Early evening, Grampians, Victoria.
You can find more skies at SkyWatch Friday.
Friday, 31 October 2014
Sulphur (Crested Cockatoo) Sky
A blue and sulphur sky for all of those of you who are heading into the greyer times of the year.
Early evening, Grampians, Victoria.
You can find more skies at SkyWatch Friday.
Early evening, Grampians, Victoria.
You can find more skies at SkyWatch Friday.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Wild Bird Wednesday 120 - Laughing Kookaburra
After last week's Magpies, this is another iconic Australian bird - the Laughing Kookaburra - or as it is called in my part of the world, just Kookaburra! There is another species of Kookaburra further north from us, but I'd have to travel a very long way to see them!
I'm a few days into a hectic week, so I just tell you that this is the largest kingfisher in the world!
Also, I can't resist a good tale of taxonomy, busy or not. The Laughing Kookaburra goes by the name of Dacelo novaeguineae. The genus name is an anagram of the genus of the Kingfisher found in the UK - and the first specimen of this species was thought to have come from New Guinea. In fact it came from what is now New South Wales in Australia. So, the name is a combination of a private joke and a mistake!
In one of these pictures you can see the nictitating membrane, a thin membrane that is drawn over the eye to help keep it moist.
Now (as ever) its your turn to link up with WBW. Click on the blue button below and off you go.
(For some reason, word verification may show up when some of you try to comment - this issue has started recently and may be to do with the security setting in some peoples internet browsers - I can assure you that the function is turned off at my end. SM)
I'm a few days into a hectic week, so I just tell you that this is the largest kingfisher in the world!
Also, I can't resist a good tale of taxonomy, busy or not. The Laughing Kookaburra goes by the name of Dacelo novaeguineae. The genus name is an anagram of the genus of the Kingfisher found in the UK - and the first specimen of this species was thought to have come from New Guinea. In fact it came from what is now New South Wales in Australia. So, the name is a combination of a private joke and a mistake!
In one of these pictures you can see the nictitating membrane, a thin membrane that is drawn over the eye to help keep it moist.
Now (as ever) its your turn to link up with WBW. Click on the blue button below and off you go.
(For some reason, word verification may show up when some of you try to comment - this issue has started recently and may be to do with the security setting in some peoples internet browsers - I can assure you that the function is turned off at my end. SM)
Tuesday, 28 October 2014
And the mouse police never sleeps
While we were away in the Grampians we had the pleasure of being in the company of this rather elderly mouser called Alice.
Here legendary mousing abilities reminded me of a song from one of my favourite albums; as this is a photo-blog I wont inflict the song on you! But its reasonable to say, that neither the track nor the album is current!
More pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.
Here legendary mousing abilities reminded me of a song from one of my favourite albums; as this is a photo-blog I wont inflict the song on you! But its reasonable to say, that neither the track nor the album is current!
More pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.
Sunday, 26 October 2014
Red Beaks
This orchid is called a Red Beak - and it has a very close association with that most Australian of elements, fire.
This is a plant that only flowers in areas that have been recently burnt - I have only seen them twice - but on both occasions they were common. A strange combination of rarity and abundance
You can see the the ground around the first plant is burnt - by the time I had taken a few pictures I was less than clean!
You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday2 and I Heart Macro.
This is a plant that only flowers in areas that have been recently burnt - I have only seen them twice - but on both occasions they were common. A strange combination of rarity and abundance
You can see the the ground around the first plant is burnt - by the time I had taken a few pictures I was less than clean!
You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday2 and I Heart Macro.
Thursday, 23 October 2014
Common Brushtail Possum
More wildlife from my back garden!
This is a Brushtail Possum, a common night time visitor to our garden. This picture was taken few week ago and our trees now have more leaves - but that can all change very quickly with these cat sized beasts about.
If ever there was an animal I would like to keep out of my vegetable path it would be this one!
You can find more animals from around the world at Saturday's Critters.
Something strange is happening with Blogger and word verification - I have it turned off on my blogs, but some people still see it. At present this is beyond my control - I hope you can find the strength to do battle with it if you see it!! SM
This is a Brushtail Possum, a common night time visitor to our garden. This picture was taken few week ago and our trees now have more leaves - but that can all change very quickly with these cat sized beasts about.
If ever there was an animal I would like to keep out of my vegetable path it would be this one!
You can find more animals from around the world at Saturday's Critters.
Something strange is happening with Blogger and word verification - I have it turned off on my blogs, but some people still see it. At present this is beyond my control - I hope you can find the strength to do battle with it if you see it!! SM
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Wild Bird Wednesday 119 - Australian Magpie
I have posted images of this rather splendid bird before - but not images like this.
This bird is one of a pair that has raised three young in the oak tree in the garden behind our house. The young are now fledged and spend most of the day noisily demanding food from the hard pressed parents.
My daughter, P, has taken a bit of a liking to this family and feeds them any meaty scraps we may have. It took the birds about a day to work out they were on to a good thing!
These pictures were taken by putting a camera on a bean bag, pre-focusing the lens and then using a remote release. Having said that, I still only a couple of meters from the birds at the time each photograph was taken. Live view on the LCD and a 'quiet' shutter release setting also help things along.
These bird make a wonderful fluting call - my next project will be to video this.
For the taxonomically minded, this bird is known as Cracticus tibbicen (although this is a recent change of genus from Gymnorhina) which refers pipers or flute players.
There are times when I think the Magpie may have been the model for a number of 'angry birds'!
Now its your turn to join in by clicking the blue button below - you are only a few clicks away from linking up!
Word Verification has been doing strange things in the past 24 hours - please comment if it is still on, I'm doing my best to get it turned off - and I may have succeeded, but it's hard to tell!
This bird is one of a pair that has raised three young in the oak tree in the garden behind our house. The young are now fledged and spend most of the day noisily demanding food from the hard pressed parents.
My daughter, P, has taken a bit of a liking to this family and feeds them any meaty scraps we may have. It took the birds about a day to work out they were on to a good thing!
These pictures were taken by putting a camera on a bean bag, pre-focusing the lens and then using a remote release. Having said that, I still only a couple of meters from the birds at the time each photograph was taken. Live view on the LCD and a 'quiet' shutter release setting also help things along.
These bird make a wonderful fluting call - my next project will be to video this.
For the taxonomically minded, this bird is known as Cracticus tibbicen (although this is a recent change of genus from Gymnorhina) which refers pipers or flute players.
There are times when I think the Magpie may have been the model for a number of 'angry birds'!
Now its your turn to join in by clicking the blue button below - you are only a few clicks away from linking up!
Word Verification has been doing strange things in the past 24 hours - please comment if it is still on, I'm doing my best to get it turned off - and I may have succeeded, but it's hard to tell!
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