backyard bird count

Since moving to this street many years ago I've delighted in the open Greenway and canal that run behind us, bringing a huge range of birds into our garden and giving us a bush outlook.

So I was delighted to find the Backyard Bird Count which is running now - a nationwide public survey of birds in Australia. I'm looking forward to adding my observations to the count and sharing the range of birds who call this part of the world home.

I've downloaded the app and plan to do some surveys over the next couple of days, to record our local bird life. It takes just 20 minutes to do a survey, and you can do as many as you want. I think it will be a nice way to slow down, a chance to do something while doing nothing, a sort of mindful meditation.

I'm hoping some of our more exotic visitors plan to drop in so I can record what a truly healthy bird population lives here in the Inner West, so close to the CBD.

There is a page on the website too about bird friendly gardening, for hints to make your space even more welcoming.

Here are some photos of favourite locals who live in my neighbourhood.

midwinter

It's midwinter here in Sydney and its been cold, in fact one of the coldest winters in years. But then its never THAT cold in Sydney! We did go out west in the holidays and see some minus temps and ice skate though.

I love this time of year when the air is crisp but the days are getting longer. I don't mind the cold but I do miss the daylight hours. I'm much happier when we get past the shortest day and we're heading towards spring.

I'm sure the plants sit up and take notice. Spring heralds start flowering. My daphne is out, I saw a magnolia in flower just yesterday and the jasmine is budding up. The last few days there has been a real feeling in the air that warmer times are coming!

The most exciting thing this spring is that I have my garden back. Last year's building work really trampled a lot of the garden as predicted. And changes to our house mean the whole layout of our outdoor space has changed.

These past few weeks though have seen the new garden emerging from the rubble, to the point where I have spent the last couple of days putting new bare root perennials into empty beds! I'm dreaming of how they'll look when they grow, and back to my daily garden walks watching seedlings emerge and shoots appear.

But more of that in another, overdue, garden post!

This post is more a check-in, to say I'm still here, I'm still blogging so please come back and visit me soon. I've been a bit tongue tied, which happens when you don't blog for a while, you get out of the rhythm. But I have some new creative pursuits, an update on our reno and other stuff to share.

Thank you to all those lovely, lovely people who sent messages or left comments here or on instagram about my Dad. Those messages mean so much to me.

Talk soon.

p.s. want to take that pesky new Flickr watermark off your photos, just remove the code between  a and href in the html which says data-flickr-embed="true".

mellow autumn

 SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 

A perfect autumn light filled the garden this morning. I love the crisp sunlight and moody glowing colours of this time of year.

I haven't been doing much gardening lately, I need to get out there and cut some things back and plant some winter vegetables, but time is flitting past and weekends have been busy with other things.

I do have a garden wander everyday though, it is my meditation. I love seeing what is happening out there, my garden and the creatures in it have a life of their own.

I love to see what's thriving, what's flowering, what's changing colour, see fruit ripening, flowers opening.

Yesterday I was delighted to see this white hydrangea tanned to a bright pink and green. I loved the fairy floss of the Euphorbia silver fog delicately hovering over the budding daphne. Such a great plant this one. My maple is slowly turning yellow via this great lime green and the feathery grass has suddenly died back to a rusty brown and collapsed over a bright purple salvia.

The salvias are in their prime, bursting with colour where there was none. The last of the roses are spot blooming and this little native has produced its tiny mini apple berries, which the birds haven't had a chance to steal yet!

All the seeds I put in have been eaten by slugs and snails, the peas, the beans, the spinach. But still the chinese greens are doing their thing and these little globe carrots with their lime feathery leaves.

My first ever mandarins are starting to colour on the little dwarf tree we put in a year ago. It can hardly hold them up. 

My favourite sight this week,  through the kitchen window the other day I saw and photographed this hawk, a brown goshawk or collared sparrowhawk I think. I wish I'd got another photo but I'm happy to have this one, amazing I had my dslr sitting close by with the long lens on. 

I just hope he was eating mice and not my little bird friends!

nature study

We snuck away this past week, to a little house down the coast we have been going to for over ten years now, wow. I was reminded the other day of one of our first trips and when I used to snorkel and swim off the beach. The boys, just toddlers, used to weep and wail on the beach (with their Dad looking after them) till I came safely back. We were a sight! These days they are swimming happily alongside me.

I do miss my babies, but its so wonderful having older children and bushwalking and exploring together. On the last morning I snuck in a quick bushwalk with camera in hand, up the hill directly behind the house. My boys came with me, taking photos of the lizards and birds, coming across the skeleton of an old 20s car chassis, leeches in the wetland pools, a beehive in an old tree, frogs and birds and insects. It was fun discovering and exploring this new trail with them.

It makes me so happy that they share our love for the natural world, for walking and swimming and fishing and exploring. I was tickled when we ran into an older local man on our walk, in the middle of nowhere, carrying fuzzy boom mikes and other bags of paraphernalia. He greeted us with the words 'loving the planet?'. When I asked him about his equipment he told me he was going to record the sounds of a nearby creek in flood. Apparently every creek has a slightly different soundscape of tinkles and trills and he likes to record them.  A kindred spirit. I only wish I'd had the time to come and sit quietly in the sun and listen with him!

We encountered a couple of my favourite birds while we were away, the blue crane and the black cockatoo, and luckily I had my 'bird lens' at hand. I also captured this little Eastern Spinebill through the kitchen window one day.

I have some more photos of our time away but I'll save them for another post.

leaving the nest

Do you remember the other day I told you about the birdie neighbours who moved in while we were away. The spot they chose was right next to our back door. Unfortunately for them, not only are we noisy, but we are nosy too! We couldn't resist sidling in close a couple of times to peer inside the nest, to see how those cute little babies were going.

I am pleased to say Mum and Dad BulBul were fantastic parents, really wonderful. The feeding schedule they kept up with insects and berries was very impressive. And when they couldn't fly in for a feed they would sit patiently by until the coast was clear. That was usually our cue to get out of the way, however by the end they got much braver and would fly in whether you were sitting on the deck nearby or not, and whether I was pointing my camera at them or not. So I managed to get a couple of pics as the babies grew.

And grow they did! All too quickly it seemed they were growing out of their little nest, opening their eyes and stretching up to ask for food. I wasn't ready for them to grow up so quickly! (Every mother's lament!)

Suddenly the other day they were sitting right up on the edge of the nest, stretching their wings, it looked precarious. And then one of them ventured out on to the surrounding branches. The rain had just started and the forecast was for torrential rain and strong winds. I tried to explain to them it wasn't a good time to be leaving that warm hidey hole!

You can see in my photos that those loving parents though were urging them on. Suddenly one of the babies slipped through the leaves and flew across to the nearest tree, and then the next and then the last.

They sat for a while, bedraggled, in the rain and I managed to get some photos. They looked way too little and defenceless to be out there on their own. I kept going out to check on them but all at once the family had disappeared into the darkening afternoon.

The storm came after that, perhaps it came to your place too. It was wild, and wet and fierce. I lay awake and worried about them as the rain beat down. The next day I searched the sodden garden but there was no sign of them.

Today, I heard twittering outside my room. A camellia and magnolia grow right beside the window and sometimes the birds come inside to feed on the flowers. I crept up to to look out through the blinds and look who was there. Just two babies I'm afraid, but growing strongly and accompanied by their careful parents (below).

I've been watching this week on instagram other babies leaving the nest, off to preschool or prep, to kindie or high school. I've watched their mothers care for them and guide them on their journey, often with tears in their eyes. My boys started year six this week, which is hard to believe. Its taking some getting used to all round. Love to everyone with new beginnings - I wish you the happiest transitions!

Next week I'm hosting another giveaway here on Flower Press, with a creative prize to get you organised for the year. So please come back and join the fun next week.