Nests in all shapes and sizes

complete with Willy Wagtail

like this one

Magpie Lark (aka Pee-Wee)

 found attached to a bicycle that had been stored, in a farm-shed.  Seems the bird/s have built upon the same nest perhaps over successive years.

from a previous post that included the Olive-backed Oriole; she had been doing the final finishing touches of weaving around the top edges of this nest

and finally, the beautiful little Jacky Winter in such a weeny nest.

the people's park ...

looking like little packets of of popcorn

on the pine trees

in this pine forest section

at Centennial Park, in the heart of the city of Sydney, it's the peoples park

then to this stand of Melaleucas - it sounded like lots of birds in there

but it was lots of chattering bats instead

Scarlet Honeyeater

...try chasing this little beauty!  Adrenalin was high and no time to play with binoculars and see it well and truly defined as I might've loved to do.   If I can manage a round of snaps, then I will lift the bins.

I know there's nothing quite like seeing it up close in the binoculars, but I want to bring the memory on home with me to share

this way ...I'm over here 

aaaaah, that's it; don't move ...thanks Scarlet!

Location: Bingara, N.S.W.
Birds in Backyards Factsheet here

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

... on Golden Sedums

Australian Painted Lady, an 'urban' butterfly that migrates from N.S.W. in great numbers in spring, moving on a front that extends for about 580 km inland from the coast. (Aust. Museum).  That's 360 miles!  I had no idea butterflies achieved this; no wonder some might look a little tattered.

On the weekend, I was surprised to find quite a lot of these butterflies hovering over an edging border of flowering Golden Sedums.   I don't know how butterfly bloggers manage their lovely macro shots, cause whenever I tried to get closer to them, they'd shift camp.

Trying to get a photo while the wings were open was next to impossible too, they seemed to only open them momentarily, and then closed again..

The Australian Museum website here reports that in 1889, this butterfly migrated in such great numbers that they blackened the sky.  Trains were unable to get traction because of them resting on the tracks!  

River Red Gum - the big one at Bingara, N.S.W.

High on the banks of the Gwydir River sits a somewhat mystical Lord of the Rings style tree;  a River Red Gum it is.

it's the tallest tree in this photograph

maybe nothing spectacular from here, that's it in the middle; let's walk down the slope and look closer shall we?

and it's a fair drop down to the water from here too

but over the years, floods have undermined it

Little Black Cormorant down by the bridge.

the centre of N.S.W.

the 'birding' was sweet over there in the bushland

 Believed to be, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill 

some kind of wildflowers - didn't get to see them any closer though 

 as dry as the ground was, in some areas it fostered expanses of these little paper daisies.  At a distance, like a mirage, they looked much like a salt-pan

Emu bush Eremophila longifolia

and another

a place in the country ...

at Tottenham, N.S.W.



 looking like Hoary-headed Grebe

Pacific Black Ducks?

and over in those bare trees, middle of photo ...

this Yellow-billed Spoonbill

while this one looks to be the Royal Spoonbill perhaps, with seemingly a darker bill

Black Swan

lots of white Paper Daisy growing here