Tag: common jezabel
Happiness is….
The photo challenge #22 from Ann-Christine at the Lens-Artists: Happiness is…
So many things to explore with happiness is.
Among other things, I get great pleasure from nature. Happiness is sitting down and watching the world drift past, from the big to the small. Hope this post can bring a bit of happiness into your day.
A Blue-banded Bee scrunching into a Blue Ginger flower always makes me smile
Stingless native Bees whizzing about with full pollen sacs are a joy
A Blue-banded Bee getting a look at me too
Finally finding a Blue Triangle Butterfly was a happy moment
Having the Caper White Butterflies come into my garden on their migration is lovely
The Black Jezabel is usually high in the canopy and when they come down for a visit I smile
Orchard Swallowtails are large butterflies who make the garden their home
Figbirds song is always a welcome sound around the garden
A cacophony of sound and colour means the Rainbow Lorikeets are here
Even a female Satin Bowerbird snacking on a bunch of bananas is something special
A Whipbird calling in the forest is a sound of delight
Having birds nest and raise their young close to the house is happiness
Or a Hornet building her nest on the wall is nice
Finding a spiders web in the morning with the dew shining like gems makes me happy
as is finding an Hyacinth Orchid for the first time in the forest around the house – elation
I hope you enjoyed my Happiness is…….
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This is May 2018
Another wrap up of whats been happening in bushboys world in May. This month has been so dry. Many of the usual birds that are around here in May are absent. The most exciting thing is that I have two new birds that have dropped in on their migration to warmer places.
Some of the photos are from my besties place where it has been raining almost every day. There isn’t a huge amount of photos but I still recommend grabbing a drink suitable for the time of day you are scrolling through This is May 2018.
I think I’ll start with a couple of flowers. I can’t wait for some of the plants which flower in the cooler months to flower.
I love the purple colour
The last hibiscus flower
Just a mud puddle with a bit of the sun and sky
This is the shell of a Frasers Banded Snail. One of the advantages of following scientists on Twitter is that if I can’t ID anything, there is always someone to ask. Bronwen Scott gave me the name of the snail. Bronwen is at Snailseyeview
Another view of the Frasers Banded Snail shell
When the cooler weather arrives, quite often so do some of the marsupial mice from out of the forest looking for somewhere warm to nest. I have a live trap where I can trap, ID and release back into the forest.
This is a view into the trap with a House Mouse, not an Antechinus as I first thought, who has been enjoying a bit of peanut butter. ID help from Dr Dave and Dale Nimmo
Here is the little bloke ready to hop off and find another place to spend Winter other than my pantry
Another new discovery at my besties was this Eastern Stoney Creek Frog. The ID on the frog was also from a Twitter. The wonderful Jodi Rowley
Here’s a bit of orange fungi growing on the side of a tree glowing in the afternoon sun
This fungi was so soft and really did feel like velvet. Also an added bit of Lichen as well as some Moss. Yes it was a wet habitat.
Here is the usual warning for those who have an aversion to spiders. Try to have a peek as the Golden Orb Weaver is a rather beautiful spider.
Lets break in gently with a tiny but lovely web glowing in the morning suns golden glow. Not an Orb Weavers web as this spider is tiny
Here she is, a Golden Orb Weaver looking lovely against the blue Autumn sky.
The markings underneath are so wonderful. She is not quite 75mm long.
This is why she is a Golden Orb Weaver. She is attending to her larder dangling on the golden threads of her rather messy web
A rainy day in Ballina. A Willie Wagtail found a place to try and stay dry during a downpour
Only a few bits of green grass when this photo was taken of a Willie Wagtail hunting for a snack.
The Eastern Spinebills have arrived. A few will hang around over winter as long as the Grevilleas have flowers.
A small flock of Silvereyes have taken up residence as well
Not sure who this Silvereye is yelling at while at he bird bath
On a drive I spotted a group of Ibis resting and preening. Among the group were a couple of Spoonbills having a rest.
It was disturbing to see 4WD wheel tracks on a section of South Ballina Beach which is a no go zone as the birds rest and nest on that part of the beach.
A Sooty Oystercatcher and a Little Tern in the wheel tracks, with some Crested Terns in the background
A Little Tern resting on the beach
Sometimes you have to wait for your turn in the bird bath. A White-throated Treecreeper hangs about waiting for a Lewins Honeyeater to finish his bath.
Ahhh……that’s better. I love how the White-throated Treecreepers sit in the bird bath, the totally opposite to all the other birds.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters are on their migration too. Some of the flock will stay here over winter. They are the bullies of the bird bath and chase the other birds away.
The Northern Yellow Robins are always around the forest . This bloke and his family are hanging around my garden
My bestie has sold her place. Here is one of the last photos of Bobbin, the Northern Yellow Robin who lives at her place on the garden chair where he loves to survey the garden for something to eat. Bobbin is such a cutie isn’t he?
An Emerald Dove found a good drinking spot in the garden. A stem of a Bangalow Palm filled with rain water.
Here is the first of the new birds at my place. This is a Striated Pardalote
The other new bird is a tiny Varied Sittella. A small flock dropped in one day for a drink, rest and a bite to eat before continuing on their way north. Another little cute bird.
The butterflies are becoming scarce as the weather gets colder. I have been lucky enough to get some photos of the inside wings as well as the usually more colourful outer wings. This butterfly is a Yellow or Common Albatross showing the inside wings
The outer wings are a lovely yellow with a brown edging.
A Zebra Blue or Plumbago Blue Butterfly. You can see the blue on the inside.
The outer wings have a lovely marbling and striking pattern.
The inside wings of the Common Jezabel are rather dull compared to the outer wings.
Here is a Common Jezabel sitting high upon a flower stalk on a sunny day.
I hope you have enjoyed a scroll through my May.
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter M
In this Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Letter M the word used must have two M’s anywhere in the word.
For this challenge I have used the word Common which is common among butterfly names
Common Albatross
Common Ringlet
Common Dart
Common Brown
Common Aeroplane
Common Yellow
Common Jezabel
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This is August
I do seem to have a lot of favourite photos from August. I have done quite a hard cull. I hope you are able to get through all of this blog. It was a busier than usual month. The rain hasn’t come and the place is dry now. It is a pity the dam I use for around the garden leaked as it was full in Autumn and that would normally have seen me through Winter until the Spring storms arrive. Being so dry the number of birds are reduced but I have maintained the water points around the garden for the birds and animals. I almost feel like a bad parent, selecting the plants to water and hoping the others will hang in there until I start the pump and give the garden a good soaking.
Enough of the sob story and let’s get started with the things I found in August.
I just love the colour of this leaf.
Late one afternoon while I was searching for a new log to cut firewood, I went down to the water hole. This water hole has never dried even in some of the severe droughts in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Camera settings 1/320 F6.5 ISO 800
Driving about the property, mainly gathering firewood and pulling lantana out, I often come across a family of White-winged Choughs as they patrol the bush, walking about looking under leaves and bark for insects. It was good to see that this family group has grown from five to seven.
The wily Currawong was sitting in the Bottlebrush waiting for an unsuspecting small Honeyeater to drop in for a meal.
At the small paddock dam, in reality a wetland now, the Peaceful Dove was walking down the slope heading for a drink.
In one of the water points I have placed a stick so if a bird falls into the old drum, they have something to grab onto and get out. The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters like sitting on the stick after having a drink or plopping in the water for a bath.
The main sounds that were echoing through the bush in August were the calls of the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. They loved feasting on the Bottlebrushes.
The Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike was surveying the scene at Modenville.
One morning the Bowerbird was eating the grass for breakfast. It had quite a number of beak-fulls before it flew off.
The Bowerbird looked stunning in the afternoon light.
I love having King Parrots around. Their whistle resounds through the bush.
A Restless Flycatcher dropped in for an afternoon.
The Superb Fairy Wrens were bustling about the garden at Modenville hardly sitting long enough for a photo.
The little Variegated Fairy Wren was very busy with his flock of females as they explored the garden at Binna Burra.
I wondered what had happened to my beautiful blooms on my Cyclamen and then I saw the culprit. It is almost like the caterpillar has a straw in its mouth.
I found this tiny “house” that an insect has constructed on the bark of a block of firewood I had cut. I have bought it home and hope to see what come out of this beautifully constructed nest.
I found this beetle marching with purpose along a log.
The Common Jezebals have been flying about the bush and garden for a few weeks. When they fly they have an intense stroboscopic pattern flashing of black and white. When the wings are flat you can see the predominately white side of the wings.
I love it when there is an unexpected spider on a flower or seed head as well as small grasshoppers and ants. The seed head is about the size of a 20 cent piece.
This is the rest of the spike
There is a lot of native flowers popping up this August. It was unseasonably very warm. A lovely circle of yellow flowers about the size of a 10 cent piece.
I called this flower a Buttercup but it’s probably not. The leaves are similar to Oxalis.
Look how hairy the leaves are and the flower has a lovely reddish brown centre.
The Egg and Bacon plant is growing on the top of the dam wall. The flowers are beautiful and yes the leaves are spiky. A great place for small birds to escape into.
I call this vine a Native Wisteria. It is also called False Sarsaparilla and a few other names. It looks lovely when the vine entwines with a wattle threading purple among the wattle flowers.
Scattered throughout the bush these little star shaped flowers are easy to miss as they are about ten millimeters across.
The Bottlebrush flower is photo-bombed by a Stingless Native Bee.
This Grevillea flower is called Lemon Daze.
Isn’t the inside of this flower interesting?
Love the colour of these flowers.
Pansys. Who doesn’t love smiling Pansy faces. The colours are spectacular.
The camera can’t catch the deep purple of these Pansys
One August afternoon the sunset was spectacular.
I love the effect of the hills and trees on the horizon.
One of my Canon Powershot camera setting is called “Creative”. It takes a number of photos with different setting. This one made the sun look explosive.
Looks like the sun has set so goodbye and thanks for stopping by.
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Februarys butterflies
There has been so much happening this month it is impossible to put into one blog. February is when everything has come alive and this year, the rains have come bringing life to my place. There has been a lot of new birds and insects being spotted which gladdens my heart. I must be doing something right with my own small piece of this world.
The main thing that I have found is there are more butterflies than ever before. Actually some more varieties of butterflies. As I have written in previous blogs, I have spotted quite a few butterflies but they have been around the north coast of NSW, at my besties place, as well as other places I found when we have been wandering around. I haven’t included some of the ones I have put in my other February blogs so this is just the others I have managed to photograph. One of these days I am going to get a photo of the Blue Triangles which fly so fast and don’t seem to rest when I am around.
So let’s get going, I hope I have named them correctly.
I’ll start with the Blue Tiger, a butterfly I found in Ballina. There were quite a number flying around the coastal vegetation and as it was late in the afternoon, quite happy to sit for ages.
The names of the butterflies around my garden are bird related. There has been quite a number of Common Albatrosses which seemed to disappear as they look white when flying but at rest they are a yellow colour. The inside of the wings are white.
The other bird named butterfly is the Australian Gull. I have a number of photos and they look different in each one. This poor old one looks a bit ragged doesn’t it?
This one looks a bit healthier.
This photo shows the inside of the wings a bit better.
The Common Jezabel has been around the garden for a while and tends to rest with its wings open.
Of course there has been Wanderers floating about. I rescued one from a Night Spiders very very sticky web one afternoon.
My favourite is the Northern Jezabel as I saw a flash of red as it settled on the Pink Euodia.
I hope I get to find some more butterflies this weekend.
