To our Western, Southwestern and Southeastern friends, this flower is probably "old hat" to you, so I apologize in advance! I shot this Bird of Paradise while visiting the Del Coronado last year in San Diego.

The colors and distinctive shape of the flower caught my "Midwest" imagination. I am told that the blue extension holds nectar for the sun birds. As they stand on the petal to drink in the nectar...the petals open and cover the bird's feet with it's pollen. Thus insuring the prorogation of it's species by the unwitting songbirds. Like the eyes on the butterfly and the spots on the Peacock of earlier posts, Nature again proves that she has some very unique tricks up her sleeves, helping her subjects survive in a predatory world.