An adventure at magical Mount Tomah

Mount Tomah is Australia's Mountain Garden, located 1000m above sea level in the northern Blue Mountains.  We were over that way at the weekend so thought we should pay it a visit - it was a glorious sunny spring day (though the day before had been snow flurries!).  Well, it was simply magical.  A small wedding was taking place there that day (you can just make out the bridal party in one of the landscape pictures below) and the whole place was just alive with millions of spring flowers: Waratahs, Rhododendrons and even bluebells! There were some exotic plants there too, such as the beautiful 'magic flower' or 'sacred-flower-of-the-incas'.  All around was the distinctive sound of the Whip-bird and Kookaburra in the trees as the odd lizard scuttled amongst the rocks.  The air was fresh but the sun was warm.  From a viewpoint in the Gondwana woodland we could see Sydney in the distance, a world away. 

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'...

A good day for birds and Banksia

Banksia is a fascinating plant.  Almost endemic to Australia, there are 76 species found all around the perimeter of this vast country.  However, species you find in the East you don't find in the West, and vice versus.  You can find banksia bushes everywhere in the gardens and many of them are flowering at the moment.  The most incredible thing about them though is that they actually propagate by fire.  Most species of these plants need the heat of fire to open their seed follicles! 

Recently I've noticed a lot of New Holland Honeyeaters Phylidonyris novaehollandiae in the garden, which seem to have quite newly arrived (I haven't seen them before).  According to wikipedia, it was the first bird to be scientifically described in Australia. They love to feed on the Banksia nectar.  I tried to get a photo of one as they were feeding on a Silver Banksia Banksia marginata, incidentally the only species of Banksia that occurs naturally in the Canberra region.  However, like the Eastern Spinebill, they are quick movers so a bit elusive, although they are not shy at all and don't seem to worry about me trying to take their picture.  A couple of 'headless' pictures below!

Finally he moved to a tree branch where I had a clear shot,  it was against the light but at least he has a head!

Other species of Banksia were equally favoured by the honeyeaters, I got some nice shots of Hairpin Banksia Banksia spinulosa and another one I  forgot to look at the label on... will update with a name the next time I visit!