Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Feathers
“Hey everyone, look what I found to add to the nest.”

“You call that a feather? THIS is a feather!!”

At that is how the fight started until it was decided to bury the feather

The Lens-Artists Challenge #173: Interesting Architecture
I have been thinking about this theme since I first read it way too early in the morning to have many cohesive thoughts. Here is a random mish mash of constructions with interesting architecture.
I’ve opted for a slideshow for a change. Enjoy your travels and hope that there are interesting architectural surprises along the way
……..being a Swallow
The Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday: Swallow
There is always washing to be done,
after that drying in the sun,
invite friends over for some fun.
Say goodbye, a good time, one of the best
But now it’s onto building the nest
Yes that’s right, soft feathers we need
and soon it’s babies to feed
three fat babies crammed into the nest
sitting around and getting fed is the best
The day is over and we are quite spent
’tis wearying being a parent
A busy day tomorrow
so enjoy the morning
with the Welcome Swallow
The Bird Weekly Photo Challenge: Birds in Black and White
I thought I had already contributed to Lisa’s photo challenge and looking through my posts I can see that I have written quite a number of posts with a similar theme. I will have to dig into the archives for this one so sorry if you have seen some of these before
Here’s a short song that I discovered many many years ago. I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do.
City Sonnet’s Photo Challenge: Looking Up
Maria posted Swallows on an electricity cable with a sky blue background which prompted me to post my Welcome Swallows on an electricity cable at sunset
Which is probably better than bird butts
What a month September was. A month of fear of fires, another month of not much rain, watching the dam level drop and not being able to water the garden with the last bit of water in case I needed the water in case a fire appeared. The fires were not close, over 40kms away from my place but the sky and atmosphere was choked with smoke. A few rainfalls during the month helped alleviate my concerns, topped up my water tanks so I have enough water for my household needs and I have been watering the pot plants around the verandahs and in the house with the tank water. I also use this water to put in the various bird baths around the house as well as other water containers for the animals that may pop in and need a drink.
The downside is I am watching a lot of my garden die. Some palms that provide lovely shade for my house have already lost their tops and the others are struggling. Most of the garden is Australian native plants and some, like the lilli pillis are not looking all that flash. The Wallabies and Possums are also eating some of the garden plants so I may have to put fences around gardens so the new shoots appearing now the weather is warming don’t get nibbled.
There are a few photos to get through, so maybe a cup of tea, coffee or glass of wine or beer, depending when you are reading, Sit back and I hope you enjoy a scroll through my September.
I have found a few photogenic animals on my travels. The horses have already had their post and some others have appeared already as well but I have to put this fluffy Donkey in again.
I love going past the dairy and seeing these beautiful cows.
It is never good to see one of these ants on the verandah. Their bite is quite painful for such a small insect.
I do enjoy finding a spiders web in the right light.
The start of Spring has a few butterflies appearing. The Caper White Butterflies are migratory and this one is one of the first to arrive.
Meadow Argus are enjoying the early Spring flowers on the Pittosporum.
The Stingless Native Bees certainly loved the Rocket flowers.
As did the honey bees.
Flies are pollinators as well. This one was in a nursery we went to in Byron Bay. There were lots of other insects on the flowers too.
Saw this amazing flower but forgot to write down the name, sorry.
The Cacti were in bloom as well.
Yes it is a bud, a very weird hairy bud. Can you guess what flower may appear from this in my besties garden?
The yellow Poppy enjoyed the sunshine.
Here is the hairy buds flower, a red Poppy.
Spring brings out the Begonia flowers
And the Bottlebrush are starting to look fabulous at my besties but mine are having a hard time and the bushes haven’t looked like flowering yet.
Her Roses are looking wonderful. This one is a Double Delight just opening.
This Double Delight is open showing lovely delicate colours.
My White Fig tree is struggling a bit in the dry weather. The figs often drop their leaves at this time of year. The ground is covered in the yellow and orange leaves.
It also likes to show its true Aussie colours of Green and Gold
There are lots of birds around at the moment too. The Red-browed Firetails are cruising the grass eating the seeds
The Straw-necked Ibis are also wandering about looking for grubs in the paddocks.
I have a few Australian Ravens who have a walk about the garden looking for snacks.
We saw some Chestnut-breasted Mannikins down the road. They must have followed us home as later on I saw around 20 to 30 sitting in the fence.
The King Parrots are enjoying the last of the seeds in the Leopard Tree.
The Mistletoe Bird has wonderful red colours.
Remember the Willie Wagtails nest that was destroyed by something a month or so ago? Well they found a safe place and have raised three chicks. Only a mother could love a baby like this.
The Welcome Swallows have four chicks in two nests at my besties under the verandah. They are always hungry.
Some years, Welcome Swallows have two nestings. Here comes another feather to line the nest for the next lot of babies.
The Restless Flycatchers like to patrol the fence lines in the morning.
As the season was so bad I felt sorry for the birds and put a container of food out every now and then. The Currawongs tended to dominate but one morning a small flock of Satin Bowerbirds turned up. I have never seen so many bower birds together. These are females and juveniles. The male sat by and kept watch from a nearby branch.
A lot of the birds at my place are not hanging around the house as there isn’t much food in the garden. Normally the grevilleas are full of flowers but a lack of rain has seen a reduced number of grevillea flowers. There are a lot of birds down the lower part of my property at the waterhole. A Yellow-faced Honeyeater and a White-throated Honeyeater enjoy a drink together.
The little Striated Honeyeater just jumped straight into the bird bath.
Whereas the White-throated Honeyeater just dived straight in.
This is the first time I have seen a Little Friarbird and a Noisy Friarbird together.
A female Olive-backed Oriel came to the bird bath for the first time at my besties.
The Male shows why they are Olive-backed Oriels.
He doesn’t look to pleased to see me with my camera does he?
Everyone like the Australian Raven skipping down the hill last month. How about a Silver Gull dancing?
AS I said, the sky was been choked with smoke from the fires. I couldn’t quite capture the red sun at sunset one afternoon
Other sunsets were quite orange.
or a blaze of yellow!
The smoke mixed with cloud made for some interesting shapes and spooky atmosphere.
Well here we are at the end. The grass seed heads made a lovely part of the afternoons walk. When I looked at the photo on the computer screen, there was, I think, a Grasshopper winging away for the night.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my September.
Also a contribution to Su’s The Changing Seasons
I am not really in the mood to write. The dry continued for all of August so my mood wasn’t all that enthusiastic to gather images around my place. I posted quite a number of images from here and for the photo challenges over the month and I haven’t, as usual, added them to this months wrap.
I am heartened by the caring responses from my “blog family” to my posts. Thank you for being there.
August was my first month of being the Thursday Ragtag prompter sharing with Tracy. I was surprised at the number of people who responded with some great photos, writing and poetry.
OK lets go. I think you may need to go to the dunny and come back with a cup of tea/coffee or drink of choice, perhaps a snack or two depending on the time of day you are here.
I might start with some of the things I found at an auction which I didn’t know was happening. I was going to the farmers market for breakfast and a bit of food shopping.
One of the things I like to find and collect are boxes. Pity these were already sold or if they weren’t the auctioneer was a long way from this lot
A rather random group of items
Anyone have one of these at home?
Up the road a ways is the town of Kyogle. We go there at least once a year in case something may be happening. On this day it was just us and the tumble weeds lol There is some nice gates though.
I was surprised by the number and variety of flowers in peoples garden as we walked about the back streets
The bees were about too
I think this Salvia is called Hot Lips
I love this salvia
More flowers for you to enjoy
The grevilleas are quite outstanding this year, except at my place
A lovely window box of daisies
These flowers were further north near a town called Murwillumbah where we went following the Mud Trail which was along the North Cost highlighting the pottery skills of the potters around here.
My begonias are flowering but not as profusely as in previous years
I was down at the waterhole digging out the silt to make the waterhole back to what it was years ago. While I was there I walked about and found this native plant about to flower despite the lack of rain and soil moisture
A black and white view of Kyogle from the Art Gallery
The lovely layers of blue you get from the vapours of Eucalypt trees
The bees are out collecting pollen and nectar from the flowers
Look how full the pollen sacks are on the tiny Native Stingless Bee
While we were away for a few days we came across the flower gardens that had just been watered in Nelson Bay
I love finding cats in windows. This one was just moving on just as I saw it.
Oh well a cats tail is still OK
I just love this cows hair cut
Down at the waterhole, the place where there has always been water on my place. This year it was the lowest I have ever seen it but the birds know where it is and flock there to get a drink or a bath. Time to get in……….
…..and out again
The Fuscous Honeyeaters seem to stay down this part of my place and don’t venture up near the house.
A Red-browed Firetail gets a drink
The whole flock of Fuscous Honeyeaters suddenly turned up much to the astonishment of a White-throated Honeyeater
Remember last month I told the story of the Willie Wagtails nest that was destroyed by something. Well they found a spot on the car port to rebuild their nest
The Willie Wagtails really can’t stand the Magpie getting close to their nest. Incoming!!!
They really give the Magpie a hard time until it goes away
The Welcome Swallows are also nesting at my besties
Here is three of the four chicks in the nest. Aren’t their fluffy heads adorable?
The Little Friarbirds have found the grevilleas
An Olive-backed Oriel dropped into the birdbath for a while
I found these Pelicans at the Lismore Waste Facility – a fancy name for the rubbish dump
I felt for the birds and have put up a feeder which I put seed in every now and then. The King Parrots drop in for a snack when there is seed in there.
The Brown Honeyeater has to stretch a bit
The Double-barred Finches are enjoying the grass seed
While we were travelling around we dropped into a small wetland that is surrounded by farm land. I was surprised to see a Black Swan paddling about.
At the wast facility the Black Kites are always wheeling about.
I love seeing the flocks of Ibis as they fly over my besties place every afternoon on their way to their roost.
These Corellas loved it up a bit in Nelson Bay
Is there anything a happy as an Australian Raven skipping down the hill
Our Moon and the clouds
Almost time for sunset
At this time of year the sun sets just on the hill
OK then, thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed your look at my This is August 2019
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