The Ragtag Daily Prompt Thursday: Aquiline






Ragtag Daily Prompt Sunday: Realm
On winds so high
circling
floating
surveying
his realm.
Watching with eyes keen
soaring
seeing
surveying
his realm.
Descending on powerful wings
diving
swooping
finding
his prey.
Devouring his meal
ripping
tearing
eating
for survival.
Again into the sky
circling
soaring
surveying
his realm.
Debbie from Travel With Intent quotation inspired image: Looking Upward
“I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.”
Charlotte Bronte
Up there
in the sky
Can you see?
So high
soaring on
invisible currents
He is there
look again
Can you see?
Hunting
can he
see us?
Majestic
almost gone
glad you saw
Wings spread
so happy
you looked upwards.
Welcome to This is July 2019.
What a month it has been. Over the month the lack of rain has started to bite again. There was 10mls of rain at the start of the month and since then it has been quite warm during the day. Some days have been in the low 20’s while the nights have been in single figures. The warm days are not that unusual for my winter but the constant sunny days are. There has been rain on the coast, yesterday (1 August) there was 20mls of rain while some sporadic rain clouds drifted overhead here. My dam I use to water the garden around the house is very low. I have to decide what part of the garden I’ll give water to to try and keep plants alive. I am loathe to use the dam’s water because it is so dry and I may need that water in case a bush fire springs up nearby. There has been a few fires but they have been a fair way from here. I am glad I don’t have any animals or crops to look after as it is depressing enough as it is.
July was Becky’s #JulySquares so all of those plus others I have used in other photo challenges aren’t in here but I thought I would use the photo that had the most comments and likes as the header.
Enough of that. This has been a bit of a cropper month for photos though so I do suggest that you get a drink, perhaps a snack, settle back and scroll along.
Hey ho let’s go……………
I spent a few days down the coast visiting my mate whose wife is quite unwell. It is a lovely place and the ferry that goes across the bay is so cute. The size of the other boats docked at the marina make the ferry look so small.
We found a secondhand shop on the way home. We didn’t buy as their prices were a bit over the top. The glassware was well displayed.
Don’t look at this too long as you will probably see it move.
In Lismore, a nearby town, they have a train in a park that the kids love, OK I have been on it once or twice. I was getting photos of the park and I really liked the tunnel photo.
My bestie found a Wanderer Butterfly caught in a spiders web in the garden. After removing the web, the butterfly sat on her hand for ages before flying off.
I wonder if this is the same Wanderer Butterfly?
While away down the coast, we did a bit of exploring the surrounding area. I found these flowers on a most unusual plant in the sand dunes.
Isn’t this flower and it’s hairy plant lovely? I think it is called Herb Robert.
My Billbergia Nutans are flowering
I found this flowering native shrub while out on my place cutting firewood.
The Magpies found a warm place in the sun. They were warbling away as we walked down the street to where we were staying.
Pied Currawongs are a sign of Winter as they come down from the mountains when the weather get cold up there. This one seems to be taken with the house and the verandah.
The Willie Wagtails at my besties like riding around on the cows next door. I think they may be collecting nesting materials from the cows.
The Cattle Egrets love riding around on the cows too.
Back at home, the King Parrots are still hanging around despite the dry conditions.
The females are quite different compared to the males.
Among the garden bushes, a little Striated Thornbill was hunting for insects.
The Scarlet Honeyeaters are always around the garden. It is lucky I have some Eucalypts flowering so there is a food source for these wonderful little birds.
There seems to be lots of small birds around at the moment. The Double-barred Finches were happy to hop around the grass eating grass seeds.
A new bird for me, a Black-faced Woodswallow at my besties place
Some of my grevilleas are bravely trying to flower despite the lack of water. The wonderful bird attracting Honey Gem which usually has an abundance of flowers has a few straggly flowers that the Lewins Honeyeaters have found.
Yes, I am looking at you Satin Bower Bird. Taken while sitting in my office through the door. The camera is always on the desk.
The female Satin Bower Bird was also curious to see what I was going.
While down in the lower part of my place there is a wide grassed gully which I drive along to find suitable fallen timber for firewood. Often when I arrive there is a flurry of activity from White-winged Choughs or these birds, Grey-crowned Babblers. A small group walk along the gully flicking over leaves, bark and small rocks to find insects to eat. They have a constant chatter as they do and there is one bird who is the lookout who will let everyone know that danger lurks. As I approached, they flew into the trees so I just sat and waited until they resumed normal business.
Here you can see their grey crown
If the piece of wood is too hard to kick over, you have to get down and get your beak in to get your snack.
Back at home, the White-throated Honeyeaters love this little hanging pot which I fill with water for the birds. If I am outside and the pot is empty, one of these birds will sit near me and let me know.
I love the olive colour on their back and wings.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters also come to drink and bathe here.
After a bust day at the grevilleas, a Lewins Honeyeater enjoys a drink and a dunk.
“Hello….is anyone using this bird bath?”
A White-throated Treecreeper looks over the edge of the bowl. This is a replacement for my wonderful terracotta bird bath which doesn’t attract as many visitors as the terracotta one.
The Welcome Swallows are starting to nest at my besties under the verandah as they have for years.
Busy collecting nesting material, it’s time to line the mud nest with feathers, probably from the Cattle Egrets on the farm next door.
The Willie Wagtails are nesting too. Unfortunately the next day after I took this photo the whole nest was gone. We looked around the garden, under and nearby, but there wasn’t even a sign of the nest. The Wagtails were distraught in the morning.
Time to look up and see who has been flying over head. This is a collection of the Raptors. A White-bellied Sea Eagle was cruising around Harbour Beach at Port Stephens.
The Black Kite is a regular at the Lismore Waste Facility. We go there usually on a Saturday as their Revolve Shop has some great bargains from items recovered from the waste collections.
A very brave Magpie was making sure the Wedged-tailed Eagle wasn’t hanging around near their nests. It harassed the Eagle until it flew higher than the magpie could.
I love seeing the Wedged-tailed Eagles soar overhead.
No I wasn’t in the Sahara. At Harbour Beach the sand dunes are enormous and there is a Camel ride operator. We were there late in the afternoon and this was the last tour of the day coming back in.
Well the sun is on the way down so I better say see ya.
On the road from my place to the river the setting sun gave the road a redder hue than the normal red gravel on the roads surface.
I had to get a close up as the sun started to disappear behind the mountains
Well that’s all from me for July. I hate to end on a sad note but Chicken, the last of my chooks, died last month. Chicken came to me from my friend who lived down the road, the same one who gave my the beautiful Iris. When he had to go into care, he asked me to look after his chooks and Chicken is the last one. She was quite old and had been ill for a while and I used to take her with me when I went to my besties and also to my daughters. Since the start of the cold weather at night, I would pop her into her travelling crate and she would sit inside with me near the fire.
Also linked with Su’s Changing Seasons
Here we are to have a look at my May. I didn’t take many photos to add to this post that I haven’t already shared in some of the photo challenges I contributed to in May. Again the rainfall at my place was very sparse but some of the Australian Native plants had some flowers which received a water from the dwindling water supply in my dam. I have been trying to ensure that most plants in the garden survive by a bit of water every couple of days, hoping I can harden them off for Winter. The weather has been quite warm during the day – mid twenties and the nights were in the low teens so I think some plants may be a bit confused with warm Autumn days.
I don’t think you will need supplies to have a scroll through This is May 2019
Let’s get hopping
I don’t seem to take many photos of Kangaroos, so when some were in a nearby paddock when I was out, I just had to grab a photo. This male was quite wary of my and I made sure I didn’t venture too close as he may have thought I was a threat to his female and joey
The She Oaks or Casurinas with the seed pods and hanging leaves caught my eye as I was walking on my place.
A small shower of rain and the mosses and lichens appeared
My besties place had so much rain it didn’t seem fair. It did make for some great photo opportunities. The water drops like jewels on the spiders web one morning.
One afternoon the sunset lit up everything. The Bottlebrush flowers just seem to glow
May was the last huge flowering of the lovely red Hibiscus in the garden
The sunset, a leaden sky and a red flowering gum.
The tiny Stingless Native Bees loved the Echinacea flowers. Look how full her pollen sacs are!
The little Grass Dart Butterfly was almost hidden among the flowers
The Eggfly Butterflies love the Zinnias
As did the bees
Water drops on leaves is a must photo opportunity
One foggy morning, the old shed on the property next door looked quite spooky
While walking about my place, I heard just one slight screech and the sound of crunching. I finally saw the Glossy Black Cockatoos in the She Oak enjoying a snack of seeds high up in the tree.
While further down the track, the Bowerbirds have made a new Bower decorated with blue stuff from all around the neighbourhood. Perhaps a blue peg of mine has gone missing but the rest of the treasures I don’t know where they came from.
Every afternoon at my besties, there is a fly over of Cattle Egrets and Ibis as they head off to roost
Most days the Wedged-tailed Eagles are riding the currents high in the sky
A great first for me was finding a small flock of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins as we drove down a lane near my besties. They certainly had a good selection of seeds to choose from.
Bare trees and sunset is another must try and get a photo opportunity.
Speaking of sunsets, May had so many wonderful sunsets I had to whittle down the pile into just a few. The red tinged grey clouds looked wonderful
Some sunsets were orange
Some sunsets had could formations I have never seen before. They were like lumps hanging below the other clouds
A grass seed and subset, who could resist
Sunset…….bare trees………the black and red won me over.
OK here we are at the end. See I told you it was a short month compared to the mammoth efforts you ave gone through in previous months.
Thanks for taking time to have a look at my world.
Did you have a favourite photo?
The Ragtag Daily Prompt Tuesday: Courage
The Wedged-tailed Eagle has his lunch, a Water Dragon, and is being harassed by a Magpie. It takes courage to fly near a Magpie nest
A Square-tailed Kite soars above the forest much to the displeasure of a Noisy Friarbird. The shape to the left rear of the Kite is the Friarbird about to give the Kite a good kick.
The courage of much smaller birds defending their territory against large birds of prey takes courage don’t you think?
I was driving along the Summerland Way heading to see my bestie, when I spotted a large shape ahead on the side of the road. I instantly knew what it was, slowed and parked the car. Turning the engine, music, lights off I wound down the window, grabbed my camera and hoped that I get some photos of the Wedged-tailed Eagle, the largest bird of prey in Australia, having lunch.
This is what I saw. WARNING It does contain some grisly photos.
The first quick photo just in case he flew off once he spotted me stopped. He did see me but I tried to be as still as I could and hoped he was very hungry and would continue eating the Red-necked Wallaby who was most probably road kill.
Then it was back to having his lunch – actually it was late afternoon
Another look up to see if I had moved
Ripping off a piece of meat from the Red-necked Wallaby, he just tossed it down. Now you can see the talons, about the size of your hand
More to eat while still keeping an eye on me
Now where to have a nibble. Aren’t those fluffy pants adorable?
Suddenly some small birds flew into a nearby tree. Probably seeing me, they started making their warning calls. This distracted him from the meal and he looked around at the bush behind just in case the threat came from that direction.
As the other birds kept their racket up, he decided it was time to go. As he unfurled the 2 meter plus wings he was gone. Unfortunately I was unable to get the lift-off as he flew into the bit of bush behind.
That was the end of my encounter. As I started the car and gave those small birds a glare, I noticed he had just flown a few meters into a tree but I was unable to stop again on the sometimes busy road.
Becky’s photo challenge for March #SpikySquare is almost over. You still have four days to add a spiky.
Drop into Beckys Spiky Square site for some details and other peoples spiky photos.
The rules are simple:
Have fun interpreting the spikiness but don’t forget there is ONE absolute rule for this daily photo challenge – your main photograph must be square.
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.
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