Orchid elegance

I've been rather focused on ancient plants of late, be they cycads or redwoods, to the extent that I haven't thrown up posts about many more modern plants. Chief amongst my favourites are of course the orchids and I was delighted to see a couple of species this weekend in flower. The first was what is best described as feral. It is local to the region, and perhaps even the island in question, but there seems little doubt these plants were put where they are now by the hand of man. Of course manhandling doesn't make an orchid any less elegant and Epidendrum ciliare is rather good at elegance.

Note the muted, but crisp and timeless, colour scheme coupled with extravagant shape and detail. Sheer class.

In other news I added island tick number 94 recently when a brace of red-billed tropic birds crossed our distant bows whilst riding a hobie cat near some cliffs. For those of you unfamiliar with them hobie cats are tiny sailboats - little more than a pair of outriggers with no inrigger between them and a cargo net strung accross the top. Great fun but not an ideal pelagic birding platform. I did get a photo but its too hideous to share.