The Last Weekend of May

FF
The Acacia dimidiata are in bloom as this pollen laden bumble bee can attest.
FF

FF
With the grass seeds becoming more avaiable I am starting to see more birds like Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus.
FF
FF
The White-breated Cuckoo-shrike Coracina papuensis is trying to eat some mysterious green seed pod.
FF
FF
This Great Bowerbird Chlamydera nuchalis had to check me out after I had interupted its nest building.
FF
FF
The Turkey Bush Calytrix brownii is starting to bloom.
FF

FF
The close up of Mistletoe Amyema sanguineeum shows how ornate nature can be.
FF
FF
The male Green Parrot Aprosmictus erythropterus was taking a break from teaching its birdlings how to hunt.
FF
FF
The Radjah Shelducks Tadorna radjah are back again. It may be the start of the mating season.
FF

FF

Low Flying Beauty

FF
SwampTiger Danaus affinis on a dandelion.
FF

FF
Scalloped Grass-Yellow Eurema alitha on a polycarpaea longiflora.
FF

FF

MORE THAN I BARGAINED FOR

FF
I thought I was tracking a single White-Bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, who led me on a merry chase. I was very surprised when I looked through the images and realised I had actually photographed at least three different shrikes

An Adult Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike Coracina novaehollandai
FF

FF
A Juvenile Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike Coracina novaehollandai
FF

FF
And An adult White-Bellied Cuckoo-Shrike Coracina papuensis
FF

FF
I was also entertained by a small family of Grey-Crowned Babblers Pomatostomus temporalis.
FF

FF
Babbling all the time of course
FF

FF
All the while under the watchful eye of a solitary Spangled Drongo Dicrurus bracteatus.
FF

FF

Hide And Seek

FF
This Cluster Fig Tree Ficus racemosa has been fruiting for a month now. Sometimes I get the feeling that birds move in trees so they always have a leaf or branch between them and me. This female Figbird Sphecotheres viridis seems to be checking me out from behind the fig leaf.
FF

FF

A Most Common Heron

FF
A freeze frame give us the time to appreciate the beauty, complex structure and colour of what is claimed to be Australia’s most common Heron.
FF

FF
A White-Faced Heron Ardea novaehollandiae caught in the act of flying. I always wondered what these tall birds did with their legs when they fly.
FF

FF

Litchfield Day Three

FF
The rich beauty of Litchfield and the TableTop Range is exemplified by the Cycas caieicola and Hibiscus leptocladus in a setting of rocky outcrops at the start of the Territory dry-season.
FF

FF
Tolmer Falls with plenty of volume after several weeks of dry weather. Frederick Henry Litchfield named the falls in 1865.
FF
FF
The escarpment above Tolmer Falls has several rock pools before the plunge.
FF
FF
This particular Cycad Cycas caieicola only grows here and around the Katherine Area.
FF

FF
Along the top of the escarpment at Tolmer Falls I found the Quinine Tree Petalostigima pubescens.
FF
FF
Near Tolmer Falls is GreenAnt Creek & Tjaetaba Falls.
FF
FF

May Day

FF
The Casuarina trees next to the beach were the safe haven for hundreds of Graphic Flutterers Rhyothemus graphiptera.
FF

FF
Wild Rosella plants Hibiscus Subdantta are growing on the Lee Point road. The flower petals are very tart and I believe the jam that is made from them is excellent.
FF

FF