This is August 2022

Published on August 31, 2022 by bushboy67 Comments

A bit of a quiet month for me. The days have been lovely so I have been in the garden or wandering about town – actually a quick coffee and shopping. There was a few days of almost rain. Enough to discourage taking the camera out.

As the nights have been quite cold, a lot of my days were spent with chainsaw in hand and gathering firewood, then splitting the rounds for the fire. This is a good bit of exercise plus pushing a full wheelbarrow of the split wood up to the house.

I have acquired a new friend but more about her later.

Here is your August song to help you get through this post

I have had some feral cats in my yard during the month so I set my live capture trap with a can of cat food in the hope to get one. I checked the trap and it hadn’t gone off but the food was gone. I immediately suspected rats so out with the smaller live trap just in case it wasn’t a Ratus ratus.

Here is the little one I trapped. It isn’t a Black Rat but not sure what it is, so I let it out in the bush nearby. Isn’t it cute?

OK lets start with a few flowers. The Grafton Regional Art Gallery is finally getting the gardens together. Some bulbs popped up and looked so good.

A house nearby has some lovely Hibiscus

I am not sure what flower this one is. It looks like a Purple Violet but the leaves are different. This just popped up in a new garden bed we made a few years ago.

This Winter is the first time the Giant Salvia (my name, not sure what they are really called) have flowered. The plant has really big leaves and is now over two metres tall.

This year being wet and now dryish has confused a lot of the plants in the garden. The Grevilleas and Bottlebrush have been flowering nearly all year now. The birds are loving the flowers and this pink Bottlebrush is a favourite of the small birds.

The small Nectarine and Peach trees have had a blossom bonanza as well. The bees are all over the trees.

The flowers look so lovely.

On one of my days in town, I decided to have a bit of a photo session of the Grafton Goal, some photos I have already posted (Thursday Doors) and there will be some more over the next week or so.

The crown above the gates looks like it has been recently refurbished. It is quite a grand Victorian building.

Walking around town, I spied a teapot on a fence. It was near a cafe and I forgot to ask if they put it there to attract customers.

Also just sitting there was a Pied Currawong in my garden. It is sitting on a dead palm that didn’t survive the drought at the end of the last decade. Pied Currawongs come down from the mountains when the weather gets cold.

Last week a couple of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos decided to stop over for a rest and a snack. This one just seemed to sit in the tree and didn’t do much at all.

Whereas it’s friend decided to gnaw at a tree. They listen for grubs in the tree and then commence to dig the grub out.

Stopping long enough to admire it’s handiwork.

and then back into hacking into the tree. By the time the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo finished there wasn’t much tree left but it is still standing. I am waiting for a strong wind to see if it comes crashing down. Luckily it is not in a part of the bush where I walk.

I have a number of bird baths scattered around the garden but some birds, like these female Satin Bowerbirds seem to like this rusty old drum

Yes the Whipbirds are still coming into the garden to forage. One day I hope to be outside and in a spot to get a photo and not through a window

The King Parrots are still around as well but not in the same numbers as last month or earlier this month. This female King Parrot sits outside of my office and ever now and then knocks on the window to get my attention to let me know the feeder is empty.

Remember I mentioned I have a new girlfriend? Well this is her. I came home from town one day and noticed a Brush Turkey walking across the garden and head down into the bush. I have never had Brush Turkeys on my place before so this was strange to say the least. Over the next few days I saw her in the garden sometimes pecking under the bird feeders getting spilt seed.

Over the weeks, she has gotten used to me and now hangs around me when I am in the garden or splitting firewood in the hope I’ll turn up insects. When I came home from town this afternoon, there she was on the verandah so she is becoming bolder.

I suspect she has been hand reared and has been dumped. People often dump birds and animals out my way but this is a rather strange one to say the least. As she looks like staying around I have named her Betty – Brush Turkey ➡ BT ➡ Betty

I saw a few Pink Galahs on a patch of lawn in nearby town, Lawrence. It was a case of “Hey bud, no paparazzi” as they walked down the hill

One day I looked at the sky and saw these clouds, grabbed my camera and started taking photos. People on the street wondered what I was doing, looked up and remarked to each other how wonderful the clouds were. Would they have noticed if they didn’t see me looking skyward?

Well speaking of looking upwards, the Moon is up in the morning on this day but even so once the Moon is up it must be time to finish off and get to bed.

I hope you enjoyed my August.

I hope this finds you serene and at peace with all that surrounds. Did you have a favourite?
Perhaps you would like to join us with your Changing Seasons post?

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently, though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

Create a ping-back to Ju-Lyn at Touring My Backyard and/or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

Some birds who have an N in their name

Published on August 25, 2022 by bushboy34 Comments

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge August Alphabet Letter: Letter N in the middle of the word

A Fantail enjoying a bath

Mannikins enjoy eating grass seeds

A regal looking Royal Spoonbill

An ever so shiny Spangled Drongo

A Rainbow Bee-Eater on the look out for a snack

Rainbow Lorikeets love the Grevilleas in my garden

A cute little Thornbill shading in a tree

Some of my favourite sun photos

Published on August 21, 2022 by bushboy40 Comments

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #123: Here Comes the Sun

Whether it is a muted sky in the morning as the sun rises

it is lovely to stroll along the beach

Perhaps the sun has a fiery start so it is nice to chill in the cool water

The suns rays burst forth showering a rainbow of colours

or maybe is is time to enjoy the warmth while drying your feathers after a bath

or sit against a warming brick wall in the morning to wake and get ready to sing in the day

or just laze about, finding a shady spot in the heat of the day

The last light as the sun is about to go down for the day

Maybe ending as it started with light, gentle colours

or a showy colourful finish

and sometimes ending in a blaze of glory

Letting you into my groove

Published on August 8, 2022August 9, 2022 by bushboy49 Comments

The Lens-Artists Challenge #211: What’s Your Photographic Groove

What’s my photographic groove? I don’t have one particular theme except for showcasing the flora and fauna of Australian and quite often from my place.

The native bees here are lovely bees, they don’t sting and are small. The Blue-banded bee and the Teddy Bear Bees are favourites.

The wonderful birds are probably my all time favourite things to photograph. All of these are from my place except for the Golden-headed Cisticola on the barbed wire fence.

I love to have butterflies in my garden. The Blue Triangle Butterfly was one that was never here. When I first saw one many years ago, I made it one of my photographic quests to get a photo, which took a while as they are very shy butterflies. I finally managed to get one. The photo here. A few years later, they turned up in my garden

Of course I have to include the animals which are unique to Australia. I did have Koalas who used my place a s trail to get from one area to another. I never saw any but could here there calls at night. Since the fires of 2019, I haven’t seen or heard any. I did often see Dingoes or heard them calling in the night. Again they have disappeared from the landscape. I always have Red-necked Wallabies in the garden but they too are in reduced numbers. The big Eastern Grey Kangaroos used to travel through the bottom of my place where the bush isn’t as thick but never around the house. There are always Brush-tailed Possums as well.

I could not go without leaving a few native flowers, Bottlebrush, a Purple Fringe Lily, a Paperbark flower and Eucalypt flowers with a Brown Honeyeater atop.

I hope it was fun peeking into bushboys world

This is July 2022

Published on July 31, 2022 by bushboy53 Comments

July saw Winter arrive here. The first week was wet on the odd day or two but then the rest of July has lovely sunny days – 20c plus. The nights then dropped into single figures and the fire was lit earlier in the afternoon as the cool breeze blew down the mountains.

I didn’t get out very much to take photos so most of this month are photos from my garden. The only exciting day out was going to Ballina and seeing the Humpback Whale migration.

Your July song to scroll to

July saw the start of the foggy mornings. I took this one early in the month when I went down to check on how much rain was in the rain gauge.

The Nectarine and Peach trees are starting to come into blossom. The foggy morning provided a good background.

One morning I looked out of the kitchen window and saw all these Peaceful Doves on the ground. This was most unusual as when they are around there, they are foraging for food, not sitting still. At first I wondered if they were dead, so I grabbed my camera to have a closer look and saw some fast asleep and others opening and closing their eyes. Next time I looked they were gone. Most unusual.

The mornings are always punctuated with Whipbird calls echoing around the gullies that are on both sides of the house.

In July, the Whipbirds have been in the garden most days. All the photos have been taken out of the windows as they are quite shy and will disappear at the slightest movement. This is the first time I have seen both of them together.

They are quite striking looking birds

Yes it does look like I was spotted in the sun room trying to sneak a few more photos. I probably took over a hundred photos over the month, many duds or the window does need cleaning.

One morning I spied a Lewins Honeyeater lurking in the Honey Gem Grevillea.

A Blue-faced Honeyeater was quite serious getting some nectare from the Honey Gem flower.

Outside of the office, Satin Bowerbirds hopped onto the branch to see what I was doing. It is so hard to get the amazing colours and shades with a photo.

Yellow-faced Honeyeaters can always be heard chattering away around the garden all day.

The garden wouldn’t be complete without an Eastern Yellow Robin splashing yellow about the garden as they fly about.

The female Golden Whistler comes into the garden but the fabulously coloured male doesn’t seem to. He stays in the gullies calling the most splendid song.

A Grey Butcherbird hangs about occasionally looking for a snack or two.

One day I saw a lot of movement in the garden. Venturing out onto the verandah I saw a small flock of Variegated Fairy Wrens investigating the soil as well as under leaves and on branches for food. A female Jenny Wren hoped to find something on a Fan Palm leaf.

The flocked never stayed still for long so it was hard to follow them through the garden. I eventually came across the male Variegated Fairy Wren as he made sure his harem was safe.

The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos have been around for the last few days of July. Their raucous calls let me know they have arrived in the late afternoon to chew the bark of the Eucalypts to get the grubs. It was hard to get good photos as they were high in the trees.

The Eastern Spinebills have been around in the garden for a few months now. It is hard not to want to get photos of them especially when they are in the Firesticks Grevillea. This one eyed me suspiciously early in the month but now they don’t mind me wandering about.

The bees don’t have much to feed on at the moment but the Pentas were still flowering at the start of July.

The Bottlebrush, just like the Grevilleas have had another flowering. Perhaps once the rain slowed down and the ground is starting to dry, they decide to have another flowering. Lots of bees and birds are always hanging about.

One day I’ll find out the name of this pretty orchid that grows on long spikes. I love the splash of colour they provide amongst the green of the plants in the garden.

When at Ballina Beach for a fish and chips lunch and hoping to see some Humpback Whales, the Sooty Oystercatchers patrolled the beach looking for their lunch.

I did manage to get one whale photo out of a lot of splash photos. It is quite difficult when trying to get a photo from the shore

Late in the afternoon, the Buddha sits serenely in the last of the warming sun.

I hope this finds you serene and at peace with all that surrounds. Did you have a favourite?
Perhaps you would like to join us with your post?

About The Changing Seasons

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

Create a ping-back to Ju-Lyn at Touring My Backyard or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

It’s mine

Published on July 17, 2022 by bushboy26 Comments

Debbie’s One Word Sunday: Duel

Sometimes not is all good fun and friendliness in the garden. One day I heard a bit of a ruckus outside and found that there was a disagreement of the ownership of the Grevillea in the garden.

Instead of my usual photos, here is something a bit different. No one was seriously hurt making this video. Lots of noise and posturing.

It’s a long way to the top

Published on July 10, 2022 by bushboy28 Comments

The Ragtag Daily Prompt Sunday: Atop

Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly on Pentas flowers

Rainbow Bee Eater

Bee on a flower

Cows on a hill

Brown Goshawk (I think) on the lookout

Dragonfly having a rest

These light poles always have Australian Pelicans on them at Evans Head

Kookaburra on a fence post

Little Superb Fairy Wren female on a fence post

A cow at sunset

It’s a long way to the top

Fun at the bird bath

Published on July 6, 2022 by bushboy34 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Brings a smile to your face

“Excuse me, a little privacy here please!!” – White-browed Scrub Wren

“This is so much fun!” – Australian Magpie

“Has any one seen Carl?” – Rainbow Lorikeets

“Make sure you get my good side and hand me a towel please.” – Eastern Whipbird

“Nothing better than a good soak by your self.” – Rainbow Lorikeet

“Can’t you wait until I get my feathers sorted?” – Eastern Rosella

“Oh goodness, that was soooo good.” – Laughing Kookaburra

“I’m not sure what happened” – Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

“I made sure everywhere had a good scrub” – Eastern Yellow Robin

“Oh dear, just washed and can’t do a thing with them!” – Rainbow Lorikeet

“Do you mind…I’m taking a bath here!!” – Red-browed Firetail Finch

This is June 2022

Published on June 30, 2022 by bushboy62 Comments

A wonderful start to Winter in my part of the world. The rain has stopped for the moment. The days are in the low 20’sC with cold night into single figures necessitating lighting the fire giving a warm glow to the loungeroom.

I have managed to get out for a few little excursions as well as take photos at home. A lot of time has been spent cutting and splitting firewood with a few delays as I have me camera with me just in case something happens – or has been the case a few times not have it.

I hope my June song to scroll with works for you. Please enjoy

I did make it out for a quite pastel sunrise. Something to begin with for having a look at what I found in June. I loved the lines across the sky.

Someone else was enjoying the early morning as well aboard their yacht

The sparse vegetation on the point at Wooli really does take the brunt of wind and water

On the other side of the point, the river winds its way to the sea. A Striated Heron took a stroll while the tide was out looking for lunch.

In the morning at Iluka, a fluffed up Pied Butcherbird warmed up among the Banksia trees

There was a look at the works the Iluka Landcare team had been doing planting Red Gums to increase the Koala habitat. While we were there looking around I spied a Pacific Baza. Later on her mate appeared and landed on a branch above her.

In the late afternoon a White-cheeked Honeyeater sitting atop a Banksia sang to the setting sun

A Silver Gull basking in the afternoon sun on a wharf post.

An Australian Pelican kept a wary eye on me while resting on the old wharf post

A nearby Darter was stretching probably contemplating heading off if I came any closer

There are all manner of ways to secure your craft at the wharf. I was attracted to the rust.

Overhead an Osprey patrolled the beach looking for breakfast

Back in South Grafton the copious amount of Little Corellas wheeled about before landing on their roost or in the paddock to scour the ground for seeds and grubs. Little Corellas are migrants who arrived on the coast after a very prolonged drought over the ranges. They liked it so much they never left, built up numbers and can now be found all along the coast.

The Little Corellas were flying over this part time wetland. The Black Swans had a nest among the reeds in early June. The Pacific Black Ducks were always around looking for a meal as well as other water birds. Towards the end of June the paddock dried out and the farmer let a few cattle in to graze. Unfortunately all the reeds you can see were eaten down to almost ground level. I fear that the Black Swans nest was disturbed, perhaps even trampled by the cattle as I never saw any Cygnets.

One surprise when I went to a small village, Diggers Camp, was this Pheasant Coucal hunting for insects. He didn’t even care about me walking about.

This little Superb Fairy Wren female, called a Jenny wren, blended well with the grass at Iluka as she foraged for food.

While this Jenny wren kept an eye on me at my place as I walked through the bush.

She was making sure I didn’t get too close to her babies

A Red-browed Firetail Finch took in the afternoon sun

A Grey Butcherbird stayed in the shadows while looking about for food.

Standing on your head to get some nectar an Eastern Spinebill enjoys a Bottlebrush in my garden.

Walking down my street I saw a Jackie Winter was just sitting on the wire fence

On the way back, a Restless Flycatcher was intently watching something while sitting on the wire fence.

I often have photos of Satin Bowerbirds but rarely have a male and a female in the same photo. They were hanging around the tree near the verandah. This photo is through my office door while sitting at my desk. I love lazy photography.

I had been putting out some bird seed on the verandah to see who was around. The Male Satin Bowerbird and a Blue-faced Honeyeater came for an inspection.

A young Blue-faced Honeyeater and a King Parrot looked hopeful.

A juvenile King Parrot just getting his adult feathers hopped about the verandah.

The Firesprite Grevillea is having a fantastic flowering. A number of the smaller honeyeaters are able to sit on the flowers. This Eastern Spinebill was always chasing the Brown Honeyeaters away from “his” flowers.

All of the Grevilleas had a good flowering in June. This one was a rescue plant that has done well.

The Coconut Ice Grevillea also having a great season.

In the Iluka Rainforest some of the old fallen trees have some wonderful wood fungi

The wood fungi at my place has been bright orange

OK Now for all the people who don’t like spiders get that scrolling finger ready to zoom past this beautiful Huntsman Spider I disturbed when I was cleaning up around a shed.

Here is your second warning…..you know who you are.

Ready, steady……scroll

Now for a bit of arty farty. Looking deep into a stump and a cascade of moss with a rim of lichen.

A stick on the beach

She Oak needles with a blue sea and sky – Minimalism

Sunset through the trees with some ICM (Intentional Camera Movement)

Looking out of my kitchen window at the Red-necked Wallabies grazing in the garden

I love a foggy morning. Looking down the hill near my shed.

Well it looks like the sun is setting so it must be time to get going. The sunset at Iluka was a treat.

The Super Moon was supposed to be a wonderful sight. This is the best I could do. Goodnight and see you next Changing Seasons for a wrap-up of what I found.

Of course I would love to know what your favourite photo is.

The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently — though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.