FLOWERS & PETS

Brown Thrasher

The bird difficult to spot:

Pandula Caldera

“Come quick!” Janath shouted in alarm. “A storm must be coming. Leaves and sticks are flying all over your yard!”

Calmly, I glanced out the window. “That’s no storm. It’s just ‘Wild Thing’ looking for his lunch. He’s my resident Brown Thrasher.”

Janath looked at me in amazement. “A Brown what? How many other unusual birds do you know...and how do you know them?”

The Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma rufum is a species of thrasher, part of a family of New World birds (Mimidae) that includes New World catbirds and mockingbirds.

The Brown Thrasher is mostly brown or reddish-brown above, with a white breast and throat streaked with brown, and two white bars on each wing. It has a long tail, and its beak is also relatively large and somewhat curved. Adults average about 29 cm (11.5 inches) in length.

It is difficult to see all this however, as the bird is a retiring type that prefers thickets and heavy brush, often searching for food in dry leaves on the ground. In fact, it is more likely to be heard than seen, not only because of the rattling of leaves, but also because of its call, a sharp lip-smacking type sound.

This bird is omnivorous, eating insects, berries, nuts and seeds, as well as earthworms, snails and sometimes lizards.

Its breeding range includes the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains. It is a partial migrant, with northern birds wintering in the southern USA, where it occurs throughout the year. There is a single British record of this unlikely transatlantic vagrant. The female lays 3 to 5 eggs in a twiggy nest lined with grass.

The nest is built in a dense shrub or low in a tree. Both parents incubate and feed the young. These birds raise two or three broods in a year. They are able to call in up to 3000 distinct songs. The male sings a series of short repeated melodious phrases from an open perch to defend his territory and is also very aggressive in defending the nest.

Although this bird is widespread and still common, it has declined in numbers in some areas due to loss of suitable habitat.

The Brown Thrasher is the official state bird of Georgia, and the inspiration for the name of Atlanta’s National Hockey League team, the Atlanta Thrashers.

Abelia

The graceful flower:

Supun Palangasinghe

Apulia is a genus of about 15-30 species and many hybrids in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae, in the part of that family split off by some authors in the segregate family Linnaeaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group considers Linnaeaceae to encompass such genera as Linnaea, Abelia, Dipelta, Kolkwitzia, and Zabelia.

Abelias are shrubs from 1-6 m tall, native to eastern Asia (Japan west to the Himalaya) and southern North America (Mexico); the species from warm climates are evergreen, and colder climate species deciduous. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three, ovate, glossy, dark green, 1.5-8 cm long, turning purplish-bronze to red in autumn in the deciduous species.

The flowers appear in the upper leaf axils and stem ends, 1-8 together in a short cyme; they are pendulous, white to pink, bell-shaped with a five-lobed corolla, 1-5 cm long, and usually scented.

Flowering continues over a long and continuous late spring to fall period. Abelias are popular garden shrubs. Abelia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species.

Abelia is named after a British physician Dr. Clark Abel. One of the most common species (Abelia grandiflora) was hybridised by Edward Goucher.

This shrub is attractive throughout the year, its growth habit varies from three to six feet. Flowering occurs from early summer to late winters. Flowers are small, trumpet shaped, pink and white in colour. These generally appear in the upper leaf axils and stem ends, one to eight in a cluster forming a short cyme infloresence.

About half of the leaves fall during colder climate and rest take deep red coloration.

After foliage also this plant is attractive as its star shaped calyx is still adhesive to the plant.

This glossy abelia hybrid is a compact, small, semi-evergreen, bushy, somewhat spreading, multi-stemmed shrub in the Caprifoliaceae family.

Typically grows on gracefully arching branches to two to three feet tall. Ovate, glossy, dark green leaves (to 1.25” long) turn purplish-bronze in autumn.

Their flowers, in drooping clusters, last long, and the coloured sepals retain their beauty far into the autumn. The flowers are lavender or pale pink, funnel-shaped with orangish yellow throats. The flowers are produced from July to September.

General Culture

Easily grown in average, medium wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Best flowering in full sun. Prefers moist, organically rich soils which drain well.

It is good to plant it two to three feet apart in order to form a natural or pruned hedge. Pruning and proper light (full sun or part shade)is essential for better growth. Pruning should be done immediately after flowering by thinning out the old wood. It prefers moist, porous, slightly alkaline or loamy soil.

How to give a cat a pill Some funny guidelines

(Caution: Don’t try these at home!)

I had to give a friend’s cat a pill just a few weeks ago and it was, well, unpleasant - for me and the cat. After a few minutes, it succumbed. The owner sent me these funny instructions on how to give a cat a pill and it’s close to the truth. Enjoy and wear gloves when performing this tendon-tearing procedure.

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get your partner to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.

9. Retrieve cat from neighbour’s shed. Get another pill. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing.

Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Throw Tee shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve the cat from across the road. Apologise to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.

13. Tie the little creature’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed.

Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14. Get your partner to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

Romeo and Juliet...

“Romeo and Juliet” was a very loving couple. I think Romeo was the most beautiful one, with an attractive complexion. But I like Juliet too, because she was adorable and liked to be in the company of visitors. They never liked to be separated from each other. They liked to spend most of the time under the shadows of plants and leaves.

They moved here and there in their own little room freely and happily. I liked to watch them secretly, when they were playing and moving. Romeo and Juliet were slithering in joy but life is not always a bed of roses...

One day I was fed up with my work so I decided to be away from home. I returned home after an hour. It was really sad and shocking to discover Romeo and Juliet lying on the floor unconscious. Pieces of glass were scattered everywhere. Water was spilt on the ground. The cosy and secure world the star crossed lovers was in pieces.

Soon I realised that a stranger has made his way to the happy world of lovers thus calling their doom! My heart ached with pain, feeling of guilt leading its way to disappointment.

I’m the person who kept the fish tank near the window. I’m the person who kept the window open and went away. The stranger might be the cat of the neighbour’s house.

I must ask my father to bring another Goldfish couple and will name them Romeo and Juliet.

But I wish lovers may not depart like this...

Pavani

Lak Mal Show (2008-Mid Year)

The Lak Mal Show (2008-Mid Year) will be held from August 28 to 31 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo 7. There will be an exhibition of orchids, anthuriums, other flowering plants and ornamental foliage plants on competition with each other by over 80 veteran growers. A large number of plants will be on exhibition for the first time in Sri Lanka and they will be available on sale from 80 trade stalls.

A special attraction will be the flower arrangements with only natural flowers including orchids, anthuriums and upcountry flowers. There will be 90 trade stalls selling plants, fertilisers, agrochemicals, vegetable and fruit plants and seeds, pet fish, birds, local sweets etc. This is an event for the entire family not to be missed.

Shoot for fun ’n’ fame

“Steady now. Hold that straight please? Now this is what I call a good, long drink... A bowl or the pipe is not good enough for me. I go for the big splash with the shower. Slurp, slurp...”

He drinks like a fish... Who says only his owners are celebrities? This fellow can give Scooby Doo a run for his money. Snoopy quenches his thirst for fame in this week’s ‘F&P’.

Words by Ruwini J