to yourself at Lulu.
I saw your e-mail address on your web page and will send the JPEG there. It is about 250 KB, plus summary translation.
Izzat your lightning photo, DK? If so, it’s a contest winner! WOW!