Celibate and Sane: Some Wildlife Photos Taken In Our Backyard

August 28, 2010

Some Wildlife Photos Taken In Our Backyard

Just in the past few weeks, the rainbow lorikeets have been dropping by for a visit at our house .... ok, probably because we've putting out some seeds for the wild birds in the area. I don't think they care whether we're here or not. Most of the time they let us get quite close, and they seem to be as curious about us as we are about them, though usually their attention is focussed more on a good feed.

There's also been a very friendly laughing kookaburra who takes food right out of my hand. He's very gentle though a bit skittish but recognises that I'm a friend with food. As soon as he saw me the other day, he flew straight over.

As a rule I don't feed birds because I don't want to encourage them to rely on us, but I don't mind giving them a little supplement to their diet.

Within ten minutes of the kookaburra we had another visitor on our back porch. I'd seen the spotted turtle-dove on several occasions but had never seen it so close. Because the bird was so skittish, I had to hide around the corner where it couldn't see me and take photos blindly in the hope of getting some decent shots before it took off. Here they are:

The night before I took the following photo, when we had a local brushtail possum jump into the tree overhanging our back verandah. I'd been hearing his grunting and growling nearby for a few weeks now, and was fortunate enough to get a half good shot before he disappeared.

We also had a visit from an Australian King Parrot. I've never seen a wild one before, and certainly none in our neighbourhood. He must have spotted the Rainbow Lorikeets feeding out of our seed bowl on the clothesline and was helping himself to a feed. JD and I dashed outside to try and get a few photos before he disappeared:

I also managed to grab this shot of a bug that looks a bit like a wasp of some kind, but I'm not quite sure what it is.

Then there were two VERY interesting moths in our laundry:

And a close-up of a butterfly who got lost in our laundry and couldn't find his way out to the sunshine.

All in all, a very successful time with my camera.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Personal Quotes from Vicki-S

"Occasionally I find my breakfast a little bitter, and sometimes it's difficult to chew and swallow; though at other times it's sweet, but it’s very satisfying and always sustains me. My most important meal of the day, is feasting on God’s Word and drinking up His presence."

I love me, because God loves me. It's not that God doesn't see my flaws, they are like blazing torches in His eyes, but rather that He sees past my imperfections and still loves me. And who am I to argue with the perfect God that I am worthwhile, that I am worthy of love, and that He accepts me and wants me to be His child, His beloved daughter? When I understood this, I began to accept and embrace His version and His vision of me, and not the world's.

"The silent treatment and sulking are simply two other weapons in the arsenal of the manipulator."

"Often people use the metaphor of a butterfly emerging from its cocoon to describe how we can grow from difficult experiences, but what they don't mention is the fact that at first we start off as an ugly caterpillar."

"We so often just get caught up in trying to just get through each day, that we forget to pause and be thankful for the fresh one that is presented anew and untouched each morning."

"Contrary to what we might think, forgiveness isn't so much about healing our relationship with that other person, but about healing our own broken heart."

"The purpose of school reunions is to show off how much you've achieved in life, to laugh at the once popular kids who've aged more quickly than you; and to wince at the guy who was a bully in school and who aptly became a policeman."

"I've found in many organisations where volunteers are needed, including the modern-day church, that 80% of its people sit back and let everyone else do most of the work, then there's the 10% who actually make the place run, and the remaining 10% just like to whinge about the 10% doing the work, especially about how they could do it better."

"When traced back to its source, every sin, every despicable act, and every war was motivated by someone's selfishness."

"I do not want to think of man, for that would distract me from God. But if I focus on God, I cannot help but think of my fellow man, and each day God keeps the scales balanced so that I have enough within me to do both."

"Overcoming depression isn’t about changing ones attitude, or just ‘getting on’ with things, it’s like removing one’s personal black shroud one thread at a time, with ones teeth.”