The Weekly Word Prompt from Gerry: Rainy Days
The dripping water down the window as rain falls
Settling as jewels on spiders webs
Without rain we wouldn’t have rainbows
No not you lot. This is about rainbows after rain. Not about Rainbow Bee-eaters!! Be off with you 
I said rainbow not Rainbow Lorikeets
At last. As I was saying, without a rainy day we wouldn’t have rainbows
The May Photo a Day Challenge from Maria at CitySonnet: Silhouette
I have been doing silhouettes for quite some time now. These are my original photos converted to black and white and the outline of the birds redrawn by hand. The black enhanced and filled but not “flood filled” but each pixel or a group of pixels. The same process with the white part of my photograph.
I haven’t done any new ones for a while now as it is rather time consuming. I haven’t applied borders. When the photo is framed it doesn’t need a border but on the web page perhaps. I hope you enjoy my bird silhouettes.
This is the first one I attempted. A White-faced Heron who was sitting on a tree in my garden.
A Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo flying at my place
The distinctive tail shape of a Spangled Drongo
Another easily identified bird by their tail – a Rainbow Bee Eater
A Golden Whistler singing in the tree
One of my best and most complicated, a Wattlebird on a Banksia flower at Evans Head
The featured image is a Pied Cormorant keeping watch on the dam at my place
the old song
The new song
The word prompt from Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Technology
There are many uses for technology. The use of electricity has made life for us humans easier than in the past. In order to make electricity accessible, we have to have infrastructure to ensure technology and vast possibilities are within our grasp. The intricate designs and use of materials to carry the power to us are around us everyday.
There are many uses of our technology
A Brahminy Kite having lunch on a power pole
A Little Corella swinging on the wires
A Pelican enjoying the morning sun
Two photo challenges caught my eye today.
Lens-artists: Around the Neighbourhood
Jenns: Feathered Friends
Come for a quick walk around my neighbourhood. There is my dead end gravel road which is about three kilometers long which has an intersection with another gravel road which is paved about sixteen kilometers from my place. It goes from the highway to a long way away, perhaps fifty kilometers.
Lets get going.
The Noisy Friarbird will often let others know we are about
Listen for a chip chip and look at the tree trunks to see a White-throated Treecreeper scouring the bark for an insect or two
The lovely face of a Blue-faced Honeyeater
You might hear the wings of the Eastern Spinebill before you see one zoom past
The Pied Butcherbirds song will fill the forest as we walk along
We may see a Jackie Winter sitting on a fence
Lovely little Eastern Yellow Robins will be chip chip chipping seemingly endlessly
Of course the familiar sounds of Kookaburras will resound around the bush
Small Brown Honeyeaters will be silently having a snack on a Bottlebrush
A flash of colour and a Spotted Pardelote will fly by
A Forest Kingfisher, a sudden flash like a blue jewel, as he flies through the bush
The unmistakable squawking of Rainbow Lorikeets as they argue about whose branch it is will get your attention
The beautiful song of a Rufous Whistler will kep you spell bound for ages
A whistle, a flash of red, the smallest honeyeater is unmistakable in the bush
High in the tree, the resident Square-tailed Kite will keep an eye on you
While overhead it’s mate will soar
Up the road a bit, some Crimson Rosellas have a snack on the horses feed
What’s that chatter chatter chatter? I hear you say. The Grey-crowned Babblers walk about the forest floor snacking on unsuspecting insects talking about their day
More jewels in the sky as the Rainbow Bee-eaters gather
Another remarkable song and bright yellow of the Golden Whistler will make you stop and listen
Musk Lorikeets can be seen as they feast on the nectar of Pink Euodias
The largest bird of prey, a Wedged-tailed Eagle on the lookout for an unsuspecting wallaby or animal, will sit silent until we get to close
A bit more whistling heralds that we are near some King Parrots
A strange metallic sound draws our attention to the iridescent and distinctive tail shape of the wonderfully named Spangled Drongo 
A Satin Bowerbird who is similarly coloured to a Drongo will be in the bush sometimes finding food
or finding sticks or blue stuff to decorate and construct his Bower
Thanks for dropping by and having a bit of a walk around my neighbourhood. I hope you had a good time.
The Ragtag Daily Prompt Wednesday: Quest
I have always liked the idea of a quest probably from reading King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a youngster.
Over the years I have set myself a number of quests. These quests involve getting a photo of something I have seen but never able to get any good photos. I have written about one such Quest
I take my self imposed quests quite seriously, much to the bemusement of my bestie who sometimes won’t stop the car when I see what could be an opportunity or calls out when we are going out “What are you doing?” Most times I am ready to go but just outside chasing butterflies, dragonflies, stalking a bird or getting that perfect shot of a flower.
Here are some of my quest conquests.
A Blue Triangle Butterfly. They don’t land that often and have an erratic flight.
A Royal Spoonbill. I have a few photos but never seemed to be able to get close enough for a good photo.
Rainbow Bee-eaters. Always on the move, never settling for long.
Catching that Bee in flight
The featured photo. Always trying to get birds in flight. An ongoing quest.
Welcome back Bren with a theme for the Photo for the Week Challenge: Birds
Instead of having a bird overload I decided just to play with a photo to make things a bit different than my usual stock standard bird photo.
There is a road we drive along where we take in the scenery and hope there will be something special along the way. One particular drive, around a bend something colourful flashed in front of the car and landed on a barbed wire fence just beside car. It was a couple of Rainbow Bee-eaters. Beautiful little birds.
OK folks strap yourself in for this ride. You will need stamina, food, drinks and a possible toilet break as I have been unrelenting in snapping away with all manner of things. I was going to break the photos down into subject groups in separate posts, but I thought “What the heck, you can scroll through at your own pace.”
What better way to start the day (or post) than with a sunrise from my besties new place
Let’s start with things. I don’t know what to call this bunch of photos as they are different. Enough talk. Off we go!
I found these gelatinous blobs on the beach, hundreds of them. Perhaps baby jelly fish?
When you see a land form that resembles something else
The planes have been showing themselves a bit in October.
Just love these rock cliff, the colours and again, can you see a face?
The moss gave the tree a bit of a dress with a vine for dramatic effect.
More moss. This time at the waters edge at the beach
The rock pool took on an ethereal mood
Just the shelf at my besties place
When I put on this lamp, I just had to take the photo. Another shelf at my besties
October saw the rain come. This dam, I use the water around the house and garden, was about one-eighth full. Seeing the water flow into the dam cured my blues.
The waterhole on my place never is dry but came very close this year. Seeing it full again made me happy. I think the birds and animals are pleased as well
Waterfalls make such a soothing sound don’t you think? Even little waterfalls that help fill the waterhole.
Of course a bit of rain and sunshine brings out the fungi
Fungi of all shapes and colours. Some big….
…some small
and some are edible
I love Grass Trees. These are at a place called Naughtons Gap. They are bigger than some of the Grass Trees on my place.
A wonderful discovery was a whole street in Grafton lined with Bottle Trees. This will be investigated as to why and how and perhaps a bushboy post about the history of the Bottle Trees in Grafton may evolve.
The early morning dew and spiders webs. I can’t resist
Sitting having a cup of tea with my bestie when a large Skink wandered about the garden. Wonderful markings aren’t they?
Would you believe that this tree is called a Cheese Tree?
Just an ant having a swim. He did get out eventually.
The flower and a bee. The flower is on what is called a broad leaf weed which is supposed to be undesirable in a lawn. Look at the bees pollen sacks. I don’t think the bee would be as happy if the “weed” wasn’t there. Think before you mow please.
Just a feather
and another
The Forest Kingfishers have arrived. The male looked about for anything that moved in the grass or the garden.
The colours on his back are lovely.
This photo shows a bit more of the iridescence
Galahs are funny birds. This bloke is sitting on the stock trough on next doors place at my besties
It’s a bit of a way down to get a drink.
Another arrival in Spring are the Grey Shrike Thrush. They are in the trees around the garden and sing in the morning and in the afternoons. What a delight to have in my garden.
The Pied Currawong didn’t mind a bit of rain.
Doesn’t he look great. The black with the red of the Flame Tree
The Fig Bird was spotted eating Mulberries
So was his mate
A Coucal Pheasant came for a visit and sat high in the Gum Tree.
Later on, I think he was checking me out through the undergrowth.
Another October visitor, a Brown Honeyeater
He soon found the bird bath
The Blue-faced Honeyeaters have arrived in numbers to feast on the Honey Gem Grevillea
The female Blue-faced Honeyeaters also drop in for a snack
Remember the post about the Post where the Noisy Friar Bird was chased away by the Spangled Drongo. Here Rainbow Lorikeets get a serve from the Friar Bird. A bit of a peck to the head.
The Rainbow Lorikeets were a bit bemused by all the carry on.
A female Satin Bowerbird enjoyed the nectar in the Yamba Sunshine Grevillea.
But like everyone else, the Honey Gem Grevillea is the best place to get a meal.
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters seem to have a constant scowl on their faces.
I think this Yellow-faced Honeyeater spotted me and my camera
The gravity defying White-throated Treecreeper taken from the comfort of the chair in my office
They are lovely as they hop up and down the trees looking for something to eat.
Another photo from my office chair. I call this one, “I can see what you are doing” is what the King Parrot is saying.
A young King Parrot morphing into a male
Getting a good Eastern Rosella photo quest continues
Out for a drive, we spotted a smallish bird run across the road and into a paddock. A new bird has been seen, an Australasian Pipit.
On another adventure drive, we spotted flashes of green zooming across the road. A flock of Rainbow Bee Eaters were hanging about. This is a breeding pair
Aren’t the males colours amazing?
You may wonder why we are back at a couple of young King Parrots. I thought it was lovely to have them sitting on a hanging pot under the verandah, until I spotted what they were doing
Yes, these “lovely” young birds had eaten half of the succulents in the pot. All around the pot, the succulent trailed over the edge. Can you see the bit trailing over the edge now. This hanging pot is no longer hanging where pesky King Parrots can get at it.
Water drops and new growth
I love the colour of this Succulent. Was tempted to pinch a leaf or two
I love the colours in this photo of a Hanging Violet with red in the background
A lovely Native Geranium growing in the “lawn” Another reason not to mow
Pansies, pansies, pansies
and more Pansies
This year the Silky Oaks flowering was spectacular
A flower of a Succulent
The Budlea flower spike wonderful and smells delightful
Some of the Roses looked a treat this year
A pink Bottlebrush flower
The native water lillies on my dam. Water Snowflake
The rain knocked a lot of the flowers off the Flame Tree. The little cups filled with water
Some native flowers that grow on my place. This yellow beauty is Dogwood
I think this native flower is a Hairy Guinea Flower
I have been encouraging a lot of Egg and Bacon plant to grow on one part of my property. It’s spikey habit is good for protecting small birds when it is in a fairly dense thicket
Plus the flowers are lovely. You can see the sharp points in the leaves
A small pink Grevillea.
My besties flower beds are looking great
and yet more flowers
This flower has caused great excitement for me. This is the first time I have seen a Hakea Florulenta on my property.
Aren’t the tiny flowers delightful?
The early morning fog gives a sense of wonder to start the day
Of course when it rains, you also find rainbows. This one had a faint double above.
Well, the sun is setting and you have reached the end. Well done for sticking around to get to the end and thanks for having a look at my October 2018
Did you have a favourite photo?
The word prompt from the Lens-Artist Photo Challenge: Look up
Out for a walk I saw a sudden bright flash in the sky. Trying to find whatever it was, I Looked up high into the grand Ironbark tree at the entrance to my place. There do you see the little bird?
It is a Rainbow Bee-eater taking in the sights from high among the leaves.
The photos don’t show what a lovely little bird the Rainbow Bee-eater is so I put a better photo in the header
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge : Birds
One day I was looking at some of my bird photos. One in particular was of a heron standing in a tree in my backyard with the sun behind. The silhouette wasn’t that clear, so I set about changing the white areas to very white and the bird and tree to black.
Of course this started a series of converting colour photos to grey-scale so I could hand colour what I wanted. You can see at the very top of the Rainbow Bee Eater below where I missed a small amount of the white.
When I print these and frame them I didn’t need a frame around the photo. On a blog post the white does disappear and the edges are gone. The Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo just flies around the page.
This one, a New Holland Honeyeater on a Banksia, was the most difficult but worth the effort don’t you think?
The Golden Whistler singing among the many branches was also a bit fiddly. I left a little bit of his yellow on his throat but didn’t make it white as something different to the others
Writing the post wasn’t easy either as I added all the photos in one go and had to find the spaces to write. I thought about doing borders for this post. Do you think I should have put borders on the photos?
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