Category: native Australian birds

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · native Australian plants · rain · summer · Tweed Valley

More rain …

Joanne4 Comments

When the rain bucketed down at 7am this morning, there was no sign of Mount Warning. Ignoring the inclement weather, two little Magpie Larks, or Pee Wees as they are affectionately called in Australia, arrived first for breakfast at my back door.

The first photo is a little lady pee wee, with verticle lines of black feathers through both eyes, and white around her beak.

Nearby, another pee wee waited, a male, with a horizontal black “mask” across his eyes, and more black feathers around his beak than his little lady friend. My photos would have been clearer if it wasn’t for the dreary weather, but with such shy flitting birds, I take what I can get.

Later in the afternoon, the mountain appeared from behind the veil of clouds which had hidden it all day.

For days now, I have been trying to take a photo of the new Lilly pilly flowers appearing on some of my potted plants. They will eventually form a hedge in the garden, but for now, I am keeping them near to the house where they can be watered every day – manually, with a hose, (was the plan) although I have rarely used the hose this summer due to our excessive rainfall! Lilly pillys are usually very hotogenic flowers, except on dull days, apparently. I will persevere though. They are very pretty Australian natives and I would like to document their growth more extensively, besides showing off their beauty. 🙂

 

Australia · Australiana · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · summer · Tweed Valley

Mist, rain, and no view of the mountain

Joanne25 Comments

We were spoilt over the weekend – yesterday at least – with a lovely, sunny, not-too-hot summer’s day.

Today we have rain.

All that is visible where Mount Warning should be is next door’s bamboo (who plants bamboo these days … ??) which grows at a rate of about one metre per week, (!!**!!) and I have been assured will be trimmed  – “soon”.


I found a wet little Hoppy (of gammy foot fame) huddled on the veranda late this afternoon, along with a friend.

They seem to like sheltering on my veranda. I’ve also noticed they spend time on rainy days sheltering in our bar-be-que area. Yesterday, I had to give the area a good hosing, as they had left some “evidence” of their visits!

Next week – on the 26th – it’s Australia Day, and the Australian flavoured posts are beginning to do the rounds of the internet. I thought I’d add one today (author unknown) and ask the question –

Without Google searching, how many of these words or phrases have you heard, or now the meaning of? 😉

Australia · garden flowers · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · summer · Tweed Valley

Around the Garden

Joanne8 Comments

Little Hoppy – of one gammy leg fame – stood nice and still on his healthy leg this morning while I took a photo of him. I had run out of fresh meat and had to thaw a batch from the freezer in the microwave, and he was very patient indeed.

Baby Magpie simply looked bewildered. If he could speak, I’m sure he would stamp his claw and demand his breakfast. 😉

The weather appeared to be threatening rain all day, but when no rain had fallen by this afternoon, I ventured outdoors to pull out a few weeds. All the rain we have been having has encouraged a new crop of weeds in several patches through my garden beds, so I’ve made a start on getting rid of a few. I also dead-headed my flowering plants. This rose bush still has several fresh roses on it, so nothing needed to be removed from this plant. 🙂

I had my iPhone in the garden, so took a photo of the valley from the top of the garden with my phone camera. There’s really nothing going on down in the valley today except heat haze or mist, but as always, I can’t complain when it is not an overly hot day.

We are having rather a mild summer this year! 🙂

Australia · birds · clouds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · subtropical weather · summer · sunset · Tweed Valley

Soul-ties

Joanne9 Comments

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? 😉