Pelican Yoga

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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Looking down (#47 in series: on Pakistan’s Hunza River)

Published May 18, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#47 in series: on Pakistan’s Hunza River)

The photo above looks down from Atilt Fort’s ramparts to the Hunza River.

Discover more here; more than one thousand years old, the now well-restored fort is the oldest “monument” in Hunza.

The Hunza River is part of the Indus River’s catchment.

Wherever one looks in the Hunza Valley, the vistas are almost unimaginably “epic”.

Among viewpoints that are easily-reached, those on the lower of the Hunza Valley’s almost-parallel rims are especially stupendous, particularly when no clouds obscure any part of its higher rim…and the most colossal of the mountains which tower above it.

At 7,778 metres, Rakaposhi’s is “only” this planet’s 27th highest-altitude peak.

However, as its Wikipedia entry declares:

The mountain is extremely broad, measuring almost 20 kilometres (12 mi) from east to west. It is the only peak on earth that descends directly and without interruption for almost 6,000 meters from its summit to its base.

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Looking down (#46 in series: on Pakistan’s Shyok River)

Published May 16, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#46 in series: on Pakistan’s Shyok River)

Arguably, the world’s most dramatic alpine scenery is in northern Pakistan.

Distinct from the Himalaya-proper, the Karakoram includes the world’s second highest mountain, plus many other peaks which are handsomely more spectacular/imposing than is Everest.

The Karakoram’s rivers are incredibly dynamic, constantly reshaping their valleys.

Essential to human life in this very demanding environment, these rivers also kill people and destroy many man-made structures..

Above and below, you are looking at the Shyok River, several kilometres upstream of its confluence with the Indus.

The Indus drains almost literally all of Pakistan.

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Looking down (#45 in series: from both sides of Tasmania’s highest dam wall)

Published May 11, 2026 by Pelidoug

Looking down (#45 in series: from both sides of Tasmania’s highest dam wall)

The Gordon Dam took ten years (1964-1974) to build, in southwestern Tasmania’s “wilderness”.

Its creation/raison d’être – Lake Gordon – is Tasmania’s largest lake.

When full – which it hardly ever is – that reservoir is Australia’s largest body of freshwater.

Most of the time, the actually largest freshwater body in Australia is another man-made one – Western Australia’s Lake Argyle, which always covers a much larger surface area than does Lake Gordon.

The Gordon Dam was in itself a very controversial project, but the bigger environmental battle (arguably, Australia’s most significant) was the subsequent one which eventually prevented construction of its intended “sibling” dam, downstream.

Click here, if the saga is new to you.

The featured image shows the dam-walled edge of Lake Gordon’s dark waters

The photo below, taken three minutes later from the Gordon Dam wall’s other side, looks down, 140 vertical metres.

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