Earlier this month, I drove up to Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday Region to celebrate the 40th birthday of my close friend, Kat. Photo by Luke Martin. Our time there overlapped for one weekend, in which we enjoyed swims, drinks, hearty dinners and a sailing adventure around the islands. The celebrations and wonderful catch-ups flew by quickly, but when Kat and her husband Luke flew back down south on Sunday, I still had a week's worth of time at my disposal to explore the nature of Queensland's coast. I started with a journey into the forests of Conway National Park, just a ten minute drive east of Airlie Beach. I spent a sunny, humid morning walking up to the peak of Mount Rooper, through vine scrub and eucalypt forest. It was exhilarating! I immediately saw a new species of bird for me in the carpark there, a female olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis). After so much rain earlier in the week, the forest floor was also teeming with amazing fungi! After lunch back in town,
glad the bird didn't get your eyes! eek! interesting fungi.
ReplyDeleteMe too! It would've been an ironic way to end my birdwatching hobby...
DeleteBeautiful photos! The fungi and the ticker are very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gunilla. I enjoyed studying both those things in the wild myself!
DeleteI’m sorry Christian but I had a little laugh about your encounter with a Grey Butcherbird. As you can imagine, if I were to visit that street I would be rather hoping the birds might attack me for the resultant close up views and pre-alerted by you I would take both camera and appropriate headgear.
ReplyDeleteFascinating information about the powderpuff although it does rather resemble something else!
I can imagine how some people would react to a Black Tree Ticker landing on them but it is of course quite a little beauty.
Thank you for your usual informative and entertaining post.
Haha, that's ok Phil, most people I told about the attack laughed about it!
DeleteI tried to word the reproductive strategy of the fungus carefully so that I didn't emphasize the phallic nature of it. I stayed away from words like 'penetrate' and 'spurt', haha!
Glad you enjoyed the post.
Eek!! To be attacked by a bird would scare me somewhat. But your photos and your commentary was super this week!! Very informative post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your link today at I'd Rather B Birdin'!!
Thank you for hosting it, Anni! Yes, the swooping Butcherbird made me jump and sped up my heart-rate - it's not something I expected to happen! Glad you enjoyed reading though.
DeleteLove the purple swanhen and the beeeater. I did see both of them on my visit last week. :) :)
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you are familiar with these birds! :)
DeleteI'm surprised to see the cicadas out and about already. Great shots of our wildlife here on your blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Diane. I think the Black Tree Ticker is an 'early-riser' compared to some other cicada species, but yes, he's certainly out and about right now!
DeleteYour spring is just wonderful! That fungi is fascinating! Attacked by a butcher bird! Oh my! I bet you got too close to a nest, or something. Love the cicada and that purple swamphen reminds me of the moorhen on another blog. My favorite is the rainbow beeeater. Such a beautiful bird!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marie, yes the Bee-eater is a stunning bird. I think the European species is even pretty with it's red tones.
DeleteI have no bad feelings about the swooping butcherbird, but it is from a family of birds in Australia (including our own version of a Magpie) that are very territorial and aggressive birds in the spring. They will dive-bomb and harass people even if their nest is a good forty metres away or so. The irony is, they are some of the friendliest, most trusting and lovely of birds at other times of the year!
Nice post. We have hd a few days of spring here, but now hard rain, winter rain, clatters into the windows. I need to put another log on the fire!
ReplyDeleteCheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Ah yes, good old Melbourne! My friend from the UK has just visited there and she looks like she is dressed for the English winter in all of her photos :)
DeleteSpring is a distant memory here as we head into autumn Christian - that's one of the reasons I love your blog so much.
ReplyDeleteThat fungus is amazing. Our Dung Fungus here seems to exist entirely on Cow dung so they're definitely specialists! I love that Ticker too - such beautiful wings. Enjoy the sun!
Yes, I was quite mesmerized by that fungus too! I probably wouldn't have hovered so close by if it had been growing out of dung though :)
DeleteHonoured that you love my blog, Em! Thank you.
That is such an interesting fungus! Nice shot of the swamphen. They were introduced near our Florida home and quickly adapted to the new habitat. Eradication efforts failed and now we just enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI half expected your sentence to finish off - "now we just enjoy them... with a hint of lemon, served with salad!" :)
DeleteWe have so many invasive animals here in Australia that it always surprises me when our fauna and flora wreaks havoc elsewhere. Apparently our Paperbark Trees are awful for your Everglades also. Sorry about that, and thank you for stopping by to comment!