Our World Tuesday - Watching the Cricket

As I drive H to and from karate on Saturday mornings I often see games of cricket going on.  School competition games, which hark back to boarding school Saturdays where work was found for idle hands.  Local club games with parents sitting in collapsable chairs on the boundary cheering on their son (it does seem to be mainly boys).  On the return leg of my journey the school boys have often gone home and the older lads - some very much older - are getting ready for a game.

A few weeks ago I noticed that one cricket pitch seemed to attract an odd crowd of spectators, so I went back with camera in hand (or more accurately - on tripod!)

These birds are Straw Necked Ibis and I'll do a WBW post on them in a couple of weeks.

There are so many Australian things about this picture that I had to post it.  The birds, the cricket, the fondness for wide brimmed hats, even the colour of the summer dried grass.

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

If you are new to my photo-blog you may not yet have had time to visit my other blog - it's a wordy effort that comes out about once every two weeks.  You can find the latest post here.  Some people suggest it's a decent read!

Macro Monday - Backyard Cricket

A while back I was doing a backyard safari with the kids - some form of school mini-beast project no doubt.

We found this cricket in the plants that grow between the rocks.  We thought it was a bit to marco to be collected for the project, so I took some pictures instead.

Initially I was not pleased with the result - way to much movenment from me, the wind, the grass and the cricket.  But its slowly dawned on me that I rather liked the image.  It may not be sharp, but it does seem to capture the atmosphere of the find.

So here it is:

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday.

Enjoy the close ups.

If you are new to my photo-blog you may not yet have had time to visit my other blog - its a wordy effort that comes out about once every two weeks.  You can find the latest post here.  Some people suggest its a decent read!

SkyWatch Friday - Sea Sky / Conventional

Hi there - busy week here - so I hope that you have not grown tired of Tasmanian and things Tasmanian!

This is a rather nice looking sky - I took while waiting for penguins to return to the home burrows.  By the time they did it was dark - so no pictures!

I'll have to make do with this one.

You can find more sky images at Skywatch Friday.

Enjoy the pictures.

Wild Bird Wednesday - 33: Swanwick Beach

Little bit of a change for this week - I normally only post one species - but these are the result of a walk on Swanwick beach in Tasmania.  The parts of the beach I walked is where an estuary becomes the sea.  There were always a few birds loafing about.

The most obvious birds on the beach were pied oystercatchers - splendid birds that I have posted about recently.

Pied Oystercatcher

Further down the beach I found a pair (well 2) of Bar Tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)feeding at the edge of the waves - these birds were very timid and it took a long time to get within range.  Some of these birds fly from their breeding grounds in Alaska to South Eastern Australia and New Zealand in a single flight! Thats the longest know non-stop flight of any bird in the world.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-Tailed Godwit

There were also some plovers dashing about on the sand.  In the end I just sat down on the beach and waited for the birds to come close to me.  The few other people - dog walkers mainly - on the beach were rather useful in this regard as they often pushed the birds towards me.  Although what they thought of the crazy person sat on the beach is another issue!

Hooded Plover 

Juvenile Hooded Plovers

The Hooded Plover (Thinornis rubicollis) is an Australian endemic.  Due to the often heavy use of beaches this bird is declining in some of its range due to the high rate of nest failure on busy beaches.  There were 2 (and possibly 3) pairs of this bird on the beach and they all had young.  This was a splendid site.

Hooded Plovers

Higher up the beach, where the sand was very dry there were a number of Red-Capped Plovers (Charadrius ruficapillus) - these were the smallest of the beach birds, only 14-16 cm long.  They were very busy - but one did pose for me in patch of sunlight!

Red-Capped Plover

Red-Capped Plover

On the way back along the beach I found this Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus).  I would not be surprised if its beak weighs more the that Red-Capped Plover!

Pacific Gull

I hope you enjoyed the walk.

Now its your turn.

Click on the link below to join in with WBW.  Visit as many sites as possible, invite your friends and relatives and just enjoy!

Our World Tuesday - Concentration

Just after the start of the new school year we hold a Family Night.  Its just a meet and a greet with a BBQ, face paints and few races for the kids and the willing parents.

It remarkable to see the kids grow - it's like an extra birthday in terms of watching them grow up.  I always try and get some pictures for the schools web-site and news letter.  This year I thought I'd give my own kids a bit more time (!)

So, here are two models of concentration in the egg and spoon race - shame its not an olympic sport, otherwise we would have a couple of contenders!

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

Enjoy the pictures.

Macro Monday - Dry summer

Although some parts of Australia have had floods, we have had a dry summer.  And as the days without rain have passed the road-sides and paddocks have been baked a golden brown.  While this is a wonderful colour to see in isolation, when it covers a landscape it speaks of fire.

Last week we had grass fires running to the edge of the built up areas of Melbourne.  These relatively new estates seen under prepared for the fact that they may have wild fires coming towards them.

Fire is vital to our landscape - but it haunts the summer.

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday. 

Enjoy the close ups.