RAINBOW, DRAGONS AND FROGS AT COOROY...

I visited Noosa Botanic Gardens again for the first time in 6 months since retiring. I was absolutely thrilled to spot a bird I'd never seen before and managed to get a few snaps of it.  Mind you, birds I haven't seen before would number in the millions and a few fairly clear snaps from the 40 or so I took is probably nothing to brag about but I couldn't wait to get home and find out what bird it was.  Meet one of the Rainbow Pittas...

"Are you lookin' at me?" it seems to be saying...

 I used a bit of patience and then stalked it around a dry creek bed as it hopped around, carefully avoiding crunching on leaves and twigs, so as not to startle it.  Low light in the forest area meant I got lots of blurred shots and perfect shots of where it had been a split second before. It was very interested in fallen quandongs but normally feeds on insects. Maybe there was some hiding in the fruit.

 This shot shows the chestnut stripes on its head nicely and what looks like a bit of weed clinging there as well.

"Are you still here?"

I took the hint and moved on to the pond... 

... where it was apparently dragonfly time.  I'd never thought about what dragonflies (or damselflies) ate and hadn't even noticed that this one was chowing down on something when I took the shot. The bug it's eating is more colourful than it is.

 This one (no more than 4cm long) is a male dragonfly I gather after watching the large numbers of them mating. Of course they could be damselflies. After reading up on them, I am confused as these look like damselflies with the closed wings.

The males all had the bright blue bottoms and they grab the females by the back of the head to start the process. 

It's up to her to curl her tail around to find the penis. A very complicated mating dance and I've since read somewhere that the females will often pretend to be dead to avoid having to mate.  I'm sure we can human females can relate to that! 

I only found two tiny, wee frogs at the pond and this be them. They sat very still and were not frightened off by my lens shoved in their faces.

Hopefully, I won't leave it so long to return.

STRUGGLE STREET...

Life is a real struggle for some and these are a couple of examples I've noticed of late...

I noticed a tiny umbrella tree with a stranglehold on a palm tree, at least 5 metres up. Who will be the victor I wonder and how long will it take? 

When I first saw this wasp, I was seeing him from the back as he walked up a door and it  looked like some intestines had come out or something.  

By the time I returned with the camera he'd moved and the true story was revealed.  These photos are not as clear as I'd hoped due to low light and a moving subject. So I rushed out to see if the murder was over with a view to getting a better shot, but he's now moved on with his meal and no sign of a green grub on the deck. I think the wasp was the victor here.

... to the victor belongs the spoils.

ALL ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES...

In May bees went nuts for my agave spike! Fighting with the native bees for purchase on the flowers. Top right shows you how big it is and I had to tie it back to stop it getting involved in the clothes line. But look at its sweet little face when it was just starting out (bottom right)... Thought I had a triffid for a while.

 Now at the end of June the open flowers are nearing the end of the spike and still bees fight over the flowers...

...and they have to fight off the birds as well! Spotted this juvenile blue-faced honey eater the other morning looking a bit grumpy at the constant buzzing.  His not-yet-blue facial feathers are almost a perfect match for the buds.

Then a rainbow lorikeet got in on the act yesterday. A great colour combination...

*****

I'll be sad to see the end of the spike, not only because it means the plant has died, but also because I'll miss that buzzing when I put out the washing.

Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees
And the flowers and the trees
The moon up above, and the thing called love...

Dean Martin - The Birds And The Bees Lyrics | MetroLyrics (Songwriter Herbert Newman)

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

It's award season apparently with many such events on the horizon for celebrities.  Here is a red carpet of a different kind.  I think this beauty deserves an award too, for the most glorious showing. The Illawarra Flame tree or brachychiton acerifolius, is one magnificent beauty and grouped together, as in this shot, undeniably eye-catching. Of course, there's always someone who won't play the game, in this case an early bloomer now dressed in green finery, the odd man out.

Just before Christmas I visited a friend at a lovely place called Valla Beach and the flame trees were in flower there too.  This acrobatically inclined, juvenile blue-faced honeyeater was taking advantage.

I'm so used to seeing bright red flame trees that I was shocked to see a fairly subdued red on a neighbour's tree.  Perhaps it's a different kind or the soil is different but I decided I liked it anyway. After all, in the words of Christian Dior "... There is certainly a red for everyone."

POND LIFE...

 Another visit to the Noosa Botanic Gardens revealed a world I hadn't really noticed before. These dear little frogs were hiding out on the reeds in a pond at the Gardens.  I was thrilled because I hadn't seen so many since I was a child. 

I was standing looking at the pond and noticed the little bumps on the reeds. Some were things like reed flowers, some grasshoppers and cicada shells. But the frogs were a delight. 

What a face... 

I particularly loved the white waterlilies, although some purple ones poked their heads up.

Always something getting around in the pond.  Some prettier than others.  

This not-very-clear shot, is one of the turtles who live in the pond.  He thought I had bread.  I don't have a photo of the black snake that passed very close to my feet as I was trying to get a close up of the frogs. Ugh. He slithered into the pond without reacting to my shriek.

This very tiny, blue damselfly falls into the pretty category. Such a vibrant blue. Very hard to see let alone focus on so I can only apologise for the daggy background; had to take what I could get.  Lots of lovely green lily leaves he could have landed in front of, but didn't. 

I found a large dragonfly cunningly camouflaged against some dead flowers on a nearby shrub...

To top it all off, the glorious scent of jasmine and caper white butterflies fluttering around.  Perfect... except for the snake.

“Life is like a pond, and every decision and act we commit, good or bad, is a pebble flung into it. The ripples spread in widening circles.” 

― Francine Rivers, An Echo in the Darkness

A WALK IN THE SUNSHINE...

We had quite a bit of rain last night but today the sky was blue and cloudless. I decided I'd take a walk in the Maroochy Botanic Gardens to see what I could see. It's a great spot for a picnic with many seating areas. The 82 hectare site is broken down into different areas like wetlands, sculpture gardens, moss garden with marked walks. Lots of flowers and greenery of course there. Lots of people too. Note to self, next time go much earlier and during the week if you want peace and quiet.

 Away from the screaming kids, shrieking girls and loud cricketers & golfers (next door to the gardens) I did manage a couple of snaps of birds.  In the gloom of the rainforest area they haven't turned out as well as I'd like. The first is a turtle dove of some sort which looks very different to the ones I see around home [edit Oct 2020: Older and wiser me knows it's a bar-shouldered dove and a white-browed scrub wren]. Top right is a tiny wee little bird which was leaping around in the undergrowth and generally being uncooperative (no idea what it is).  A small yellow wren or similar flitted around tantalisingly close sometimes but managed to avoid my lens. At least the  wicker whipbird sculpture sat still for me. 

Of course, there are lots and lots of sculptures scattered throughout. There's also a python which can give you a fright the first time you set eyes on it. You'll have to go see them all for yourself.

 On the left is Phaius tancarvilleae a large swamp orchid which is almost ready to flower. They are quite beautiful and well worth the trek out there to see them (in my opinion anyway). Top right is the Rusty Kurrajong and a pretty little ground cover which is probably a weed.  :) 

I think the top white flower is a geraldton wax but I could be wrong. Same shape but different colour. The bees didn't care. On the right is hardenbergia which is out everywhere in the bush at the moment.  Below are violets, on the right is the native violet which doesn't have a fragrance and I thought the one on the left was some exotic, endangered plant but apparently I was looking at the wrong label.  That's one thing I was disappointed in;  lots of plants not labelled.

FEATHERED LOVE AT HOME...

Just recently, I put up a water bowl for the birds as it's been so hot and was thrilled to have a new visitor.  This is the best shot I've ever managed of a sacred kingfisher.  Such a beautiful little bird. 

The green catbirds are frequent visitors to our area but very shy.  I've heard them way more times than I've seen them, probably because they're so well camouflaged.

This cheeky guy is a noisy friarbird and it flew up close to me in a shrub near my front door but was way down the front by the time I found the camera.  I was surprised at how small this one was so possibly it's a juvenile.

It was lovely to see some of my usual bird suspects since I've been home and here we have a male Australiasian figbird which was serenading me. He's quite Christmassy because of the red and green combo I think.

LIFE'S A BEACH AND THEN YOU SIGH....

One of my favourite trees is the coastal pandanus also known as Australian screw pine which is prolific throughout the Sunshine Coast. They certainly add a bit of interest to photos that might otherwise be a little bland.

Their interesting shapes and the bizarre look of the root system are often cause for comment. 

The "nuts" or fruit start out green and end up bright yellow to dark orange and fall apart littering the ground with chunks of fruit.  I am sure that some time in the distant past I prised one piece open, eventually, and found a small kernel of white inside which tasted a bit like coconut but it was too hard to find which may explain why I never bothered again.  

I have to confess, though, that today was the first time I had seen one in flower!  In fact, I had never given a thought to whether they flowered. There was only the one flower to be seen on the many trees I saw growing at Point Cartwright today so I'm thinking they are not too common or I am uncommonly unobservant.

This is a close up of the flower, not unlike that of an ordinary palm I guess, but in miniature.  Just thought it was interesting enough to share.

SOME FLYING FLOWERS....

Last week I was driving on the Bruce Highway and there were enormous numbers of butterflies of all colours flying across the traffic in a westerly direction.  Unfortunately, I (and hundreds of other motorists) hit a few and felt bad. Why can't they fly higher?  Anyway, since then there seems to have been more of these flying flowers (see quotation at the end of the post) around.  I also just missed getting a snap of a blue triangle butterfly the other day. By the time I got back out there with my camera, he was flying over the house, never to be seen again.  

Read about the butterfly migration here. Included in that article is this fellow, the blue tiger butterfly. Pam posted a much more colourful photo of one back in 2010 but this is the first time I've seen one.   Apparently their colours fade as they age so perhaps this one is elderly.

 My daughter and I were exploring the Buderim Forest again from the other end and saw a pink butterfly tree which is also the favourite food of the Ulysses butterfly so I was delighted to see someone (although not the Ulysses) having a feed.

A large citrus butterfly lived up to its name by enjoying a perch on my lime tree.  It seemed particularly partial to that one lime and I disturbed it so many times I eventually just left it and hoped I had enough shots to satisfy my curiousity.  

Not sure if it's my imagination because I couldn't see any eggs the next day, but it looked to be trying to lay eggs as you can see from this close up.

Love the colours in the wings...

 ... and even more inside the wings.

 Lastly, although not a butterfly, I present this blue or azure damsel fly, snapped on a bright green lily pad. It was quite a distance away so a little hard to be sure if it's blue, azure or something else.

He was very tiny as you can appreciate so I was very pleased to get a half-way decent shot of him. Love those little pads coming through too.

And to top it off, these are the very pretty (tiny) white water snowflake lilies that grow up from those pads.

The butterfly is a flying flower, The flower a tethered butterfly... 

Ponce Denis Ecouchard Lebrun