Tag: winter sunrise
Something Different – A Sun Stripe and Two Ibis
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! 😉
Another Gorgeous Misty Morning
Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul. ~~ Alice Walker.
When I read this quote from Alice Walker it resonated with me. I love having beautiful things around me, and when I see Mount Warning rising above a valley filled with fluffy white mist before sunrise, it makes my heart sing. Even though I didn’t “create” this beauty, I can take photos to virtually make the beauty last longer than nature intends it to.
When the sun shone on the mountain it glowed and glistened in the sunlight. The photo doesn’t do it justice. I’ve seen this glowing effect before when there’s mist in the valley, so I suspect it has something to do with the sun’s rays reflecting – or deflecting? – on both the mountain and the mist. Or maybe the clouds play a part in creating the glow. I’m not sure.
While the mountain and mist created their magic this morning, a pair of Figbirds feasted on the red palm berries. The early morning light of the day made it possible for me to take a cute silhouette photo of a Figbird with one of the berries.
This last photo of four kookaburras is from yesterday morning. I know there are about one dozen Kookaburras in my area, but only four are visiting regularly just now. I’m hoping that means the mama birds are busily tending their nests. If that’s the case, I may have some fluffy young Kookaburras visiting my garden by summer. I hope so.
So that was my “soul restoring” activity for this morning, taking photos of the beautiful view from my garden to share with my bloggy friends. No wonder I enjoy blogging so much and miss it when I’m away from it for too long. 🙂
Around the Garden
Just the tiniest, flimsiest wafts of mist danced around the valley this morning.
Before sunrise Mount Warning looked a tad grey, even the sky was grey. Then the sun peeked over the hill and lit up the morning sky.
What a difference a few minutes makes early in the morning!
I’m sure kookaburras enjoy the attention, because it seems that every time I venture outside with my camera lately, I find a little poser nearby. This little guy struck a pose on the top of my clothesline.
“Would you like a closeup of my profile? I think this is my best side …”
I can’t resist taking photos of the kookaburras I see perched on a tree down towards the valley. There were two on the branch this morning.
There are so many flowers blooming in my garden right now, even though we are in the middle of winter here in Australia.
The daisies look gorgeous right now, dancing in the sunshine.
There are only a few gazanias, but the yellow always looks so bright and summery, even in the depths of winter.
Did I say depths of winter? Our weather just now is probably similar to what some countries experience during summer! It’s a beautiful time of year.
My pink dianthus bloom nearly all year round.
When I saw this butterfly, which I believe is a male Common Eggfly, flitting around the daisies, I suspected it would fly away before I had a chance to get a decent shot – but it didn’t! I’m pretty excited to get my first decent photo of a butterfly in my garden. There’s another photo of him on yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday post too, with his wings open.
After the Rain – A Moody Mountain
Between 6:30 and 6:50 am today I took several photos of Mount Warning. She’d been in hiding for most of the weekend, but this morning she emerged from behind the clouds, washed pristine-clean by the heavy rain we had during the weekend.
I could see the Condong Sugar Mill clearly this morning too, with bright green cane fields in the foreground and rolling hills behind.
As the morning sun hit the mountain the colours of the sky, clouds and the mountain changed.
And then the colours changed some more.
The mood of the mountain changed before my eyes as I watched, fascinated, clicking away with my camera.
Within the space of twenty minutes, the mountain put on a show which more than made up for her absence during the last few days of rain.
In My World 