Wild Bird Wednesday 129 - Looking back at 2014

What a year its been.  I have been a little more widely traveled than normal and have seen so great wildlife - I have visited many great blogs and often felt more than a little jealous!  And I have been encouraged and supported by the comments on this (and my wordy) blog.

As we wonder what 2015 will bring, here are some of my favourite bird images from 2014.

American Avocet, Arizona

Broad-Billed Humming Bird, Arizona 

Crested Shrike-Tit, Phillip Island, Australia

Crested Tern, Mud Island, Australia

Curlew Sandpiper, Lake Lonsdale, Point Lonsdale, Australia

Fairy Terns, Mud Island, Australia

Gang Gang Cockatoo, Halls Gap, Australia 

Kookaburra, Halls Gap, Australia

Puffins, Farne Islands, UK

Rainbow Lorikeet, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia  

Silver Gull, Mud Island, Australia

Now its your turn!  Click the familiar blue button and off you go to the wild world of WBW.

An InLinkz Link-up

Indoors and Outdoors

One of the things that blogging gives you is a tiny glimpse into the lives of other people - and one of the things that I enjoy most is see what other people are up to in different seasons to the one I am in.

It still surprises me the number of 'I'd forgotten it was not winter with you' type comments from the Northern Hemisphere!

Anyway - these two images are a result of me thinking about these differences and similarities.

The first image is taken indoors - where I assume the state of our loving room is very similar to many in other parts of the world.  I also decided to play with zooming during a long exposure - and the chaos and confusion seems appropriate for Christmas!  And before anybody asks, the blurred vision is nothing to do with red wine or fine Tasmanian malt whiskey (honest!)

The second picture is about summer - not the bright blue sky, the cricket on the radio nor sandy days at the beach. Its about the background hum of insects - the white noise of summer.

While me and H were taking a bit of a walk - all 850m of it! - we found this bee swarm in a bird box.  I can only assume that there were no birds in it!

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

twas the night before…….

Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
 not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  

But out on the wires over my garden this beast was making its presence known with its raucous call and general bad behaviour!

It's a Brush-Tailed Possum, probably on the way to stock up for Christmas on my vegetables!

It's the evening here, so my Christmas day is almost over, hope your day goes (is going) well!  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 128 - Superb Fairy Wren

I can't help but think that if I had seen models of birds like this as a kid I would have thought that they were just a Christmas tree decoration!  How time change.

I found this superb Superb Fairy-Wren last week in a pause between showers.  Superb indeed.

I just want to thank all the people who have linked, clicked, commented and hopefully enjoyed WBW this year.

128 weeks is a long time, but as far as I know, I and WBW will still be here each Wednesday for 2015!

Consider these a Christmas gift from Australia, where it is summer and the days are long. SM

Click on the blue button below to join in with WBW.

An InLinkz Link-up

Bryce

This is Bryce.  Most days he sits outside of The Body Shop in Camberwell, selling The Big Issue.

I don't know why Bryce is homeless, but I do know that last year his wife fell and broke her hip.  Badly.  I know this because he told me when I asked him 'how are you going?' as I bought my regular copy the magazine from him.  It was like he just wanted somebody to tell, and I happened to be that somebody.

I don't know why Bryce is homeless, but I do know he is well spoken, unfailingly polite and always keen for a conversation, or even just a brief hello.

I don't know why Bryce is homeless, and neither do I know why our current government seems to think that people who have fallen on hard times, or who have suffered at the hand of bad luck, are the ones responsible for whatever fiscal issues (they imagine) our country has.

I don't know why Bryce is homeless, and I don't really know if my regular purchases of The Big Issue help to keep him afloat.  But I hope they do.

I do not share the religious beliefs that many of our politicians claim to hold, but at this time of year if we cannot hold out a hand to help those who have fallen, then when can we do it?

In the midst of the excess and wealth of the season, we need to find a space for those who are not so lucky.

Hope you all have a happy, restful and above all else, peaceful Christmas.   Cheers SM

A sky from carols

Earlier this week we had our schools carol evening - music from the kids and 'community singing' during which most people sat silently.

The evening was about as wintry as it gets in December here - if you had a jacket you were wearing it, and if you had a spare one you were very popular.

The wind - more or less straight from the Antarctic - calmed down later on, and there were a few nice clouds.

These may not look like classic Christmas cards, but they are what we get here instead of snow!

You can find more (possibly pre-christmas) skies at Sky Watch Friday.