Tag: Australian Native Fauna

This is February 2023

Published on by bushboy45 Comments

I did a bit of hibernating during the middle of the day in February. The mornings were quite pleasant, then the heat of the day arrived, in the low to high 30’sC, and the humidity usually crept up to around 60%. This went even higher if it had rained the day before which didn’t happen very much. This February there was 38mm in total for the month, whereas last year it was well in excess of 500mm. Actually as I write, a storm is brewing like yesterday. Unfortunately yesterdays .5mm was disappointing.

Most of these photos are from around my place. My trips to town I usually continued my quest for window shades for Ludwigs Monday Windows or it was too hot and I scampered home or sat in an air-conditioned cafe. The opening photo is from a cafe where I was having a coffee waiting for my car’s registration inspection to be done.

Some of the other February photos have been sprinkled through other posts so this post isn’t as long as some of my other monthly wrap-ups..

I guess I better give you your song to listen to as you scroll through while looking at the things I discovered in February.

A rainy morning in town. Water drops making patterns on the marble windowsill

I looked out of the door of my office when a Carpet Snake came past in the late afternoon. I know I should have warned you but aren’t patterns and colours just the wonderful on this two metre hard working snake. Unfortunately I had just set some traps on the verandah over the past few nights and caught three Black Rats. I guess their scent was still on the verandah boards.

The resident Laughing Kookaburra on his lookout tree in the front garden. I love watching them as they scan the garden and suddenly drop onto the ground to grab whatever unsuspecting creature happened to move at the wrong time.

A Blue-faced Honeyeater wonders if a better snack may be found over there.

Haven’t seen a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike around my place for a while then this one turns up and hung about for a few days. Their colours and patterns are lovely. This one was sitting on the edge of the bush and I took the photo from my verandah.

It is always a delight when the Grey-crowned Babblers come into the garden trees to look for insects under the bark. They do quite a good job of bark peeling on their quest. There is a constant chatter while foraging so you always know when they are around. Have a listen – from greamechapman.com.au

The Grey-crowned Babblers live in family groups of between four and twelve so it’s common to see a couple of Babblers digging away together on the same tree. One will call another over and they systematically dig under the bark. Instead of withdrawing their beaks, they flick their heads upwards sending bark flying.

Yes I did try to get an action photo but failed miserably. These two were fun to watch. At one stage the one at the top decided that there was better food where the other one was and just sat on top of him. A bit of get off, no I’m holding on scuffle took place until one of them went elsewhere

The Rainbow Lorikeets are a bit cheeky peeping through the window to see what I am having for breakfast.

This is the first time I have seen a Red-browed Firetail Finch getting nectar or something from the Grevillea. Most times they are hopping along the grass eating seeds and any unfortunate insect who happens by.

I think the Yellow-faced Honeyeater caught me sneaking with my camera while he was enjoying the yummy Ornamental Ginger flowers.

It’s all hands on deck when the Cassia flowers in January. This year the full flowering didn’t happen until February and then the tree was full of bees. The Metallic Green Carpenter Bees are the big fellas among the flowers, while the tiny Stingless Native Bee flies in to get his share

I can’t resist Teddy Bear Bees when they come around to see if the Red Pentas flowers have anything to offer.

This poor old Tree Begonia has had a hard life. Always munched by possums mainly, then, as the Bangalow Palm died during the drought of 2017-19, large fronds dropped on it which broke it almost to ground level. Then I was doing a bit of a garden tidy when I managed to break the whole top off once again.

Here are the first flowers since it was planted probably over fifteen years ago. It is sort of protected by a surrounding of Calathea plants which have decided that that part of the garden is where they are going to really settle,

I have no idea what the Bottlebrush trees are doing. Some of the trees are having another flowering now. I love this soft pink Bottlebrush flower

While all the Flame Trees in town had a spectacular flowering, my poor tree managed to pop out a few bracts of flowers

The Chinamans Hat plant has flowered since it was planted three years ago. I actually thought it was a Butterfly Bush so now I’ll have to get a Butterfly Bush cutting or plant. I would like the pink one I posted for Cee a few days ago that was in the Art Gallery Garden.

I did a Cee’s FOTD post of the Cape Blue Water Lily in the Art Gallery Garden from another angle. This is the whole flower from a different angle.

The Art Gallery Garden also had a lot of the Feverfew flowers

Again, the light on the Art Gallery Garden made the White African Daisy stand out

The Gardenias in my garden also had another flowering in February when it looked like they had finished for the year.

Both of the Pavonia Hastata hibiscus bushes have flowered for the first time this year as well. Such a tiny flower with so much detail going on. the petals are 25mm or one inch

After a few rainy day hot days, there weren’t as many fungi appearing as I had hoped. I did find this one on a morning walk about the garden with another nearby.

I did manage to get away to Ballina for a couple of days. I was keen to get to the sand bar in the Richmond River to see if the Eastern Curlews were still about. They migrate, after breeding, from Russia and NE China to Australia in September and leave Australia in February/March.

“These amazing migrations are among the most awe-inspiring journeys of the natural world, with birds covering tens of thousands of kilometres each year,” he says. One bird, banded in Victoria, was next reported from Yakutyia in Siberia, 11,812 kms distant.” – Dr Fuller

Just strolling the sand bar looking for small crabs and molluscs.

I just love the layers looking across the sand bar towards the far bank of the North Arm of the Richmond River.

While in Ballina I was staying near Lighthouse Beach. I have seen the top of the lighthouse from a few places but have never gone up to the Richmond River Light, as it is officially known and I expected it would be like a regular lighthouse.

You may have seen the black and white version of the lighthouse earlier this month. It has to be the smallest. cutest lighthouses ever and yes it is still active.

While on a walk in the afternoon, suddenly there was a rustling in the undergrowth. A Brush Turkey wandered out from the dunes, then another, then another and another. As I walked along, they followed me. When I stopped, they looked nonchalant. I suspect someone is feeding them.

Anyway. here is a shadow selfie with my four new friends – until they found out I didn’t have any snacks.

I enjoyed sitting on the breakwall watching the various passers-by. There were the exercisers running or walking up to the end and down again, young mums pushing strollers, people on bicycles either fun or exercise, holiday makers and a bloke who gets around on a mobility scooter. Every time if I am there in the afternoons, I see him and say g’day and have a chat.

In the late evening, just as the sun is setting, the fishing trawlers head out for a nights fishing.

I just love how you can see all of the craters of Our Moon. Not a full Moon but it was quite bright.

As the Moon is up, it’s time for me to say goodbye to Changing Seasons for another month. I really do like to know if you have a favourite photo. Which one is yours?

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 or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

This is January 2023

Published on by bushboy49 Comments

Welcome to a new year.

Again another quiet be at home mostly month. The weather started to turn warm to hot signalling that Summer is here. The hot days were just that so time was spent inside in the middle of the day.
Towards the end of the month, the rains came with hot days and afternoon storms, some of which were doozies. Thunder, house shaking a couple of times when the storm was directly over head, not much lightning and torrential rain. So much so that the gutters couldn’t hold the water and there were curtains of water around the house!

OK It’s time to have a look at what I found in January. There were a couple of exciting moments as you’ll see so away we go.

This is your scrolling song which is perfect for the rain I have had so far this month.

The frogs have been loving the rain as well. This Australian Green Tree Frog could have been living in the downpipe and was washed out with the force of the water. Their croaking has been so loud as it echos in the downpipes. They love the rain and that’s when they do their best croaking.

A regular on the verandah, a Garden Skink, who investigates every morning to see if a snack arrived over night

One of the annoying Brush-tailed Possums who clomp around the roof, thump onto the verandah and are generally noisy during the night. I think this female has a young one ready to be born judging by her big belly. When the young are bigger, they ride around on Mums back.

I spotted this unusual shaped insect scurrying across the verandah. Looking at the photo, I saw that it had a spider for lunch. You can see the fangs of the spider under the insect. It was moving quite quickly dragging lunch somewhere safe to consume.

Some of you have seen this Katydid before on a Macro Monday post. The Katydid flew onto my desk one night, no I didn’t jump, why would you ask! It was quite happy for a few snaps until I tried to get too close. The Katydid has already been in battle with a Huntsman Spider or one of the Velvet Geckos that live inside my home.

I chose two views from the kitchen window, the first is a young female who has just arrived as a garden visitor

And the other is the big young male who has staked my garden out as part of his territory

This is the first of the excitement photos. My old mate who lived down the road, gave me a whole lot of plants from his garden before he went into care. This is the first time this lily had flowered. Isn’t it fabulous.

All of the Hibiscus plants are flowering, the pinks and reds and this one is a favourite. It is in a neglected part of the garden (which is the next garden project area) but still has hung on for a very long time. The pink in the centre wrapped in a mass of messy orange petals.

The Ornamental Ginger plants are flowering through the garden giving off a wonderful scent at night that mingles with the Murraya and Frangipanni flowers perfumes.

The big black Orchard Swallowtail Butterflies have been in the garden for a while but in January several arrive and were flitting around the garden. The lone male had company. When I took this photo, there were five butterflies on the Pentas bush.

Thornbills are a regular around the bush and garden. A Buff-rumped Thornbill watched me closely as I walked around the garden.

For a while it seemed like there was a lack of small birds in the garden again. The Currawongs had gone for Summer but suddenly there were lots of small birds hopping around the garden again. A family, a male and five or six females or juvenile Red-Backed Fairy Wrens came looking for grass seeds.

Scarlet Honeyeaters are around most of the time. They are quite small and a flash of a red jewel zooming through the garden is a wonderful sight.

Yellow-faced Honeyeaters have established the garden as their territory but are always bullied by the bigger Friarbirds or Blue-faced Honeyeaters.

Just thought I’d drop in to see if you are still with us.
A Rainbow Lorikeet examines the verandah in case something important may be happening.

The next bit of excitement was that a pair of Brown Goshawks came for a week or so to see what happens at my place. This is a reason for a lack of small birds around the garden I think.
This photo is heavily edited as the Brown Goshawk was in shadow so I had to lighten and correct.

I always knew where they were in the garden because the pair chatted, probably letting each other know where I was in the garden. I thought they may have nested nearby but I haven’t seen them for over a week now.

Another reason the Goshawks may have moved on is the resident Square-tailed Kites may have encouraged them to move on. The Kites have been patrolling the area a lot more so maybe they have young in the nest.

As the Square-tailed Kites effortlessly soar and glide over head, the Noisy Friarbirds who also have lots of nests around at the moment, try to scare the Kites away with lots of squawking and dive bombing the kites if the get too close to the tree tops.
This Noisy Friarbird decided it was time to get out of there real fast. One of the perils of pissing off a Kite

Another Yellow-faced Honeyeater just looking cute and inquisitive

The Spangled Drongos look rather majestic as they check the garden for a snack

Not happy about a photo being taken at bath time. I get “that look” from a Scarlet Honeyeater.

I must tell you that no bird was killed from the incident with the sun room window. It must have been a shock for the poor bird. I didn’t hear anything so I may not have been at home or elsewhere in the garden or shed. There wasn’t a hurt, injured or dead bird in the garden which surprised me

When the storms arrived they were good ones. This storm also was very windy bringing tree down some across the roads to get to the highway as well as across the highway.
I had to go to town and I could just squeeze past the downed trees. On the way home, the bloke next door was finishing cutting the trees off the road. I was thinking I would have to do it when I got home and the day was hot and muggy.

After the storm has passed from over head, the sunset gave the storm clouds a lovely tinting

That’s a quick look through my January. Did you like the song? As always, did you have a favourite photo? Join in The Changing Seasons too

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 or on this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

It’s evolution

Published on by bushboy34 Comments

The Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Warning

The usually placid
Koala
who likes
to sleep

Stretch
sniff the air
sit up
seeing around

As time moves
on
so must
everything else

From a time
past
back there
a reminder
a simpler life
magic is real

To now
where
evolution has
changed habits
normally slow
walk
many dangers
dogs
cars
people.

But now we
are asked
to
watch out
Koala evolution
run amuck
So now
when in the
bush
watch out
yes a
WARNING
for

Koalas on bicycles

There will be a lot of you wondering about the blue Koala statue. That is “Bunyip Bluegum the koala, his friends, and Albert, ‘a quarrelsome, endlessly renewable pudding, who can turn himself into any type of pudding your tastebuds desire.

First published in 1918, The Magic Pudding has never been out of print. The story has been translated into several different languages and adapted for puppet theatre, an audio book and animated film.

Norman Lindsay allegedly wrote The Magic Pudding to settle an argument with a friend who thought that children only liked to read about fairies. Lindsay was convinced they preferred to read about food.”
* new south wales govt archive

Some selections from 2022

Published on by bushboy47 Comments

Lens-Artist Photo Challenge #231: Favourite Images From 2022

The last 2022 favourite image post I selected your favourite images month by month. This time it is going to be an avalanche of my favourites.

January saw the first of my Life of a flower series which is now up to issue #11. It all started with a Hibiscus

Minimalism became a sort of theme for Wordless Wednesday 2022

Odd Squares was the first of Becky’s Square format challenges

There were always a cow appearing for Monday Portrait

Black and white challenge always give scope for selective colour

I started to become more adventurous with my Water Water Everywhere abstracts

There is always cuteness in my garden

Coastal scenes from around the coast where I live

Or images of the Aussie bush appeared every now and then

With a few trips up the mountains to my favourite place, the Raspberry Lookout

More monochrome images were created for a lot of different photo challenges

Eastern Whipbirds have been in the bush around my home for a few years now. 2022 saw them venture into the garden.

Always lots of bird photos. Variegated Fairy Wrens are popular to share

Not all was nature. I did venture into the city every now and then

My updated photo editing program gave me great pleasure in being creative

2022 was the start of the Shades of Grafton series for Ludwigs Monday Windows

Always flowers

Australian native flowers as well

I started taking part in Dan’s Thursday doors

Goannas like to explore my garden and will run up the nearest tree when discovered

Macro Monday is always fun

Colourful fungi popped up around the place

Playing with toys can evoke memories

Jacaranda time in Grafton is everyone’s favourite time

I had a great time editing photos for Silent Sunday

Discovering a new butterfly was exciting

Sharing my excitement of discovering new plants and flowers on my place in 2022. Purple Fringe Lillies are one of my all time favourite Australian flowers

Thanks for getting this far. I will try to promise that I won’t take more of your time next year and hope that all of those who run looking back photo challenges can all set the challenge at the same time. Yes I am joking 😂

Welcome to pick-a-post

Published on by bushboy16 Comments

Terri’s Sunday Stills: What did YOU do in #2022

I intended to do a selection of YOUR favourite photos over the year. Graham from Hawaii had a great idea so I am going to steal his idea for my 2022 wrap up. Grab a photo from a post and add the post link in case you would like to see more of what is in that post.

It appears my home page and my photo challenge, Last on the Card, are the two most popular pages on my blog every month. So I have selected the most popular post for the month. Let me know if your favourite photo appears.

JANUARY

As seen in My last post for 2021

FEBRUARY

The Seagull was part of Finding Gold

MARCH

In the Peaceful evening post

APRIL

A selection of wet fluffy birds in After the bath but these three little Thornbills stole hearts

MAY

The bees were popular as much as the flowers in Life of a Blue Ginger

JUNE

A mix of fireside photos and poetry in Tonight is the Winter Solstice

JULY

Monday Portraits always drew comments and likes. A female Satin Bowerbird in Monday Portrait – 18 July

AUGUST

Kangaroos enjoying the sunshine in my Some of my favourite sun photos

SEPTEMBER

A little Red-necked Wallaby Joey Taking a peek

OCTOBER

The prompt was “Birds” hence the title Where do I begin The Royal Spoonbill individually drew the most comments

NOVEMBER

Everyone wanted this T-Shirt I found at the markets for Becky’s Square photo challenge for the month Walking Squares#5 – Bubbles, Fun and Nudity

DECEMBER

In Parrot patterns you didn’t have a favourite, you seemed to enjoy the whole post, photos of a female King Parrot and the silly story

So to 2022…..

This is November 2022

Published on by bushboy68 Comments

Welcome to the wrap up of my November. It was a rather weird month for me, full of ups and downs. I didn’t take that many photos. Of course this is also part of The Changing Seasons. The details are at the end of this post.

The month was one of change. The first two weeks were almost constant rain, then the rain stopped and the sun came out. Almost overnight the ground dried and the grass started to turn brown, trees started dropping leaves and plants in the garden didn’t take long to droop.

So let’s get going into my November Tale and please enjoy a song while you have a look at my November

I’ll start with the best of #WalkingSquares as most of my photos were for Becky. These photos are the ones that you commented on.

The following photos are others that I set aside for my November wrap. I hope you enjoy these as well

I was pleased to see one of the Red-necked Wallabies in the garden with an over sized pouch. The little one didn’t poke its head out though.

I love how these berries change colour from almost white when they first appear to purple to a dark blue. Lots of birds like them. Not sure of the name of the bush they belong to

There were lots of what I think are Pink Fingers flowers in the garden. They enjoyed the wet first part of November

Native Frangipanni flowers added a lovely scent to the air especially in the morning and afternoon. The flowers start white and as they age, they turn yellow.

The Giant Salvia flowered quite well. Undoubtedly due to the rain. The plants grew to over three metres!!!

I went to the Granite Lookout as I heard the Waratahs were flowering. I wasn’t disappointed. There was splashed of red everywhere at the lookout.

Along the track, the White Tall Everlasting Paper Daisies were flowering everywhere

Meanwhile in Grafton, the Jacaranda Festival was in full swing. I love the contrast of the purple flowers against the grey leaden sky. The day I went in to see the festivities it poured with rain as I arrived and after escaping to a cafe for a coffee, the rain had gone

The flowers after a rainstorm are strewn over everything. Even the vintage cars on display didn’t escape

Can you see the VW Beetle reflected on the VW Kombi?

As I was looking at the cars, a Magpie suddenly appeared and was chasing a beetle (not the car type) and managed to get a snack right in front of me

After the rain had gone the weather warmed up for the last two weeks of November bringing the flies out. This must be the shiniest fly I have ever seen.

A monthly wrap up wouldn’t be the same without an Eastern Yellow Robin making an appearance. I love how they sit on the trunk of a tree. One of my favourite birds in my garden.

In late October I could hear the Wonga Pigeons call in the bush. One day one strolled through the garden.

When the weather warmed up, the Dragonflies seemed to be everywhere.

Well the sun is going down after a stormy day so I better get going.

As usual I must ask if you had a favourite photo.

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 or to this post, so that Ju-Lyn can update it with links to all of yours.

This is October 2022

Published on by bushboy24 Comments

Another month of rainy days, at one point it rained every day for just over a week. I did manage to get out and grab a few photos but most are from home. There is quite a number as I just couldn’t whittle it down any more.

A it is Spring there are lots of flowers and of course the birds are coming into the warmth of the North Coast. There has been a few new sightings, some of which have been posted already like the Masked Bee. I had a bit of trouble finding the names of a lot of the new things I found but will name the ones I know.

I hope you enjoy your October song to listen to while you scroll through my October

As the month went on, clouds appeared. This one is a great one for those of us who see shapes and faces

Sometimes when the sky was clear and blue I walked about always looking around when the resident Square-tailed Kite was circling over my place

As the month went on the clouds increased making wonderful shapes against the blue sky

When the rain came there was always the opportunity for rain drop photos

Spider webs with tiny water drops is always a favourite

I love the perfectness of webs. This one had a rainbow effect which is only faintly seen in the photo. All of the following spiders are about 20mm in size so no need to be frightened of their beauty.

Sometimes the spiders just seemed to hang in space with no visible support

Just as I took this photo that small brown leaf, at the bottom of the photo, dropped onto the web. The speed in which the spider went to investigate was amazing

I found this weird little lump scuttling around the plants leaves in the garden, hence the blurriness of the photo. A spider with a unique defence mechanism to deter predators, he is called a Bird-dropping Spider. When I went to find the actual name I put in Bird Poo Spider which I think is more fun.

I think may be the first time I have photographed a butterfly from underneath with the sun behind. It is a Brown Ringlet which when view from above is a dark brown with two yellow spots on the edge of the wings

Another new insect in my garden. A Colourful Broad-headed Bug which are sort of related to Assassin Bugs

A Dingy Skipper Butterfly hanging around on a Hoya flower

Even though it had rained in the morning, when the rain stopped the bees came out for a quick flower investigation. This bee disappeared right up into the Salvia flower and I waited for ages for it to back out.

The Bottlebrush trees have been continuously flowering for a lot of this year. I actually found new flowers on another Bottlebrush this morning. The bees were a loud buzz around the garden when the sun was out

Of course the Honeyeaters love Bottlebrush nectare as well. The little Yellow-faced Honeyeaters have been around the garden for most of this year

Of course when I was wanting a photo of a bird on the Lilli Pilli flowers I couldn’t get one. Then the Brown Honeyeaters arrived in October and found the Lilli Pilli flowers

The Scarlet Honeyeaters have been here since September and this was their favourite Bottlebrush tree. This shows the size of the Scarlet Honeyeater compared to the size of the Bottlebrush flowers

Leaden Flycatchers are a common Springtime visitor to the garden

Laughing Kookaburras are always here with their waking up and end of day calls. I love how this one is just sitting on the post. Judging by the full looking crop, I would say he has had a good feed and it letting the food settle before going on the hunt again.

A pair of Spangled Drongos arrived for their Spring residence. I hope they found a good nesting spot this year

You can see why the are Spangled Drongos, such beautiful feathers

The number of Red-Necked Wallabies in the garden has declined over the years. This female seems to be one who stays around in the bush and visits often. I suspect the neighbours next door are feeding the Wallabies hence their lack of coming here.

I am sure this is her mother with the damaged ear who also hangs around

Enough of my place. We found this bull just resting in the front paddock of a house. At first we thought it was a big dog as we drove past. Isn’t he handsome

Spring time brings new leaves. These ones unfurl with a light pink and then turn bright red before becoming green

The Dendrobium Yukidaruma Orchid looked lovely cascading down the pot on the front verandah

The Daisies lit up the garden

As did the Gerberas

The scent of Jasmin filled the air

I bought a selection of miniature Geraniums for the garden. I have to be quick to see the flowers as either Wallabies or Possums like them as well. It looks like they will need little fences.

This year the tiny Drimiopsis maculata, a bulb from South Africa. I had a few in a pot and when I re-potted some of the small outer bulbs dropped off and now I have a few patches of plants in the garden. I can see why it is sometimes called Little White Soldiers

This has been the finest year for the Canna Lillies. Most of the plants are taller than me this year.

All of the Bromiliads flowers this Spring as well. This is probably a Neoregelia compacta Bromiliad

The Common Hovea have appeared for the first time in the garden although they are in the bush around the house.

The Tree Bauhinias flowers are quite spectacular this Spring. The plant has more flowers than before

There is a little pond at the Grafton Art Gallery and the Cape Water Lillies are starting to flower.
This is a phone photo

I love the White Dogwood flowers, sometimes called Rice Flower. The road to my place is lined with lots of white flowers. I have a few growing on my place

Another Dogwood, this time a Yellow Dogwood or Jacksonia scoparia. Another favourite tree which is covered in yellow flowers in Spring

I found this flower growing on the side of the road. I don’t know what it is called but it is quite pretty with its composite flowers. Must be small spiders in there as well with haphazard webs

I love Yellow Buttons as well. They are growing all over my place and I am yet to try and transplant some into my garden. I didn’t notice this one had some sort of insect on it. The yellow ball flowers are about 5mm in diametre so whatever that insect is, is rather tiny as well.

I did mention that it is Jacaranda time in Grafton, my nearest town. The streets are lined in purple and the grouns will be covered in a carpet of purple as well soon.

The red of Flame Tree flower look rather spectacular against the purple of Jacarandas

I love the purple against the blue sky

Did you know there are White Jacarandas as well. There are a few planted around town

While out spotting White Jacarandas, I saw a Magpie gathering nesting materials

Native Frangipani, Hymenosporum flavum, flowers have different stages. They are a greenish at first, then turn white and then yellow. They are small flowers and what the have in common with other Frangipanis is their scent.

The flowers also do water drops quite well

Another plant that has great water drop potential are Elkhorn Ferns. Their strap like leaves are perfect for holding water drops

One afternoon there was an orange glow shining into the house. I grabbed my camera and went to see what the sky was doing. I managed to get a bit of the sky and clouds and then had to turn around because

behind me the sky was purple and I could see a faint rainbow through the trees. Not long after the rain came pelting down again.

I see you are still with me. I hope you enjoyed a scroll through my October. As always, I like to know if you had a favourite photo

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 or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

This is September 2022

Published on by bushboy23 Comments

What a mixed bag September was. There were warm days, days of lots of rain, some nights were cool, cool enough to light the fire. I decided to put flannie sheets on again when I changed the sheets. This proved to be a good choice as although the days were in the low to mid 20’s, the nights went down to single figures or low teens.

I am sorry that there is a lot of photos this month but the start of Spring here is brim full of life. I guess you’ll need a song to get through this long post. How about this one? It’s a new one for me.

Where to start this massive post? I guess with some of the foggy mornings. Some mornings the fog just seemed to rise up from the gullies and engulf the bush.

The many spider webs throughout the garden really stood out with a hint of moisture hanging on the threads

Some of the garden spiders have really amazing colours

Another tiny spiders web but this time I found a horizontal web shaped like a dish

At first I thought this was a bee buzzing around me. Then I thought fly with a bit of a stinger. I have tried to find out but sorry can’t tell you what it could be

This is a Common Leaf Walker I think. Sort of has a wasp like body but no stinger.

I found a Jewel Beetle at my daughters place which is near mine.

The Sweet Orange Pittosporum flowered so well this month sending drifts of sweet scents into the house. The Stingless Native Bees also loved the blossoms.

A cute view of a bees bum as it heads into a Bottlebrush to get more pollen. Look at how full the pollen sacs on its legs are already.

The Grevilleas around the garden burst into bloom as well. I have lost the tags to a lot of the Grevillea bushes so I cannot tell you this one. It was a rescue plant that has done quite well.

Firesticks Grevillea is a favourite with a lot of the smaller honeyeaters.

The afternoon sun really lit up this Grevillea, another rescue plant. Rescue plants from nurseries are ones that look like they are on their last legs and are at almost giveaway prices. I can manage to get nearly all them back to life and flourish. There has been a couple of exceptions but two or three dollars for a twenty dollar plant isn’t much if they don’t make it.

The Coconut Ice Grevillea flourished as well

I had almost forgotten about the Star Jasmin in a garden. This year it has reappeared trailing over an old Lemon Bush giving a lovely scent in that part of the garden and occasionally wafts into the sun room.

Another surprise plant in the garden. I was give some cutting of what was called a Giant Salvia. No idea of its real name. It really is a giant. The plant is over three metres with big sprays of flowers at the top.

The flowers are quite complex and beautiful.

The Gerberas I planted last year have popped up again.

I thought the Daisy bush was finished but it has come back covered in flowers

The new growth on many Australian shrubs and trees start of with a reddish hue

This mossy rock has been in the garden for years and now the moss has totally covered the rock

The succulents in my shade house are also flowering. It is lovely to be greeted with a burst of yellow

All of the Begonias are in flower. I have just included one.

I thought I had lost the Hares Foot Fern but it has come back to life.

On my place the native flowers have come to life as well. I think this is a Hairy Bush Pea. There are so many Pea plants that look quite similar.

I have always called this plant Egg and Bacon Plant which is a common name for so many same coloured flowers. My one has sharp points on the end of the leaves (you can just see) so it may be a Prickly Shaggy Pea but I am just outside of the known species zone. But prickly it is.

On my trip to Toowoomba to see my daughter for her birthday and to see the Festival of Flowers, along the highway there were some fabulous wattles flowering.

At one place I stopped at I found these little flowers in patches or purple scattered on the roadside

I posted a Sundew from my daughters place that was green. As the age they turn this lovely red colour

I went down to the Central Coast to my sisters funeral service at Avoca. While there on a walk I found this lovely Banksia flower.

September saw the Blue-faced Honeyeaters return for Summer to enjoy the Honey Gem Grevilleas

The Rainbow Lorikeets also like the Honey Gems

Near the end of the month the Spangled Drongos turned up as well

Eastern Spinebills are very acrobatic when getting a Bottlebrush snack

The Scarlet Honeyeaters like to feed on the red flowers of the Bottlebrush. This female Scarlet Honeyeater is making her selection

This male Scarlet Honeyeater contemplates his next flower as well

The resident Laughing Kookaburra is always on the lookout for a snack

A Sulpher-crested Cockatoo with a sunset shining through its wings at Avoca.

An Osprey was also cruising the shoreline at Avoca

On Alumy Creek near Grafton, I noticed there was some Black Swans when I drove past a while ago. One morning when I went to town I decided to see if they were still there. They were, around forty Black Swans, but also there was a large flock of Pacific Black Ducks.

As most of the Black Swans were on the far side of the river and behind some of the riverbank vegetation, I though just a photo of these two who happened to paddle past was a good photo

On the road from Toowoomba I stopped to get a few photos for Monday Portrait. Yes you’ll have to wait for those. As I approached the fence, there was a flurry of wings and a flock of small birds flew off in front of me. Luckily they only went a short way up the paddock. I managed to get one photo of these Plum-headed Finches, the first time I have seen them.

Looks like a Rainbow Bee Eater found a good snack

I love finding little Superb Fairy Wrens. A wonderful splash of blue among the foliage

“OK what are you doing. I’m just checking in.”

Enjoying the sunshine at my place this Bearded Dragon soaked up the sun on the warm gravel driveway

Another permanent resident is a Brown Bandicoot. I know they are around the garden and yard is the number of holes dug in the soil as they look for grubs or worms. As it was raining I spoilt the King Parrots and other birds with a small dish of seed on the verandah. The Bandicoot discovered this dish as well and cleaned up what was left in the evenings. Look at those digging claws!

I just loved this seascape again from Avoca

Remember that small purple flower above a few photos ago. Well this is the reason I stopped as. I just love rust as well as old vehicles. I hope someone had some great holidays in this bus

Ages ago I posted a photo of this bridge. As it was on the way to Toowoomba, I just had to see if it was still standing. It is, but only just.

Another bridge. This one is in the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba. I waited for ages to get a photo when no one was on the bridge. There were a lot of people in the gardens that day.

It is not often I get a photo of my favourite place, the Raspberry Lookout, in the afternoon. The rains came two days later in the early morning and lasted for three days

I hope you enjoyed a long read through my September and thanks for getting to the end. Did you have a favourite photo?

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 or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

Also for Cee’s FOTD

Some of my favourite sun photos

Published on 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 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