Pelican Yoga

Aspects of Colombia (#5 in teaser series: flourishing in a “degraded” environment)

Published June 28, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#5 in teaser series: flourishing in a “degraded” environment)

At 11.22 am on the 4th of March this year, we were at least several hundred metres closer to sea level than where I had taken the previous post’s photo

However, we were still at high altitude – probably, circa 3,500 metres ASL – & still on the flanks of Nevado del Ruiz.

The air was still deliciously cool and clean.

Very obviously, we were still in a very high-rainfall zone.

I think we were no longer within Los Nevados National Park.

You may – or may not – recognise exactly what provided the pictured lichens and mosses with an obviously-ideal home.

Leave a Comment

Aspects of Colombia (#4 in teaser series: naturally-abstract @ 4,300 metres)

Published June 26, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#4 in teaser series: naturally-abstract @ 4,300 metres)

The “big monks” (frailejones) are páramo‘s signature plants, & also this tropical tundra’s tallest.

Its “little guys” are also striking…& there are many different kinds.

Páramo is, I think, the most species-diverse of any seriously-high altitude ecosystem.

Leave a Comment

Aspects of Colombia (#3 in teaser series: “big monks” of páramo)

Published June 24, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#3 in teaser series: “big monks” of páramo)

Members of the genus Espeletia are the signature plants of páramo – a wondrous-strange “tropical tundra” ecosystem which exists only in certain very high, very wet parts of northern South America & southern Central America.

Much páramo has been destroyed (or much-degraded) by humans & their livestock; climate change is another existential threat.

More than half of the surviving páramo is in Colombia.

Espeletia species are generally known as frailejones, which translates into English as “big monks”.

To Australian eyes, they look a bit like our so-called “grass trees”, but they are not even remotely-close relatives.

Espeltia, Xanthorrhoea & Kingia genus members do, however, share one reality: all are neither grasses nor trees.

The frailejones’ actual “cousins” are sunflowers!

Leave a Comment

Aspects of Colombia (#2 in teaser series: Nevado del Ruiz)

Published June 21, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#2 in teaser series: Nevado del Ruiz)

The photo shows just part of Nevado del Ruiz – a huge, active volcano, circa 130 kilometres west of Bogotá.

My vantage point, on the morning of 6 March 2026 was circa 4,000 metres above sea level; the highest point on the volcano’s glaciated, low-dome-shaped top reaches more than 5,300 metres – a deal higher than Mont Blanc.

Nevado del Ruiz’s November 13,1985 eruption gave rise to several lahars which raced down valleys on the stratovolcano’s flanks.

An entire city was obliterated, and circa 23,000 people died – very quickly – in what became known as the Armero Tragedy.

Its was the highest lahar-related death toll in recorded human history.

This was the 20th century’s second-worst volcanic “disaster” of any kind; it is usually rated #4 on the list of all lethal volcanic eruptions, post-1500 AD.

Leave a Comment

Aspects of Colombia (#1 in teaser series: sword-billed)

Published June 18, 2026 by Pelidoug

Aspects of Colombia (#1 in teaser series: sword-billed)

Welcome to this series of single-image posts.

You are looking at Ensifera ensifera, the sword-billed hummingbird.

It is the only bird on earth with a bill that is longer than its body-proper.

Some individuals’ beaks are longer than their entire bodies, tail-feathers included.

Bird-wise, Colombia is generally recognised as the world’s most species-rich nation; the “recognised” number exceeds 1,900 – circa 20% of the global total of bird species!

One Comment

Word Power: One Nation, in one sentence.

Published June 15, 2026 by Pelidoug

Word Power: One Nation, in one sentence.

According to several opinion polls, Pauline Hanson is now Australian electors’ most-preferred (prospective) Prime Ministerial candidate.

Electors currently drawn to Ms Hanson – or to any populist politician who purports to be the champion” of the “battlers”/ the “forgotten”/ “everyday” Australians – ought read this sentence, slowly:

If recent events in the USA have taught us anything, it is that we can rely on parties such as One Nation to reflect the concerns of the “common man”, but in power, they represent the billionaires who fund them.

Leave a Comment

Looking down(final in series: ground level, around Ravensthorpe)

Published June 10, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down(final in series: ground level, around Ravensthorpe)

Ravensthorpe is a “remote”, very small town.

More than 500 kilometres southeast of Perth, its shire covers more than 13,500 square kilometres, but is home to fewer than 2,000 humans; Ravensthorpe is the smaller of its two towns,

No other local government jurisdiction on earth is home to a larger number of eucalypt species!

For endemic flora more generally, it is one of the globe’s “hottest” places, with an incredible number of “endemics” – species which occur (naturally) only there.

Ravensthorpe sits within the Fitzgerald Biosphere – named after “our” planet’s most significant national park for near-coastal, Mediterranean-climate flora.

The northern boundary of Fitzgerald River National Park is just a few kilometres south.

It is no exaggeration to say that Ravensthorpe’s annual wildflower show is one of the world’s finest…& most astonishing.

All photos in this post were taken on a single day, within 30 minutes’ (2WD) driving distance of Ravensthorpe.

Leave a Comment

Looking down (#50: on a handsome but shy “omnivorous scavenger”)

Published June 3, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#50: on a handsome but shy “omnivorous scavenger”)

This post’s hero inhabits the well-vegetated edges of wetlands – both natural and man-made – right across Australasia, Oceania, and as far north as the Philippines.

Gallirallus philippensis – the buff-banded rail – is neither rare nor endangered, but it is very secretive.

Almost every living adult Australian human would have been within close proximity of one, more than once.

However, most people have either never seen a buff-banded rail, or have never enjoyed an unobstructed, full view of one.

Leave a Comment

Looking down (#49 in series: “2” of 2 close views of shimmering water)

Published May 31, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#49 in series: “2” of 2 close views of shimmering water)

In complete contrast to the preceding post, the relevant water is saline rather than “fresh”, and it is neither tannin-darkened, turbulent/fast-flowing, nor shaded by an overcast sky.

At 5.19 pm on the first day of April in 2022, one of our favourite Australian coastal locations was basking in “golden hour” sunlight.

Leave a Comment

Looking down (#48 in series: “1” of 2 close views of shimmering water)

Published May 30, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#48 in series: “1” of 2 close views of shimmering water)

Today’s photo was taken in October 2018.

On an overcast afternoon in Victoria’s “high country”, my beloved and I stood beside a fast-flowing stream, downhill (and circa 20 ks distant) from the summits of Mount Hotham et al, but still well above foothills and plains.

Leave a Comment

Pelican Yoga Posts