NEWBIES AND OLD FAVOURITES...

After last post where I was thrilled with a new (to me) bird, I must have been subconsciously on the lookout because I have been visited by a couple of Scarlet honeyeaters.  I'd never noticed them before and had never actually heard of them to be honest.  But what beauties they are (the males anyway).

I just happened to look out the window and saw a couple of very tiny birds in my crepe myrtle tree. The first one was a female of the species I realise now, but didn't twig (pardon the pun) to it until I noticed the brilliant red on the male. I nearly tripped over myself running for the camera and trying to open the screen door quietly. 

They are also surprisingly fast so all I managed was a couple of shots.
When they're so tiny, it's difficult for me to focus on them and the plethora of branches didn't help. The next time I saw them, I didn't even manage the press the shutter before he nipped off!  So, I'm grateful for what I got. 

Even though I have hundreds of shots of these jolly fellows (Yellow tailed Black Cockatoo), I can't resist them and the minute I hear them calling, I go running to see if I can add to my collection.

Just a tad annoyed that I've missed the top of his wing in this shot...

...but got the whole wingspan in this one, lovely morning sun shining through his feathers. 

Hopefully, I'll have more newbies soon...

ROAD TRIP ROMANCE... (Part 1)

Prior to retiring earlier this year, I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life really when I became an Old Age Pensioner (OAP). Then one day as I headed to Brisbane for visit family, I passed a small motor-home which gave me the romantic notion that I could travel like that, cat in tow.  My wise daughter suggested I hire something similar before committing hard earned savings to my (possibly hair brained) idea. Surely a camper van would be not much different to a motor home I thought? How wrong I was...

Things I discovered on the journey:

1. Camper vans are for young agile backpackers with strong bladders, not aging romantics who need to visit the loo a couple of times during the night.

2. I apparently had never forgotten my training as a graduate of my ex-husband's School of Holiday Driving; his motto was "Why stop when you can keep driving?" and was a strong believer in "time stopped was time wasted."

3. I really need to prepare and plan before I make important life choices.  Duh...

4. I don't enjoy my own company for long stretches.    

5. If I think there's a chance I may have strayed onto a toll road I should pay up front just in case, after all, OAP's can't afford unpaid toll fines...  Idiot!

You can read the full story of my recent trip to Melbourne here.  Posts on this blog are more a fuller photographic journey of that trip.

First stop Chinderah for fish and chip lunch. The many seagulls spoilt it a bit by crowding me and screaming for a chip.  I soon set off for Ballina where I didn't even get my camera out because of the rain and the fact they hadn't heard of ensuite sites! I ended up in Valla Beach where I stayed with a friend for 3 nights. Not in the camper van... phew!  

Valla Beach is a beautiful spot and I enjoy my visits there. This is Deep Creek near my friend's house. Fish and rays lurk beneath the surface but I couldn't get any shots of them jumping out of the water. 

A selection of the many birds around the Valla Beach area. 

Looking from the seaward side of the bridge over the creek, to the right is a bird sanctuary.

View of Sawtell Beach. 

Panoramic shot of the beach at Urunga. 

A rainy day visit to the Coffs Harbour lookout was a little disappointing, would be fabulous on a clear day.

Muttonbird Island adjacent to Coffs Harbour.

Gratuitous (and timely) shot of the Easter Bunny to brighten up an otherwise dull photographic collection thanks to the weather.

Last time I saw paddle boarders at Valla Beach, this time just the gulls...

The clouds were never far away that week and this sunrise on my last morning at Valla Beach was dulled by their cover although if you squint you can just see the moon...

I found myself thinking of opal for some reason. Better was to come the further south I went.

Part 2 to follow...

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."

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.

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.

BLOGGING BACK IN THE REAL WORLD....

Having been badgered by Badger in the comments about posting some new birds, I have been motivated to start blogging again after returning from the Yonder.  These first photos are, I believe, possibly of hummingbirds taken at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. We were near the end of our visit, rushing for the bus, and it was possibly the highlight of the day for me. 

And here is the ONLY shot I got of this sweet bird feeding.

At the botanical gardens I snapped this gorgeous red dragon fly.

At the Singapore Zoo, I was amused by this baboon's attitude to gawking tourists. Looks a bit like Cousin Itt sitting on the pot! 

Also taken at the Zoo was this passing pretty bird, not sure if it was picking up stuff for a nest or that is something scrumptious to eat. Who else but me would be taking photos of wild birds and flowers at a zoo?  

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It was a wonderful trip and I took over 2500 photos, many of which are bad, having been taken from moving buses and so on.  I will try not to bore you too much with my holiday snaps.  Next stop Paris!  Maybe. Haven't decided but will try not to leave it too long.

INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER....

This will be the last post for a few weeks as I am off to foreign parts tomorrow and being as I'm not technically savvy, probably won't be able to work out how to post from there.  If you are a facebook or instagram friend you might see a few taken by phone!

Meanwhile, enjoy these flowers from the beautiful native silky oak which are out now. 

Currently around these parts we are being bothered by the call of the Koel.  This is a male Eastern Koel and their calls are incessant, seemingly going on most of the day and night.  I am not looking forward to the hatching of their young (they lay an egg in the nests of other birds leaving those poor parents to feed them) because they will scream for food all the time.  On a bright note, that will all be over by the time I get back.

See you back here in late November, hopefully with posts full of marvellous photos.

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Edit:  After finishing this post, I heard a bit of a ruckus out front involving birds so rushed out with the camera and found 2 male Koel's being harrassed by at least 10 smaller birds in my front tree.  Below is a noisy friar bird flying at one and in the other one was fighting off a couple noisy miners, one of which is just visible.  Perhaps it's a ruse so their females can get into the nests of the the smaller birds and lay their eggs....

"Fight, fight, fight!"

"En garde!"

AN UNEXPECTED DELIGHT...

A couple of weeks ago, during one of my walks along the Maroochy River, I posted about the flowers of the casuarina tree.  When I read about it I realised what I had snapped were male flowers, so I went looking for the females and was delighted to find some.  These look newly opened with some buds beside them. They are unexpectedly pretty (and difficult to photograph as they are hidden by the branches).

[edit 16/9/15: Ian from Florez Nursery blog has enlightened me, again. He suggests that this flower is from a mistletoe species which attaches itself to casuarina trees. See his comment below.]

 These look almost spent but are from a different tree so perhaps they grow differently on that tree?  Or perhaps as they age and mature, they grow outwards... [no, these are the real deal, see above]

These are the male flowers I posted before, totally different as you can see.

About the best I could get in the way of close up, wind being my enemy along the coast.

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