World Bird Wednesday - In Memoriam . . .

Last Saturday our beloved gander jumped the fence into the cow

paddock. The cows are very territorial and although they tolerate

the humans who feed them and even muzzle up to them to be

scratched, a few sheep who crawl through the fence and small

mobs of kangaroos, they have even looked askance at me crossing

their turf. The appearance of a large white, waddling bird seemed

cause for investigation, they all went to look and the result was one

dead gander literally cornered in the corner of the fence. Whether

he died of shock or of being muzzled we will never know . . .

My heart is heavy with loss, I found him as I climbed through a

kangaroo hole in the fence to feed him. He was my friend and

bridge to the wild birds accepting me as well and is sorely missed

and with him my hopes of goslings in the Spring.

Not much else to report except the European house sparrows

digging up those died up grass areas we laughingly call lawn.

They descend in numbers but are skittish to get a shot of.

Ha, gocha in the faraway tree.

At the lonely pond an unidentified cormorant circled and left.

My bird finder does not feature one with a totally white head and

dark belly and white around the vent. My hopes rest yet again

on Stuart M being able to identify it.

Thanks once again to Springman for hosting this wonderful bird meme.

OUR WORLD - The Lotus Pond

Yesterday I finally met another blogger, our own Dianne of

'Adelaide and Beyond' and 'All Things French'. We met up at the

Adelaide Botanical Gardens, shared a quick baguette and off to

the Lotus Pond for a shooting frenzy. Dianne is thinking of

upgrading to an SLR so we just used my Canon so she could get

a feel for it and see the difference between it and her present

point and shoot.

Here are a few I snapped in action as we had quite a blowy day.

The wonder of the Lotus blowing in the wind with it's last flowers

still perfect but showing seed pods in various stages of ripeness

as proof of the glory that graced the gardens during the last few

weeks.

The flower and the pod embracing . . .

and catch-as-catch-can, as the wind tilted the flower towards

me for a millisecond.

We spent a wonderful day together, getting to know each other

and wildly photographing and talking 'shop'.

Later in the day we shared an even greater wonder but that is for another day.

Sorry I am late posting but I was absolutely bushed after such an intensive shoot

and 3 hours of driving.

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Farm Flowers

The weather has been hot and in the heat the agapanthus

come into their own.

These are flowering at our gate

and these along the driveway

and on the road near the gate a young Eucalyptus ficifolia

is opening it's first blooms after ten years of growth.

Many more flowers are tucked in behind the Logo on my side bar.

SkyWatch ~ A Lean Week

Its been a hot and dreary week with nothing much going on in

the sky department except for this one, rather fetching cloud.

You will find many more spectacular sky events by clicking on the Logo

on my side bar.

world Bird Wednesday - At the Pond Again

The other day, just before our heatwave hit, I went to the pond

and fed the gander with the Sacred Ibis watching and an idle magpie

flying past.

Suddenly it seemed as though all the birds accepted me, I

walked around the side of the pond to quite close to the ibis

but they minded not at all. Oddly, the rosellas screeched no

alarm calls, nor did the blackbirds. I sat on my bench, half hidden

by a Wattle and little birds flitted all about me. First the Grey

Fantail (below) and a number of blue wrens.

The Little Grebes seemed bored and turned tail . . .

a Black Duck (right) went about it's business with an as yet

unidentified friend, no longer unidentified due too the kind

response of Stewart M, who recognised it as a Eurasian Coot.

Thank you once again Stewart.

another Fantail posed in the shade quite near me

and a Willie Wagtail checked me out and was joined by a friend

but then the most remarkable thing happened and the White-

faced Heron landed and grazed his way around the edge of the

pond. Here in the shade you can see where he gets his name.

Normally at the first sound of a human or car he would already

have taken flight.

The Ibis wandered over to have a chat with the heron and a

few ducks and after the heron left, I too walked to the other

side

where a Singing Honeyeater joined me

and showed how mean he could look flying straight at you with

that black robber mask on.

Another Grey Fantail. I was surprised that they are already here

in numbers as they normally come in February and presage the

autumn rains.

Here he is again out in the full sunlight.

It was a wonderful feeling to be so accepted only because the

gander ate out of my hand. I know my photos aren't so clever

but the experience was just great.

OUR WORLD - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Just look at us, aren't we sweet? We would never dream of

touching a leaf in your garden.

How can you send us away like this, we are totally innocent . . .

How could you think that anyone as peaceful and gentle as we

are, would strip all the leaves and twigs off all the young citrus

trees, the roses, the fruit trees and berry bushes and trample

what we had not eaten?

Well, here is the proof of the pudding, the gate is shut and one

is still inside our yard. It just takes one thoughtless person to

leave one of our 8 gates open and the whole flock sneaks in to

demolish all my hard work.

Ah, the joys of farming . . .

This all out war has lately been going on in Our World, what is happening in your's?

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Oriental Lilies

This year I grew a few lilies in pots where I could keep them watered

and they sort of turned out all right. One even had 10 flowers on it.

I love the bright orange pollen

and the shadow-play of the stamens and pistil.

Enjoy the wonder of flowers and show yours as well on TODAY'S FLOWERS!

SkyWatch ~ Raindance Clouds

A brief rain had cleared the air and something in the light

caught my eye . . .

as I looked, the clouds performed a mad dance rising

and swirling

madly circling the rising thunderhead

just a brief pause with gentlest of hues

and off into the mad, exhilarating dance once more.

Whatever the sky is up to where you are, do share it on SkyWatch!

World Bird Wednesday - Just a few Ducks

On a walk along the Gawler River these three young ducks

were on the path in front of my feet. Sorry, the pictures should

read from the bottom up.

Here they are about to go slowly over the side of the bank but

they certainly did not scuttle away at my approach.

The prettily marked Wood Duck posing ,

the drake looking me in the eye

and here are the three youngsters genteelly leaving the path

to let me past. Sorry there is no more today, I took so many

pictures at our dam that I have as yet not had a chance to get

them sorted.

To enjoy birds from all over the world, click on the logo and add your

post to swell the numbers of participants..

OUR WORLD - Kangaroos

Kangaroos on an overgrown road reserve between two of our

paddocks . . .

" What's up Frank, why are you pricking those ears?"

"Will you just look at that? The cheek! She's walking right

towards us."

"It's old an old lady with a camera Frank". " Ha, ya never can

tell with these ol' biddies . .

.

I'm outa here . . ."

Our World Is a fun place, show us what is in your corner!

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Australian Natives

With over 1,000 species of Eucalyptus trees native to

Australia, there are always some in flower no matter the

season.

Their leaves are aromatic and many are excellent dye plants

as well. Their colour range in flowers is from white, through

a variety of pink and orange to startlingly bright red through

all possible shades.

The flowers on this lemon variety are spectacularly large.

Another tree of many species is the Melaleuca. This lilac

pom-pom variety is a favourite of mine. A fairy young specimen

with aromatic leaves and bark, it is a large and dense bush in

my garden, a host to many nests of little birds and a very busy

place in Spring.

Eucalyptus ficifolia, a native of Western Australia, is just coming

into flower and bursting it's little caps off to reveal it's pretty

flowers. In full flower, the tree is one mass of colour.

Flowers brighten our days and you will find many more by clicking on

the Logo and adding your's as well.