Thank goodness it’s Monday Afternoon
Tag: chook
In My Garden
The Ragtag Daily Prompt for Tuesday: Garden
Have a quick wander about my garden.
Blue-banded Bees like dropping in
When the pink Crocus flowers the Stingless Native Bees all come around
One of the wheelbarrow gardens with Hippeastrums
The Frangipanni flowers scent fills the air
The Bromiliads flower too
One of my favourite flowers – Cats Whiskers
The Dietis look great buit trhey are taking over in places in the garden
One of the many Hibiscus flowers
The Agapanthus put on a show around the garden borders
The garden is a place to relax
Even Long-necked Tortoise stroll through heading to the dam
Every now and then when working in the garden, I surprise a frog. The Broad-palmed Frog took a while to wake before hopping off
Lots of Bottlebrush flowers
The Pelagoniums add colour
There is always help in the garden
So many Grevilleas too
The Native Wisteria winds its way among the foliage
Always wear gloves and shoes as you never know who you might disturb. The Mouse Spider was rather fiesty
The Bullants let you know if you are getting too close to their nest
Every now and then another variety of fungus appears
The garden is a lovely place to raise a family
The fruit trees look wonderful in Spring
and of course the garden is home to lots and lots of birds from the smallest Honeyeater, the Scarlet Honeyeater
to the larger birds like the Satin Bowerbirds
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This is August 2018
Not a terribly exciting month for photos as I have been unwell with a cold which is not going away. I decided to do two or maybe more posts about August, one is a fairly large post which will be done soon. At least being unwell allows me time to sit at the computer to sort photos and do stuff that I put off as I have lots to do outside before the weather warms up, although this Winter had been unseasonably warm.
Let’s get started. A few mornings have been slightly foggy. One morning, the early morning fog made the bush look quite surreal.
Some days the clouds were in shapes that made me just stop and look.
I am glad this Red-necked Wallaby stopped and looked before hopping across the road in front of me.
A day was spent at an event in town called Wings and Wheels held at the South Grafton Airfield. It was great to see the Grey Ferguson tractors lines up. This one looked like mine.
One day out and about, we came across this most colourful and crazy garden. Lots of ideas for Cee’s Odd Ball photo challenge that’s for sure.
My bestie said it was time for the old wheelbarrow to get a succulent garden. Didn’t she do a great job? All the plants came from pots around the house and garden.
The hanging geraniums are always in flower.
We doing things in my besties garden when we felt that someone was looking at us.
Here is the biggest Brush Turkey from a nearby town, Kyolge.
Getting home from a drive, the chook decided to detail the car, removing all sorts of insects from the front of my car.
It is nesting time. I wondered what was going on with the mat on the verandah. The White-browed Treecreeper, normally hopping on vertical tree trunks, gathering nesting material.
A Spotted Pardalote was foraging among the vines.
The Welcome Swallows have been nesting in the verandah at my besties new place for years. They have started building their nests too. They are always together.
A young King Parrot morphing from juvenile to adult
Checking out the tree tops, an Australian Raven, surveys the scene.
A Pied Currawong found the berries on a Murraya irresistible.
The rather prehistoric looking Noisy Friarbird love Grevilleas.
Eastern Spinebills also love Grevilleas.
The blue black is lovely as a contrast to the rest of their colours. You can see why it is called a Spinebill.
The Galah just loved walking among the grass seeds snacking as he went.
I went down to the bottom part of my property to check on the waterhole. While I was there the activity of birds was quite amazing. A huge flock of Fuscous Honeyeaters were darting everywhere.
One afternoon, the Moon looked so fabulous against the blue sky. I love our Moon.
Well there you go. A quick look at my month of August. Thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment which will cheer me up no end.
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Where
The word prompt from Debbie at Travel With Intent: Where
Where have these photos been taken?
From my desk in the office through the glass door
A chook often comes to see what I am doing
A Noisy Friarbird looking in the door
The Kookaburra heard me move I think
A Brush-tailed Possum found a snack
A tiny Spotted Pardalote investigating for insects
The Rose Robin was tweeting away
Sometimes a Huntsman Spider will find insects hovering around the computer screen
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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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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Letter K
Join in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge with all the other photographers who have lots of K’s in their photos.
A King Parrot often drops in to see what’s happening on the verandah
Rainbow Lorikeets are here in numbers to feast on the nectar of the eucalypt blossoms
Musk Lorikeets only drop in every now and then
The Grey Goshawk frightens the chooks
This Australian Kestrel was hunting for lizards in a car park
A Fan-tailed Cuckoo kept an eye on me
Had to include a Chook
and some Chickens
and of course Brendan the Brush Turkey
The little Forest Kingfisher is a brilliant flash of blue as he darts through the forest
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos love pine cones and eat them like an ice cream cone
These Plumed Whistling Ducks were paddling about in a puddle in a football field
Dis someone say Duck
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The birds of June
It may be Winter, but here, it is the time when birds drop in on their way north to build their strength for the next part of their journey, or stay for the winter in the warm days on the North Coast. The nights can get cold but the days are usually in the low 20’s C with the warmth of sunshine and the number of plants that flower in late Autumn and Winter makes it a good place to stop off. This is not a complete record of birds as there have been birds who I haven’t managed to get in my lens plus there has been some who have just been to fast for me to photograph. Yes I have quite a number of photos of empty branches!!!
This first gallery of photos are the birds from my place.
The White-throated Honeyeaters arrive in the morning and in the afternoon with their chirp chirp chirp as they set about diving into the birdbath or pool to have their bath.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters arrive from down south, some stay while others in the flock fly further north.
The Blue-faced Honeyeaters come and go all year depending on what food is available. The Honey Gem Grevillea has finally started to flower after a long dry hot Summer. Look at the pollen dust on his head.
The little Eastern Spinebills are here with the distinctive clicking of their wings as they zip around the garden and their calls echoing in the gullies.
You can judge their size by comparing with the Blue-faced Honeyeater and Grevillea flower above. They really stretch to reach the blossoms at times.
Their plumage is quite pretty don’t you think?
I don’t include many photos of the female Golden Whistler but this one is so cute. They are around the place all year round with their repetitive call which can sound like a squeaky wheel, at times up to twenty single notes.
They also like to land on the side of trees and have a look around.
As do the White-throated Treecreepers who just hop up and down the trees looking for insects under the bark. They have a similar call to the Yellow Robins but not as persistent.
They also like to defy gravity as the give the trees a very thorough checking over.
The tiny Red-backed Fairy Wrens like to explore the lower parts of the forest eating grass seeds and insects foraging among the grass stalks. The Jenny Wren has good camouflage. 
The Silvereyes are migrants who stop for a few weeks to gather their strength for their next leg of their journey north.
They are another of the tiny birds around here.
The Red-browed Firetails are another constant visitor to the bush as they move about in small flocks looking for grass seeds. This is a young one as the red brow isn’t as prominent as the adults.
The tiny Striated Thornbills are always around the garden and in the gullies around the house.
They love the birdbath.
Someone who I haven’t seen for quite a while has turned up this month and has been around the garden early in the morning and in the gullies during the day. The Spotted Pardalote digs a tunnel in the side of the gully to make it’s nest. They are so pretty aren’t they?
I think this one saw me as I snuck along the verandah for a better photo.
They can be quite vocal too.
The sounds of Kookaburras signal the start and end of every day. There are about three families that live in the bush around the house and sometimes the cacophony of up to five or six Kookaburras can be quite deafening.
After I took this photo I noticed that there was another two sitting nearby in separate trees. All of a sudden they all flew off into the forest disappearing among the trees.
This next gallery are from my besties place.
The Lewins Honeyeater is the boss of my besties garden. They swoop on most other birds that dares to come into the garden. The Lewins at my place aren’t as bossy.
Can you spot the Varied Triller?
The Grey Fantails are always doing their acrobatic flying around the place catching insects on the wing. A very serious looking bird.
The Golden Whistler is always around the garden and nearby rainforest singing its lovely song.
My besties place is surrounded by rainforest so she has more doves and pigeons than I do at my place. The White-headed Pigeon has a deep sounding whoomp whoomp call. They also fly about in large flocks.
The Brown Pigeon didn’t want its photo taken.
There is always up to ten bar-shouldered Doves foraging on the ground in the garden looking for pecans that have fallen from the tree.
The Whipbirds also enjoy foraging among the leaves for pecans.
While high in the trees the Figbirds look for seeds as well as pecans. This female Figbird found the seeds of an Umbrella Tree.
The male Figbird was more interested in pecans.
The Green Catbird is also interested in pecans. Not long after this photo was taken, so was the pecan.
Another recipient of the fallen pecans is the large Brush Turkey. His strong beak breaks open the pecans and often leaves small pieces behind for the other birds to eat. This one we call Brendan who has taken over the garden and has a mound nest almost one meter tall in the front garden. One day I’ll try to get a photo of Brendan and his mound.
The most exciting discovery was finding a Regent Bowerbird just on the edge of the garden late one afternoon. I only managed to get a couple of bad photos but had to share in my excitement.
We went to Byron Bay one day to shop as we haven’t been for ages and Winter is a good time as the number of tourists is halved at least. The Golden Pendas are in flower and the Rainbow Lorikeets were having a great time screeching at each other.
And of course there are always chooks foraging around both our gardens.
That is a snapshot of some of the birds around here in June. My June photo round-up probably won’t have any birds this year. Hopefully I’ll get to that by next week.
