OUR WORLD, World Bird Wednesday & Nature Notes - A Rainy Day

The night before I left for Melbourne, It drizzled, a Scotch

mist obscured the view and dusk sent the birds into one

last baby-feeding frenzy. A family of Galahs was making a

racket directly in front of the house.

Nothing unusual you might think, except that galahs

normally keep a respectable distance . . . they will silently

sneak into the almond tree to steal the nuts while you are

weeding under it but this was different.

Here they were flying in again and again and making

encouraging calls.

I watched as the runt of the litter blundered around in the dense,

wet undergrowth in my rose bed. The parents kept calling but

not feeding it, so, out I trotted with camera of course . . .

it trustingly made a beeline for me at my approach. I picked

it up, unsuccessfully tried to make it fly, and sat it in the

cherry tree hoping the parents would take it from there . . .

it promptly went to sleep.

Later I saw it had flopped back to the ground and was heading

into the dripping weeds again. I was in a bit of a quandary,

with rain and darkness setting in, this was no place for a

fledgeling to spend the night. My morning it would have made

a feast for a cat or a snack for a fox.

Out I trotted again and it once more made a beeline for me

and clambered onto my shoe . . .

from foot to hand to shoulder it went and, 'though I seldom

feature myself in these pages, here is the old bird-lady herself

imitating a tree.

The little chap settled in for some serious preening

really getting into the swing of things

until he was ready for some conversation.

All well and good, but what now. He was hungry and

as yet unable to feed himself, his first flight was not a

great success and I was leaving in the morning . . .

when in doubt, 'look to the hills, whence cometh my salvation'

so, piratically perched on my shoulder, we crossed the paddock to

my dd's* house where grandson lit up like a Christmas tree,

a large cage and food materialised and young Biggles was

settled in.

* dd = darling daughter

All photos featuring me, by courtesy of obliging husband.

My thanks to all of you, my fellow bloggers who left encouraging

messages for my sister and wished me well on my pilgrimage.

A big thank you to the hosts of all three memes, it is good to be

back in the fold again.

Nature Notes ~ Autumn Fades Away

It seems while I was sleeping, the glory of autumn has passed
me by. On my returm home, we at last had some rain decorating
the few remaining red leaves on my Crepe Myrtle.



All that is left now is the Leprechaun gold of Quince and Poplar.



Yet even now, with winter but a few days away, a herald of the
bounty of next summer is at hand, the Loquat tree unstintingly
puts forth its fragrant blossoms for December's delicious crop
of golden fruit.



The heavy fruit of Ruby Grapefruit swell for spring ripening



and the goslings, having grown in size yet not in wisdom,

still run an flap to the safety of the ducks with whom they grew
up in the foxproof pen.

In days of yore, I had a pair of geese who would drive strangers
from our yard and woe betide the unwary postman!

How times have changed! With the rain our surroundings have

greened up and the denizens of the fowlyard now forage in the

garden and farmyard with the dogs (fingers crossed) keeping

the foxes at bay.

*

Thank you Michelle of Rambling Woods for hosting this meme.

To see other entries and/or to join in, click on the Logo at right.

Watery Wednesday & Nature Notes ~ Miracles Still Happen!

Although it is autumn, our summer rain, three months late,
has finally come! My cup runneth over and so does the 500
gallon water tank in my shadehouse.






















Nature rejoices as a lovesick cicada serenading loudly in the
hope of yet attracting a mate so late in the season, drags me
out of slumber at three o'clock in the morning. Did you know
that they need rain for their chambers to really resonate?

A sodden bee struggles among the wet pollen ....


















'Heritage' delighting in the warm summer rain so unusual
this late in the season..

Nature's jewels lighting up the garden. We had one and a half

inches of rain in less than 24 hours, more rain than we have had

in the last six months in total.

'Just Joey' dripping with pleasure. The pleasure the plants and

the very earth feel at this wonder from heaven is palpable.

All of Nature rejoices!

Apologies for the quality of the first shot, it was raining cats, dogs,

and small elephants and I was more worried about my camera

than a perfect picture.

All photos enlarge as always.

With thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting Watery Wednesday and

Michelle of Rambling woods for Nature Notes.

A click on the relevant Logo at right will find both sites.