Sunshine’s Macro Monday #40
Tag: zinnia
Silent Sunday
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Zinnias and butterflies
This is May 2019
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?
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Yellow
Sue’s Weekly Photo Challenge word prompt: Yellow
Let’s have an avalanche of yellow. So many yellows.
Some with a surprise inside
A native flower that is everywhere on my place
I had to have a Yellow Buterfly
Some Australian native plants have amazing yellow flowers
Gazania flowers burst yellow
Lovely yellow of a Zinnia
Yellow-faced Honeyeater outside of my window
A fly with a yellow face
The beauty of a yellow Rose
The fabulous yellow of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Zipping around the garden Yellow Dragonflies are jewels
and of course the wonderful Eastern Yellow Robin
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This is April 2019
Well hello and welcome to my world in April. What started out as an uninspired photography month suddenly came alive at the end. I was thinking that I would have to tell you that a quick flick and scroll was all that was needed earlier in April. I have included a number of photos of the same subject as I couldn’t pick the one that satisfied my desire to give you something that was a wow or hmmmm that’s interesting.
A lack of rain at the beginning of the month probably assisted my malaise and desire to get out and about. With a lack of rain also brings about a lack of insects, birds and the garden suffered. I did a bit of travelling around so there is some things I found from other parts of New South Wales.
I have put some of the April finds in other blogs. Some are repeated here but I have excluded others to make your checking out a bit less time consuming. So I do recommend a good cuppa or drink of choice as a lot of you are either sitting up late or just having breakfast. This is what makes blogging so good that you may be in any part of this world and I can show you a bit of mine. Enough blah blah blah, let’s get going if you are ready.
May as well start at sunrise
One foggy morning while at a friends place in Springwood, the sounds of a helicopter broke the morning silence.
We are going to stay in Springwood for a while. We went to the Norman Lindsay Gallery and studio. The grounds were full of sculptures including these ones. Norman Lindsay wrote a book called the Magic Pudding in 1918 The story is about a pudding no matter how often it is eaten, always reforms in order to be eaten again. This is Albert, the Magic Pudding.
Bunyip Bluegum, the Koala, and Benjamin Brandysnap plus Sam Sawnoff and other animals and people who own the pudding have to defend the pudding from being stolen by Pudding Thieves who want it for them selves
Part of one of the sculpture/fountains
My friends garden is quite spectacular. There were some butterflies like the Blue Triangle Butterfly who is a bit ragged resting on a Zinnia.
It did rain a bit while we were there putting water droplets on the Pelargonium 
An Eastern Spinebill enjoyed the Grevilleas
So did the New Holland Honeyeater. A very striking bird.
Had to include a side view
I really like this capture so in it came.
The cooler weather of the mountains hadn’t quite began so the fungi were still about
I like Hydrangeas. This was a small flower head but has delicate colours. 
Now for a bit of the flowers at my place as the sporadic rain over the past couple weeks bought out some Autumn flowers, like this Camellia
This red Hibiscus is from a cutting of my childhood home, one of my Mothers favourites.
All around the garden Impatiens self seed and they pop up in many places
Over at my besties place the Zinnias are a riot of colour
The Echinacea had it’s petals eaten by a grasshopper probably but the centre caught my eye.
A post with flowers would be the same without Pentas flowers and a Blue-banded Bee
Bees aren’t the only pollinator. A beautiful iridescent fly helps a Zinnia along 
At The Channon Markets (a Which Way a while ago) a stall had Pitcher plants
in all manner of colour and shape
While on the way home from the markets, we stopped off at Rocky Creek Dam (a Silent Sunday post and the Featured Image taken with my phone) where the water lillies looked fabulous
I loved their reflections
While we are around the water, A Broad-palmed Rocket Frog likes to hang around the pot plants on my front verandah
I am not sure what this small flower is. It was growing on the small dune at the beach.
My besties Red Eucalypt is starting to flower possibly a Corymbia ficifolia.
While at the beach last weekend, yes a almost Summers day in Autumn around 28C, I came across some Small Grass Yellow Butterflies
While we are at the beach, here are some views. We climbed among the dunes to get to Broadwater Beach. In the distance, looking south, is Chinamans Beach where we often go.
The north view. The disappointing thing is the wheel tracks made by (*insert appropriate word) people who drive their stupid four wheel drive oversized pieces of junk along this beach. As you enter the walking track, there is a sign that tells you that there are protected birds who nest on the sand plus the other creatures who live in the sand, crabs plus other microscopic beings and that us walkers don’t disturb the ecology but these dickheads barge their way along the sand. Look how deep those wheel tracks are!!! Sorry please enjoy the view.
The seas were quite big. This rocky part of the headland at Boulder Beach is about 4-5 meters high. 
Can you see it now!!!
One of my favourite photos is Pelicans on the light poles. The bridge has four sets of lights and every one has Pelicans. The best spot is on the light itself where a boss male sits. Further towards the bendy end is a juvenile Pelican.
Upstream of the bridge, a couple of Pied Oystercatchers sat on the sand bar.
A Silver Gull was keeping an eye on the picnickers in the park in case a chip dropped onto the ground
A White-faced Heron came to Chinamans Beach looking for a seafood dinner
I loved finding the Sooty Oystercatchers at the beach. A post with more photos of Sooty Oystercatchers here in case you missed it.
I am not sure if it was the same White-faced Heron at Boulder Beach too.
The White-faced Heron and Sooty Oystercatcher didn’t get along and avoided each other.
The cliff face at Boulder Beach has what could be Ironstone in it. It certainly looked rusty
Now for a bit of reflection. Still with me?
Speaking of rust, one of my favourite things to photograph. This old door had some wonderful rusty bits
Isn’t the sliding lock marvellous?
While at the Farmers Market, I wondered why there seemed to be more cars than usual. There was the Annual Lismore Poultry Show on. Of course because I love chooks I had to go and have a walk around. Here are some of the chooks I found, some of the more unusual ones to say the least. I don’t know all of the breeds as some I have never seen before like this one who looks like it just got out of bed.
A fabulous hat
Lace Wyandottes are one of my favourite chooks, ever so pretty.
I don’t think I have ever seen such a fat chook and purple to boot!!!
Some feathers seem to have a life of their own
So alien
A rooster who kept an eye on what was going on
Speaking a Roosters. Prehistoric is the only word that comes to mind. I couldn’t get the whole chook in the photo
Ducks always make me smile
One morning at my besties there was a cacophony of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. The flock was around twenty who all were squawking as they flew about.
They all stopped in a tree on the hill a bit of a way away. The quality of the photos isn’t that good as it was early morning and the photos are hand held but I had to capture their antics in the trees.
I thought this one was going to do forward rolls.
OK it’s almost night time, our Moon is on the rise among the clouds
The Night Spider has spun it’s web near the light to catch an insects who come to the light.
The centre of the web is a bit ratty
Our Moon is looking lovely and shining a bright light so you can see your way home
I gotta go…..see you later I hope
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Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge Letters Y or Z
The Letters Y or Z did pose a bit of a challenge especially Z but here goes…..
A while ago, I did a seven day yacht trail down the Clarence River from Grafton to Iluka with a number of other sailors. This was my first time sailing. We managed to stop at a number of pubs on the way.
This the yacht at sunset on a peaceful days end,
Near the end the weather had turned and the sky darkened at sunset
I had a lot of the little Yellow-faced Honeyeater photos to chose from
The hard one was Z. Luckily I remembered the flower photos and dug out this lovely Zinnia. It is a pale yellow variety.
See what other people found for their Y or Z photos
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: All One Colour
I have gone for a plant theme for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: All One Colour look here for other fabulous all one colour photos.
Some photos are close, some are just some of my favourites.
My abstract banana leaf
The red leaf of the Red Cordyline
The old Fan Palm frond
The fern frond all in a line
I love Zinnias
And Roses
Red berries in the morning sun
The wonderful yellow Day Lily
One of my favourite Australian native plant, the Purple Fringe Lily
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Back roads and the beach
I enjoy travelling on the back roads where you can discover all sorts of things, plus it’s a great way to find where “that road” goes, which often is a surprise. Some roads are dead ends, some are gravel and some lead to the beach, so lets see what I found recently. The last time I went to the beach everyone enjoyed that day. Seat belts on and off we go.
One of the main things you have to do is take notice of the road safety signs, even if it does mean you have to be aware of Koalas on bikes.
One photo I wanted to take was one of cattle and Cattle Egrets. Luckily it was a rainy day so there were some cattle just resting with egrets hanging around. Just love the one which poked its head up.
At one stop, a cow decided to come over and check out what I was doing, mooing very loudly, until I pointed the camera at her.
There are always flowers. These are quite spectacular.
A lone Zinnia looking quite beautiful.
On the track through the dunes where a Dunecare group planted a lot of plants, which have stabilised the dunes, was a Marengo which have the most fantastic leaves, The wind was blowing so the full leaf was hard to capture so a close-up was just as good.
Once down on the sand, trying to stay out of the sand blasting, I noticed that there was a Pelican floating around on the current.
The Pelican was soon joined by lots of seagulls
And then there were Terns speeding along the breakwall, flying up high and then dropping out of the sky into the water as well.
The Terns seemed to go ever so high into the sky
Before plunging into the water. I just couldn’t time it right to get the entry but have lots of photos of splashes.
Next a flock of Cormorants arrived to help to herd the fish into the shallow water.
And everyone took advantage of the Cormorants fishing skills.
In this photo, I think the Tern is a Little Tern in the bottom right.
So after a while the Pelican wasn’t alone.
On the drive home, the Moon looked very surreal.
Thanks for taking the drive with me along the back roads in the rain and down to the beach.
