I try, often unsuccessfully of late, to add a photo each day to my Blipfoto journal. One day that I try to participate in however is “Mono Monday”, a day in which “blippers” are invited to add a black and white photo of a theme, as created by a generous host of the challenge each month.
A brilliant blue sky on a winter’s day.
Today, the theme chosen by an Australian blipper was “Winter”, so my camera and I took a wander around the garden in search of suitable photos for the theme.
With the brilliant blue sky overhead today, we had a maximum temperature of around twenty-three degrees Celsius, I had in mind to take some photos of the almost bare branches of the pecan nut tree. The leaves begin to grow again when the weather warms up in spring, and by autumn we have a tree laden with pecan nuts.
A touch of colour.
About a month ago, the leaves began to fall, and now, the only leaves left are those that got caught in the branches during their fall, and have since lost their brilliant green colouring.
I think I’m being watched!
As I walked toward the pecan tree, I heard a rustling sound, and there amid the scrub outside our side fence was an old friend of mine, Mr. Bush Turkey! I haven’t seen him for over six months now, and had feared the worst. Apparently, he left the area for a while, and has now returned and taken up residence in his old nest amid the scrub and small trees.
Hello there! Where have you been?
He’s not the prettiest of creatures, you must admit, but what he lacks in looks he makes up for ten-fold in personality, and he remembered me! As I said hello to my old friend, he ran to me, showing no fear. (I have been known to slip him the occasional treat to eat.)
The sugar mill in the valley, surrounded by cane fields.
Another notable sign that winter has returned is the smoke rising from the huge chimney at the Condong Sugar Mill. I can see the mill, way down in the valley, from the back of my house. The mill remains dormant throughout summer, awaiting the new stalks of growing sugar cane, harvested and brought to the mill by many local farmers during the winter months.
Leafless in winter.
After my garden walk, I took the clothes off the clothesline, leaving my camera on a table on the veranda. A while later, remembering where I had left my camera, I collected it, at just the right time to see the muted tones of a gentle winter sunset. So pretty, and so much a sign of the season.
Subtle, and oh so winter.
Ah winter, how I love the cooler months. 🙂
One of my friendly magpies, guarding their territory. Nesting has begun.
I couldn’t wait to tell my eldest sister, who I knew to be a bird lover, about the most incredible sight I had seen. But it wasn’t just the sight of the bird that had me intrigued. The way it took off from the ground, with a massive flap, flap, flap, whilst running, using its wide expanse of outspread wings to become airborne, was completely different to how other, smaller varieties of birds took off from the ground.
“It was absolutely massive!” I exclaimed, “but with the face of a dove. The tail feathers alone must have been eighteen inches long. And the bird was predominately brown, of all colours. There was some mottling around its tail, but I didn’t get a good look at all the details. I can’t wait to see it again, it really was a sight to see, like no other bird I have ever seen before.”
My sister rolled her eyes. “Really, Jo, you do exaggerate….what did this miracle bird really look like?”
A magnificent Pheasant Coucal.
As far as my sister was concerned, I always exaggerated. If I said I was freezing cold, boiling hot, or couldn’t wait to visit mum, Anne regarded the statement to be an exaggeration. (If you were freezing cold you would be solid and unable to speak; if you were boiling hot you would be dead; and you will have to wait to see mum, but why the rush?) To my sister, I was the Queen of Exaggeration. In my eyes, Anne was a painful stickler for details.
But I knew this bird was big, and brown. It also had a pretty dove-like face. I had never in my life seen such an elaborate take-off either, thinking that all birds simply went flap, whooshka….up into the sky! This one didn’t.
Twenty-two years have passed by since that day, of my first sighting of what I now know to be a Pheasant Coucal. The next one to sight the bird back then was my husband (who hadn’t doubted my description for a minute!) We searched bird identification books, asked the locals, tried to see the bird again, all during which time my sister occasionally thought to question whether I had seen this Feathered Colossus again, using the most sarcastic tone she could muster.
Preening those gorgeous feathers.
After my husband had sighted it as well though, she had to accept that maybe, just maybe, Kid Sister really had seen an unusual, and unusually large bird.
During the years between building our house on our land and now, we have sighted the Coucal’s many times, but we hear them more often than see them. They are a very shy bird, nest in the long grass right down the bottom of our yard along the fence line, between us and the farm-house behind us, but we know they are there when we hear their cries, echoing through the garden. It’s a low-pitched sound, a constant “coo-coo-coo”, vibrating through the yard and around the valley. The sound is as magical as the sight of them.
Occasionally, I spot a Coucal, usually way down the back yard (we have one acre of land), or taking off in their laborious way, disappearing into the trees. Unfortunately, due to their inability to fly easily, we often see them on the main road leading to our village, victims of the cars moving faster than the coucals can fly across the road. They also walk a lot, another hazard for these beautiful creatures.
Enjoying the rain….
Pheasant Coucals are members of the cuckoo family, although unlike cuckoos, who invade the ready-made nests of magpies and currawongs, Coucal’s lay their eggs, usually three to five in number, in the long grass, caring for them themselves. And according to my book, “Guide to Australian Birds”, Pheasant Coucal’s are about fifty-five to sixty-eight centimeters in length. Conversion ~ twenty-two to twenty-seven inches long.
Large long-tailed cuckoo with body black (summer) or brown (winter and juvenile) and rufous barred wings and tail. Usually seen running across roads or perched (particularly on wet days) on fence posts or dead trees near long grass; when flushed flies heavily with laboured wing-beats. ~ The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds.
…more preening…
For so many years, which now seems like forever, I have tried, unsuccessfully, to take a photo of a Pheasant Coucal. Although their presence is felt, they remain hidden.
Earlier this week though, my daughter took breakfast outside, to be enjoyed in the cool morning air, just before a few spots of rain hit the ground. Before coming back indoors, I heard her calling to me, in a low, quiet, yet urgent voice. I grabbed my camera; I knew by her tone this must be important.
There, sitting in clear view, right on top of the shed, in all its glory, sat a Pheasant Coucal!
It didn’t stay there long enough for me to take a photo, (typical!) and flew down to a low tree in the garden. I sneaked around to the side of the tree, camera poised, but must have disturbed it, as it flew up into the branches of the pecan nut tree, which it seemed to decide was a safe place for its morning bath.
Shaking those pretty tail feathers.
I took refuge from the now-steady rain, standing in the shed, happily clicking away at one of my mysterious, seldom seen, Coucals. It posed and preened, whilst I held my breath and quietly clicked. What a joyful few minutes it was.
I would like to think that Anne looked down on me from heaven, watching me with my camera that morning, in my (unexaggerated!) moment of glory.
Maybe she even arranged for the Coucal to be there for me….who knows? It’s a lovely thought, and a brilliant beginning to 2015.
I found this elegant photo on Facebook and love the complete image it portrays ~ the pine for Christmas just past, the subtle streamers for celebrating the New Year, and glasses of champagne, for a toast to the very best wishes for 2015 to friends and family.
As I begin to write today, I think it would be safe to say that the entire world has now welcomed in the New Year. I always feel that the promise of new beginnings, carried through on a wave of excitement into a new year, is perhaps the most magical time on the years calendar.
The thought of writing a list of New Year’s Resolutions leaves me rather cold, however. I prefer instead to feel my way to a higher level of wisdom, and for want of a way to describe my feelings, that is the best I can come up with!
The magic of this time of the year in Australia also lies also in long, lazy, hot summer days, taking a break from work, setting the usual routine aside, and relaxing. Since Christmas day, I haven’t cooked a real meal, we have lived instead off the left overs of cold Christmas meat, the occasional bar-be-que, and salads. We have mince pies in the cupboard, rum balls in the freezer, and oh, the chocolate! My indulgence in sweet treats will end shortly, then I will diet. 😉
My husband is at home every day, not doing anything in particular other than relaxing. He’s also reading a lot. I remember many years ago, a time when he simply hated me reading, feeling it took time away from our “together” moments, and I actually stopped reading for a while, just to keep the peace. How times have changed. After thirty-five years of marriage, he finally discovered the joy of reading for himself, perhaps initially with an attitude of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, and recently he confessed that he regretted the time he resented my books, and wished he had discovered the joy of reading sooner. Those few sincere words from my husband were a highlight of 2014 for me. We now enjoy our together time, sitting in the same room, on different comfortable chairs (it’s too hot to share a sofa during summer!) each reading the book of our choice.
Today is a photo-free day, just an opportunity to wish good health, good luck, happiness, blessings and love to all my friends, as 2015 begins.
I have a great feeling about this year….it’s going to be magical. ❤
I’ve had an idea floating around in the ole grey matter over the weekend, and wondered if it would be possible to change the name of my blog….
I just checked….and I could….it took but a second of time to do so….and I did it, then realised the confusion that could occur when my regular blogging friends dropped by!
Of course, the www. address remains the same, the only way to change that is to forget this blog and start up a new one. I didn’t want to do that though, I have become quite attached to my little place on the World Wide Web, our association goes back many years now, so will remain.
There is a magazine in Australia, called “Country Style”. I love this mag and have been a reader for over twenty years. I subscribe to the magazine….I really love it! However, about three or four years ago, they decided to begin a blog, and called the blog (can anyone guess…..?)…..Homelife!
As lovely as the magazine, the “other” blog, and the name of the other blog are, I have felt a tad overshadowed by this immense media power ever since. This is my tiny (in the perspective of the Web) little blog, mostly set within the realms of my home and garden. I also include nearby towns, and write about holidays I have taken. The posts are written from my personal perspective, are perhaps not always politically correct and certainly do not express the opinions of the multitudes. I am not up to the minute with the latest and greatest in fashion, neither around the home or otherwise, and I do not even have a particular word than even defines my style…..I’m just little old me, sharing my world with friends.
I like the title “In My World”. It’s personal. It’s authentic. It’s My world, and no one else’s. Home life can encompass many a person’s life at home, My World is all about me, and the people, creatures and things I wish to include in my world, just the way it should be.
And, dear blogging friends, you are all a part of my world and I enjoy sharing your world too. 🙂
Now, onwards….2015, here we come. (2015? Wow, I still can’t get over how fast 2014 has gone!)
What an array of weather we have had this week, all the way from cool rains, right through to the extreme humidity of our sub-tropical climate.
I think that if you compare the two photos above, you will see what I mean ~ the first photo shows a kookaburra on a bright sunny day, feathers fluffed up, and looking very handsome indeed.
The second photo shows a bedraggled kookaburra on a dull day, with feather weighted down by the drenching rain.
All of these photos were taken during the last week…….
In the next photo you can see a placid kookaburra enjoying a quiet moment in the morning mist. The purple tree beside him is a Jacaranda, a beautiful tree which puts on a brilliant show in the late spring in our area.
For a couple of months now I have seen very few rainbow lorikeets, even though most days until recently I have had thirty to forty of them in my garden at a time. Their numbers seem to have decreased, and I have no idea why. This week though, they have started to visit again, first just two, then four, and today I had six lorikeets here, enjoying breakfast at the bird feeding table.
Without the rainbow lorikeets in the garden to take photos of, photography loses some of its appeal to me. I think I would feel the same if any of my regulars stopped visiting though, they are like my own little wildlife family, right outside my back door, and I miss them when they are gone.
With summer making its way back during the last few days, Christmas being just around the corner is becoming a harsh reality……but how did the year vanish so quickly?
I try, often unsuccessfully of late, to add a photo each day to my Blipfoto journal. One day that I try to participate in however is “Mono Monday”, a day in which “blippers” are invited to add a black and white photo of a theme, as created by a generous host of the challenge each month.
In My World 