glenys mahler

Darter babies – growing up

December 11, 2020

I photographed a family of darters, mum, dad and three chicks a week ago. Now a week on, what a difference! More pics here.

They still look up, watching for a parent to return to feed them. Sadly, there are now only two. I noticed the difference between them previously. These two were much more aggressive about being fed. I imagine the weaker one got pushed out of the nest. They’ve grown so much, there really isn’t any room in it for another one. They are still so soft and downy looking.

This was a week ago.

Now they’ve put on weight!!!.

It’s a Platypus … in the wild

December 10, 2020

A series of shots of an Australian Platypus.

These animals are extremely shy. I couldn’t believe my luck when this one just appeared. I knew it existed but I’d never seen it so close before. It lives in the lagoon, literally just over the track from my front door. I’d had a large glass of wine and gone outside with my camera to enjoy the evening.

It all happened so quickly….. and then he just disappeared under the water.

As I was weeding today…

December 9, 2020

As I was weeding today, I noticed these flowers in my garden.

In spring I threw out a packet of meadow seeds and watered them regularly until they emerged. The packet contained mixed seed. Mostly the poppies seem to to be outnumbering everything else. I found an old sunflower that I had kept and edged the plot with its seeds. In hindsight, that was dumb because the sunflowers hide the poppies and all the rest. So in the midst of the garden these had established a home for themselves.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) Challenge

Flowers – pink to red

December 8, 2020

Some images from my garden as we head into summer.

Turtle

December 7, 2020

I was focused on a bird, when I noticed what I thought was a stick move in the water. He looked at me and I quickly swung the camera around and ‘klicked’ just before he disappeared again.

This might be a friend of his. It was about a month ago. It was just starting to rain a little when my husband spotted him by the edge of the water.

I didn’t have my ‘big’ lens but managed to get quite close to him before he shrank back into his shell.

At least he stayed dry inside his shell.

Canna Lilies

December 6, 2020

I tried to grow Canna Lilies once and gave up. They might have been too dry. Last year I planted them in a spot where I couldn’t forget that they existed. They got plenty of water and did very well. I took seed and am growing some more in my glass house. This orange flower with the striking leaves is my favorite this week.

The flower is also very bright and eye catching.

I also have some red ones flowering at the moment. Perhaps I should have separated them. They may be growing too close together. The bronze leaves below are the orange variety. My grape is benefitting from the extra care the Cannas are getting.

Friendly Friday – Red and Green

December 5, 2020

For the Friendly Friday Challenge

A flowering gum from Australia, in Christmas colors. I think it’s smiling!!!

Darter babies feeding

December 5, 2020

These are the three Darter babies I’ve been watching. Here they are sharing the meal their parents served up to them.

Find their family here.

The Darter Family

December 4, 2020

A family of Australasian Darters has a nest on the water’s edge very close to our house. I spent some time watching their behaviour and was lucky enough to get close enough to get some detailed photographs.

I’m only guessing that the dark bird might be the dad. He took his turn feeding the young and looking after the nest.

Here’s mum, at least I think it’s mum, taking her turn to look after the nest. There are three chicks, two much more active than the third.

And here’s the family portrait. There are three very downy chicks in the nest. The parent birds had their mouths full and fed the chicks. You can see the chicks with full mouths in the pic above.