SPRING FEATHERS AND FLOWERS...

I enjoyed another lovely walk through the Noosa Botanic Gardens after work yesterday and was pleased to see a lot more in the way of flowers now that Spring is upon us. My pelican friends were keeping an eye on things too...

This sweetie posed nicely before continuing his ablutions with some other birds sharing the pipe.

Bougainvillea must be about to flower everywhere although I must confess I've not noticed it in such abundance anywhere else recently. The rusty pink of this example was truly beautiful.

I didn't notice until afterwards that there was a little grebe in the foreground of this picture (you have to look hard) of a purple swamphen foraging on the edge of the pool.  Purple waterlilies and the tiny water snowflake lily are showing off.

This gymea lily was only a little over my head thanks to my being on the amphitheatre and it growing up from the bed below so was able to get much closer than one can normally. 

 I heard the eastern whipbird a long time before I saw it of course due to their distinctive call.  This was the best photo I could get in the gloom of evening the previous time I went to the Gardens. They are nervous and flit around quickly so I'm very happy with the snap. I didn't hear any at all yesterday but there were lots of kids running around the spot.

As I walked to the car I passed under a sausage tree and noticed flowers on the ground. Having never seen the flowers before I was thrilled. Most were on the ground with only a few on the tree.  Lots more to come though judging by the number of buds.

BECAUSE TIME IS DRAGON AND YET STILL FLYING BY....

My love affair with dragonflies started with this photo I took at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens (originally posted here). This jewel was perched prettily on a pink waterlily bud with the sunlight shining on the wings, just so. 

I thought I'd share a few more of my favourites.

 Despite a fussy background, this shot also shows the wings off to perfection I think.

 I was surprised by the colour of this guy's wings. A nicotine colour which made me wonder whether he had been flying through a "stench" of smokers (the collective noun is my own).

And this chap is different again as his eyes & head are not as glossy looking as others I've seen. 

I often watch the dragonflies at work (when on breaks). It is fascinating watching them dart around the creek and this is the first time I've managed to get a reasonably clear photo of one actually flying. Love the shimmery look of his wings (possibly because he's a bit blurred). I was amazed to see that this one looks a bit grumpy.  Perhaps another bit of whimsey on my part.

 The beautiful red colour of this one and the fur coat (at the base of the wings) was interesting too.

 Now, this one may be a little hard to see because of the detailed background (sorry, however I can't help where they choose to land). It seems to be two of them mating although they are facing the same way.  Maybe they were just setting up for a race?

May you touch dragonflies and stars, dance with fairies and talk to the moon - Unknown

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

DOUBLE TAKE + SOME OF MY FAVOURITE THINGS....

(if you are reading this on facebook, you can click through from the photo to the blog and see the full post)

My last post (A slip of the tongue) featured a photo of a green headed parrot I had decided was a juvenile king parrot.  I was excited to find his dad in the front tree during the rain a few days later.  Isn't he magnificent? 

Another brown honeyeater, this time taken at Coolum Beach.  They have a distinct voice so I knew what I was looking for but, boy, were they hard to find in that coast banksia.  Finally, success; no tongue this time though sorry. 

 A pale headed rosella also featured and since then, I've put up a seed bar for them and they loved it.  I can find them there most days chowing down and it didn't take long to finish off that small one.  The photo on the right shows the new seed feeder.  Huge thing; and it took them a couple of days to come back.  I wondered it they were afraid of its size.

That takes care of the double take.... here are some of my favourite things...

I spotted this beautiful butterfly the other morning and was very pleased to get one or two shots of it. To be honest, it is a little blurry and I've just missed one of its antennaes.  I get so excited my hands shake and I'm terrified I'll scare the beautiful things away if I move too quickly.  I believe it's a common Jezebel (how rude).

This water lily taken at a friend's place combines two of my favourite things: bugs and flowers! Not sure what the bug is....  native bee perhaps?

 A black-faced cuckoo-shrike was busy snapping up insects around the yard when he spotted me.  Are you .. looking at me?  I love the look on his face.

 This drongo looks a little grumpy with those red eyes doesn't he?  He's a frequent visitor and enjoys the water tray I leave in the front tree for the birds.

I don't see a lot of galahs here (lots down the road at the church often) but always nice to see them. When I wear grey and pink I think I look like a galah!

The lady next door has an aviary and the day the galahs turned up was the first time I'd noticed them under the cages snaring some free seed dropped from the big cages. Messy photo but demonstrates some of the birds, which include crows, doves, lorikeets and pigeons, which can be seen feeding there every day.  

And to finish off some of my favourite things: how gorgeous are these two rainbow lorikeets?  I think they must be young birds as their feathers don't look as bright on the head as adults I've seen.

ON GOLDEN (LILY) POND...

The pond in question is at Mapleton and, perhaps, the pond was not so golden on the day we were there. But the lilies put on quite a show.

There are two ponds on either side of the road and one is quite choked with lilies. This photo shows 3 of the different colours growing there and somewhere hiding under a leaf is a water hen which ducked just as I clicked the shutter.

 The pond on this side had more water and a few ducks as well. We promised ourselves we would go back on a nicer day to have a good look around. I believe there is a nice walk to a waterfall nearby as well.

 I love the colour of these pale pink water lilies in the watery pond. There's also some tiny white ones there dotted around.

 

                                     The yellow lilies are beautiful as well. 

Here's the only purple lily I could see that day, and that shy water hen.

NATIVE FRINGE DWELLERS

 This native is a particular favourite of mine since finding it growing on our bushland block north of Toowoomba, many years ago. These examples of the Australian fringed lily were happily growing in bush in the Mt Maroon area of the Scenic Rim.

THE SKY IS FALLING...

Not really of course. But I was surprised that this photo came out so well because the water, far from being the deep blue it appears here, was a horrible muddy brown but luckily for me, the sun came out just as I was pressing the shutter and I am happy with the result (usually the wind comes up just am I'm about to take the shot of the century).  I adore reflective photos, because it seems to me you get more bang for your buck; photos of two things instead of one.

ANIMAL CRACKERS VIII - LEAPING LEOPARDS

Beautiful to look at and apparently very clever too.  Check out the uses for Leopard Lily here.

BATHING BEAUTIES

I spotted these bathing beauties on my way to work one morning.  These are such a beautiful shade of pink.  Water lilies are some of my favourite flowers.

A LILY A DAY....

Just a couple of the beautiful Daylillies growing in my daughter's garden. Apparently they do only last a day. I know the dried leaves are often used in basket making too.

"WHAT'S THIS?" WEDNESDAY

Another UFO and the neighbour who's growing it doesn't know either. It was the only flower (eye catching isn't it?) on the plant and the foliage looked like a lily of some kind. So can someone out there help with the name?

[edit 28/12/10 - the neighbour's daughter came through with a name - Blood Lily (scadoxus multiflorus), interestingly is considered to be rare and has many other names]