Monday, May 30, 2011

MY WORLD, World Bird Wednesday - Sacred Ibis


What you can find in a major metropolis . . . Australian White
or Sacred Ibis, Treskiornis molucca, perfectly adapted to the
urban environment thrive as scavengers from rubbish bins with
their long beaks ideal for sorting through the leftovers and
aerating the lawns of sports-fields as a sideline.


Nice to watch them landing as you wait for the game to begin.


Beautiful angel-wings but a bit of a vulture face . . .


OK, all eyes on the game as our granddaughter hustles the ball!



Shot in Sydney, Australia and of course they all enlarge.

Thanks to MY WORLD and World Bird Wednesday for making
these memes possible.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

SkyWatch ~ On the Road Come Rain or Shine


In the inimitable words of Ogden Nash:
"Home is heaven
and orgies are vile,
but I like an orgy once in a while."

We were travelling for 30 days through three states and over
3,000 kilometers and have just come home again for a while.
Whew!!!



Leaving Sydney we were engulfed by these great rolling clouds
betokening wild weather to come.


They did not quite live up to their expectations for a few hundred
miles yet


but were definitely flexing their muscles.



A little further on they came down with a vengeance, the
windscreen wiper on my side jammed permanently so there are
no pikkies of the deluge.

You will get more travel impressions a little later in the week.
Meanwhile, all pictures enlarge as usual.

Thanks to our great SkyWatch Team we can share and enjoy
each other's skies. Keep it up guys!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Flowers of a Warmer Climate


Arriving at our son's house in Sydney NSW, we were greeted
by a carpet of pink and white petals. Sydney was a-wash with
Camellias in every possible shape,


here as a hedge. At other places as large trees or even topiaries.


Everywhere these exquisite blooms in pink and white!



I will disappear off the radar again from dawn tomorrow until I
can find another connection so please leave some comments even
though I cannot visit until we get home in a few days time I hope.

All photos enlarge as usual.

Thank you Luiz for this great meme, I hope any visitors here will also
join in through the Logo on my side bar.

Friday, May 20, 2011

SkyWatch ~ On the Road


Sorry I have been flying rather low below the radar recently.
My mobile internet connection ran out and without grand-
daughterial assistance I could not manage to cash up my
account again.

These few pics are from two days ago on our way from
Albury/Wodonga to Sydney. The trip was rather too long
for me to cover in one day so it was wonderful to have this
guardian angel watching over us for much of the way.


All too soon daylight started to fade but the glow in my side
mirror made me wind down the window and shoot backwards
towards the blazing sky. Pardon the slight blur but we were
doing 110kph.


We briefly stopped so I could get a more direct shot at that
glorious sky before hurrying on to Wollongong and a friend's
wonderful welcome, delicious and companionable dinner and
a bed to dream about. Hooray for friendship!!



My photos are straight off the camera and have not been
tampered with in any way and can of course be enlarged.

We are at the moment at our son's house in Sydney where our
granddaughter is playing violin at a soiree tonight and I have
access to wireless internet. I may be able to post more tomorrow
before we again vanish into internet shadowland.

I do hope you keep me in the loop and send a few comments my way.

Thanks to everyone at SkyWatch for this smashing meme!

Friday, May 13, 2011

SkyWatch ~ Bright, Victoria


It seems that Blogger has swallowed this post whole during
yesterday's interruption of service, so I am at least restoring
the pictures I had posted from our enforced stay in this lovely






They all enlarge of course, and thank you SkyWatch Team for
this heavenly meme.

Monday, May 9, 2011

MY WORLD, World Bird and Watery Wednesday


There are compensations to be had away from civilisation. This
place is definitely one of them. My favourite caravan park is
in Jamieson, Victoria. Right on the Jamieson river, where we like
to stay in a lovely two bedroom cabin under a massive Pin-Oak
next to a park that also has a wonderful selection of mature, well
spaced deciduous trees.


This is definitely not your average caravan park, shady trees in the
summer and the most glorious colour in the autumn.


All I wanted to do is snap - trees, leaves, birds and mushrooms,
good heavens, which way to point the camera next???


A flock of Australian Wood Duck, Chenonetta jubata, grazing
on the riverbank.


Was I ever excited when I saw this bird on my computer!
A first for me. I am tipping on a Rufous Bristlebird, Dasyornis
broadbenti. I am hoping some Australian ornithologist can
confirm my most amateur identification or point me in the right
direction.
Correction: not a Bristlebird at all but a female Satin Bowerbird,
Chlamydera violaccus, thank you Stewart M for the identification.
Even so it was a first for me , I once saw a male in a Queensland rain
forest but have never seen them in Victoria before.


A walk around this charming little township also netted a few
Australian King Parrots, Alisterus scapularis,


male above and probably female below.


A chocolate-box study of Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, Cacatua
galerita,


. . . and for Watery Wednesday, a shot of the quietly flowing
waters of the Jamieson River.


So from one blessed riverbank to the next, your roving reporter
will send the next instalment from the banks of the Ovens river.

We are having some worrying lights flashing in our vehicle and
will have a somewhat longer enforced stay at the home of the
Autumn Leaf festival while waiting for a booking with a reputable
Hyundai service department, did you hear me complaining? Not likely!
We are taking it easy and going out for lunch listening to the river
rushing past and having lovely long walks. I could spend a lot of time
this way.
See you all again soon . . . your roving reporter (in the slow lane)
signing off for now . . .

PS all photos enlarge of course.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

SkyWatch ~ Sunrise, Port Fairy


Crossing the river at sunrise, it looked like it was a fizzer with
such a thick cloud cover.
I persevered and hurried up the hill where I would have a view
to the East over the sea and I am glad I made the herculean effort.


Here is the morning sun breaking through the clouds in all it's
glory, lighting up the day as well as the sea.


A lone jogger, dark against the golden path to the horizon,


a different angle on the ever rising sun,


and the glory of golden glow on the smooth sand as the water
plays is advance and retreat game with the shore.



I do so love your comments that keep me connected to the world
although I cannot reciprocate at the moment while your foreign
correspondent is on location.

Be well, be happy and thank you for your kind comments

Click on the Logo to join in the fun, the SkyWatch family are such a friendly bunch.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

MY WORLD, World Bird and Watery Wednesday


Here I go again, proud as punch of - no, not the photos - ,
but the five mile hike around Griffiths Island off Port Fairy,
Victoria, Australia! With two bionic heart valves and legs almost
3/4 of a century old, this old girl made it all the way along paths
and beaches, hills and dales . . .


The Shearwaters had left but the chicks (invisible) were still
there. At the beginning of the trail, a dripping Pied Cormorant,
Phalacrocorax varius, you guessed it, a shag on a rock.


A beautiful little shark-proof pool for swimming in . . .


and, be afraid, be very afraid, this demonic apparition, the
Australian Raven, Corvus coronoides, swooping on the unwary
Mutton Bird or Shearwater.


The chicks are big enough for the parents to have left them,
now it is open season for foxes and crows to help themselves
to free take-aways.

These two were obviously enjoying their lunch


and these are the grisly leftovers . . .


A little further along the path I almost trod on this White-Faced
Heron, Egretta novaehollaniae, I just managed to click, sorry
about the blurring, he was close and fast but oh so beautiful
with his deep blue flight feathers.


Hup two, three, four, keep it up two, three, four . . .

A pair of South Island Oyster Catchers, Haematopus finschi,
one of whom unfortunately had a limp so I resisted going any
closer.


The coastally ubiquitous Singing Honeyeaters, Lichenostomus
virescens, were having a slight altercation


while we had a dip in the freezing water of the great Southern
Ocean and tried to get our boots and socks on without additional
very fine sand.


On this side of the island there was another White Faced Heron
clambering among the lava rocks,


and looking back at the lighthouse on the point, it was just
500 yds to our starting point.



I know this was a long post but hope I did not bore you too much.
Who knows when I will have another chance to post. I miss you all
so much and look forward to signs of life from my fellow bloggers.

All pics. enlarge and I hope to be visiting you all again when I
am back on my own connection.

We are in Melbourne at present and I have a backlog of more than 1,000
photos already!

With thanks to the co-ordinators of all three memes . . . your faithful foreign correspondent.