Morning coffee with the birds

f/5.6 1/1000 ISO 160 300mm

Today the sun was so warm and beautiful that when it was time to stop for our 10.30 cup of coffee the chairs were set up in the swimming pool yard in the open fronted shade house. It has been a while since we behaved like rich people on holidays and it was great fun!
Earlier I had noticed that a greenish honey eater was flitting back and forth among the bromiliad blooms and it was not really being very timid to me standing only a few feet away. When we carried the coffees downstairs I also took my camera and tripod - just in case.

f/7.1 1/640 sec ISO 160 300mm

I didn't have long to wait. The honey eater came to the plants quite close to where we were sitting - but when I stood up to go to the camera it flew away.
Not to be out done I lowered the tripod so that I could use the camera without having to move - except to put the coffee down and switch the camera on!
I must have taken twelve shots of the bird (its a good thing I shoot digital - this hobby would be very expensive if I had to pay for film and developing!). Some were acceptable and some were to be discarded because the flowers were in the way or the bird turned his head away at the wrong moment.
I rather like the shot of the bird hovering under the flowers, it only did this for a couple of seconds before alighting on another plant. Our honey eaters are not like the humming birds, they prefer to hang upside-down from branches rather than hover and feed. They will hover briefly but they are far too heavy to keep it up for long.
AJ

Mutton Bird Island Nature Reserve

Sunday arrived with sunshine and a wonderful mild temperature so it was perfect for a quick visit to Mutton Bird Island. We parked the car at the end of the jetty overlooking the trawler fleet and walked along the man made causeway that has been constructed between the island and the mainland to create a safe harbour. We passed the large and expensive looking yachts and pleasure craft and the fishing charter boats and tourist boats to reach the steep climb on to Mutton Bird Island.

When we saw just how steep the track was we did hesitate - but determination got the better of us and off we went - but slowly! It was encouraging to encounter younger people struggling! That made me feel a lot fitter!

Looking back to take photos was a good excuse to stop for a breather! So I have quite a few pictures.

I also used my son's hard drive camcorder to take some shots so I should be able to make up a little video once I am home.
There is actually not a lot to see on this "island" the mutton birds or "shearwaters" come out at night time, during the day they are snuggled down inside earth burrows. The young birds have hatched by now and will leave in April so they should have lost most of their fluff by now - the parent birds are supposed to return to feed the young in the evening and find their offspring with lots of whistling by parent and young. Since the island is shut to the public in the evening, I don't think anyone except the rangers who do a head count and put rings on the young, ever see the birds! We were only able to see a few of the holes that were near to the concrete track.

There are no trees on the "Island" so really there is little point in making the trip - except that the view back to Coffs Harbour is second to none! It took my breathe away.

We feel so lucky to have been able to visit Mutton Bird Island on a perfect day - and with such beautiful clouds to make the sky look good.

AJ

Coast green patches

The Gold Coast in South East Queensland is known as a holiday destination with great beaches and lots of nightclubs. However the Gold Coast has much more than entertainment for the transient visitor. On Saturday I dragged my very patient husband along for a walk in one of the four National Parks in the Gold Coast region. The park we visited has views of the beautiful bays and beaches of the 'Coast and is very popular both with walkers, like ourselves, and surf enthusiasts with board tucked under one arm as they make their way along the paths to access to the rocks below the headland. This park is known as Burleigh Heads National Park.

In spite of the constant flow of people on the one track around the edge of the headland the bush is quite unspoilt - except for patches of asparagus fern that must have been brought in as seed by visiting birds.

A spectacular feature of the park is the sight of so many huge rock columns tumbled about in the trees and undergrowth. The headland is formed of Basalt. For a long time I understood these shapes to be "Crystals" but basalt is not a mineral so these six sided shapes were formed not by mineral growth but by lava from a long extinct volcano, cooling and cracking.

My purpose in visiting this National Park was to take photos and being fascinated by rocks and minerals I could not resist taking a couple of shots. In heavy rains the rocks are inclined to change their position on the hill so I could not resist taking a shot of the warning sign. Last night there was an exceptionally heavy fall of rain so I would imagine that the park gates would have been locked today to prevent the public from walking past what must be a very unstable hillside.

Tomorrow I will share a couple of shots I took of the wildlife that I saw on this walk on Burleigh Heads National Park,

AJ