blue faced honeyeater – bushboys world

Tuesdays Photo Challenge: RBG

Published on April 26, 2017June 7, 2017 by bushboy20 Comments

What a photo challenge!!!! How many photos have Red, Green and Blue colours? I am sure I can find some as I enjoy taking photos of birds and many Australian birds are quite colourful.

But first the jumping castle at the markets certainly has the colours.

bangalow-market_named_bangalow_jan-2017

The Chinese Lantern flower with a background of leaves and sky.

chinese-lantern_named_home_sept-2016

A Blue-faced Honeyeater and the Bottlebrush flower

blue faced honeyeater_named_home_aug 2016

A Rainbow Lorikeet among the Bottlebrush blossoms

rainbow lorikeet01_named_home_aug 2016

The Orchard Butterfly enjoys my garden.

orchard butterfly01_home_named_march 2016

The Musk Lorikeet about to take off.

musk lorikeet02_named_home_feb 2015

The lovely Eastern Rosella striking a pose.

eastern rosella02_binna burra_named_feb 2014

The feathers of a rooster who used to strut about my place. (More about the rooster here)

Look here to see other photos in the Tuesday Photo Challenge RGB https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/04/25/tuesday-photo-challenge-rgb/

This was my March

Published on April 7, 2017April 7, 2017 by bushboy2 Comments

March was a month of contrasts, a couple of hot days followed by a bit of rain and then Cyclone Debbie came along. I was fortunate not to be in the path of Debbie but on the edge of the system. I missed the strong winds and abundant rainfall. I still managed to have 476mls of rain for March. This rainfall ended the long dry period over Summer when usually the rains come. The total rainfall for March exceeded the total rainfall for the 6 months prior.

The few dry day did allow for some wandering about and finding some interesting stuff. The weather also bought out a good variety of fungi which have their own blog.

So onward to the stuff of March.

Isn’t this little boat the cutest?

The flood waters made the creeks run and the creek at Emerald Beach broke through the sand and flowed to the sea. The strong tannin coloured water gave the rocks an interesting hue.

Rust. As you know I love rust, the colours and textures rust gives to metal.

More rust on the fence around the riverbank park in Grafton.

In Lismore, wandering the back lanes I came across this furnace door that is still in operation at the rear of a cafe.

One of the treasures of Lismore is the street art in the back lanes. The recent flooding of Lismore didn’t damage most of the art works although some may need a bit of a clean and touch up. The following selection is from just one lane way.

The art on the door is perhaps a portend.

The fish managed to swim out the flood waters I am told.

I love this ghostly face.

How clever.

The butterflies in the rainforest.

Speaking of butterflies, I just love photographing butterflies. Of course many a while is spent chasing them around trying to get THAT capture. The Common Yellow butterfly seemed to enjoy time on the ground.

The Small Green-banded Blue butterfly kept trying to hide from me.

I haven’t had such a variety of flies at my place or perhaps I haven’t really taken a close look at them. The yellow face and bottle green body look great.

The green eyes are striking. The long proboscis also lets this fly give you a very sharp sting.

This beautiful Huntsman spider lived in my house for around two months. She has now gone outside I think as I haven’t seen her for a couple of days. Her leg span from front to back or side to side is 16cm. Her body length is 5cm. How big is your hand?

The Fire-wheel trees are flowering.

I have a number of Golden Lycras that my aged neighbour loved. He gave me lots of corms and this year they flowered the best ever. They gave me lovely memories of him. The view from the top.

They looked so lovely in the morning sun.

This Hibiscus was in my parents place and the cutting has lived on at my place filled with abundant flowers this Autumn.

The miniature Hibiscus adds small red spots in the garden

One of the original Hibiscus. This one is in my besties garden. Such a delicate flower. The petals almost look transparent.

Another tiny native flower that I have found around my property. The flower is about 12mm across so imagine the size of the insect that was getting some nectar or pollen.

The Bromiliads had a good flowering this March. They gathered enough water that’s for sure.

I hadn’t seen white Crocus before. Stunning flowers aren’t they?

I have loved the colours of Coleus since I first saw them in my grandfathers garden.

The rain has revived the Lichen.

Wandering around the garden looking for snacks, the Bar-shouldered Dove and Emerald Dove shared the space.

A little Jacky Winter enjoying the morning sun.

The Brown Pigeon sat in the Poinsettia striking a lovely pose.

Not the best angle for a Blue-faced Honeyeater though.

The little Forest Kingfisher sat in the tree looking about then suddenly plunged to the ground. When he resumed his perch, he did the bash bash on the branch to tenderise his snack. It looks like he managed to find a frog in the garden.

The Forest Kingfisher has beautiful colours don’t you think?

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at my March.

Birds. Bugs, Flowers and Things

Published on November 13, 2016 by bushboy6 Comments

I love it when I have a mixed lot of photos I have taken. This blog does contain a lot of birds and things that have been previously in past blogs but they keep doing things that are different or I just like the photo and hope you do too. There is one photo that has something different from the usual photos, can you spot it?

The weather over winter and early spring has been dry with some hot days and some windy days. Since 1 August to end of October there only a couple of days where there was good rainfall, but only 14 days of rain over 3 months. Some of the flowering plants have enjoyed the dry. This year the bottlebrushes and paperbarks have had the best flowering ever.

One of the things I like to photograph is when I can see faces in things. These are a couple I have seen lately. Can you see the faces too? The first on was taken at the beach during a walk after a North Coast Landcare get together.

Can you see a dog?

Sometimes the faces can seem rather scary. I had a feeling that someone was watching me.

The Red-necked Wallabies have had a bumper Joey season this year, so it may indicate that the grass in the paddocks will soon turn green and there will be a good summer. These two were eating beside the veranda where there are patches of feed. The Joey may be too big for the pouch but still likes to get a drink from Mum.

One plant that has had a fabulous flowering this year has been the Native Frangipanni. The birds and insects are always around the tree in the early morning and late evening.

My besties garden always has flowers as the rainfall there is much better than at my place. I love the way that this flower seems to explode towards you.

The colours of this small flower are stunning adding a splash of colour throughout the garden.

My hanging pot of bromeliads have never had so many of these striking red flowers. I counted six flowers around the hanging pot. Yes that is a bird’s nest I found on the ground and was placed in the pot.

I wanted a few flowers around and planted some Alyssum seeds and they all came up giving cascades of white flowers from the many pots they were planted in. There were bees and this Hover Fly (I think) buzzing around. What a golden coloured fly!!!

Other visitors to the Alyssum flowers were small butterflies. I managed to get a photo of the Ochre Butterfly before is zoomed off to another flower in the garden.

You can see how dry the ground was when I took a photo of a Meadow Argus. They prefer to land on the ground. The underside of their wings seem fluffy and dull…..

….but the inside wings are very colourful.

In late October the Caper White Butterflies started to fly through my place on their migration to SE Queensland. They have been constantly been in the garden since then. The Pentas is a great butterfly attracting bush.

While walking around Grafton we spied some bee activity around a large Camphor Laurel. I am glad they were too busy to notice me trying to get some photos. When we went back a couple of weeks later there weren’t many bees around at all. Sadly I suspect the Council may have sprayed the nest.

The coming of warm days brings out the insects. There are a good number of varieties of flys at the moment. This brown fly spent some time walking around the rim of the jug on the window sill.

While this insect preferred the window to walk about.

The garden also has its share of insects and bugs. I love the colours on this beetle, don’t you?.

The Dragonflies are swooping around the garden and the dams. This is the blue variety. I think will do a blog just on Dragonflies as I have some other varieties.

I just had to include another White-throated Honeyeater and the hanging watering come small bird birdbath pot. He looks to be saying “Ok mate, where’s my water!!!”

On the walk along the beach I spotted some birds sitting on some rock off the shore. The Pied Cormorants were doing their washing.

Here is bird number 91 I have identified on my place. (I say “I” but has been a team effort from lots of people in my network.) The Common Bronzewing was just strolling along but I managed to get a not very good photo.

Back at the beach walk, on the way down to the beach through the dune I saw a New Holland Honeyeater gathering material for the nest.I’m sure the spider didn’t mind a bit of web taken.

Isn’t it funny how birds can have their heads looking back. The Brown Pigeon was certainly keeping an eye on me.

Amongst the vegetation, chit chatting away the Eastern Whipbird foraged for insects. Their distinctive whip crack call (from You Tube by Linda Hansbauer) many people know but when they are on the ground bustling about the have an insane cackle going on.

The most elusive bird at my besties is the Green Catbird and I am always excited when I find a Catbird amongst the foliage.

In Spring, the Figbirds arrive at my place. Late one afternoon I found this pair cosying up for the night among the branches of the fig tree.

Of course you have seen lots of Blue-faced Honeyeaters on the Honey Gem Grevillea in my previous blogs but the way they can have a snack upside down always fascinates me.

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater is contemplating the first flower on a Grevillea I planted a few years ago. I will have to try to find out the name of this Grevillea.

The Tawny Frogmouth (or it may be a Marbled Frogmouth) has the most basic of nests. Just a few twigs thrown onto a flattish spot in a tree. This bird hatched two babies.

Late in the evening, a walk along the shore at Ballina saw many pelicans coming in to roost. First stopping on the light post to make sure the fishermen weren’t cleaning their catch. It’s almost time to go….

…..the moon is up casting a glow so I must be off. See you next time.

Spring brings life

Published on October 21, 2016 by bushboyLeave a comment

Spring has begun and is almost over so I better get going and post some of my world in spring so far. There has been a lot happening, too many photos to sort through and making time to write, sort, edit and get it out!!!!

My old friend a few properties down the street is no longer able to care for himself and has gone into a care facility. His garden has been a source of inspiration and his help has made my garden a better place. He was always coming with bulbs, seeds or cuttings some of which have survived the dry periods and some just reappear much to my amazement.

This Iris was one of the first things I saw as I visited him before he left. A stunning splash of purple.

Of course it attracted the native stingless bees

The Grevilleas begin to bud at the start of spring. They don’t look as spectacular as the flowers but have a certain furry interest……

….and then they bloom into the most fantastic flower displaying many hues and colours.

The Honey Gem attracts so many birds to my garden but when you look closely you find some of the smaller creatures in my garden.

Throughout the bush around my place, the yellows and oranges of the Jacksonias splash colour into the bush.

I love the tiny native flowers that appear throughout the bush. This tiny yellow flower is about 10mm in diameter.

Another tiny native that has the most hairy leaves.

I am amazed that the lichen has regenerated from what looked like a dead blob in the grass. A small amount of rain bought it to life.

This is part of my “front lawn” I don’t have much grass and what is here is native grasses. I rarely cut the grass as there are so many tiny flowers that either grow at ground level or are on small stalks. This moss has gone to seed or is it the flowers?

Come spring everyone wakes up. Some like to prowl around the garden and “back yard” looking for things to eat. This bloke was looking for my chooks eggs!!!

One day coming home from town, there was a raucous noise and the sky suddenly was dotted with a huge flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. This year there has seemed to be lots of them around. Sometimes in large flock or in just a few, screeching as they wheel about the sky.

I spent ages by the side of the road watching the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos argue of the best perch and change trees to find something to eat. Their aerobatics are superb don’t you think?

I am the boss of this tree and can see for kilometers.

Ahh….there is nothing as good as a pine cone.

Heralding in the morning, Kookaburras fill the air with their call. I love the bit of blue on their wings.

The beautiful call of the Grey Shrike Thrush is such a pleasant change from the usual suspects, Friarbirds, Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Ravens.

At my besties, the Emerald doves pop in for a quick drink from the bird bath. THe shimmer of green is eye-catching as they move through the bush.

A rare visitor to my road were these Crimson Rosellas. The bloke up the road put out feed for his horses and a flock of Rosellas dropped in for lunch.

Their colours are very striking. The red can be seen from a distance s they jumped about among the horses.

On a walk up the road, I found a Blue-faced Honeyeaters nest. As I was watching it became change over time.

A keen eye was kept on me before he settled onto the nest.

The best part was the Rainbow Bee Eaters as they swooped around. I played around with my photo program to see if I could get a different effect.

Thanks for hanging out with me for a while.

This is my August

Published on August 31, 2016 by bushboy5 Comments

August. The final days of winter and the early spring flowers begin to emerge. The weather has been so nice, typical north coast days of mid twenties with cool nights. The nights are cool at my place especially as the cold breezes blow down the Gibraltar Ranges bringing quite chilly evenings and mornings. Didn’t get below zero degrees at the house this winter but there were frosts in the lower part of my property.

As usual, we have been driving around just checking out our world, discovering new things and rediscovering stuff. On one such drive-about, we came across some little Brown Quails warming in the afternoon sun by the side of a back road near Billen Cliffs

Quail are such funny looking birds but have a certain amount of cuteness that makes you smile when you find them bustling about.

The sun was almost set when a cacophony started heading toward us as we stopped at my besties house. The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos had come from the pine forest and up to the gums around the house to roost for the night. There were around twenty to thirty birds squawking in the trees. It was getting dark and I was surprised that I managed to get a photo.

At my place, there has been activity among the trees as some of the eucalypts, Tallowwoods and Bloodwoods, are flowering. Most of the birds are here nearly all year round. The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters can be heard chip chip chipping away during the day.

It seems like I have a photo of an Eastern Yellow Robin in most of my blogs but they are such a lovely little bird. This time here is a rear view for a change.

The Grey Fantails are so busy swooping around the garden.

I was sitting in the study when a bird flew up and down the verandah. It didn’t sit still for very long (I have another entrant in “this is where the bird was a second ago” photos). The Spotted Pardalote sat still long enough for a photo through the glass door.

The King Parrots always drop by and have a look through the door to see what I am doing!!!

My besties bird bath has been the source of so many bird photos. The little Striated Thornbill looks like it saw me as it landed on the bird bath.

One drive took us to Ballina where a late lunch of fish and chips by the estuary near where we have a swim in summer. The tide was out and there were a number of waders way out sifting the sand for their lunch. This Masked Lapwing patrolled the area of sand in front of us, wandering up and down. It was funny to see it on the sand and not walking around the grass in the park.

The White-faced Heron was always finding something to eat as it wandered with purpose on the sands.

In a nearby tree, a Little Cormorant gave me a suspicious look, but still sat looking over the estuary.

The butterflies are just starting to be a regular sight in the garden. Don’t you think that the Orange Streaked Ringlet looks rather angry? I liked the colours as it sat on one of the garden ornaments.

One morning the sun filtered through the trees and highlighted some spider webs in the garden. I just had to stop washing up and grab my camera.

I don’t normally have such luck with spider web photos but these two really made my day.

One afternoon driving home along the Gwydir Highway, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye as I went over the Tindal Bridge. I was sure it was Wedged-tailed Eagles but they were sitting on the ground not far from the edge of the road. See my last blog on the Wedged-tailed Eagles if you haven’t already seen it. When they took to the sky it was a magnificent sight.

At my place, the Red-necked Wallabies are always hanging around. This morning, the young Joey was being brave, until they sensed I was watching from the kitchen window. Some days they Joeys have a great time hopping about. A while ago this Joey was having a great time.

“Is he still there Mum?”

“Oh dear. I better hide so he won’t see me!”

The Joey finally decided to sit in the warming morning sun to contemplate the day ahead.

The Bottlebrush had so many flowers this year, it was a magnet for the birds. The Friarbirds had taken over the garden and spent a lot of time chasing the other birds from the Grevilleas and this Bottlebrush. The bees in the Bottlebrush made the garden buzz

Guess who came in for a snack?

The Rainbow Lorikeets certainly add a splash of colour to the garden.

The Friarbirds look so prehistoric don’t they?

The little Yellow-faced Honeyeaters were also chased about by the Friarbirds.

The Blue-faced Honeyeaters didn’t care either way when the Friarbirds carried on. At the Honey Gem Grevillea, their don’t care attitude was evident in The Battle for the Grevillea

Well the sun is going down……….

…….and the Moon is on the rise. Thanks for reading

Hello May

Published on June 6, 2016 by bushboyLeave a comment

Hello May. May has come and gone. We went back to Macleay Island again and I have another new bird that I have photographed. I do get excited when I find something new.

This collection of photos has some birds, mainly that I have put here before, that I have found in a comical situation. OK situations that I find comical and hope you do too.

There is also a photo of a moth just to warn those people who have a phobia about moths. I should have put that warning in the last blog too. There aren’t any spiders or snakes this time.

This poor old Blue Tiger Butterfly was sitting on a leaf catching a bit of sunshine, probably the last sunshine he had. See the hole in the right wing? And the rest of the wings are a bit shabby and colour bleached.

Here is the moth. An Emperor Gum Moth, one of the largest moths that are around here. Its wingspan is around 150mm. I thought it was a Micro Bat when it flew past me.

This year the Cordyline Rubras flowers were spectacular. I have never seen so many flower spikes. There were lots of bees buzzing around. Can you spot one?

Here is a close up of a flower spike.

On the ferry going to Macleay Island, one of the Morton Bay islands, the ferry was followed by a White-bellied Sea Eagle for a long part of the journey. At one stage it swooped off to the other side of the ferry but didn’t catch anything.

The Curlews are back. I am not sure what they were on but I have not seen such a wide eyed expression.

Here is the photograph first for me. The Pale-headed Rosella. They were having a lovely time in the Grevillea on the property next door to where we stayed on the island.

They have lovely markings don’t they? The red splosh under the tail is eye catching.

Back home, the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters have claimed the sparse flowered Honey Gem Grevillea. The dry weather has reduced the number of flowers of what is usually a shrub laden with flowers. This is what it looked like a while ago

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater are very bossy in the garden at the moment. Taking up vantage points around the garden to chase of anyone who thinks they might get at the flowers. The Eastern Spinebills are the one who seem to be picked on the most.

The Blue-faced Honeyeater has a black chin. I hadn’t noticed how extensive it was before. I have gone through the previous photos and none have shown the honeyeaters chin before.

Hi on the tree, the Eastern Rosella was just hanging out. It seemed to see me with the camera and just posed for quite a while.

Look at me, don’t I look splendid?

After a while it was a case of “See my butt!!” and away it flew.

I love getting photos of Eastern Whipbirds. They never sit still long enough to get good photos. I took this photo as it was just about to take off.

The bird bath is always a place to get some birds. The White-throated Honeyeaters swapped from the small hanging pot to the bigger bird bath.

Although it doesn’t look like the water was to this ones liking. Don’t honeyeaters have long tongues?

I love it at this time of year. There is always someone new in the garden. The little Rose Robins are so cute.

Driving home one afternoon, I spied a Wedged Tailed Eagle feasting on a bit of road kill. Despite getting into my best sneaky mode, the eagle flew into a nearby tree to wait for me to go so it could continue dinner.

Well it’s night time and the moon is beaming down. Goodnight.

Februarys finds

Published on February 20, 2015February 20, 2015 by bushboy2 Comments

What a busy February has been. I haven’t seemed to be able to stop, travelling to Orange in the central west of NSW where I saw the roses, and around the north coast as usual. I have seen so many new things as well as some birds and insects to photograph. Here is a batch of birds and insects plus a flower and some clouds found in early February. I am still going through the last lot of photos to find some pretty things for you.

I found this little wattle bird sitting on some broken branch of a eucalypt gazing into some loose bark.

In a flash he jumped over to the bark and started digging around.

Nearby, a young Blue-faced Honeyeater was looking rather intense don’t you think?

The Red-browed Finch was happy to have a bath.

High up in the trees this crazy bird was just sitting there like this for ages. Some Twitter folk have suggested “bird yoga” or just chilling and “catching some rays”. Either way it was funny to see.

I love clouds when you’re above them. They can look surreal.

This is the only flower photo, a day lily, as some of the others weren’t very good but the next blog may have more as you seem to love flowers as much as I do.

This part of Summer is when there are heaps of butterflies around. I have spent quite a bit of my days chasing butterflies lol. I think that this is an Orchard Butterfly. The photo was taken in the twilight in Orange. It was high in the pine when it finally stopped.

Another butterfly from Orange is this Australian Painted Lady which perched on the ground and only moved a short distance when I came too close.

I chased this Albatross around for ages as it kept disappearing into the foliage at home. I saw a white butterfly flying around one afternoon and when I finally found where it was perched it was so different to the white butterfly I was chasing. You can just see the white on the edge at the rear of the wings.

My garden has been full of Lemon Migrants flitting about the Cassia and on the Pentas.

My garden always has Line Blues flying about. They are so funny when the come across another Line Blue as the get into a spiralling and suddenly break away and continue their flitting about. This is one of only photos I have of one with its wings open.

I love it when the Dragonflies come buzzing about. They have been zipping alone then hover for a bit and suddenly take off in a direction that I never can pick. This dragonfly kept setting down on the ground making it easy to photograph.

I also have spent some time chasing bees. They do make it easy to photograph when they stop to collect a bit of pollen but always seem to have a wary eye open for me.

Another part of Summer has been some spectacular sunsets.

That’s all for February so far. Back to sorting the photos for the next blog. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my February finds.

The last of Spring

Published on November 5, 2014November 5, 2014 by bushboy2 Comments

There has been so much going on this Spring, especially since I put the bird bath up, that I haven’t had time to keep up with everything. I have been on an adventure nearly every weekend, plus spotting things around here, so there has been a lot of photos to sort. Here is the last few days of Spring, mainly things around the Clarence Valley.

The Gardenias have flowered despite not having much water and some quite hot days. Their scent drifts into the house every now and then.

One drive took us to Brooms Head where it was such a lovely day, albeit quite windy but still warm. The Gazanias were out.

The difference in the petal colour of the plants was quite striking.

Pig Face covered the dunes in places. Wonder why it’s called Pig Face?

The Hibiscus also flowered in the garden. The pink one was a bit later than the red Hibiscus.

All the Grevilleas flowered well this Spring. The colours on this one went from the yellow to pink whereas the other flowers were predominantly one colour, either the yellow or a russety pink.

Almost all of the orange Hippiastrums flowered and look lovely as the pop up around the garden.

I love the red Hippiastrums. I love getting inside them and seeing their different “bits”

The other “bits” of the red Hippiastrum.

The red Hippiastrums seem to attract the little native bees.

And attract them they did! The flowers were almost too full of bees sometimes.

The Bottlebrushs had ants all through them.

While this lily had bugs walking around. They were quite camera-shy.

The first of the young birds to appear were the Blue-faced Honeyeaters

While the King Parrots followed me around the garden, whistling to get my attention it seemed.

Once they saw me looking, they liked to pose for photos and look quite cheeky.

At Brooms Head, the Rainbow Bee Eaters were zooming around the streets, stopping occasionally on the power lines.

On the way home, just near Ulmarra, we saw the Black-necked Storks stalking around the Clarence River flood shutes. Getting out of the car, the heat of the day was terrible, especially after being cool at Brooms Head beach.

The pair just walked away from me. They are lovely big birds.

At home, after the Lorikeets had gone up into the eucalypts to feed, the Satin Bowerbird took advantage of the bird bath.

That’s the end of Spring, so now onto Summer. I wonder where this weekends adventure will take me.

Spring brings new life

Published on October 22, 2014October 23, 2014 by bushboy2 Comments

I love Spring. Many of the birds who have left my place over winter come back to feed and to generally hang out. The past blogs have had photos of the new arrivals and perhaps the next one after this will have as well. The last adventure drive my bestie and I went on, was around the many roads in the lower Clarence River area, some which lead to dead ends and others to sights that were unexpected.

Many of the roads had old sheds and abandoned houses which supplied an idea for a future drive about, camera in hand to record some of the past buildings in the Clarence Valley. I did take a few photos on this adventure. When photographing this place, I had the interest of the local cattle as well as the residents.

A small village, Tucabia, was one of the stop offs as a lady there has the most wonderous garden and plants (around $5 to $10) for sale. The proceeds of the weekends plant sales was donated to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, a vital service here on the North Coast of NSW. So far on the Saturday, when we stopped by, she had raised $800!!! She apologised for the state of the garden as she has had breast cancer surgery but it was one of the best gardens I have visited in a long time. Here are a few of the flowers.

One of my favourite flowers are gazanias as they remind me of growing up in my Mum’s garden. The Tucabia garden had a variety of colours. Yellow

Reds with yellow centres

Deep maroon with dark centres. The photo doesn’t really reflect the true colour.

And being Spring, some had tiny butterflies having a drink.

Spring also heralds the flies. This one has a tendency to have a bite or two when it can.

The Blue-faced Honeyeaters are back in control of the garden. The constant “pweep” rings around the garden.

But the Friarbirds often sneak in for a quick snack.

Often almost upside down!!

The Rainbow Lorikeets have come for the blossoms on the Ironbarks and Tallowwoods, but still find time to annoy the Blue-faced Honeyeaters.

Early in the morning, the Spangled Drongos have a bite to eat before the others are around.

During the drive around I spotted a bunch of birds cruising along a small stream. The Swan was the slowest to escape my camera.

But the most exciting part of the drive was spotting a Brolga in a wetland near Tucabia. The first photos I have taken of a Brolga.

He was way off in the distance and, of course, took off after a while of me stalking trying to get closer.

I hope to go down to the wetlands again, perhaps this weekend. I hope there are Brolgas still around. I hope you liked this bit of my world.

Out and about

Published on September 18, 2014 by bushboyLeave a comment

Last weekend was a great weekend for wandering about. We did a bit of walking around my street and found lots of things that caught my attention. A drive to Grafton and out to Lawrence yielded many an experience that I love to share with everyone. And of course there was plenty going on around my place as well. Some photos have been already seen by those who like to interact on Twitter as they were too good not to share straight away…..I can be impatient sometimes. So let’s be off…..the sky looked ominous on Saturday morning as we set off on a morning stroll.

There were birds flying around and chatting from the bush. Usually I seem to get photos of thin air but this time I got the swoop from the tree.

The spider webs were still out, all shimmery in the morning sun.

I found lots just walking down the gravel road, just like the little horse from next door who always gallops along the fence as we walk down the street. He is so cute, always wants a rub but you have to keep an eye out as he does like to have a bit of a nip.

I love wood and the shapes, patterns, colours and things that grow on it. This post just caught my eye.

The lichen growing on the post at the front gate together with the cracks looked a treat.

Further along the road, a tree had fallen in a storm many years ago, throwing the root ball into the air which looked like a modern art sculpture.

Just out the front of my place there has been a bit of a flush of spring plus the recent rains have bout all sorts of things alive. These little fungi were about the size of a 10 cent piece.

While this little yellow flower was a bit smaller.

At this time of year, following the swathes of yellow from the Fringe Wattles, the Dogwoods start to appear. Still in bud, but their little white flowers are getting ready to burst open.

In the park in Grafton, this white climbing rose had Fairy Wrens, yes those ones from this page, as well as Scarlet Honeyeaters, flitting in and out among the blooms.

On the drive to Lawrence, we had to stop at a flood shoot of the Clarence River where last year we saw a Black-necked Stork patrolling the water’s edge. This time there wasn’t a stork but a group of ducks paddling along. A mix of Pacific Black Ducks and Hardheads.

A couple of ducks decided to take off while I was taking the photo. Again for one I was lucky to get them taking off.

Just up the road there is an Ospreys nest. I have taken photos of it before but this time they have a baby. Here is the adult keeping a lookout while baby looks about constantly squawking. You can just see the small bump in the nest.

Here is a better look at the young one.

Back home it was all go in the garden. The Blue-faced Honeyeaters are the bosses of the Honey Gem Grevillea.

Chasing away everyone who comes for a bit of a snack. The Friarbirds think they own the Grevillea too.

The Scarlet Honeyeaters dash in for a quick drink of nectar while the bigger birds are busy. The female seemed to be much braver.

As usual, the Eastern Yellow Robin was always around somewhere making sure the garden was in order.

There are lots of Red-necked Wallabies cruising around the house and garden. This little bloke is last years Joey still hanging around Mum.

Meanwhile, Mum was also sampling the delights of the Honey Gem with this years young one keeping a look out from the warmth of the pouch.

That was last weekend….I wonder what I’ll see this weekend?

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