A few days ago I was watching a blackbird in our backyard, from our bedroom window. He was aware of me but still hung around foraging in the garden before taking off. Our Lily Pily tree has been dropping berries all over the ground. Apparently you can make jelly out of the berries but I…
Superior Fairy-wrens
Yesterday I was commenting on our Camelia bushes. Well, on Sunday just past, I was looking out our kitchen window at the large bush there, and saw a couple of Fairy-wrens playing in the bush. Then I noticed their children were on the ground. Mum and dad had brought them out to play in the…
Winter still has colour and beauty
I’ve been wondering around our garden in the cool, almost frost air this past week. We’ve had rain, but some sunshine too. Wind and very cold. There’s no doubt we’re in the middle of winter here in Victoria, Australia. But, for all that, we’ve got beauty and it’s not all drab and bare trees. Our…
Scenery at Grant’s Picnic Ground
Birds aren’t the only reason for visiting Grant’s Picnic Ground. The beautiful Sherbrooke Forest is another reason. There is lots of new growth with ferns growing on dead wood, fungii and trees and treeferns everywhere. It really is very beautiful to walk through. I love the character of the gumtrees and how tall and straight…
Crimson Rosella
Also at Grant’s Picnic Grounds are the Crimson Rosellas. Not as plentiful as the white cockatoos, there are still quite a few there and they hold their own and get plenty of feed from the tourists too. This one seemed to want to pose for me and wasn’t bothered about the seed on offer nearby.
Sulphur Crested Cockatoos
I believe these are beautiful birds. Many locals feel they are raucous, messy, annoying and a pest. And yes, they can be in large flocks. A local park has a feeding ground for them where visitors and tourists can experience the birds up close, feeding them by hand and having them alight on their shoulders…
Meet Smokey
Smokey is the youngest of our three cats who love our 2 acre property. He knows when I’m out with my camera I’m usually hunting down birds and likes to be not far away. We keep a couple of bells on his collar for that reason – ruins some of my shots at times, but…
Immature Superior Fairy-wrens
On the same day I saw the honeyeater in the Mulberry Bush I saw this pair of immature fairy-wrens preening in a Salvia bush. I managed to get this shot before they realised I was watching them and flew off.
New Holland Honeyeater
We did have some moments of sunshine and blue skies during the week so I took advantage and went outside to have a brief walk around our property. I was delighted to hear a New Holland Honeyeater nearby, they don’t seem to come to our garden much. I saw it on the Mulberry Bush hanging…
Unusual visitor to the park
I managed to get in a short walk at Lysterfield Park yesterday. The weather was nice, albeit quite cool, but there was no rain and I was desperate to get out in some fresh air. I’m missing my daily walks. Anyway, just after I got out of my car in the carpark and started to…
Kookaburra portraits
I love watching the kookaburras in our garden. There are three of them currently that live here and with the colder and wet weather, they can often be seen perched on branches or old tree trunks, intently watching the ground for food sources (worms mainly). Here are some images I took a couple of days…
Pied Currawong
These birds have been making quite a lot of noise recently in our area. Kind of a sad calling sound, calling to one another across the hills, almost echoing. The noise is unmistakeable but not annoying. They watch me as I walk around the garden and often follow me from tree to tree. You can…