Cee’s Mid-Week madness Challenge – July Colour – Brown
Come for a walk with me
Have a listen to a not well know Beatles song written and sung by George Harrison
Meet the browns
Tag: lesser_longeared bat
This is January 2019
January. A month of hardly any rain, only 6mm over 2 days at my place, whereas the average is around 120mm and it rains most days. It was also freakingly hot. Days in succession of over 38C to a top of 42C here. There were some magic moments, a bit of travelling and the return of the butterflies. I spent a lot of my time watering my garden and plants in shade house. The dam became low so I was thinking of water rations to the plants. I became the bad parent having to decide which plants would get water and those who I hoped would survive.
Among all of this I did manage to get out and about and take quite a number of photos. Looking through the folders, I decided that I would have to do special posts that encompassed some of my days out and about, as I have a lot of things I want to show you this month. It has taken me a long time to decide on what I want to put into this post.
Yep……it’s another huge lot of photos. So once again, get a cup of tea or coffee (I have a coffee while writing this) perhaps a snack (I have already eaten my biscuits). For those reading in the evening, a glass of wine will help sustain while scrolling through this mammoth month. I shall try to keep the captions short.
Ready. All sitting comfy. Lets go
I best start off with a bit of morning and sunrise through the trees. I don’t get to see the full splendor of sunrise living in the bush or in a forest for those non-Australians
I liked this morning photo as it has a sliver of our Moon. Can you see it?
This is what our Moon looked like up close
Seeing a full moon in the morning was fabulous. A great start to the day.
While visiting my daughter in Toowoomba, we spent time walking about the streets looking at street art (a post of those wonderful art works to come) and strolling though the many gardens and parks.
I was glad to see that Yarn Bombing was still happening and Council was leaving them in place.
I just had to get a photo of this carrot that was on top of the vege display at the local Farmers Market
The distant hills have sentinel like Grass Trees over looking the valley. Grass Trees grow at around 25mm (1 inch) a year. Some of these are probably 2+ meters tall so ancient wonders on the other side of the valley from my besties place.
Now for the flowers.
The many colours and shapes of (I think) a Gazania
Despite the heat, a red Frangipanni buds and flowers appeared.
The photo doesn’t capture the wonderful red colour.
The flower of a Eucalypt, not sure which one, with a bee. There was lots of bees around in January too.
Just a wonderful flower.
Bougainvilleas flowered well in the heat and dry.
I have many photos of Native Frangipannis but have never seen a seed pod before
The Dahlias in my daughters garden
I saw a flower and while I was looking, some kids came along and said “Look brain flowers”. Yep Brain Flowers or Cockscomb or a Celosia flower.
Also came in red.
More bees and flowers
This one was getting stuck into the pollen at my besties
A Wattle Line-blue Butterfly enjoying a Brain flower. Did you spot the butterfly earlier?
An Orange Ochre stopped to enjoy the afternoon sun
A Cabbage White Butterfly flitted about the garden
and stopped to have a snack
The Dragonflies are all flying around the garden and over the dam. These two stopped for some “relaxation” on a branch on the ground.
Should I have told my visitors that Dragonflies are having sex on their car aerial?
A golden moment with a smiling Dragonfly
The Lesser Wanderers came to feed on the flowers that popped up in the grass.
Wings open to get a bit of sun before take-off.
The Meadow Argus Butterfly seemed to stop anywhere. You can see how dry it has been. The grasses are dead.
With wings open it helps to know what butterfly I have photographed
On the flowers, the Meadow Argus looks lovely.
Another photo of the flowers and butterfly
A Native Australian Bee, a Carpenter Bee flying among the Ponytail Palm flowers with some beetles and ants. Carpenter Bees quite often make their nest in Grass Trees.
Among the dried grasses, the Dandelions still had time to flower (see This is December 2018) and set seed
The branches of a Bunya Pine – Art Direction, my daughter, Photo, me
High in the trees at my besties, late one afternoon, a flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos came to roost for the night. Not the best photo as the light was failing and the birds kept moving.
The raucous sounds of the Sulpher-crested Cockatoos sounded all over the park as we strolled about. 
As the weather was hot and dry, the bird bath had to be topped up regularly. The Lewins Honeyeater made enough noise to let us know that there wasn’t much water in the bird bath.
Once the bird bath was filled, the Noisy Miners queued up to get a drink and a bath.
The Silvereyes stopped by to get into the water while a Striated Thornbill waited his turn.
I was spied by an Eastern Rosella who dropped by for a drink
Getting a drink helped show the lovely back feathers pattern.
The Superb Fairy Wrens make a lovely couple.
“Hey babe, check this fancy bit of flying”
“Get out of the way, you’re in my shot”
Do you mind, I’m trying to take a bath here
The King Parrot having a look at what I am doing in my office
Just strolling through the park. Move along, there’s nothing to see here!
The Tortoises sunning on a rock while another is swimming over.
What a face
It has been so hot that I have left nearly all of the windows and doors open. That seemed to be an invitation for a Lesser Long-eared Micro-bat to take up residence in my pantry.
This is one of the reasons I keep some doors closed at night. Brush-tailed Possums like to range about the garden at night. Given half a chance they will wander inside creating chaos.
The Koalas have been active as it’s mating season. I have heard their loud calls at my place. At my besties place we can see this male who has taken up residence occasionally in the trees. Usually asleep, around 18 hours a day, the big feller was not very happy at me walking around taking photos even if he was about 10 meters above me.
Well it’s almost time to say goodbye. A wave from one of the many Geckos who live behind the pictures on the walls.
The sun is setting. Aren’t the colours just wonderful?
The oranges made for a spectacular sunset
I was quite pleased to get a photo of our Moon with the coloured rings. It is a hand held photo. Most time I would use a tripod but didn’t have one handy.
Well it looks like it is getting late so goodnight.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed a scroll through bushboys world for January 2019. Did you have a favourite photo?
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Grasp
The Daily Post word prompt: Grasp
Those little feet grasping the rafter are so sweet aren’t they
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This is February
Oh dear, another month of photos that is too big. I think I should do a week at a time. I haven’t included the photos from the other posts, just a couple I think. It was a weird month. The days were the usual February hot to very hot days with the rain finally appearing at the end of February.
Perhaps, as usual, a cup of tea or a drink of choice, get comfy and I hope you get to the end without nodding off.
This time I am starting off with insects so those who have an aversion to spiders, moths or flies get your scrolling finger ready to zip past some fantastic photos lol
I found a tiny hairy caterpillar who looked so unusual. Yes I did get a bit close with the lens and the centre section did get a bit squashed by the lens
I surprised a small spider. She ran out to defend her egg nest
Even a hornet has to have a drink on a hot day
One of the more unusual grasshoppers I have at my place
These flies like to bite. The bit of the proboscis that is hanging down has a spike sheathed inside. The other dagger like thing is the antennae. The angle makes them look fierce.
You can see why the fly is angry all the time and wants to bite. A bit of baldness can make anyone cross.
With all the places in the garden to hatch out, these cicadas chose the same leaf
The Line Blue Butterflies had a monopoly in some parts of the garden. This tiny one found a quiet place to sit for a while
A moth, we call a tiger moth, really loved the scent of the Murraya flowers
Looking at a Crow Eggfly Butterfly who was looking at me
This Dragonfly has been in a mud puddle I think
Such a dainty tiny Dragonfly
The fig tree has so many figs which the birds love
Isn’t this Wood Fungus lovely
An old fashioned Hibiscus flower. This is one of the smallest Hibiscus flowers in the garden.
The Leopard Lillies liked the hot weather
So did the Ginger flowers
The Lilli Pilli bush doesn’t flower that much but when it does isn’t it spectacular?
Onto Animals which includes a couple of Python photos so snake phobes get ready to whizz past some really beautiful photos
As it was hot, the Carpet Python came out from the roof space and stretched along the rafter. It must have been quite warm so close to the corrugated iron
When the weather was a bit cooler, the Python managed to knot up into a smallish ball. This is about 2 meters of snake all rolled up
When it was a too hot, the Python decided that Charlies little pond was a cool place to be. Charlie didn’t care and swam about the snake while the snake ignored Charlie thankfully.
Charlie also had another unwelcome visitor. How ugly are Cane Toads?
Enough of ugly, here is some cute. Early one morning, a couple of Yellow-footed Antechinus were hopping around the verandah
When I went into the shed, I disturbed some Lesser Long-eared Bats. Aren’t their little feet lovely?
We are now in the bird zone so those who have been rushing past the previous photos can relax now
A great way to spend part of a hot day is in one of the many bird baths scattered around the place. A Grey Fantail contemplating a plunge
A Variegated Fairy Wren checking out the mosaic bird bath
The little Thornbill jumped straight in, splashing about
A Red-browed Firetail Finch just dunked under to cool off
A Jenny Wren looked on from the safety of the bushes
A Spangled Drongo was looking for some grubs in the Poinciana tree after his dip in the bird bath
The Eastern Yellow Robin took his usual lookout on the garden chair to scan the garden for dinner
We wondered who was making a mess on the car doors early in the morning. I finally was able to catch the culprit – a Green Catbird
This White-headed Pigeon was on lookout at the bird bath while its young one had a drink of water
One morning there was a terrible sound in the garden. There were Ravens calling and flying about. I finally spotted a Channel-billed Cuckoo young who was being raised by the Ravens
The birds were all calling out, making a real noise in the garden. I finally spotted the culprit who set them off. A Pacific Baza was sitting in a tree. Nearby another two were calling as well. They bought their young one to check out the garden.
When I go outside I always look up as often a Wedged-tailed Eagle or two will be wheeling about looking for an unsuspecting snack
I think I was lucky to have everything just right to capture this spiders web. The Primrose flowers add a splash of colour
The door latch from the Cathedral in Grafton. It doesn’t look very worn so I don’t think it is the original but looked quite good enough to photograph
I loved the lighting in the loungeroom one night
Thanks for your staying power. Enjoy a sunset
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June had something new as well as old
The rain finally came in June. The big dam, which leaks, almost filled which is lovely to see even though it only lasts a few weeks before it’s a puddle again. The frogs certainly liked the water and there were a number of different types of frogs calling.
The frogs were also on this little dam which is more of a wetland than a functioning dam. The animals drink from here as well as some birds. Dragonflies were flitting about on both dams.
As usual, we do our drives around the north coast and one day, as we were heading west out of Casino we came across this Long-necked Tortoise in the middle of the road with cars and trucks speeding by. A quick rescue mission unfolded and it was taken to the dam up a side road not far from where we picked it up.
At my besties one of the old farm sheds, this one was a piggery, we have created a studio space for art exhibitions and rent the Lady Shed for workshops by all manner of people. We love rearranging and decorating the Lady Shed with all sorts of things found or created
I love this owl!!!
Quite often when pillows or things are moved there are skinks that scurry away. This day it was a bit cold and some of the skinks were a bit too cold to move too fast.
Spiders are also disturbed as we do a bit of a cleaning and moving stuff around when there is someone else going to use the Lady Shed Studio. I have lost my spider ID book so I can’t tell you what is this one.
There is a lovely cane light shade in the Lady Shed Studio. We always check to ensure that no one has decided that the light shade would make quite a nice house. Most times a spider or two is moved on or a mud daubers nest is removed. This time a little micro bat with only a face a mother could love had taken up residence. Luckily it had gone the next day before the workshop has started. I think it may be a Lesser Long-eared Bat.
In the insulation, just under the corrugated iron, lives a Carpet Snake. It is a lovely warm place for a snake to spend winter. This Carpet Snake has been living in the Lady Shed Studio for ages and sometimes can cause a bit of angst among the workshop participants.
One afternoon I was driving home from work when I spied a Black-necked Stork patrolling after the rains had replenished a wetland. When he saw me he just casually walked away.
On the drive west of Casino in a place called Piora, we came across a little watercourse that had a couple of Spoonbills, some ducks and a Heron. The Spoonbill was the only one who didn’t move off when the car stopped.
As it has been very dry at my place with only occasional showers and 2 days of good rainfalls. The normally abundance of birds has deserted the garden and surrounding bush. The Lewins Honeyeater has stayed waiting for the blossoms to appear. The rain bought out the Honey Gem flowers.
The Satin Bowerbirds have also stayed around as they steal snacks from the chook yard. They also have a been stealing all manner of blue things from the surrounding properties.
The number of Satin Bowerbirds usually increases when it gets a bit cold in the Gibraltar Ranges. This day when I took these photos the trees were full of the mad chattering of Satin Bowerbirds.
I did a bit of a bush walk one day. Just near the dam in the first photo there has been a bower for a number of years. The blue objects were strewn in all directions from the bower up to 2 metres away.
So many blue objects. I have no idea whose place they get the blue bottle tops from as I don’t have any and my recycling is always in a sealed wool bale sack. I do think the strips of blue are from a disintegrating tarp in my building materials area.
The bird bath is always kept with water in it for the birds. Actually I have three places where the birds can get a drink and a wash. This one is one of the favourites. You can always hear the constant call of Eastern Yellow Robins in the bush and they come to the garden for an insect snack or head to the bird bath.
The little Striated Thornbills are regular bird bath regulars. They only stay for a quick wash and drink before they are off.
One day I heard a call I didn’t recognise at the bird bath. At first I didn’t see anyone but then a head popped up whilst the bird was clinging to the edge of the bird bath with its tail in the water. Just then, another bird flew in a sat on the edge. The big feet gave it away. This was the first time I had seen the White-throated Treecreepers in the bird bath.
At my besties there are always Eastern Whipbirds calling and foraging in the garden. This one was muttering to itself while it turned over leaves and small rocks hoping for a bite to eat.
Of course there a the little Eastern Yellow Robins in her garden as well. They are such a cute little bird don’t you think?
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