Kate’s Friday Fun: Portraits
The many portraits from the collection
Tag: snake
This is June 2019
About time I hear you say. Yes I am a bit late with last months wrap up. I didn’t take as many photos early on and then I seemed to find lots to photograph. This months photos have a couple I have used in other photo challenges but I decided to keep this post a bit shorter by not including the those photos.
So sit back and have a scroll through my June
Let’s start in Inverell, a town about 200kms from my place. We decided to have a mini holiday and ventured west. My goodness the drought has really hit hard out there. Didn’t see the usual paddocks with sheep and cattle in them. Many farmers have de-stocked and just holding onto their core breeding stock for when the drought breaks.
We stayed at a fabulous B’n’B, Blair Athol a Manor house from the early 1900’s. It is a great place to stay
We did venture around the countryside. It was quite sad. I think this granite outcrop says it all.
I found a Pied Cormorant just after a bit of a dip in the water. I love how Cormorants do this. Makes me smile every time.
Back home I was surprised to see ducks on my house dam as the water level is quite low. Three Pacific Black Ducks cruise the dam.
Sometimes when I am about in the garden doing a bit of bird spotting I get a feeling I am being watched as well. This Grey-shrike Thrush was making sure I was being good.
Another Winter visitor to the garden are Golden Whistlers
Of course a monthly wrap wouldn’t be the same without the resident Eastern Yellow Robin who found a post to sit on while surveying the garden for a snack.
Little Striated Thornbills are flying about the garden in the afternoons
The Rose Robins are still around as well
The Agave looked lovely in the afternoon light
This is called Witches Broom it is on a small Eucalypt. 
The variety of plants that are growing on a palm in the garden is wonderful. At the front is an Elk Horn, behind it on the right is a Birds nest Fern. They are surrounded by Hares Foot Fern and to the left rear is Fishbone Fern. All of these plants have decided to grow among the palm’s trunk.
Nearby, a Jacaranda has a lovely growth of moss that cascades to the ground.
My mate Geoffs Iris has flowered. Always will bring back a memory.
All around the place Lichen has sprung up as there has been showers of rain over the last part of the month enough to keep the garden happy and for some plants to emerge.
I love finding water drops. My besties place has had much more rain than here.
These are the seed pods from an Eucalypt tree I found in Inverell.
I haven’t taken many photos of the Red-necked Wallabies that hang around my place. I caught this bloke with a mouth full of grass.
Late one afternoon at my besties, she called out to come over to where she was in the garden. She found a little Bandi Bandi going across a log heading for a safe place to spend the night.
There appears to be lots of Wanderer Butterflies about at the moment. Found this one flying around the lane-ways of Lismore.
Meanwhile there are Wanderers in my besties garden feeding on Echinacea flowers.
One day we decided to head to the coast for lunch at the Ballina Beach Surf Club. Afterwards, after watching whales from the window while eating, we wandered up to the headland and watched the Humpback Whales cruising past. I bit of blow usually let me know where they were.
I love it when they gave a wave.
Managed to get some tail shots.
but could never be focused on the right place when a Humpback breached
Now for a bit of weird. Walking down a lane in Lismore we always look to see if this window has changed. I think the hand and flag on the right have been added.
A stack of chairs in a window.
One morning, the mist was settled in the valleys. I used to tell the kids that the mountains have captured the clouds.
A bit of my playing around with photos. A Magpie on a steel post
OK the sun is down so time for me to go.
I hope you have enjoyed a bit of a look at my June. The feature photo is a butterfly among the Zinnias in my besties garden.
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Smiles at the zoo
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Smiles
and had to include this one as everyone loves the smiling Green Tree Frog
Here is another one to share for Sarahs 30 songs in 30 days challenge
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A Snake or two
The Ragtag Sunday prompt: Snake
On the ground a harmless Green Tree Snake
Or up a tree
Sleeping in a knot in the tree
or on the rafter
A harmless python looking at me
The featured image – A Red-bellied Black Snake in the wood pile. These will bite if provoked and will make you a bit ill
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Circles and Curves
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Circle and Curves
For Cee’s photo challenge I have decided to stick with a nature theme of circles and curves.
An Australian native snail shell
The circles and curves of a spiders web
The beautiful curves of a Python sleeping on the verandah
What better circle than our Moon on a cloudy night with a bright ring around the Moon
The favourite Eastern Yellow Robin, Bobbin, on the curve of a table in the old garden
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: The Letter Z
This week the topic is Letter Z – Needs to have the letter Z anywhere in the word or people or animals catching some Zzz’s (sleeping or napping).
Have a look at the other ZZZZ’s at Cees place
On a hot day as it has been so far this week (daytime temperatures between 35 to 39C ) it is good to get out of the heat and stretch out, catch a bit of the breeze that blows along the verandah and have a lovely sleep
It can be a bit warm when the iron roof heats up
You have to curl up a bit. The bulge on the right hand side is someone who was her lunch
I think I may have woken her up
PS Carpet snakes are pythons who squeeze their prey and swallow whole. They are not venomous but can bite if they absolutely have to. I have been bitten a couple of times mainly removing the snakes from the chook house where they like to get an easy meal at night. They have back fangs which means their fangs face backward which they use to drag their meal down to their stomach. They can be handled but they do tend to squeeze as they hang on, like having your blood pressure taken.
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December discoveries
It’s been a while since I have shared some of my discoveries. The last was in Spring so here are the December discoveries. There has been an abundance of flowers since the rain started. Only a few mls here and there with one big storm that put water into the dam. Actually at the moment the sky has darkened and thunder is rumbling so maybe some rain for a Christmas present. Wouldn’t that be nice? Decembers discoveries are a mixed bag of flowers, birds and all sorts of things that have caught my eye. I hope you enjoy this bit of my December.
Lets start with some flowers. I love it when the garden just bursts into bloom after the first summer rain. The Agapanthus look a treat scattered throughout the garden. I have white ones
and blue Agapanthus.
The Bauhinia is a bit rambling but when the flowers are out it provides a splash of colour.
The Dietes border some gardens and are in clumps here and there. Only downside is the are taking over almost weed like.
The yellow Dietes is a favourite of the Satin Bowerbirds. They harvest the flowers as quick as they appear. This one has a bonus small grasshopper!
Native flowers are always around. This little yellow flower is about 5mms across.
The Black Bean flowers come in a range of yellows and oranges and reds.
The Grevillea flowers are yet to come back. The dry weather certainly decreased the flowers so the Friar birds make do with the Hibiscus flowers, even if you have to be upside-down to get a snack.
The fig tree had an abundance of fruit this year and the Fig Birds have been hanging around the garden since the start of winter. I love their calls which ring out around my place early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
The Kookaburra was hiding in the garden waiting for an unsuspecting insect or lizard.
This year, the Spangled Drongo stayed a bit longer than usual and I found their nest. It is well tied on to the branch.
One hot day, 40 degrees plus, many of the birds were quite thirsty and hot. I have a number of water points around the garden for the birds. You have seen the new bird bath but this is an old wheelbarrow that get drips off the roof where some birds like to drop in for a bit of a splash and drink. This poor Drongo was very hot.
He was joined by a Friarbird and they had a bit of a discussion who was allowed to drink here.
Once the rain started, all around fungi seemed to sprout up anywhere. This little puff-ball was in the middle of a small grassed area.
Whereas this fungi grew out from the exposed root of a tree.
I love dragonflies. They are always zooming around the garden, either here or at my besties. This one was high in a tree watching us remove some weeds in the paddock. Their wings are amazing don’t you think?
This small dragonfly was almost invisible on the ground.
On a hot day a Green Tree Snake went for a dip in the pool, which is a frog pond now. It had a hard time trying to get out and did panic a bit when we came outside. It found a place to hide in the skimmer box. I put some palm branches around it so the poor little bloke could get out easily.
On a walk to Killen Falls we came across the Sandpaper figs fruiting. They are rather fuzzy.
This one comes with a bonus grasshopper too.
The sunsets have been amazing. Here is a selection of just one sunset.
This one has a bit of blue as the sun set.
I love the sunset when it looks like the sky is on fire.
Well, it’s almost Christmas. I found this nativity scene in a market. It’s made of wood and is from Thailand. I am not particularly religious but I love things that are well made and interesting. The elephant is missing as he is under the Christmas tree.
My Christmas tree. This years theme is elephants. As you may have guessed, I collect elephants.
Unless I get inspired to write before the end of the year, have a great 2015 and I’ll “see” you next year.
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Animals…Yes I said it….Animals
There are animals everywhere, especially around my place. Some are small, some are large but most don’t mind having their picture taken, as long as I am quick. It is certainly a privilege to have them around, not only in the bush but sometimes close to the house. The garden always has a wallaby eating or resting, there is always lizards of course, or should I say skinks and sometimes a snake or two will rustle through the undergrowth. I have heard Koalas at night but not seen them but possums are always somewhere around even in the chook house.
Other possums, that aren’t here but at my besties place, are the Ringtailed Possums. This bloke was high in the tree and it takes balls to climb high.
At her place at least I can see the Koala!!! This bloke was in the front garden about 10 meters from the house.
There are small bats somewhere around, in hollows and sometimes they stop inside for the night. Summertime, the windows and doors are open to catch the breezes and the little micro bats often whizz around sweeping up moths and other bugs attracted to the lights. This Lesser Eared Bat found a box to rest in.
Geckos have many a spot around the house. Most of the pictures on the walls have a gecko or two behind them, When they get frisky, the pictures jump and bump on the walls. This Velvet Gecko was stalking a moth and didn’t really want my attention.
Outside the skinks have the run of the verandas, garden and basically everywhere, all through the bush.
I have a recycling and garbage area, as I don’t have a garbage service, where I store all my garbage and recycling until I get a good sized load to take to the transfer station in town. I open the bale flaps very slowly each time as there is usually a frog or spider under there. This day as I opened the bale up, there was a small Red Naped Snake warming under the flap.
One of the hard parts of bush living is life and death. I love my chooks but so do a lot of others who mainly love them as dinner. Over the years I have lost a few to Spotted Tail Quolls. One time, after around 6 chooks were killed, I took a carcass and put it into a trap hoping to get the bugger and take him for a ride up the mountain to the National Park.
But mostly it’s the wallabies that get attention as they are quite calm around me and they come closer to the house than most other animals. Here is the “Whole lot of Wallabies” part. I couldn’t decide which one to use so I just included a selection of different wallabies, their young and places they hang out.
Sometimes they come in groups. The Red Necked Wallabies are everywhere.
They don’t mind hanging out with the chooks. The Whiptail Wallabies, or Pretty-faced, seem to hang out in the back.
The Red Necked Males are quite large and in breeding season, the red really stands out.
I was lucky enough to get a photo of a very young joey before it grew any hair.
The Joeys are so adorable.
Sometimes the come to the front door…..
….and sometimes to the back door.
I love the animals that are around my place.
Do you have many at your place?
