Thursday 16 April 2009

Visiting My Sister

Recently I made a trip back to Australia, and for much of my visit, I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law. I thought readers might be interested in seeing some of the photos I took in their garden.

This is a view of the back garden, which backs on to a bush park.

A Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans eating the seeds of a sycamore in the garden.

A Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes

A Chequered Copper butterfly Lucia limbaria, very colour co-ordinated with the chrysanthemum it is feeding on.

Bungee, my parents' dog, causing havoc in the waterlilies. Bungee is a Kelpie, an Australian breed of cattle herding dogs. She is a lovely dark chestnut colour, very lively and clever, and difficult to keep from getting bored.

Early one morning she found this Spotted Marsh Frog Limnodynastes tasmaniensis. My father rescued it from her attentions, but it remained defensively puffed up for quite a while.

With rather undignified consequences...



Susan

9 comments:

chm said...

Yes, indeed, interesting photos of down under. Are these native birds or do they occur somewhere else in southern Asia? Same thing for the butterfly.

Is that a Michelin grenouille? Sure is big.

Do I recognize your father next to your sister?

I'm always amazed to find out that exotic places look more or less like my backyard, wherever that is!

Susan said...

CHM: All wildlife endemic to Australia as far as I know. The frog wasn't that big really – maybe 80mm, but he certainly was doing his best impression of the Michelin Man.

That's not Dad, it's my brother-in-law.

Barbara said...

Hi Susan,

Australian animals are so fascinating, because they only exist on your continent and very unique.
I love the native birds. I would rather see these beautiful creatures in the wild instead of in cages of a pet shop.

Thanks for sharing these pictures.

Jean said...

Susan, that bright pink bird is just amazing and so beautiful.

Susan said...

Jean: They are common, and can become quite tame if you feed them.

Susan said...

Barbara: I'm not a fan of caged birds either.

mmh said...

Love the picture of the 'upside down' frog :-)) MMH

Susan said...

MMH: The poor little thing...and we're all laughing at its predicament...:-))

Ken Broadhurst said...

Very nice post and pictures. Thanks.

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