Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

This week my husband and I, plus several of the other drivers on one of our local roads, had to stop for about twenty geese to cross the road. This started a conversation about what a group of geese is called. According to an online page of the Christchurch library, I discovered that geese come in gaggles, clutches, flocks, lines, skeins, nides or wedges.

The perfect topic for a TT, I thought.

Thirteen Animal Groups

1. Crocodiles – bask or a nest

2. Flamingoes – stand

3. Ferrets – business

4. Goldfish – troubling

5. Grasshoppers – cloud

6. Hedgehogs – nest or an array

7. Hippopotami – bloat, school, pod or herd

8. Leopards – leap

9. Lice – flock

10. Midges – bite

11. Cockroaches – intrusion

12. Owls – parliament or a stare

13. Tigers – ambush

I don’t know how they come up with the group names, but it struck me how appropriate some of them are – hippo/bloat. They match perfectly. I’m not sure how ravens ended up with unkindness though. That one doesn’t seem to fit. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

My question to you – if authors and readers came in groups the same way as animals, what do you think they’d be named?

Not that I’m implying animals have anything in common with aspiring authors. I just happen to be talking about both topics today. I have a real soft spot for animals and love to see them in their natural habitats. So far I’ve been lucky enough to visit several game parks in Africa, see the gorillas in Rwanda, watch rhinos in Chitwan, spy on whales in various seas and oceans, and during my most recent adventure I held a panda. All of these experiences are very special to me.

If you could sponsor one animal and save it from extinction, which animal would you choose? Your pet or a wild animal?

I like big cats and cheetahs in specific. They’re so fast and graceful and have gorgeous coloring. Very aristocratic in appearance. When it comes to animals that are already extinct, I’d like to save the New Zealand moas, which were huge flightless birds. The Haast eagle can stay extinct. They sound scary because they carted off animals, moas and small children. The dodo bird also sounds very cool, but from what I understand, they were a little stupid.

Which animals would you choose?”

Today I’m visiting Michele Stegman’s blog and talking about my tip for aspiring authors. Check out my post at Thoughts from a Writer’s Block.

Two weeks ago when I had trouble deciding on a TT topic, Darla Sands suggested I did one on animals because I do a Camera Critter every Saturday. I thought it was a good idea and below are animal photos–mostly ones I’ve taken, although my hubby took a couple of them.

Thirteen Animal Photographs

1. A duck and her ducklings stopped traffic when they crossed a Wellington street.

2. Puppy Bella all tuckered out. Now I can do some writing!

3. A day out at the Agricultural show is really tiring!

4. A very relaxed looking starfish in Samoa.

5. Rodeo! This is the Cody Nite Rodeo, a setting I used in Seeking Kokopelli.

6. I really want to get some alpacas. We saw this one at the Sydney Royal Easter show.

7. We visited a seahorse farm in Kona, Hawaii. It was fascinating.

8. Elephant riding in Phuket, Thailand.

9. Thursday, my sister’s kitten. Unfortunately, she became ill and died about a month after I took this photo.

10. A sun bear at the Wellington zoo.

11. A moose near the Grand Tetons.

12. My father’s horse, Arizona and her foal, Bugs. My father is 81 and still rides Arizona.

13. Sperm Whale near Kaikoura. (Kaikoura is not far from where the earthquake struck). This shot was taken from a plane.

I took this photo at the Sydney Botanical Gardens in December of last year. He was strutting around and posing for all the tourists.

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

I took this photo during a visit to my father’s farm. The pigs and cattle were grazing peacefully together and these two seemed like best friends.

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

I snapped this shot at my local agricultural show at the end of last year. This hen was certainly watching me closely!

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

I took this photo at the local A & P show. The donkey was in the kid’s petting area and he looked as if he desperately wanted to escape their wandering hands.

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

I took this photo last week at the Clevedon A & P show. He was sitting comfortably and snoozing while waiting for his event to commence.

Isn’t he a handsome fellow?

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters

This is another photo I took at Wellington zoo. This pair of sun bears were having lots of fun wrestling with each other and running all over their enclosure.

Visit more animal photos at Camera Critters

My photo this week was taken at the Kona Seahorse Farm in Hawaii. Those elegant fingers are mine. I love seahorses and think they’re the coolest creature. They fascinate me. Besides, any species where the male has the babies is doing the right thing.

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters.