Sunday, November 20, 2005
Jacaranda over Parramatta River
Taken from the bridge near Riverside Theatres - I'm glad I took this photo when I did because a fortnight later it was forlorn again, most of the petals drifting downstream.
Lilly Pilly At Booderee Botanical Gardens
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Sydney Blue Gum - Batemans's Bay Oct '05
These are the leaves, nuts and buds of a Eucalyptus Salinga which is easily confused with a flooded gum (Eucalyptus Grandis). The best test is supposed to be that the slightly protuding valves curve outwards in the Blue Gum and inwards in the Flooded Gum which is a bit hard to see in this sized photo. Anyway the forest we saw on our way back from Eden was lovely, though a little worn by humans on the edges. It ran back from an overgrown picnic area between Bateman's Bay and Uladulla where we had lunch.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Newnes - Industrial ruins site - Sept 2005
I love the carefully bricked archways which are prominent in these ruins - windows and doorways built to last. The site is well sign-posted and worth a visit even if you don't like ruins but love a stroll in the bush. Excellent for twitchers also. Lyrebirds in easy view for the quiet walker. Newnes near Lithgow, NSW.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Garden - Leigh and Denise Issell
Friday, September 16, 2005
Kookaburra and the worm
This kookaburra sat above our picnic table waiting for scraps when he spotted the real thing. He was the picture of concentration, bracing against his worm, his tail as support. He reeled in like a fisherman with a big game fish. He'd let the worm go back a bit then when the worm relaxed, he'd haul out the next few inches and snatch the worm closer to his middle. It took up to five minutes.Nearly there! All of a sudden his last haul brought the worm out of the hole. He was a quarter way through eating when his mate flew in front of the camera and took more than half!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Angophora Floribunda
Hard to believe that this twisted forest marvel (near Mudgee) is the same species of angophora that grows in our garden at Sanctuary Point. At SP the specimens are much smaller and scrappy although the youngest of them lives up to its name and produces many flowers.
Proof that I actually took this photo myself is that Bruce is in the picture.
Proof that I actually took this photo myself is that Bruce is in the picture.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Wattle spring 2005 near Newnes
On the road out of Newnes, this is not the best shot of the mountains but I wanted one of the road and the wattle and Bruce pulled over to take the above. Australians love wattle but it has a mind of its own and doesn't always appear when/where you expect (especially after fire). However in this area near Lithgow, over the Blue Mountains, wattle was everywhere, paddocks of it, dressing up the soberer blues and greens of the eucalypts and sheoaks.
Eucalyptus Vinimalis
Female Satin Bower Bird
The male Satin Bowerbird is shiny, irridescent black but the female as you can see is olive and brown with a sculptured pattern underneath. This was the last species to turn up to our barbecue in an otherwise deserted picnic spot at Newnes, the site of former industries - shale and coal mining and processing. The first to arrive was a magpie, followed by a currawong (both black and white birds) then a raven and a male bowerbird (both entirely black). So the female above added a little colour to the occasion. They were all hoping for sausage or bread at the least but we observed the rules and didn't feed them.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Roos on the golf course
If you look closely you can see the large white egret stalking in the background plus the magpie-lark amongst the kangaroos. They posed for Bruce over the back fence of our holiday house in Sanctuary Point. They love the golf course because it offers reasonable security from dogs and there's lots of well-watered grass. They've always liked this spot especially on windy days. I've seen one play giraffe across our neighbour's back fence and muzzle into the nearest bird feeder. July 2005
Friday, September 02, 2005
Grass Trees - August 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Galahs - SW of Western Australia
Monday, August 15, 2005
Typical pose in daggy clothes
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Snatch and Grab
This kookaburra obligingly landed on the table (for a handout) when we were showing an English honeymoon pair (Paul and Elizabeth) the beauties of the South Coast. Recently Bruce and I returned to the same spot (Greenpatch) and a kookaburra dive-bombed Bruce and took half his lunch which he then proceeded to thrash to death on a nearby rail. It was winter and the advice DO NOT FEED WILDLIFE was reinforced. Used to easy pickings from overkind or careless humans in warm weather the birds breed successfully but then find the cold months very lean and the competition fierce.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Bloodwood near Summer Cloud Bay
Small bloodwood in blossom just south of Jervis Bay, 2004. We have an older, less healthy one in our backyard at Sanctuary Point. It has survived surgery for white ants but drought has taken its toll. One particularly glorious year it drew every nectar-eating bird in the district, competing with swarms of bees. From the first hint of dawn flocks of musk lorikeets and rainbow lorrikeets arrived, later fighting with crimson rosellas and the local wattlebirds who tried to insist this was their tree. At night, the bats took over. It has not blossomed as strongly since. There are many bloodwoods in the Nowra area. That same week, violent storms took out a dozen gums in the park behind our place at Parramatta to the amazement of an English cousin who saw them fall.
Take-off
Scribbly Gum
Sea Eagle
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Phyl McKinley visiting Jackson timber mill site
Monday, August 08, 2005
Mountain Ash - Murrindindi, Victoria, Australia
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