This tree is central to the view we have when we look out the window from the main rooms in the house. Each day the light is different, and each day the fork I have photographed looks slightly different in colour. It never fails to interest me. I have lost count of the number of … Continue reading My Favourite Tree
Month: February 2014
Yellow Rush-lily (Tricoryne elatior)
I photographed these Yellow Rush-Lily flowers at the very end of December, and they were still flowering into January. In these hot Summer months, few flowers are in bloom, so I was ecstatic that they were so plentiful, and also that they took on a different form from many of the wild lily flowers, … Continue reading Yellow Rush-lily (Tricoryne elatior)
Mudlark or Magpie Lark
I’ve grown up calling these birds Mudlarks, and have always had them around my home. When I was a child, we rescued an almost fledged chick, which managed to tumble from a nest at the top of an electricity pole. There was no hope of getting it back up there, so we kept in inside … Continue reading Mudlark or Magpie Lark
Exotic: Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea)
This pretty flower has had my attention for a month or two now. There is a very small patch of them growing along the front fence. In Summer, when hardly any flowers are in bloom, it was a lovely show for a while. However, I’ve just identified the plant as an Exotic species, or weed, … Continue reading Exotic: Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea)
Digging up Spuds!
Months and months ago, I found an old bag of seed potatoes that looked past their best. They were all withered and sending out shoots into the air. Although I didn’t hope for much, I decided to put them in the ground to see what happened. Miracle of miracles, they grew! Yesterday, Richard dug … Continue reading Digging up Spuds!
A Gallery of Hollows: Part 1
Native wildlife often rely on tree hollows for shelter and a place to raise young. We have so many interestingly shaped tree hollows, and I’ve just started to photograph them. I’ve called this post ‘Part 1″ because I’m sure there will be a follow-up with more!
Black-Faced Cuckoo Shrike
Strolling around with my camera mid-afternoon on a hot January day, I saw this fellow sitting high in a tree: a Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike. These are the times when I wish I had a telephoto lens. The bird was just sitting there, relaxed and I had the opportunity to take several shots before it moved to … Continue reading Black-Faced Cuckoo Shrike
Pale Grass-lily (Caesia parviflora)
Although the field guides I consulted describe this flower as ‘blue to lilac – rarely greenish-white” I do believe we have the greenish-white Pale Grass-Lily growing here. Searching for white lilies that grow in the Corangamite region on the VicVeg website, I found images of the Pale Grass-Lily that were white-flowered, like ours. Perhaps the … Continue reading Pale Grass-lily (Caesia parviflora)
Oops! It’s a boy!
Using adult Eastern Grey Kangaroo sex identification markers, I seized on the joey’s white chest fur to boldly proclaim that it was a female in an earlier post. As the joey grows and matures, the white fur is turning brown and it is becoming increasingly obvious that I was wrong. He’s all boy! Most mornings … Continue reading Oops! It’s a boy!
Predators:
Occasionally when I am out walking, I come across finds like this: I will never know how each particular bird or animal died (we’ve also found two possums – one ring-tail, the other a brush-tail) but essentially there are five possibilities: The animal died of natural causes A native predator killed it (owl, eagle etc) … Continue reading Predators:
Fifteen Acres 