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.

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!

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.

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!

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

little town.

They all enlarge of course, and thank you SkyWatch Team for

this heavenly meme.

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.

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.

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.