New York City:A short video footage

In my recent trip to New York City, I chanced upon this young guy performing near central park. He is singing one of my favourite songs "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan.

I loved it!

This video kind of captures the true essence and spirit of New York City. I love the passion with which the singer is performing, he is great, and I hope someday he gets the recognition he so deserves.

It was a lovely summer evening; everyone seems to be enjoying. I wish everyday was as lovely as this.

The Palace & Gardens of Versailles, Paris

View of the Garden

During my brief stay at Paris, I wanted to visit Versailles palace, I went there but could not visit the palace :( the queue was far too long,

However, I did manage to see the beautiful gardens around the Versailles palace, the landscaped and perfectly maintained gardens were amazingly beautiful and there were spectacular sculptures that added to the beauty of the garden.



The garden dates back to 1661 and took 40 years to complete. King Louis XIV assigned the task of designing and layout of  the garden to André Le Nôtre. The Versailles palace and garden happens to be a world heritage site.Some pictures from my trip.

Versailles Palace

Versailles Palace

Versailles Palace entrance

Versailles Graden

Versailles Gardens

Cassowary; one of the largest birds in the world is on the decline

Southern Cassowary

I did not know much about Cassowaries until sometime back when my husband travelled to Australia and saw these birds in the Billabong Sanctuary in Townsville.

It seems that Cassowaries are one of the largest birds in the world next only to Ostrich and Emu.And I never thought of Cassowaries as in the same league as Ostrich and Emu.

There are three species of Cassowary, Northern, Southern, and Dwarf. The pictures in this post are of the Southern Cassowary found in Northern Queensland in Australia. The average height of an adult Cassowary is around 5 -5.9 feet. The Adult females can sometimes reach a height of 6 and half feet. They are known to live for up to 40-60 years.

Cassowaries are known not only because of their size and how they look, they are known as one of the world's most dangerous birds. Like most creatures that live in the wild they are very shy and will not disturb you unless you encroach into their territory. They are on the decline because of encroachments into their territory. They usually attack only out of self-defense or out of curiosity if one gets very close to them. They are flightless birds but they can sprint at a great speed. Together with their height, and the speed with which they sprint, they do appear dangerous, and perhaps they are after all they can cause fatal injuries and even death…

But should we not leave them in the wild and let them be instead of encroaching into their territory and trying to get close to them. These birds are sometimes tempted to come to the urban areas because of the possibility of food, and also because humans tend to feed them, but this makes them even more vulnerable to attacks by humans, vehicles, dogs…they are dangerous, but like any wild creature they are trying to survive and are protecting their territory.

I think there should be more awareness about Cassowaries otherwise
how long before they too disappear ?

Cassowary

Cassowary Billabong Sanctuary Townsville