Category: native Australian birds

Australia · clouds · family · flowers · grandchildren · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · spring · subtropical weather · sunset · Tweed Valley

Warmer Days Return

Joanne10 Comments

After a few days of spring-like weather, the warmer weather returned today. The chores we needed to get done were mostly inside the house – thankfully – where the ceiling fans kept us cool.

I’m glad every week is not as busy as the past week has been. Between one thing and the other I have hardly had a moment to spare, which has kept me from visiting my blogging friends. I keep thinking about you all, hoping you are well, wondering what you have been up to. I know tomorrow will be another busy day, but on Monday I will be couped up in my office all day …

Adult Honeyeater.

… couped up with my computer, that is, so I plan on having a blog visiting day then.

So why will I be couped up in my office? I’m glad you asked …

We are (finally) having the floor coverings replaced in the main living area and hallways of our house, so I will need to make myself scarce so as not to get in the way of the workers. This week preparations began, including emptying cupboards ready to be moved, and removing tired old skirting boards that we have decided to replace.

Also this week I minded little Aurora for two days, and have had two extra dogs here for four nights while my daughter and family took a few day’s holiday. Tomorrow I will have four-year-old Braxton here for half a day as well. It’s little wonder I nodded off at the computer the other night while posting my daily photo of Mount Warning – I’m feeling tired just writing about the week that was. 😉

The frangipani tree in full bloom.

Between the heat, the mess, and plain old tiredness, we had takeaway pizza for dinner tonight, which was very nice for a change. 🙂

 

Australia · gardening · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · spring · subtropical weather · sunset · Tweed Valley

Unseasonal Heat

Joanne10 Comments

For the third day in a row we have had a high temperature of around thirty degrees Celsius – or 86°F. It could be worse though. The highest temperature recorded for this day was back in 1996 at 34°C, and chances are there have been hotter November days before temperature recordings were kept. Tomorrow is predicted to be around the same temperature, but after tomorrow it should drop back down to the mid-twenties.

Thank goodness! It’s difficult to get motivated to go out into the garden when it’s that hot, but with only six weekend between now and Christmas, during the weekend, outside we went. I think I mentioned before that this time last year we hardly spent any time at home, due to helping my inlaws to transition into aged care. So the catching up around our own house and garden continues. With plans for the family to all spend Christmas at our place, we are trying to get everything organised, both indoors and outside, and what a job it’s turning out to be!

The heat certainly isn’t helping any. The northerly winds are really messing with the mountain view, which has been hidden behind heat haze for most of the past three days. The only time it is slightly visible is at sunset, and the amazing sunset skies have well and truly made up for the dismal days.

Tonight when I went outside to take some sunset photos, Mrs. Magpie landed nearby. She posed beautifully for me too, turning her head this way and that, as if posing for the photos. 🙂

Australia · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · photography · rivers · spring · subtropical weather · sugar cane · Tweed Valley

Friday Photography

Joanne9 Comments

The early morning valley looked clear and sunny, and based on the way the weather has changed suddenly by mid-morning the last few days, I went out early to take a few photos. Lucky I did, as by around 9:30am the clouds had rolled in. This afternoon, it rained.

I had several cheeky little noisy miners flitting around me. They don’t stay still for long, so I grab a photo when I can. The background of a grey fence isn’t ideal, but you’ve gotta love this “pigeon toed” stance. ❤

Here’s Mr. Magpie …

And Mrs. Magpie …

… and one of my regular butcher bird visitors. Like the noisy miners, butcher birds don’t stay still for long either!

A post of bird photos would not  be complete without one of our beautiful kookaburras!

Today I have something a little bit different to share. From my back garden I can see distant glimpses of the Tweed River, so I zoomed in on a couple of areas to see what’s happening down in the valley.

It looks like there are still a few unharvested sugar cane fields. It also looks like the farmers are busy working in the harvested fields with the heavy machinery, probably preparing them for next year’s crop.

Occasionally I see a houseboat down on the river, and there was one there today.

I’m not sure what the weekend will bring. We still have chores to complete in the garden, but our weather is predicted to reach around 30 degrees Celsius both Saturday and Sunday. That will limit the time we spend outdoors if the prediction is accurate.

Have a great weekend!

Australia · clouds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · photography · spring · sunset · Tweed Valley

On Palms and Kookaburras

Joanne13 Comments

Today I made a point of taking a broader view photo of the mountain, showing the nearby palm trees. In yesterday’s post, I explained that we had lost a few lower leaves on our palms during the recent gusty storms. One significant leaf, which usually appears in my Mount Warning photos, is gone. Now when I take phtos of the mountain from this particular position in the garden, it feels like the photo isn’t complete – now I have to get used to a new normal!

The broad view photo adds context to the height of the palms, and why one very large drooping leaf always appeared in my camera lens. There is a bunch of seeds below the leaves on one palm, and the leaf that always appeared as an “extra” prop in my photos was growing between the leaves and the seed bunch.

This next photo shows a different cluster of palm trees. Most of these trees – except for the one on the far left of the photo – are growing near the pool. As the lower leaves drop, new leaves are forming above, and adding height to the tree. Along the trunk of the tree, as each leaf drops it leaves a ridge in the trunk of the palm where the leaf once grew.

Surprisingly, palm leaves are incredibly heavy! When they crash to the ground they make a very loud sound, almost like thunder. The palm on the far left in the photo above has two leaves which could fall at any time. As the trees grow taller and the dying leaves are higher, we simply can’t reach them to cut the leaves down, so until they drop they look a tad messy dangling from the tree.

Every morning around sunrise, the kookaburras wait in the palm trees, keeping a watchful eye on the back door, waiting for me to go out and feed them. They rarely wait around the garden at night, probably because they know I won’t feed them. Tonight, however, I spotted one kookaburra sitting on my clothesline, watching the back door. What really struck me was the position of the bird in front of a gorgeous orange sunset.

I rushed outside with my camera and took a few photos, and seeing as the kookie had been such a willing model, I made an exception and took a tiny treat out to him. I couldn’t decide which photo I liked best – the black silhouette, or the one that shows a glimpse of his features. So here are both photos. 🙂

Australia · clouds · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · photography · spring · Tweed Valley

A Day That Sparkled

Joanne11 Comments

About a week ago we had a couple of days when storms and blustering winds hit us each afternoon. We even lost power Saturday before last. During the chaotic weather, our palm trees took a bit of a battering, and since then we have lost a few of the lower leaves. Where once I had palm leaves dancing in the foreground as I took photos of the mountain, now all I have are tall, bare palm trunks. The leaves are still growing in the lofty heights of the tree, they just don’t appear in my photos any more.

So today, the first photo I took of the mountain features a cluster of palm trees, just for something different.

There was some rain about this morning, not much, but just enough to make the valley sparkle. Some days, rain can have the opposite effect, making the valley appear dull and lifeless under a veil of grey mist. Today, the valley looked magnificent.

I had the usual morning crew here for breakfast, and if kookaburras are not photogenic enough, the light of the day added extra pizzazz to their appearance.

Here they are, getting stuck into some beef pieces for breakfast. They always dominate the feeding table, even though I assure them there is plenty of food for everyone.

Little baby magpie has become a regular visitor every morning too. He/she usually visits with both his/her parents now, but I’ve noticed the father usually feeds baby.

Later this afternoon, I went for a walk down the back to admire everything we achieved during the weekend in the garden. After putting the cut branches of our fruit trees through the hired mulching machine, we have several large piles of mulch which will come in very handy around the garden.

I took my iPhone with me down the back, and just for fun I thought I’d take a photo of the valley from our rear boundary, just to see if the quality of the camera is okay. I rarely think to take photos with my phone camera, so it was an experiment for me. This is the result –

Between the fantastic light of the day, and the magnificent cloud formations, it was probably a safe bet that the photo wouldn’t look too bad. 🙂