Silent Sunday
Category: birds
Wordless Wednesday
Plenty of Ibis – but no mountain
One day during the week, when I spotted an Ibis in the front garden, I soon discovered it was not alone. There were ten! I kid you not, I counted ten of these massive birds pecking through the overgrown grass, which, when it is dry enough to mow, we like to call our lawn.
Today I saw just four Ibis peck, peck, pecking away. Most people call these birds ‘Bin-Chickens’ – they are scavengers who will eat just about anything edible.
So as I wouldn’t frighten them away, I took my camera, ever so quietly, out the back door, snuck around to the side of the house, and zoomed in on them. It didn’t take long for their keen hearing to pick up on the fact that they were being watched, so they headed up the driveway to the road, undoubtedly searching for longer, greener pastures.
While taking photos of the Ibis, it occurred to me that I rarely take photos of a whole section of my garden. I usually – hmm, perhaps always – zoom in on the beauty of each individual flowering plant. For a change, today I took a photo of the garden beside my driveway. In this photo, I see New South Wales Christmas Bush, Gerberas, white Gaura, (lots of Gaura!) Duranta, Hydrangea, white and purple Buddleia, Port Wine Magnolia, lilac Daisies, and Roses. I do have the (unfair) advantage of knowing my garden though! And it goes against the grain not to show a close up of individual plants, so I won’t show full garden photos often – I promise. 😉
We had hot, dry weather today, and cloud so low that Mount Warning didn’t have a hope of making an appearance. The crazy-cloud patterns continued, hiding the setting sun as well. The weather has been so changable lately.
I wonder what tomorrow’s weather will bring …
Soul-ties
This afternoon, I had another visitor in my front garden, right near the front door. Yesterday it was the Pee Wees and a Butcher Bird – today, a Kookaburra. It’s my guess that the birds enjoy the coolness of my front garden, which is why they have been spending time there during the afternoon of the past two days. The weather has warmed again, but the humidity isn’t too bad at all.
From the amount of brown dirt smeared on his beak and feathers, I’d say this beauty has been foraging for worms recently. He patiently posed for a close-up photo session though, so I had to reward him with a small morsel of food.
This boy features in a few of my photos. I recognise him because of the bare patch in his upper chest feathers. He’s fairly tame, but just a tad reluctant to take food from my hand.
He listened intently to every word I said to him though. Some birds look deep into your soul – this particular bird can definitely connect on a spiritual level.
Connections between humans can – and should – be the same. We are all human beings, and when I read the words of Maya Angelou today, her wise words seemed more profound that ever –
“It’s very hard to hate someone if you look them in the eye and recognize them as a human being.” ~~ Maya Angelou.
This afternoon as the sun was setting, I noticed a few interesting cloud formations. Rain is predicted overnight, so I’m hoping we have a dry day tomorrow. Who knows – I might get some early morning gardening done, before the heat sets in again. 🙂
This cloud looks to me like a dragon flying across the sky, its wings expanded to either side as it sours across the mountain. Does anyone else see that, or am I reading too much Harry Potter? 😉
Will he stay – or will he go?
Again today, the rain in the valley hid Mount Warning and kept the humidity in the air. At least this weather isn’t overly hot, so it is actually making summer more bearable than usual. 🙂
Ever since the little Pee Wee – or Magpie Lark – arrived in my garden. I have suspected he was a male, calling for a mate. Today, my suspicions were confinrmed. I saw three more Pee Wees arrive. There may have been more, but I only saw three, and immediately I noticed that one of them had different markings on its face, it had more white than my little friend. A trusty Google search has confirmed that my little friend is a male and one of his visitors – the one in the photo on the right – is a female. My little friend is on the left.
The others, including the female, didn’t stay long, so now I will have to wait and see if they return. Alternately, my little friend may leave, and if he does, I will miss hearing his happy little song each day. I’m hoping he will stay, but the choice is his. ❤
In My World 