29 April 2014

Yarramalong Valley - Round Three

following on from previous post (Round Two)...






way in the distance, a White-necked, or Pacific Heron, has flown high into the trees

At some point around now we'd ventured back to the round-house (previous post) for lunch break.  It was the right time to take a quick peak that none had picked up any leeches, and with a casual glance to the concrete floor as I put down my backpack --- one big leech was noted taking a quick hike near to my foot!  

One valiant male sprayed it with repellant, while a female member sitting alongside of me, dropped a pinch of salt on it.  That seemed to work like a general anaesthesia; goodnight leech.  Sorry leech, but somehow they're not the kind of thing you can really feel justified about 'just letting be'.  If it'd been a butterfly I'd have taken a photo to share.




Out in the field, a tall tree, and a Coucal Pheasant  was seen sitting in there.  I hadn't been able to pick it up though, but while I'd walked away to observe the lichen, that's when the Coucal Pheasant flew OUT of the tree, giving all that were watching a great sighting.  You win some, you lose some.

 one of the Stringy-Barks I expect

Like I said on the first of this series, it's not always the birds you see when birding, of course

....and yes, there's more

13 comments:

Pam said...

cool trees!

Stewart M said...

The leach is one of the less attractive of Australia's wild animals!!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Montanagirl said...

Love those trees!

TexWisGirl said...

really love those trees!

your leech encounter reminded me of my wisconsin childhood. we'd go down to wade in mill creek, but before we'd go, we'd break off a piece from the dairy cows' salt block so we could remove the suckers easily. :)

Karen said...

Oh, I love those paperbark trees. You have a good eye, I would have missed that heron.

alp said...

Estupendas imágenes... Muy chulas... Un saludo desde Murcia.

Irma said...

What a great photo's, Carole.
The old tree is truly sublime.
Greetings Irma

Laura said...

Carole, I love the close up pic of the Paperbark tree! It is amazing to see all those layers. Your
Stringy-Bark tree pic is pretty amazing as well! Great to see Australia through your camera lens! Glad you spotted that leach before it found YOU! Nice of the group members to help you! hugs, Laura

Gail Dixon said...

We have three river birch trees in our yard and we call them paper trees because the bark peels off like paper, just like your Melaleucas. That heron is so unusual and gorgeous!

Brian King said...

You have some fantastic looking trees! Can't say that I'd be a fan of leeches, either.

eileeninmd said...

Great report on your walk. I love the trees, lichen and the pretty heron..Beautiful photos, enjoy the rest of your week!

Sue (this n that) said...

Love the closeups of the tree bark.
Glad you saw the leech in time!
It's certainly proving to be an interesting day :D)

Christian Perrin said...

It's funny that you've suddenly presented a lot more trees than you usually do because I too am developing a tree interest suddenly. Those stringybarks are impressive and that's not a paperbark I see much about Brisbane by the look of the leaves.

Leeches are gross, you had a lucky escape!