Two little Birds

I seemed to have amassed quite a few bird photos, here are a 

couple from my backlog.

A house Sparrow sitting in my crabapple tree

and a Willy-Wagtail on a far away fence.

Hope you are all enjoying a great weekend. 

We have had wild weather with two little tornados in the city this

week, as well as pouring rain and some hail, it is cold and wet 

and I just got drenched pruning just one rose.

Happy days!

SkyWatch - Sunset Clouds

I tried to catch the golden lining to the clouds but it was too 

bright . . .

so I caught the fluffy clouds against the blue 

and some bare trees

but could not resist zooming in to the main event.

My heart goes out to all the folks in Colorado who have lost their homes,

I have been in the same boat. I hope with all my heart that you get a good thunderstorm to douse the fires.

God bless you all.

World Bird Wednesday - Female Flame Robin

A few days ago, this cute little female Flame Robin checked out 

our garden.

Isn't she a sweetheart? Some winters when we are lucky, a pair

of them brighten up our our gardens until late spring.

I do hope she brings a mate along . . .

OUR WORLD - A New Arrival

It has been a full and harrowing time since I last posted. Like 

shades of Lemony Snickert, there have been a few unfortunate 

events.

I am still jelly limbed as I thank God for our granddaughter's 

miraculous survival of a horror car crash. Somehow, that relegated 

blogging to the depths of a dark cupboard.

Next, my 95 year old friend of 40 years standing, suffered a fall 

and broke two vertebra. Suddenly, independent living is no longer

an option for her and we had to honour our promise to take her

little dog.

Allow me to introduce you to Koockie, obviously taken with our

eldest granddaughter. Over the years, the grandchildren have amassed

quite a menagerie of foundlings and ill treated four legged friends.

The first attempt of Bumble, a loveable bottle raised sheep, to 

make friends, seemed questionable. A couple of days later though, 

Koockie's confidence had grown  and an entente cordiale was 

reached.

Grandson's valiant attempt to hush Rex's very loud bark proved 

futile but first meetings can be deceptive. The black and white dog 

looking on is one of my eldest granddaughter's 'acquisitions' and 

the friendliest dog that ever was.

Meeting horned beasts proved rather daunting.

A happy respite in my garden.

Meeting a beast so much bigger than yourself, can be intimidating

but meeting a whole herd is frightening indeed and yet, he tried 

his level best to protect me from them.

So now the cat is out of the bag. I have a dog. A blessing, a

responsibility and a definite liability when photographing birds 

and wildlife. The blessing is that I have to take him on twice daily 

walks and walking in nature is one of the great joys of my life.

All considered, I feel incredibly blessed.

Our World & World Bird Wednesday -- Riverbank Birds

Life was chucking rocks at us for a while but I'm more or less 

back again.

A few shots from our trip to Renmank on the Murray River.

The well kept lawns at the Holiday Park offered ideal foraging

for this immature Dusky Moorhen, Gallinula tenebrosa,

as well as any number of Purple Swamphens, Porphyrio porphyrio.

These two look innocuous enough 

but I certainly wouldn't want to mess with this chap!

Small wonder this Masked Lapwing, Vanellus miles, looks a

little wary. 

Although the Lapwing has spurs on it's wings, it was not about 

to get too close to this big fella.

It did get a trifle windy at times and feathers flew

and even a bird can have a bad hair day. 

Just look at the expression on it's face.

I sincerely hope you are all enjoying your life, remember, it has a use by date.

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Primulas

When skies are grey and days are dreary,

it's good to have something bright and cheery.

Just a few of the primulas I have recently planted

and can see from both the kitchen sink and my bedroom.

I hope you all have flowers to enjoy!

SkyWatch - A Day at Wirrealpa

Sunrise at a place I dearly love, Wirrealpa station in the North of 

South Australia.

A little drama during the day

that resolved itself into a rather nice sunset at gin & tonic time.

What a difference a day makes . . .

World Bird Wednesday - Mistletoebird

When we were up at Arkaroola, I tried so hard to get a 

Mistletoebird, Dicaeum hirundinaceum, actually on a mistletoe.

On the last morning, I had success of sorts. The lighting was not 

ideal and the tree was at some distance.

I just kept trying . . .

and trying to get a half decent image.

This is the bunch of mistletoe growing from a high up branch 

of Eucalyptus . . . can you spot the bird??

Happy birding to you all!

OUR WORLD - Back to Yesteryear

Imagine my surprise as I headed into the village and spied these

vintage Holden cars. This is the all time iconic Aussie car. 

The road outside the pub had a clutch of them on both sides,

obviously the owners were having a get together lunch there.

A quick U-turn, and I had snapped a few and

could zip onward to the next little town to get our necessities.

As you can see, it is autumn and the big pomegranate tree outside

the cafe was laden with fruit basking in the sun.

They are such incredible fruit, splitting with ripeness and showing 

off their gleaming, ruby red, juicy insides.

What a wonderful world we live in, post yours and visit every one else's.

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Winter Colour

Some people are just blessed. 

My niece came for the weekend from far, far away.

Here is my private garden gnome attacking the wasteland that is

my garden.

A couple of days later, there was a cleared patch and some

 rounds prepared for my tulips.

She even bought me some winter cheer 

which brought the sun out and a butterfly as an added bonus.

Isn't it great that flowers show up every day!

SkyWatch - More Kingston Sunset

This was one of the reddest sunsets I have ever seen, the sky, 

the sea, the very air was suffused with a glowing golden red.

The sun had set but the birds refused to go to bed,

flying in pairs,

practising formation flying

or, like these cormorants, were just sitting around by the dozen.

What fun it is to SkyWatch, the more you do it, the more you enjoy it.

OUR WORLD & World Bird Wednesday - Galahs

Just these Australian iconic parrots, Galahs, photographed in the 

inland. Dark clouds always set them off well.

I haven't managed to post or visit for a while, things have been

just a tad chaotic . . .

Do enlarge these so you can see the colour of their eyes.