This is December 2021

December and 2021 are gone. It was a mixed bag of weather – rain and lots of it, quite hot days and even cooler nights. My garden and my besties looked fabulous. The rain made everything bloom and look so good. This made reducing the number of flower photos quite difficult.

A lot of birds have come and gone, the regulars stayed around as food is plentiful. Even a pair of Currawongs have been hanging around and have a young one. Most years they go back up into the mountains where it is a bit cooler and return in Winter. The Willie Wagtails at my besties have been busy with nesting and raising babies.

A few photos are from some trips around the area but most are from my besties and here at Durranbah.

Here is you scrolling song. I hope you enjoy Frightened Rabbit, one of my favourite groups

The old wagon up the road is still there and not quite falling apart yet

These tree fungi were the yellowist I have ever seen

Love this plant. The white edges really stand out

From my besties garden

A small native grass flower at my place

The re Frangipanni looked good with a few water drops.

I love the grass seeds along my road

Cats Whiskers must be one of my favourite flowers

A Dahlia and the sky

More native flowers along the road

My besties Brugmansia has flowered like mad this year

When we went for a walk in Casino, we found a Sausage Tree

We also found a New Zealand Christmas Bush in flower

The Bahinia has just flowered but not as good as last year

My Honeysuckle looked good among the trees along the fence line

The Blue-banded Bees love the Salvia flowers

I found Metallic Green Carpenter Bees in a shrub I had to look it up to find out what species of bee it was and found that it is endangered after the fires as their nest sites are either damaged or take years to become soft enough to burrow into and nest. They nest in Grass Tree spears and Banksia trees mainly. This one is a female. The males are fuzzy and look similar to Blue-banded Bees

Remember my Pineapple, It’s still growing and will soon be ready to harvest

The Cheese Tree fruit weren’t as abundant as last year as well

I love the purple berries of Dianella (Flax Lily) grasses. Just to photograph as I haven’t tried them but are supposed to be edible

The Olive-backed Oriels arrived in time to sample the Tuckaroo fruit

It is always a decision

The Figbird hid among the foliage snacking on the fruit as well

When I went to the Clarence River near my place to see if the water had receded below the Lilydale bridge, I found Rainbow Bee-eaters enjoying the sun.

As well as a White-faced Heron looking for his breakfast

An Australasian Pipit found something to eat on the road as I went back home

A young morphing King Parrot watched me through the window

The Rainbow Lorikeets seemed to find a snack or two in the garden

A Laughing Kookaburra had breakfast too

The Willie Wagtail babies wanted their lunch. Dad was none to impressed with their carry on

This is the same Willie Wagtail babies a week later. Don’t they grow up fast?

A Satin Bowerbird was not impressed to be spied upon whilst having a bath

but still dived in and splashed about

Well it looks like a wonderful pink sky is telling me to say goodnight

and a wonderful sunset has painted the sky with streaks of red, yellow and orange

Our Moon has risen so I better say goodnight and thanks for stopping by

As usual I always ask if you had a favourite photo.

This post is also part of Changing Seasons – Shared hosting between Ju-Lyn and myself. Just add your Changing Seasons post to Ju-Lyns Changing Seasons or here. We would love to see what you have and for you to have a look at what the others have posted.

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently — though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

A twosome of black and whites

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: 2 Different things or the number 2

A Spangled Drongo and a Noisy Miner

A Square-tailed Kite and a Noisy Friarbird

White-throated Honeyeaters and a bird bath

An indignant statue and a Gull

Black Jezebel Butterfly and Lantana flower

Pick a Word – December 2021

Thursdays Special: Pick a Word December 2021

Paulas words for me to match an image

INTROSPECTIVE

ANTICIPATING

BEFRIENDING

CHOICES

WISH

The colours of flowers

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge: December Alphabet Starts with R
Life in Colour December: Kaleidoscope

A few “R” flowers and some other colours. Like Cee, I love taking photos of flowers so it was hard for me to limit myself.

Strolling down the drive

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Four Colours or More

A Common Bronzewing I saw looking for snacks on my drive. The image quality is a bit poor as this is another photo through the kitchen window on almost full telephoto.

The actual wing photo would have made a great Last on the Card for December 2021 which will be out on the first of January.

Also for Life in Colour December: Kaleidoscope