The Wildlife of Sofia

I was lucky to have good weather this morning and saw all kinds of nice little things, more than I can squeeze in a single blog post. As long as one has the eyes to look and the curiosity to keep the look for longer than a second, all kinds of findings start coming up. Dogs with jackets, weird graffiti, animals, plants and who knows what. Here’s a selection of photos.

Friends

These birds, a magpie and a rook flew together above me for quite awhile. I had the chance to see 3 of their landing sites and a couple of playfights.

The one in the back was braver and didn’t run as far as the ginger.

Mushrooms

Shaggy Mane (Порцеланова копринка) and some other kind of Coprinaceae (копринка) – two types of fungus that are related but not the same species, found in a place where the grass gets cut, and is sprayed against any undesired form of life. I’d guess this particular lawn has some kind of an issue, maybe water or rot, helping the mushrooms grow. Next to office buildings and a multi-million skyscraper construction site.

Blackberry

It’s red but who notices such things.

An important political message

The sign says: “No, darling, you’re sober as a little fluffy penguin”. I found it amusing.

The Antichrist

The sign says “Petar Danov – Antichrist”. Petar Danov’s philosophy is a christian-esoteric mysticism from the late 19th and early 20th century, one that has zodiac signs and people dressed in white who dance around lakes. What makes him an Antichrist is not clear but perhaps the people dancing around the 7 Rila Lakes in July and August are very dangerous.

Love and Hate

My daily walk was short. I captured only a few photos.

This is a palindrome sculpture in Sofia Tech Park, where I briefly visited OpenFest. I somehow missed the meaning of the sculpture the last few times I walked past it. I think it’s pretty cool, although I wish it was painted and not with this rusty color. I suspect the sculptures in the park have a shared meaning, like things are not what they look. There are other elements nearby with a clear dual meaning.

For example, this is either a violoncello, or a piece of metal that fell off, depending on the point of view. I wasn’t sure which one so went back and checked the welds – clearly welded this way, very solid sheet of steel, not broken and dented.

And and out-of-focus animal, probably a squirrel.

Blue and Yellow

I took a look at the sky this morning, and it was not lead gray.

This motivated me to do a bit more steps outside. The gallery shows a couple of landmarks from the city, complimented by Blue and Yellow.

  • The Turtle
  • Sofia University
  • The Cathedral

Crow

I saw this bird during my evening walk. It was the biggest crow that I remember, especially the biggest one staring at me. She deserves a post. Also, zero cats today.

Rain

Cold and rainy today, cheers from Sofia. We celebrate the end of a long dry period, I hope the dams get a bit of a refill.