The November Photo a day challenge 27th: Solitude
Tag: black shouldered kite
This is October 2019
Oh my aren’t I tardy with the October wrap up? Lots of things have been happening – see some of the posts over the past week. I shan’t dwell on the most horrible situation I find myself in right now. I guess you have seen all about the fires in Australia, The north coast of NSW is where I live and the fires have been burning since early October.
I can’t really think straight as I haven’t slept well for a while now. Luckily and the end of October to early November my bestie and I had a brief holiday in Tasmania. I hadn’t been before so it was all new. Breathing air that wasn’t smoke laden was a blessing as was cool temperatures and even a bit of rain. That will be a post of its own later when I get around to it.
OK there isn’t all that many photos compared to previous “This is” posts but still grab a snack and a drink of your choice so you can stroll through my world in October.
I haven’t posted many photos of the Red-necked Wallabies that hang around my garden for a while. This little Joey has fun speeding around.
His Mum was keeping watch. Check out those lovely lashes.
I was out on a walk with my bestie and a friend when we came across some Eastern Grey Kangaroos resting in the shade. There was a female, a Joey and a male. When the male stood up we stopped and waited to see what they would do. Thankfully they group hopped over the fence in one bound and into the next paddock. When he stood up to his full height, he was about 2 meters tall. Look at those chest and arm muscles!! 
I may be in drought but every evening the frogs start up, not as many as usual. I love these tiny Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs. Here he is again in a previous post that has the call as well.
Meet Bob, one of the funniest fish I have ever seen. He would swim away and then appear from the side of the tank, look at you and swim away. The Seahorse World where he lives is at Beauty Point in Tasmania.
A regular sight around the north coast are Black-shouldered Kites hovering over a field waiting for snack to make a move then drop like a stone.
Here is one some of the European readers will know. The European Goldfinch was introduced into SE Australia and Tasmania in the 1850’s.
A Forest Kingfisher waits patiently on the power lines in the late afternoon for his meal to move in the paddock below.
The little hanging pot bird bath is too small for the King Parrot but its good for drinking. The Hippeastrums will come later.
One very unseasonably hot day, the temperature reached 38C IN SPRING!!! Here is a young King Parrot and a Spangled Drongo discussing the day, “hot enough for ya”
Down at the waterhole on 3rd after a good fall of rain. Lovely to see a bit of water. The last rain since.
Going up into the mountains for a bit of a walk and see new places. The players of the mountains from my favourite spot, the Raspberry Lookout.
Another place near Washpool, (which is now on fire) The smoke is from the fires to the north in early October.
I love finding a leaf that has been skeletised (OK I made up that word according to spellcheck)
The new Spring flush of leaves on a Eucalypt.
The Casuarina and the blue of the distant hills. My bestie reckons it is like a Japanese print.
One of the new crops on the north coast is dryland rice.
Back at the waterhole on my place. The ferns in shelter spots are growing well. This is called a Five Fingered Jack or a Rough Maidenhair Fern.
While in the Gibraltar Ranges in Spring I was hoping to find some native flowers. Here is a Blue Dampiera.
Tiny False Lilac flowers
A Hairy Bush Pea with a Native Stingless Bee
Don’t the little Small Leaved Boronia look ever so sweet.
There were lots of White Paper Daisies along the road sides.
The flowers of a Flapjack Succulent
The first time this plant from my old mate Geoffs place has flowered and I can’t remember what it is
My besties Foxgloves flowered well this year
The start of my Hippeastrums 
More have started to bud up
Once the flowers arrive, so do the Native Stingless Bees
Look at the amount of pollen in the flowers. The Native Stingless Bees get coated in pollen
An olden Hibiscus at my besties attracts a bee or is it a wasp?
Casting a fine web, this spider waits underneath for lunch to drop in.
OK all is done. I had to include a photo of our Sun late in the afternoon on a fire day. A mixture of clouds and smoke.
I hope you enjoyed a stroll through my October. Did you have a favourite photo? I love to hear what you think so please drop me a line. I guess I need conversation
also for Su’s Changing Seasons
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Mimic
A parade of black around here
The Weekly Prompt Photo Challenge from Sue: Black
There is quite a lot of black around here. Let’s sample a few shall we
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Wordless Wednesday
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Kite
The Ragtag Daily word prompt for Saturday: Kite
So many Kites around here, I’ll just have to post a few I guess
A Black-shouldered Kite
A Whistling Kite
A Brahminy Kite
A Black Kite
A Square-tailed Kite
A Dog Kite
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This is November: The birds
November saw a number of birds who came within my camera view. Many are regular visitors.
One “visitor” is my chook. This photo is through the door from my office. She likes to come looking for me and knocks on the door if I don’t pay her any attention.
Another visitor is a King Parrot. When I am outside, he comes and sits nearby whistling to get my attention and to see if I may have some spare seeds.
I did a blog about Kurrie the Pied Currawong earlier in November. Here he is with his fluffy feathers
And calling to the parent for some food
Lewins Honeyeaters are the boss of my besties garden. They love the Blue Salvia flowers
When I was walking around Grafton, I spied a Forest Kingfisher. Soon his mate joined him. It’s amazing the variety birds that are in town.
We wondered why the birds are skittish in my besties garden every now and then. I spied a Black-shouldered Kite on the other side of the valley.
With an abundance of Paperbark flowers, the Little Friarbird has a great selection to chose from.
A Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike was looking for a snack I think.
A Tawny Frogmouth was resting from its nocturnal hunting.
The Red-browed Firetail was wondering
1. If the water was too deep
2. If the water was too cold
3. If there were too many leaves in the bird bath
The Figbird kept a wary eye on my stalking through the garden.
The Eastern Yellow Robin after his bath. Bird baths are a great source for bird photos.
A seasonal visitor is the Leaden Flycatcher. The little bird hangs about for a week or so, chirping away and enjoying the garden
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Week 31 – Empty Space
With a title like that for 52 weeks photo challenge the sky’s the limit.
A little poem to start
From the top of the pine tree the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo can see all the empty space around
The Square-tailed Kite was being harassed by the Friarbird
Empty space abounds for the Jacky Winter perched on the old tree branch
The Wedged-tailed Eagles getting away with their lunch. The one on the right has a Water Dragon trailing from its feet.
The Ibis soared in the sky.
The Black-shouldered Kite has the perfect perch to survey his surroundings.
The Cormorant has many an empty space. One of my projects is to make some silhouettes of birds.
Where could there be more empty space than…..weellll……Space
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One day at the lookout
HI. My name is Ashighasa. I’m a kite. No not that sort of kite like the ones we saw in the Flying Working Dog, but a kite, you know, like the bird kite. Well, anyway, I found this fantastic spot to sit and watch the world go by, and while I’m at it, to maybe spot dinner.
It’s a great lookout. I get up here all by myself, no competition for finding something to eat. Just me and all I can see. Such a good life.
Hey!! Where did you come from? Turn you head for just a minute and look what happens!
OK buddy, you can stay but just sit there and don’t copy what I do or I’ll get upset. OK Bird!
Sure thing pal.
You got that bird!!
OK mate, I’ll just look over here. I’m sure there is something happening over here.
Hey!! You!! What do you think you are doing? What did I say!!
Me? What did I do? I’ve been looking over here for ages.
I told you before. Don’t copy me.
Look bird. I am serious about you being up here on my lookout. You have to do whatever I say!!
He he he
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What’s been happening in March
THIS month has been a frustrating month for my writing and photographs. My computer hasn’t been performing to “manufacturers specifications” which took me many a night of working out what was happening but finally the solution happened. For the geeks out there, the C: drive space was disappearing, just filling up, despite my making room to have that space disappear overnight. The solution was in the back-ups that was happening daily or sometimes twice a day to the C: drive was stopped and back-ups deleted freeing 880GBs!!!! That’s enough of that….onto March and what discoveries I have found for the month.
Took another drive around the back roads and on the road between Uki and Tyalgum there was a huge tree, a Camphor Laurel, which was laden with Birds Nest Ferns and Stags. The photos I took just don’t give the wonder that is this tree. Can you count them all?
Trees are important as they can provide so much for everyone. Even a dead tree has its uses. They make great lookouts.
From such a great spot, the Black Shouldered Kite was able to survey the surrounds of Cowans Pond Wetland and nearby farmlands. I think he saw me don’t you?
While spending a warm day sitting in the Clarence River at Lilydale, a White_bellied Sea Eagle soared over the water looking for a snack.
The Osprey was so high up as it wheeled across the sky I didn’t think I would get any photos. Getting two different bird of prey photos made my day!
While back on the ground, a lovely song was being sung in my besties garden. It took a while to find the tuneful bird but persistence found the Varied Triller singing away high in the branches of a coastal pine.
Everyone likes the bird bath photos. This time one of the small birds was having a lovely time. A Brown Thornbill was looking particularly fluffy during his bath time. He even was concerned about how clean his feet were just like the Whipbird
Afterwards, among the branches of the wisteria looked like a safe place to dry off.
Around the garden, even though there hadn’t been much rain, some plants put on their end of summer show. Everyone knows how much I love to photograph flowers The colours are amazing, so onward with a small flower show, starting with a stunning red flower.
The bromeliads were full of flowers. The white inside with red spires and the twisty ends of a purple/mauve colour.
The little Chinamans Hat flower looked stunning covering the bush with its little yellow curled up stamen.
The cream colouring on the Zinnia made it stand out among the others.
Passionfruit flowers can look rather messy.
The Camelias showed plenty of welcome for the insects to gather pollen.
The Blue Banded Bees loved these purple flowers
While way up in the eucalypt, the blossoms made a spectacular sight. Even the insects were enjoying what the gum blossoms had to offer. Can you see the little bug searching among the blossoms?
Travelling around the north coast it’s not hard to find a beach somewhere. Even the beach has its insects. There were a few flies just chillin’ on the sand.
The garden was also full of butterflies, many who were too fast for me, but there were a few who I managed to get while they were resting or sampling what the flowers had to offer. The Wanderers are always accommodating when the camera is near.
And the Jezabels are always dressed in their brightest colours with a fluffy coat.
The Common Grass Yellow certainly stands out among the darker green foliage as it feeds on a Farmers Friend flower.
See more butterflies here
So the usual suspects were around in March plus a few new discoveries. I hope you have enjoyed some of my March wanderings. See you next time for more adventures through the lens of my camera.
brian
