Nature Notes ~ The Halcyon Days of Summer

Our terrible heat waves seem to be abating, nights are a
delight of cool breezes wafting twixt open door and window
lulling us into peaceful and refreshing sleep.

Even this water lily I have managed to coax into its first
flowering after 3 years of suspended animation in a bucket
of water in the shade house to at least keep it alive
through the tail end of our massive drought.



Days full of blue skies and friendly temperatures to be enjoyed
while they last and my slowly dribbling hose keeping my rose
garden a joy to behold and a delight for the senses.

On a more sobering note, the Willy-Wagtails bred sparingly this
season. Our normal contingent of owls was conspicuous by its
absence. Early in summer one Mopoke called, decided this was
not a good place to be, and left. Surprisingly, with the dry seasons
we have had, there have been no plagues of field mice or indeed
any evidence of them. Hardly a wonder that the owls moved to
greener pastures.



In 'normal' seasons, when the Naked Ladies, Amarillis Belladonna,
grace us by their presence, the first autumn rain follows in two
weeks. No such luck this year though.... it is just uniformly dry.



To see how others are faring, click on the Logo.

Thanks to Michelle at Ramblibg Woods, we can enjoy seasonal variations
from all around the world.

MY WORLD ~ 21 Arrived at Yeppoon

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Here we are, arrived at the coastal wetlands in
Queensland near Yeppoon. There were a few
tropical blue Waterlilies in bloom
*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Intermediate Egret, Egretta intermedia, near the track
*

*

*

*

*
*
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

and Mistletoe flowering. All photos can be enlarged,

please do so at least for a few, it really is rewarding.

*

*
*

*
*

*
*

*

*

*

*

*

Ibis munching and marching

*

*
*
*
*

*
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

and colourful tropical Butterflies fluttering here

*

*
*
*
*
*

*
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

and there among the flowers...

*

*
*
*
*
*
*

*
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

a Blue faced Honeyeater, a remarkably large bird,

joined us for lunch...

*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

and in the evening we hung around with a few

other old bats. There were two great colonies of these

large Fruit Bats, the bane of orchardists.
*

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

*

*

*

When darkness descended, the sky filled with tens

of thousands of screeching bats. The noise of their

wing beats and the stench they emanated were both

overpowering.

If you do not enlarge the others, please enlarge this

one although it is out of focus, it is more like the sea

than the sky!

When there is such a wealth of animal and plant life,

I find it hard to shoot buildings and views. If you still

bear with me, next week we will be at the Rockhampton

Botanical Gardens complete with Egret rookery.

*

To wander the world, click on the Logo at right.

*

To Klaus and the MY World Team, a big thank you!

*

MY WORLD ~ 19 North of the Warrumbungles

At the northern side of the Warrumbungles lies

Coonabarabran, the Astronomy capital of Australia.

Not only are these mountains famous for their clear

skies, but also for their wealth of 250+ million year

old fossil finds. Here are but two examples of leaves

with beautifully preserved colours.

Onward for long, long stretches of just long long

stretches, when we came upon Chinaman's Pond

covered in the most beautiful water lilies in white

and masses of pink. We had two more stays in New

South Wales,usually abour 4-500km apart.
NSW is a large state, Queensland is very much

larger and entailed another sleep.

One of the points of interest in massive stretches of
nothing scenic in particular, or I was perhaps too

tired to be observant, we spied these two massive

Baobabs or bottle trees. Their pregnant bellies hold

water and many an old bushy wandering on foot in
this vast landscape was saved by gouging into this

handy water source.

Near a coffee break on the edge of a small town

was a little creek with enough water to cool my feet

in and attract this lovely dragonfly.

Happily we had by now crossed into Queensland

where Bouganvileas flourished in the warm climate

Next week, if you bear with me, we finally

reach the coast with again totally different

landscapes on the way.

*

To see what the rest of the world is up to,

click on the Logo at right.

*

To Klaus and the MY WORLD/SKYWATCH

team my thanks as ever for this marvelllous meme.