A wet week in the garden

Well, as many parts of Australia will be far too aware, this has been a very wet week.  Fortunately I was able to get to the gardens one day and found that the birds were loving all the water!  Here are some colourful Eastern Rosellas Platycercus eximius having a great time in the little pool.  First one had a good shake, then the other, then they both did, so they ended up looking very dishevelled!

 

I manged to get a nice shot of a Crimson Rosella who was watching the antics nearby but preferring to stay dry.  I also managed a picture of an Eastern Spinebill, though sadly its a little out of focus or it would have come close to a decent picture of one of these birds that I always have trouble capturing as they move so fast!

Finally, at long last I also managed to get a shot of a Gang-gang Cockatoo Callocephalon fimbriatum for this blog!  I heard the familiar creaking call and spied one in a tree, however it is a female or perhaps a juvenile (it looks rather young and scraggly in the first photo), apparently young birds are similar to the adult female, with young males differing by having a red crown and forehead and a shorter, less twisted red crest. So, a little disappointing its not a male but I will keep an ear out and hopefully one day I will get a picture of one in the gardens on here for you (though before long they might be heading back up to higher altitudes - they are more common in Canberra in winter). 

We three kings

Three Kings were sitting high up in trees as I walked towards the gardens today - King Parrots Alisterus scapularis to be exact...

A closer look showed that they were three females - so more like Queens than Kings!

I went to eat lunch in my old favourite spot, but before I even got to the bench I was really excited to see that there was a male Galah Eolophus roseicapillus poking his little head out of the nest hole that has been vacant for a while!

He seemed to be on his own, unless his mate is inside there.  I will be keeping an eye out each lunchtime to see!  After sitting down on the bench I only managed a couple of bites of my sandwich before noticing some great photo opportunities for two birds that I'm always having trouble getting nice pictures of: an Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris, doing a great pose in a Grevillea bush, and a wonderful male Superb Fairy Wren Malurus cyaneus in full breeding colours! 

Definitely some photos I'm really pleased with.  The little Fairy Wren kept hopping closer and closer, I wondered if he could smell my cheese sandwich.  The weather is getting quite nippy now, so I'm not seeing so many other people around in the gardens, certainly not eating lunch like me!  I've knitted myself some fingerless mittens that really help with eating lunch and taking photos in the cold weather.

I did bump into someone out and about which was a surprise - Robyn who follows this blog!  We hadn't met before but she guessed who I was by my pink bag.  Such a small world... I gave her sneak preview of some of my blog photos for today, I think she was a bit surprised by the next photo - some poo!  I had wondered if it was wombat poo, as Id heard a Facebook rumour about wombats in the gardens, however turns out it is just Kangaroo poo - though I didn't see any nearby.  Anyhow, it was interesting to know, so thanks Robyn!

I'm still wondering what this is on this Eucalyptus tree - Ive seen a lot of trees with this sort of growth on, anyone out there know? 

Birds and Fairies

At long last, I've now got an Eastern Spinebill and New Holland Honeyeater picture I'm proud of!  In the last week I've had briefer lunches at work so not taken my camera to the gardens, however last Monday was a public holiday in Australia (Anzac day) and I took the opportunity to spend a little longer in the the gardens than usual and went there in the afternoon.  The result was better quality pictures of the more elusive birds in the gardens. The advice of my fellow blogger Mosura definitely helped: waiting patiently and taking lots of shots paid off. 

So, first the Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris - not absolutely perfect as he is looking away from the camera, but the colours and focus are nice:

I then went to the rock garden where I sat for a while watching a New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae flit around a small Banksia bush.  After a while he rested on top of a flower, so I got a few lovely pictures - he was quite fluffy, so may a young one, or just a bit chilly?!

I saw a Red Wattle Bird Anthochaera carunculata sitting on top of a bench.  These birds are very common in the gardens with a distinctive raucous call, however I got a couple of good shots Id like to include here.

I also got a picture of an Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis, the first I'd seen in the gardens.  They have a very pretty bell-like call, which gave away his hiding place in a bush.

Finally, I also got some pictures of fairies! Well, the Superb Fairy-wren  Malurus cyaneus to be exact.  These are probably the hardest ones to get a shot of that I've seen - they are very small, fast movers and pretty shy!  The first is a female, the second and third pictures are a non-breeding male, these only have a blue tail whereas breeding males have a spectacular blue plumage.  Unlike the Galahs, fairy wrens are very promiscuous, apparently females may be courted by up to 13 males in half an hour!  They have a complex social structure, described here on this blog, where territories over-lap and a number of birds help bring up the young. 

I went to the gardens today, with the intention of doing the same and getting some better bird pictures to add to this collection.  I took a fantastic picture of a non-breeding male Fairy Wren with a lovely blue tail, however the memory card in my camera went loopy and wouldn't let me take any more pictures and appears to have wiped my Fairy Wren masterpiece, gutted!  So, that may be 'the one that got away'...

Lambertia and the elusive Eastern Spinebill

The gardens really are alive with so many beautiful flowers at the moment, particularly ones that produce nectar, like this lovely Lambertia inermis

The first picture shows the flower in bloom, the second is yet to open, caught in a ray of sunlight.  I sat on a bench nearby for quite a while, as a little Eastern Spinebill  Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris was flitting from flower to flower, feasting on the nectar.  Could I get a good shot of him? No!! Im determined to get a good picture of one of these one day, but sadly, my attempts this time were no better than my last attempt.  A very kind person might call the first picture an 'action shot'?! 

I took a look again at the hole in the Eucalyptus tree that the romantic Galah's were investigating the other day and I can confirm, they are nesting!  One of them was busy moving in and out of the hole, disappearing for some time completely within the tree, while the other was having a snooze.  Wonder which was male and which was female?!

A Mighty Dragon

At the weekend I spent a very peaceful Sunday afternoon in a quiet corner of the garden with my knitting, while Edd (my partner) was at work at Tidbinbilla.  I found a lovely bench surrounded by wattle bushes and saw plenty of birds, including a Gang-gang Cockatoo Callocephalon fimbriatum.  A family of cheeky Kangaroos were nearby, nibbling on the flora - lucky for them no gardeners were near!  But, unfortunately I ignored the golden rule on Sunday - no camera! So, I returned to this great spot in the garden today (high up above the rock garden, looking across the city to mount Ainslie) to see what would visit...

It wasn't long before a small gang of Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris appeared.  As they were flitting from branch to branch it was tricky to get a picture, but this one came out ok:

These birds feed on nectar, of which there seems to be an abundant supply in the gardens at the moment.  A constant buzzing can be heard as bees gorge themselves on Bottlebrush Callistemon and Grevillea beadleana, both pictured below (with bees!).  The Grevillea beadleana is a rare and endangered plant from Northern NSW, thought to be extinct until rediscovered in the 1970s!

My favourite encounter this lunchtime had to be this large Water Dragon.  I love taking pictures of reptiles, they are so beautiful with their amazing patterned skin that nearly always takes a great photo, and best of all, they usually like to stay still and pose for me!