Wild Bird Wednesday - The thrill of another lifer . . .

More birds from the Port Augusta

Arid Lands Botanical Garden

If you take the trouble to hike out in the blazing sun 

to the bird hide on the hill

you will be rewarded by a nice breeze cooling you down

through the viewing slit

as well as sightings of some uncommon birds

female Zebra Finch

Zebra Finches are a common enough sight 

near inland waterholes

here a female is playing leap-frog

over a male

for me however, this was the big thrill,

a tiny White-winged Fairy Wren

the female, above is much like that of the 

Superb Blue Fairy-wren except for the lack of the red eye ring

but the male is a superior being of iridescent blue

with startling white wings

difficult to photograph with all the grasses hiding him

as both he and his little hen bathed 

in a palm sized puddle

I was lucky enough to also capture an immature male,

obviously their offspring.

The fairy wrens are on my bucket list, 

I have three colourful ones to my credit 

with this lifer

but time is running short . . .

Linking with Stewart's

Wild Bird Wednesday

OUR WORLD TUESDAY - On the road to . . .

Leaving Port Augusta heading West

you go for miles and miles 

through nothing but miles and miles . . .

of desert country

occasionally to the South

there is a hump

a saline soak

scraggly sheoaks eek out a tenuous existence

in the over 300 miles, there are changes in the terrain

here we are coming into red dune country

low vegetation covers some of the elevated ground

while on the roadside we found a shaggy mane 

of all things, shrivelled but miracle of miracles

here none the less in this inhospitable environment.

after a number of hours of driving

we arrived at, you asked for it,

the town of Andamooka

renowned for it's black opals

and a campfire at the observatory.

But that is another tale . . .

If I can make it next week,

we will finally be in Andamooka.

Linking with 

OUR WORLD TUESDAY

TODAY'S FLOWERS, I Heart Macro, Nature notes & Floral Friday - red and gold

Our first hot day this spring

and tomorrow is going to be hotter

with burning gale force N.winds off the desert

I hasten to post my already diminishing spring flowers

the Iceland Poppies are on their last legs

as are quite a few Tulips

although I had quite a brave showing this year

this post is beginning to look like a Spanish flag

with all this red and gold

more of the parrot tulips I showed you last year

with their needle sharp fringes

Hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful serene Sunday.

Linking with 

TODAY'S FLOWERS

I Heart Macro 

 Nature Notes

and Floral Friday

SkyWatch Friday - Oh, the life of the open road . . .

The sky was blue

the company great

the road as straight as a dye

peak hour traffic

looking back

and the way ahead

if you go far enough,

a few days later you can reach

Perth in Western Australia

we however

were intent in staying in 

the desert landscape,

just a couple of hundred

miles further on,

Linking with SkyWatch

Wild Bird Wednesday - Port Augusta Birds

I shot all these while drinking my hot chocolate

on the terrace of the 

Port Augusta Arid Lands Botanical Gardens

Unfortunately all were shot against the light

and had to be enhanced

Wattlebird

Singing Honeyeater on left and

White-Plumed Honeyeater on right

this one dead tree in front of the

picture windows of the cafe

was a perfect perch

with upwards of 4 birds at a time

Singing Honeyeater

White-Plumed Honeyeater

and, as everywhere near human habitation,

a European settler, the ordinary 

House Sparrow

Linking with Stewart's

Wild Bird Wednesday

God willing, next week some more colourful birds 

from the same location.

OUR WORLD TUESDAY - Port Augusta Arid Lands Botanical Garden

Second instalment of my trip North.

Not too shabby looking at this during breakfast

at our cabin in the very corner of the caravan 

park with the best view and no passing traffic

nothing like being greeted by a prehistoric 

reptile, a sleepy lizard

when we hit the gardens 

the light was stark but the flowers prolific

I will be posting lots more for

TODAY'S FLOWERS

grasshoppers of every type were thick

as flees on a mangy dog,

banging into unsuspecting visitors 

from all sides

with the unusually good spring rains

Sturt Desert Peas were flowering in 

the entrance area

India Flint and her very appropriate sculpture

for this arid region

of found cattle bones

vegetation nearby

I have been visiting these gardens since

the time of their planting

it has been a long and arduous process

to establish all the seedlings

Roz Hawker from Queenland

with her sculpture of a 

primitive bush tent.

Things were very rudimentary in the early days.

Quandongs  or bush peaches, were ripe

in this perfect habitat for them.

There is not much flesh on them 

but what there is, is edible 

and was a good source of vitamins 

for the early settlers

if you enlarge, you will see the red berries

on the green tree in the middle

I wonder who stuck it to the end of this looong post?

I just have so very many photos to share.

Linking with 

OUR WORLD TUESDAY

and

Nature Notes

TODAY'S FLOWERS & I Heart Macro - Blossom and frost

My blossom trees still persist,

this is a double flowering almond

it started out with just the darker flowers 

but year by year it had

the pale pink sports 

and, as I really liked then, 

I left them for this bi-colour effect

it was a grey day that accentuated the gentle blossoms

For I Heart Macro,

this morning's frost

Linking with

TODAY'S FLOWERS

and 

I Heart Macro

I hope everyone has a lovely day!

SkyWatch - A bit of weather coming in . . .

Heading towards Port Augusta we had just a little weather 

coming up

so I did just a little drive-by shooting

looking towards the Flinders Ranges

and the other way towards Spencer Gulf

they looked just a little bit threatening

and when they closed up

we were in for a downpour and had to crawl until 

we had passed through the storm

not exactly ideal

as we were nearing our stop for the night and it had been 

a looong day sitting in the car

since I'm still here, we did get there safely.

Linking with 

SkyWatch Friday

with thanks to all who run the meme

Wild Bird Wednesday & Nature Notes - Crested Pigeons

At the Port Augusta Arid Lands Botanical Gardens

the bird life was prolific

I have loads to post over a number of weeks

These crested pigeons were out for a stroll

attending to some adjustments in their plumage

and off on the strut again . . .

Linking with 

Wild Bird Wednesday

and

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday - Heading North

Just back from a wonderful trip up north

to the desert country

there may be quite a few instalments if anyone

is interested

first destination was Port Augusta

but here are  few pictures on the way there

Pink Lake at Lochiel

drinking in the sight of the colourful lake

a wattle in full bloom

the many shades of wonder of the lake and beyond

a rather unfortunate sign

the normal understanding of 'at large' 

usually refers to escaped convicts or wild beasts

an overgrown garden

around a deserted house

that obviously had seen better days

Linking with 

Our World Tuesday