The Jambu Fruit Dove, admittedly, is a lovely fellow.  He looks like a flower – one of those star lilies with the overpoweringly lovely fragrance.

He is, however, shy.

The more literal-minded among you will note this is not, in fact, a Jambu Fruit Dove.  I thought is was, as I stalked the wooly mammoth of a bird through the edges of his habitat.

I did, successfully, identify the aloe vera plant, about which I\’m rather smug.  A birder I am not.  A planter, apparently, I am.

Or something like that.

These two appeared to be gossiping.  Perhaps it was about how poor a naturalist I was?  But I adore nature.  Birds are not, perhaps, nature?  After all, the dreaded terror birds struck fear into the hearts of our forebears, at least according to the movie 10,000 BC.  Granted, that movie is fiction.

I do want to point out, however, there is still no Jambu Fruit Dove.

Are you a Jambu Fruit dove?

I\’m reminded of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam.  \”We walk up to people and ask them, \’Are you the enemy?\’ and if they say, \’Yes,\’ we shoot them.\”

Upon reflection, perhaps that\’s why Mister Jambu Fruit Dove was nicht?

Okay, fine.  These gentlemen are the Gambel\’s Quail.  Which is a Q, which I don\’t need until next Wednesday – not tomorrow, but a week from.

J is a fail at the zoo for this visit.  The Jambu were hiding.

I\’m sure there\’s a parable here about something Zen, and maybe a tree or a river, but I need coffee and I do, as it happens, have plenty of lovely K pics for tomorrow.

But tomorrow is another day, my friends, and you\’ll just have to wait.  (There.  I fit in another \”J\” for you.)

And, if you\’re still with me thus far, we have some awesome stuff going on this week for you because of the RT Booklovers Convention going on in Las Vegas.  If you\’re not familiar, RT is the largest romance genre event of the year, with over a thousand readers and several hundred authors in attendance for a week of workshops, parties, networking, and fun.

Not going to Las Vegas this year?  Don\’t worry, Dear Reader.  I will be posting at The Romance Studio for the Staying Home Party, and I\’ll have live convention reports – Tina Holland, Live at the Rio!, behind-the-scenes, interviews, and reminiscences from yours truly about RT\’s past.  And just for you, Dear Reader, it will be five posts a day for six days – PLUS the challenge posts.  So there\’s plenty for you to read and do this week!  Rest your eyeballs, \’cuz you\’re gonna need \’em!

Don\’t miss it.  Truck on over now – plus, you can enter to win a bunch of awesome prizes, including a $100 USD Amazon store card.

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Thank you for joining me for the A-Z Blog Challenge.  If you’re blogging in the challenge, please leave me a link so I can come visit you too.  If you have a moment, please check out these other fine blogs:

My theme on my Knoontime Knitting craft blog is Letterforms In Nature and the Built Environment.  I’ll be exploring my daily round, looking for shapes in the natural world and build environment.

The theme at Noon & Wilder is The A To Z of Chicago.  Since I live here in the city and we have our Chicagoland Shifters based here, I figured I’d share a window into the city, Noon & Wilder style.

The Nice Girls Writing Naughty have a new home, and we’re blogging in the challenge again this year.  Throughout the month you’ll be hearing from each of the Nice Girls, and during the RT Booklovers Convention from April 12th to the 17th, you’ll be getting live convention reports.  Join the conversation!

The Writer Zen Garden’s brand new website is up and running, and we’re bringing you posts from me, Noony; my partner in crime, Rachel Wilder (the Wilder half of Noon & Wilder); the talented Darla M. Sands – a blogger in her own right, see below; as well asGrace Kahlo, Evey Brown, and author Tina Holland.  Check it out!

My friends who are participating in the challenge (and if you’re not on this list, tell me and I’ll add you!):

• Darla M. Sands, Awakening Dreams and Conquering Nightmares with a Pen
• Kari Trenten, The Cauldron of Eternal Inspiration

Write on, and Happy Blogging!