So, even though it's still winter, it's been warm enough for me to see the first lace monitor (goanna) of the "Spring".
#climatechange #bushlife

The road got graded. No more corrugations. This needs to get done about every 10 weeks; it doesn't always happen. #bushlife #DirtRoad

How it started...
How it's going.

Demolished an old, badly constructed, and rotting walkway between the main house and our lounge/library/office.
Built a new one with proper framing, blackbutt decking and the correct fixings, plus correctly mounted the duct for power and TV aerial/satellite NBN dish, which had been hanging loose under the old deck.

I even recovered a small amount of hardwood that can be rejointed and used in a project at some point.

This should last a while.

#diy #bushlife #dewalt #pryda #hardwood #blackbutt

A bower bird having a bath. Trust me. 😂

It's not really bad photography. This is a video frame chosen precisely because the bird has disappeared 😂

#bushlife
#SatinBowerbird
#BlueMountains
#Australia

A family of #KingParrot hanging out in the #SculptureGarden at the #NationalGallery. I counted 6 flitting about but there may have been more.

#Birds #BirdsOfMastodon #Trees #WildOz #Parrots #BirdsOz #AustralianWildlife #OzBirds #GardeningAU #Canberra #Photo #Australia #BushLife #Nature #Photography

A selection of photos from trail cameras on our property over the past week (ignore the fact I obviously failed to set the date and time on one camera correctly):
- a pair of wonga pigeons (Leucosarcia melanoleuca) at our deer wallow
- a melanistic fallow deer (Dama dama) buck with large, well-developed antlers
- a menil fallow deer buck with strong antler genetics
- one of the local foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

#bushlife #fallowdeer #damadama #fox #vulpesvulpes

Today's fauna story... A tiny (approx 90mm long) brown thornbill just hit our window and fell on the deck, flat on its back, breathing rapidly. I turned him onto his side, and as I moved in for a pic, it leapt to its feet. It's still pretty shaken up, so I left it some water. Hopefully it will be ok. 🤞

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_thornbill

#bushlife
#brownthornbill
#BlueMountains
#australia
#birds

And... It had left the building when I bravely checked, wearing my moto gear...😂 As soon as it saw me looking, it bolted. I've since been securing the basement, and will not be weeding or picking up sticks without heavy bike boots, gloves and long pants.🤔

The Reptile Bloke has IDd it as a tiger snake. Well, shit, fuck, and a sarcastic huzzah. The banding on Wikipedia's example is much more bold/distinct than mine.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_snake

#bushlife
#tigersnake
#BlueMountains
#Australia

Aaiiee aaiiee!! Sitting in my basement man cave, when the wheelbarrow made a noise? Huh? Looked up to see a 1.2m eastern brown snake* between me & the exit.

*Probably. Possibly a deadlier tiger snake, easily confused by non experts (me). Both have stripes.

I just sat still. It moved enough for me to escape, & I called the Reptile Bloke. No answer! Now I dare not enter!

I just was out in the bush earlier, collecting dead branches. No gloves, no shoes...eek!

#venomous
#brownsnake
#bushlife

A wild crimson rosella sitting on wire mesh protecting the feed zone from cockatoos. It's eating a corn kernel, held in its right claw. Various parrots and other smaller birds come and go as they please.

#crimsonrosella
#BlueMountains
#Australia
#bushlife
#parrotoftheday

Disturbed this Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii) while moving some firewood.
#bushlife #lizard #skink #EulamprusQuoyii #EasternWaterSkink

The local currawong chorus has been going off! The currawong is a large black and white Australian songbird. One of their tunes is a distinct "currawong", as can be heard at about 1:15 on in this youtube video I found. https://youtu.be/3JxnPA6VmsI

My recording is attached and needs sound up.

#bushlife
#BlueMountains
#australia
#currawong

I've seen a few variations in colour schemes on local king parrots, but this is the most radical. Not bright orange (adult male), green (females & young males), or even mottled (teenage boys😂), this one has a grey head & neck, and the rest of its colour is relatively pale & washed out.

When I cropped the pic, I noticed I'd half caught another king parrot in the background, wearing an unusual pale green neck band. 🤷‍♂️

#bushlife
#KingParrot
#birdsofMasotodon
#Australia
#parrotoftheday

The valley is being a dramatic goth weirdo this morning. #bushlife

@tessa_murray

We have a few, but I literally live on bushland. Some are almost tame, others very nervous. If they stand still on leaf litter covered ground, they disappear! Great camouflage.

Here's one cooling its tailfeathers 🤷‍♂️

Somewhere I have a pic of parent and babies on the nest... 🤔

#bushlife
#pigeons
#bronzewing

I think this is Doratifera quadriguttata a different spitfire caterpillar to the last one I tooted. These are the ones that used to sting us (or we'd use to sting others) as we played in the bush of the lower #BlueMountains. 😂

Bare skin brushing against the stingers (retracted in picture) results in a painful burning sensation. They don't actually spit venom or bite.

http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/lima/quadriguttata.html

#bushlife
#Australia
#caterpillar
#moths
#stingy

I think this is a Doratifera vulnerans caterpillar - one of the Australian spitfires. They live on eucalyptus leaves. Don't brush against those stingers with bare skin! They burn, stingily...

http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/lima/vulnerans.html

#bushlife
#BlueMountains
#Doratiferavulnerans
#caterpillar
#Australia

On our way #home, looks like #rain!
#southafrica #clouds #offroad #grondpad #plaastoe #jimny #suzuki #4x4 #bush #bushlife

It is pissing down rain. Predicted to last much of the day. There go my brush cutting and moving firewood intentions. #bushlife

Sitting doing some paperwork at the end of the day and I realised I could hear a wedge-tailed eagle fledgling calling out. Quickly dashed out to the verandah to spot its mama hanging out off our back fence. The fledgling is somewhere in the valley below her out of sight - I assume it's on the ground with prey it's learning to manage.
#wedgetailedeagle #aquilaaudax #bushlife #brogo