The Dragons are back - but no sign of the Gang-gangs

On Wednesday the garden was full of Gang-gang cockatoos Callocephalon fimbriatum - I could hear them everywhere and saw about 10 of them.  I even saw a pair doing a sort of mating dance, where they gave each other little pecks.  Of course, when I went back on Friday with my camera there wasn't one to be seen, so I still haven't got a picture of one for my blog!  They seemed to have been replaced by Crimson Rosellas - and love was in the air for these too.  The Pryor tree has a pair nesting in a hole, I got a very cute picture of one peeking out, I thought I saw a little one beside her too at one point, but I might have imagined it!

To make up for the lack of Gang-gangs I was pleased to find plenty of Water Dragons back in the gardens, the last time I saw one to take a picture of for this blog was for my second blog post, back in March! I saw a small one too - it looks like its a baby dragon. 

 After seeing so many Waratahs last weekend at Mount Tomah I remembered the picture I took earlier in the year (April) of a Braidwood Waratah seedpod (Telopea mongaensis).  I found the plant again and it was bursting into bloom, some seedpods are still clinging on though you can just see in the first picture. 

 I found a couple more pretty flowers I'd not seen before too, a beautiful Orchid Telychiton tarberi at the entrance to the Rainforest, which is an epiphyte (attaches itself to the trunk of trees).  This appears to be referred to commonly as 'king orchid' which I can see why, its quite spectacular. 

I also found this beautiful purple flower in the Grevillea/Hakea section, it looks more like a Hakea to me but I couldn't find a label on it. 

Merry Merry King of the Bush

Today I thought I'd blog about some of the magnificent trees in the gardens, as they haven't really featured in my blog as yet and there are so many great trees!  So, I started out in the obvious place to me, the Eucalypt Lawn.  There are about 800 species of the genus Eucalyptus and this almost endemic flowering tree dominates the Australian flora in the non-desert regions.  The Eucalypt Lawn has many different examples of the species laid out beautifully, creating a feeling of grandeur. 

As I wandered across the lawn I noticed some interesting species common names - such as the large-fruited blackbutt Eucalyptus pyrocarpa and the Nunniong Gum Eucalyptus elaeophloia, 'discovered' in 1990, according to this CSIRO publication!  

However, as I walked through the trees I heard the unmistakable laugh of the Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae.  I was very excited, as I knew there are Kookaburras about as they often come to the trees outside my office, but I figured to take a picture of them there is 'cheating' as its not in the gardens, so I've been waiting to find them here.  He was quiet for a bit, but then I spotted him sitting on a small tree, so I got a good shot as he surveyed the ground below:

Then he swooped down for his lunch!  He was so quick and gobbled it up all at once that I only managed to get a picture when it was all gone:

So, I was somewhat distracted from my plan to blog about trees!  I did notice one of the Eucalyptus trees had what looked like little branches growing out of it's trunk, I wonder if it was some Mistletoe recently attaching itself?

Unfortunately, it was already time to head back to the office, so the tree blog will have to wait for another day.  However, on my way back I noticed a number of interesting flowers beginning to bloom and discovered they were of the Hakea genus.  According to ANPSA these are often thought of as a poor relation to Grevillea, but I thought they deserve better than that, particularly the Hakea kincora which is an unusual and very pretty globular Hakea. 

Another couple of Hakeas are pictured below, the delicate Hakea cycloptera according to Wikipedia commonly called the 'Elm-seed Hakea' and Hakea nodosa which apparently has a pungent smell, though I can't say I noticed!

Admittedly, the Grevilleas are stunning and two more species I noticed were in flower today, so I will finish with some pictures of two beauties from Western Australia.  The first is Diels Grevillea Grevillea dielsiana - though according to that website it should flower in August-September, I suppose it behaves differently here in the East?!  The other is the rare Collie Grevillea Grevillea ripicola, which is said to flower at this time of year or in late spring.