Little Egret

It merely starts with an intent, as everything else does, an almost meditative concentration.

Every step a lightness, a balance.

A failure but it never gives up, merely moving on to another meditative stance.

 The Five Animal Frolics is a set of Qigong exercise that mimic the movements of animals.  Created by Hua Tuo, a doctor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it aims to help overcome illness and promote overall physical and mental well-being.  By embracing and mimicking the physical attributes of each animal, one gains its grace, strength, calmness and steadiness to manage one's health.  The Crane is one of the five animals, imitated for its steadiness, focus, calm, balance and agility.

On a micro level, and if one believes in the universality of being, we don't have to look far, it's all in one's backyard.   Consider the Little Egret.

The Little Egret did it with perfection, one stealthy step at a time, deliberate, steady  and purposeful, the concentration, the balance, the stretch, all conducted in perfect stillness and calm.  Yet, its alertness is always there, taking immediate flight on the hint of an intrusion.

Lineated Barbet

 On the wings of love, I live, and give.

"You often say, "I would give but to the deserving."  The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pastures.  They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish."

Crested Serpent-Eagle

It's almost instinctive, reflexive, to aim for any raptors, however high.

No matter that the cries of any Crested Serpent-Eagle always precedes its appearance, and already reveal its rather common presence and identity.

No matter that it appears as a silhouette.

Western Hooded Pitta

 And there it was, one stunning image of a robust pitta.

After years of being teased by its calls, pursuing it by calls, it was like I was seeing the Western Hooded Pitta for the first time!

And falling in love all over again!

I was the prey here, being hunted as the bird scanned for my presence!  And like a prey, I hardly dared breathe or stir.

And there it remained for a couple of minutes for me to admire and savour its precious presence.

And as stealthily and silently as it appeared, it turned and retreated into the unruly undergrowth.

Baya Weaver

Lately it has been encounters by avian families, and this time of Baya Weavers.

Food, always food that commands absolute attention and focus, and with this pair of adult and sub-adult, my presence was simply ignored even as I ventured close to them. 

 

Meanwhile, the female foraged apart, and of different meal.

Clearwing Moth

Clearwing Moth (Macrotarsipus similis)

 

Slender Groundhopper

Slender Groundhopper (Tetrix subulata)