Our World Tuesday - Angry Birds?

If like millions of other people you have played Angry Birds - you will know why this post is named as it is!

If not, let me explain!   Angry Birds is a hugely successful game for pods, pads and tablets.  You fire little birds with a catapult (see the link?) at crazy buildings built by pigs!

If you have read more than half a dozen of my posts you will already know that that finding a huge catapult on the beach - with a ready supply of coconuts to hand - is highly likely to bring out the child in me and my children!  But I did manage a picture before it got really silly!

So, we played Angry Birds on the beach - and I have to ask, is that any less of a made up game than the ones I (we?) played as kids?  I don't think so.

I also like the composition and tones of this picture!

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the pictures.

PS:  Visits and replies to comments may be a bit think on the ground this week - we have guests!

Macro Monday - Ghost of a Crab.

Are there really many better things to do than explore rock pools?  The mystery of the next pool, or the next patch of sea weed is so appealing that I'm surprised that it does not rate as the worlds number one pass-time!  (Well, I'm not surprised really, but go with me here!)

During one of my last few hours of rock pool searching I found this crab shell.  Given how perfect it was I reasonably sure that this is a cast off shell rather than the remains of a dead crab.  Its a crab ghost!

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image of the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the close ups.

PS: Visits and replies may be a little thin on the ground this week - we have guests!

SkyWatch Friday - Evening Reflections.

This is a little bit of a blast from the past.  But I have wanted to post this image for a while and keep forgetting!

We visited Lorne back in June of this year.  During an evening walk I found the sky reflected in these pools of water.  The water was left by the retreating tide, and the orange glow was made by the retreating sun.  I have to say I like this combination.

I consider this to be another in my occasional series of Sky Shots with no sky!  You can tell what is happening in the sky, even without being able to see the sky itself.

You can find more shots of the sky - almost certainly including ones that actually have the sky in them at SkyWatch Friday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen (and by the time Friday arrives the second post about our trip to the Daintree will be there - go have a look!)

Enjoy the skies.

Wild Bird Wednesday 05 Papuan Frogmouth

These birds an Papuan Frogmouths (Podargus papuensis) - the largest of the frogmouths found in Australia.  I saw these birds on an early morning river trip on the Daintree.  There is no way I would have found them with the help of the guide on the boat, for these birds have remarkable camouflage.

With their heads pulled upwards they bear more than a passing resemblance to a chunk of wood! Although commonly mistaken for owls these birds are actually more closely related to Nightjars.  They are a nocturnal bird they feeds on moths and such like.  By day they roost in trees, where their camouflage can make them very difficult to spot.

These birds are about 50 - 60 cm long and at night make a far carrying and rather strange sounding call.

We get a different species of frogmouth at home some times - you can see a post here and here.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Now its your turn to get involved with WBW 5.  Click on the link below to add you wild bird image to this collection.  Link back to this page and visit the other birders out there.

Cheers - Stewart M

Our World Tuesday - Beach Cast

As we walked along the beaches on your last trip away I was truck by the amount of debris that was washed up on the strand line. Thankfully most of it was natural.  Leaves, sticks, fruit and most noticeable of all, coconuts.

My kids collected them into piles, rolled them about on the beach, threw then back into the sea and occasionally dropped them on their own feet.  I can safely say that this last activity was the least popular.

I got down low to the beach to take this shot, trying to make the strand line fill the frame to start with and then disappear off into the distance.  I would have liked to use a smaller aperture, but the light was not great and my tripod was in Melbourne.

But I like the colour and the way the strand line takes on a wave form.  It was born of the sea and seems to mirror this on the land.

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the pictures.

Macro Monday - Not quite perfect

One of the things I have been thinking about for a while is the way we let perfection get in the way of having a very good time.  We search for the perfect sunset, the perfect shot of the sea, the perfect day or evening.  And it can be rather dispiriting to discover that perfection does not come along all that often.  But by concentrating on it we miss the extraordinary things that are around us - but somehow fail to reach perfection.

We find foot marks on an empty beach, a footpath through a sun dappled woodland, the distant silhouette of a person on an otherwise empty mountain.   I was thinking about these things as I was walking in the rain (!) on a beach in Queensland, when this butterfly flew out of the trees and land on the beach.

I like the way nature can sometimes take you thoughts and turn them into a single event that seems to make sense.

So here is a Bordered Rustic which is very far from perfect, but is wonderfully attractive none the less.  It seemed to be able to fly strongly, although it did land on the beach a few times took shake water from what was left of its wings, and then it would be away again.  On a day where the cloud seemed to strip the colour from the world this was a perfect reminder of the beauty you can find if you just pay attention to the things around you.

You can find more marco shots at Macro Monday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the close ups.