Australia

Kristy - Australia - 03.05.2024

Jabirus and Helaconia

Art of Melanie Hava

Acrylic on Linen

Mamu Indigenous Artist | Cairns

Melanie Hava was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, in 1982 and she currently lives and work in Cairns, Queensland. Melanie's exquisite seascape paintings often incorporate silver and gold leaf as well as Swarovski crystal and depict the marine life that abounds in the tropical waters of Far North Queensland.

The jabiru is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has also been reported in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana. It is most common in the Pantanal region of Brazil and the Eastern Chaco region of Paraguay. It is the only member of the genus Jabiru. The name comes from the Tupi–Guaraní language and means "swollen neck".

The jabiru is the tallest flying bird found in South America and Central America, often standing nearly the same height as the flightless and thus much heavier greater rhea. 

Heliconias are an integral part of any tropical garden design. The form great back drops and screens with the large upright leaves. Most tolerate full sun which makes the large heliconias great for creating some shade for smaller under-story plants.

Heliconia is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species[3] are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku in Indonesia. Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Most species are listed as either vulnerable or data deficient by the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, and Thailand.