The Ragtag Daily Prompt Wednesday: Sleep
I was going to come out all Shakespeare or poetic writing but I am too tired so here is a bit of sleep through my lens
Tag: royal spoonbill
Quest
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.
Share this:
This is November 2018
My last post Time #6 was post number 1,000. I was hoping this one would be number 1,000 but it has taken a lot of time getting it together.
November was where Spring really came to life. Rain in the previous months led to life appearing, flowers brightened, the little native flowers, some only 10mm in diameter sprung up in the paddocks and in the bush. Birds who come to my place over Spring and Summer appeared, in some instances with their chicks.
This is another long post as I couldn’t cut back and also have had a couple of double ups. I have a some things left out as they deserve their own post.
So I recommend getting your drink of choice, perhaps a snack and if you are lucky, someone to bring refills. đŸ˜€
I have tried to arrange the photos in some sort of grouping. OK off we go………
Some days saw the storm clouds appear bring some destruction but also welcoming rain
The water plants on the dams are pleased that the water levels are up
The Bromiliads in the garden are sending their flower spikes up.
or just colouring while the flower appears in the watery centre
One of my favourite flowers, the Cats Whiskers flowered after the rain.
Day lilies flowered some with multiple buds
The Dietes, which are all through the garden, showed the borders with their white and purple flowers. If you look on the left side of the flower, you can see a little native bee.
The pink Pentas were planted two years ago and this year the flowers were prolific.
I thought these were the last of the Pandoreas but when I walked past today, more have appeared
I have a miniature Native Frangipanni in a pot at the front of the house. The warm breeze send a delightful scent into the house. The flowers start as white flowers and gradually turn yellow
Also in the garden is quite a big Native Frangipanni. It is constantly flowering through November. You can see the various stages of flowering from the white and yellow buds, white flowers and then the yellow flowers on their way out.
The Gardenias are looking good this year
Had to show the buds too
This Pentas is great for attracting insects
The original red Hibiscus that my Mother bought from her garden when the gardens were first planted many years ago. This was one of my Mums favourites
This is the bush still in the part of the place where gardens and the old house once were
Another Hibiscus that had a good flowering too.
The Grevilleas took a while to flower compared to other gardens around the area.
This Grevillea flower hangs downwards
The second year for the Ivanhoe Grevillea and the first flower
Two Grevilleas in the front garden that always have birds squabbling over the flowers
I love the pastel colours of this Grevillea
The Bottlebrush flowers add splashes of red throughout the garden
The Balsam flowers appear in many places in the garden. The just pop up
A Bottlebrush just starting to flower
One of my favourite small trees is Jacksonia. They add touches of yellow through the bush
Another small tree in an old part of the garden. The last few years it has taken to flower for months
A large tree in the garden, a Silky Oak, which is also one of the biggest Grevilleas
The Eucalypts are flowering following a prolonged dry spell. Some are flowering now and I haven’t seen them flower at this time of year before
A ground cover flower that I thought had gone but has reappeared. I had an orange version as well. I wonder if that one will come back?
The Duranta flowers are another flower with soft pastel colours
I planted this native in a rockery. The Red-necked Wallabies love it. The constant trimming looks like a benefit as it is covered with flowers this November
The flowers appear on soft stalks and the spots seem to darken too
The Hippeastrums looked wonderful this November. The wheelbarrow gardens looked a treat. There is a post about them earlier this month
The red Hippeastrums seemed very red this year
A tiny native flower about 10mm in diameter
You can see how small this native flower is by the grass and size of the leaves
I love clover flowers
A Calathea I have in a pot flowered this year with tiny flowers with delicate colour
This Native flower is called a Smooth Parrot Pea
Even the patch of Spider Plants flowered
With the flowers growing well the flower sellers at the market were selling bunches and most market days, sold out before the end.
Saw this car and just had to get a photo. It is a ute as well as a tad rusty
The clouds one day were quite spectacular
What a tiny Grasshopper on the Brunsfelsia flower
The Caper White Butterflies are migrating. This one is the first to arrive at my place
The Stingfless native Bees are loving collecting pollen from the orange Hippeastrum
A Crab Spider showed me his scary end when I disturbed its rest. Not a very big spider either
Meet Gus, my axolotl. He is always happy looking
A Noisy Friarbird snacking on a Honey Gem Grevillea
Noisy Friarbirds always have something to say
A female Figbird contemplates her next meal
Always singing around the house and in the forest, a Grey_shrike Thrush was looking through the window
Aren’t the Masked Lapwings strange looking. They are also called Plovers
but their eggs are quite pretty. They lay their eggs anywhere. These were on a walkway to the beach.
Peaceful Doves are always around the house
Royal Spoonbills were another of my quests to photograph
The ferry cable is as good as anywhere to hang out to dry
On a visit to a small degraded wetland I was amazed to see the amount of birds there. The flock of Hardhead Ducks was rather large
On another wetland, where the Royal Spoonbills were, some Pink-eared Ducks also were paddling around
Eurasian Coots paddled about looking for food
I was surprised to see a Crested Tern so far from the coast. A Purple Swamp Hen strode around the edge of the water
Aren’t Australasian Grebe chicks cute
A pacific Black Duck was closely followed by a young one
When you go calling on your girlfriend always take flowers
The Superb Fairy Wrens hopped around us at the lookout
Well the sun is going down so it’s time for me to go. Thanks for hanging around with me. I hope you enjoyed my November
Share this:
Silent Sunday
Pick a Word for August
Yes it’s time for my favourite photo challenge from Paula, Pick a Word
Fortified
Chic
Submerged
Embodiment
Prehistoric
Share this:
This is April 2018
You will be pleased to know that this month I have been picky in choosing what to put on my April post. This is not a marathon so maybe you won’t need a drink and a snack to get to the end.
Let’s get going then.
It’s just a leaf I found. I just love the colours.
There is a whole ecosystem on this fungi
Down the hill from from the above fungi, a whole miniature forest was growing.
I love the sunsets and these grass seed heads.
More grass seed heads against the late afternoon sky. The camera knows how to lie as these aren’t very big.
One of my favourite garden flowers – Cats Whiskers
I don’t know the name of this flower. We call it The Pink Thing. Bees love disappearing inside of the bell or where the flower joins the stalk.
The small flowers of the Bangalow Palm are waiting to burst out. The outer casing had fallen off early in the morning and the palm was full of buzzing bees.
Trying to get some bee photos I didn’t realise I have taken photos of little Dwarf Eastern Tree Frogs. I don’t know if they were hunting bees or other insects
I only found these two but I am sure there were many more among the hanging stalks.
The snail was having a good time exploring the leaf
I found an interesting looking Shield Insect walking along the electric fence tape.
The Caterpillar was quite disturbed at my presence as you can see the red warning bits shooting out. It certainly made short work of the small bush lemon tree’s leaves.
Just a bee getting some nectare and pollen from the Singapore Daisy flower.
In the Fan Palm, I saw a black shape. Now I am sure I will be careful around the palm with Paper Wasps setting up a nest.
I think this is a Lemon Migrant Butterfly among the purple flowers.
I have lots of photos of Brown Ringlets but none taken from the underside. It was almost like a mother of pearl shining in the sunlight.
The Orange Palm Dart flitted around the Pentas flowers.
There is always someone who pokes their tongue out when a photo is being taken.
I seemed to have an obsession in April with spiders webs. The sun glowing gave the web a golden sheen.
This web was damaged by the rain leaving little gems of water on the web.
Some webs were so traditional looking. The tiny spider sat waiting for someone to get snared.
This is a first for me. An Eastern Curlew was walking about the Gulls and Terns.
Some Pelicans had a snooze while others got on with the washing.
This bloke was a bit late but glided in to try and find a spot on the sand bar.
A Lewins Honeyeater was scanning the Fan Palm for something to eat.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters loved the bird bath on a warm Autumn day.
After their bird bath, a couple of Red-browed Firetail Finches sat about doing their laundry.
This Red-browed Firetail Finch showed his firetail
A couple of Buff-rumped Thornbills contemplated going into the water
I am sure the Spangled Drongo was ignoring me.
I have been looking for Royal Spoonbills to photograph for ages. I spied a couple in a flooded park in the middle of Ballina. Not in a wetland as I expected but in town with cars whizzing by. A couple of people wondered what I was doing as they went past.
Don’t my orange eyebrows give me a certain something.
I couldn’t not have a post without a photo of everyones favourite Northern Yellow Robin, our little regular garden visitor, Bobbin.
Thanks for stopping by. Did you have a favourite or two?
Share this:
Some things new – Some things discovered
Last weekend my bestie and I went for a walk around my place as well as a bit of a drive to see what we could discover. A walk up the road in the morning was so nice. Listening to the birds in the bush, seeing them fly between the patches of bush and trying to get a photo or two certainly occupied the morning.
The property at the end of the road have dragged the old truck from one property to their front gate. It looked like a painting of a rural scene.
We found a She-oak that I have never seen before along a track. It felt so soft to the touch unlike the She-oaks that are everywhere. It just cascaded to the ground and was much lighter in colour.
There seems to be a lot of air fern growing on dead wood as well as on trees.
As the weather is warming up, lots of insects are on the move, especially the Bull Ants.
It seemed a bit dangerous to get down to photograph this tiny yellow flower with the Bull Ants prowling about the leaf litter.
The birds seemed to like sitting on the dead branches of the trees along the road. This little Robin just sat for a while before hearing a call and swooping away.
The Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike tried to look like the branch it clung onto.
On the drive we came across a couple of Spoonbills sitting on a Bottlebrush. They didn’t seem to care until I got closer, then they the became restless.
Overhead a Whistling Kite rode the air currents at speed. I didn’t think I actually got the photo but ended up with two plus a couple of photos of blue sky.
We went for a walk to the rock pool on my place. On the way, I found a Satin Bowerbird’s bower that was covered in blue items from all around the neighbourhood. There can’t be too many blue pegs left in the neighbourhood as well as bottle tops! I think this bloke has a hoarder issue.
This pool hasn’t dried out, even in the big drys that have happened since I have been living here. This is one of my favourite spots on the place, lovely and cool on hot days. A Yellow-faced Honeyeater came down for a drink while we were having a cup of tea.
Although it pretended to be shy at first.
I saw a flash of red and then a tiny Scarlet Honeyeater dropped in for a drink as well.
Besides Water Striders, the only other thing in the water was a frog. It splashed into the water and was gone. After a while she came out and sat on the ponds edge. I have heard them, but this is the first time I have seen an Eastern Stony Creek Frog.
So the She-oak and a photo of a Spoonbill and the frog were the new discoveries. I wonder what new discoveries I’ll find this weekend. I will take my wildlife camera as well and maybe set it up to see who come to my besties bird bath.
