Or perhaps, more accurately, Splendid in the grass, for this is the Splendid Fairy-wren and part of his family that we came across today on our morning walk. This charming male hopped all the way up to my feet, hence the rather odd angle of the first couple of photos.

Fluffing up

So what, I get itchy sometimes…

Yesterday, I took an old friend to explore the Len Howard Conservation Area in Erskine, Mandurah, just outside my door. After a morning birding and walking, we ended up here, where there is now an upscale marina, hotel and fancy houses. Sixty years ago when I was a young girl, it was just The Sticks area, devoid of buildings, called that because of the remains of poles stuck in the water to mark the channel. Anyway, we sat down on a park bench to eat our sandwiches. 

This was the calm scene in front of us at the time:

Peel inlet, The Sticks

A  few pelicans in the distance on the water, the odd seagull or tern or cormorant flying past. A water-logged darter climbed up from the water to the beach and hence onto that structure on the left, so bedraggled that his soaked tail swept the ground like a street sweeper’s wet broom. He then hung out his wings and tail feathers to dry…


As always for beachside picnics, a family of magpies, a raven and several gulls grouped around eyeing us hungrily as we ate our sandwiches.

Male Magpie

Female Magpie

 

Birds everywhere. Everywhere we looked. Pelicans, several species of cormorant, darters, several species of terns, gulls…

All those white bits in the water are cormorant necks!

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Gradually they began to disperse:

Until finally, they had mostly disappeared, almost as quickly as they had arrived:

A few gulls remained for a while — disappointed I suspect, as being unable to dive, they had missed out on most of the feasting — until they too flew off:

And then we were alone again. But it was ten minutes of pure magic…

I’ve never been one for cities much. Not to live in. I tend to want something closer to the wild. Born on a farm; teenage years spent in a suburban area that had natural bush and a swamp close by (mostly tidied up now, less so then); even when we were in Vienna, we could walk into the Vienna Woods (and did, often).

A mealy bug destroyer!…yeah, that white thing. It’s the teenager of a ladybug sp…

Our present house started off with forest and swamps close by, but now is pure suburbia, and not very attractive at that. So when it comes to buying a place for our retirement…we both prefer something less noisy and busy. (You know, somewhere where we are not blasted with the ugliness of loudspeakers for up to 3 hours a day, seven days a week, starting with a half hour session at 5.15 a.m. every day!) It looks like we are going to settle for a place next to a nature reserve on an estuary, with the wildness of an open sea a mere 2 kms away.

The following are just photos snapped by my husband with a digital camera, no fancy lenses, during our week in Western Australia in search of a place for retirement.

An oxidation pond with wood duck and a White Ibis

Wood duck strolling through a park

Crested Pigeon

Pied Oystercatcher

Birdwatching while househunting

Above & the 3 below: Len Howard Conservation Area — bordering where we want to live

If you look close, you’ll see preening comorants

Coot with chick

Wing drying…

Nankeen Night Heron

This is W.A.’s avian villain – The Silver Gull, denizen of rubbish bins/dumps, and expert thief

It must have been ladybird season — saw at least 4 distinct species on this trip

Motorcycle frogs in my sister’s frog pond — and yes, they sound like motocycles

Locked out? There’s always a way under the gate…

Peewit, Mudlark, Magpie-lark, Peewee. Whatever.