Tag: Australian ibis

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

Plenty of Ibis – but no mountain

Joanne11 Comments

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 …

Australia · birds · in my garden · Mount Warning · pets · Tweed Valley · winter

Something Different – A Sun Stripe and Two Ibis

Joanne8 Comments

It didn’t surprise me to see the sky covered with cloud this morning. I’d woken up a couple of times during the night feeling hot, and it had been cold when I went to bed. The cloud cover holds in the humidity every time.

At first I thought Mount Warning would look drab and grey all day, until a colour caught my eye at around 6:45 am – orange. Just one strip of sunlight shone along the base of the mountain, which seemed odd considering the sun always hits the top of the mountain first.

I took photos, then asked my husband if he had an explanation for the unusual phenomena. He said the sun’s rays would have been peeking through a tiny horizontal slither in the clouds, so the top of the mountain remained in the shadows.

How unusual it looked! The sunny stripe only lasted for a couple of minutes, then it was gone.

My Big Man Bowie seemed awfully interested in something outside today too. While I sat on my sofa, reading for uni, Bowie jumped up over me to get to the window in a hurry. I wasn’t overly concerned, I imagined he’d heard a bird in the bird-bath just outside the window.

When Bowie turned and looked at me though, I thought I’d better investigate. He doesn’t usually look that amazed by a simple bird!

It’s not the best photo, taken through the window and flyscreen, but here are the culprits – two Ibis in the front yard!

These birds are the Australian White Ibis, otherwise known locally as “Bin Chickens” due to their scavenging ways. They’d each make two of Bowie, and he’s a large cat too.

No wonder poor Bowie looked so stunned! 😉