Random riches (Sept 2020)

This post shares some photos rewarding the "plan" of having my camera with me when out and about in the car. This does not always happen, though by now I should do it as a matter of course!

With the exception of the final photo in this post, the days on which these sightings happened were not clear sunnay days often associated with our spring weather. If anything, this merely serves to highlight the inherent beauty a sighting of each bird can offer by brightening up otherwise dull days.

First up I have the riotous pallette of the eastern rosella. This one surveying its domain from a perch on top of a brick chimney on the house next door to where my mum & dad live. It is very difficult not to admire the range of colours: bright, stark, pastel ... red, yellow, green, white, black and shades in between that all "blend" just right 😁; one of nature's true gifts to us.

I include this next photo not so much for the bird as the barrenness of the built environment on which it was doing its best to forage 😖. The contrast (to me, atleast) between the striking plumage of the crested pigeon and the brick herring-bone paving could not be more stark. Many of our birds are masters at urban adaptation for survival - when you contrast this with several photos in the next post, I'm sure the equally stark contrast a more natural environment makes will not be lost on you (may we preserve more of them for a long time!!).

The next two photos offer a wonderful glimpse of a single and then pair of galahs - always real clowns, here they are showing off in a very high wind (for those who know the area, the wind was a howling south-easter) on the dome of the Ballina Lighthouse. You will see galahs also feature strongly in the next post.

The next pair of photos are a buff-banded rail foraging by the side of the road. This one was being especially co-operative and not skulking off making to difficult for me to capture their varied palette based on browns and rusts. The road side environment allows a sense of how well their camouflage works in the green grass as well as the leaf litter.

Next up is a single welcome swallow taking a rest on a rusting barbed wire fence line. Just keeping half an eye on the photographer making sure he did not get too close - a cheeky glance over the shoulder 😊. Here the barbed wire offers excellent context for sizing the bird.

Late one afternoon we visited some friends near home for a catch up and drinks and nibbles. The following several shots were taken looking across, and in their garden. Each bird has been labelled and the impact of the natural setting is evident in each one. Yes, a dull afternoon, but again, each bird offers something to admire and brighten the view. The first two show how the angle from which the photo is taken can significantly, if not totally alter "what you see" ... while the beauty can certainly be in the eye of the beholder, I am not sure about photos never lying 😋!

Little wattlebird atop a palm frond?

Same little wattlebird revealing its perch!

A plump wonga pigeon grazing under a tree.

Laughing kookaburra in the old gum tree

A closer view for the palette.

Finally for this post, late one afternoon in one of our avocado trees was this eastern rosella. Very high up, but still a clear enough glimpse among the branches and leaves and flowers to appreciate the magnificent palette explored at the beginning of this post. Such a treat for me to savour these birds!