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Two Months of Lifers Down Under (3 Viewers)

What a cool looking frog! I get more and more happy for you the more you post. What a wonderful trip.

Aaaaw! Thanks Lisa.

I have to admit I was slightly disappointed the Motorbike Frog wasn't wearing a little crash helmet, otherwise great stuff Delia!

Chris

LOL Chris.... well how's your photoshop skills? I'm sure you could fix it;)
 
Torndirrup National Park

In the afternoon we drove along the peninsula to the national park. Not too much in the way of birds for now, as the scenery and other stuff was so lovely.

The first picture is of, I think, Goode Bay. We went for a walk round the headland and I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures of these Banksia, then spotted some pretty flowers nearby (they have rather the shape of Violets I thought?).

The next view is of King George Sound.

After that we drove down to Frenchman Bay. A stunning spot!

We did see a few birds, but I didn't get any pictures of them: Tree Martin, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, three Grey Currawongs and Pacific Gull.
 

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Continuing our wanders round the headland, there were some wonderful rock formations.... I thought this one looked like a pigmy hippo!!

We made our way to an area known as The Gap. If you can't read that board it's basically about two brothers squabbling over a girl. The elders made them stand either side of the Gap with their favourite weapons. One had a boomerang which felled his brother by hitting him in the back, the other killed his sibling with his spear.

The one with the boomerang in his back turned into a shark, the boomerang becoming the fin. The boy killed by the spear became a stingray.

I discovered a South-western Spectacled Rock Skink beside the path (well I had to have it identified for me of course)!

Then we had some pretty flowers growing which I found as we made our way to the Natural Bridge.

Such an interesting excursion this one, with some stunning scenery!

I, again, didn't get any bird pictures at The Gap, but we did see Australasian Gannet off-shore and a Grey Butcherbird as we made our way back home.
 

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When we got back home, it was to find that the Zebra Finch had returned.... seems to like their garden.

Their next door neighbour kindly invited me over to see the resident Buff-banded Rails in her garden. WOW didn't expect to see one so close to a house!

She also had, of all things, a Quenda (Southern Brown Bandicoot) too!!! Gorgeous.

Back home, as usual a Red-eared Firetail was down for a feed and I thought I'd show you another picture of the Motorbike Frog, this time in the empty feed bowl!
 

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Sharp Point Rd and Porongurup NP

10 November 2019

We were up very early the next morning to explore an old patch of Alex and June's at the edge of the Torndirrup Park on a dirt road leading to Sharp Point.

We heard and spotted loads, but getting pictures was another story! The only usable ones I got were of a flock of Galah's.

Despite that, we got a great list, which included Western Whistler, Red-capped Parrot, Western Rosella, New Holland Honeyeater, Spotted and Striated Pardalote, Grey Currawong, Australian Raven, Laughing Kookaburra (H), Shining Bronze Cuckoo (H) and Fantailed Cuckoo (H).

After we left, we stopped at the local garage for fuel and stuff and in a bush on the forecourt was a Swan River Honeyeater (Gilbert's Honeyeater). He really gave me the run-around and I just couldn't get an angle for a picture!!

We then drove out to Porongurup National Park about an hour inland. A refreshment stop was in the Tree in Rock parking area and first a Rufous Treecreeper came to see if we had anything of interest for him, then a White-breasted Robin wondered what he was missing.

We also heard Purple-crowned Lorikeet and Western Whistler here.

We drove further on to another parking area and went for a little walk, but there was nothing really to see, apart from an information board regarding the park, a memorial stone for Ann Burchell, one of the friends of the park. However, there was a very attractive bush, which I think is Myrtle Wattle.
 

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Love the pictures of the Treecreeper and Robin. That Treecreeper is definitely more colorful than the brown one we have here.
 
Thanks Lisa.... I was rather pleased with them I must admit.

The treecreeper is quite unlike our ones too LOL
 
Continuing our exploration of this lovely park, I think this first image is of Mount Barker at 512 m. We stopped for a few minutes at this spot, as the view were tremendous, finishing up with a fly-over Little Eagle.

Our last stop was at Bluff Knoll view point. A very attractively laid out car park and visitor area. We spent some time looking around here.

We were mostly looking down onto the canopy and found one or two rather nice birds, my first picture of a Scarlet Robin (back view was al he gave me though), which I'd not been able to photograph a few days before, and a Tree Martin, who was busy sorting his feathers.

The last picture is of Bluff Knoll; there's a path from the car park up to it, which takes a few hours, so we declined that one!;)

Other species seen/heard here were Brown Honeyeater, Grey Fantail, Striated Pardalote. And lastly was a song which June told me was a Weebill, couldn't see the blighter though.
 

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PC has been down, so not able to comment on your wonderful trip!
Thanks for sharing all these Delia, I too a very big fan of the Rufous Treecreeper and the White-breasted Robin. lovely shots! Scenery shots spectacular!
Thanks again for sharing!
 
I'm so glad to see your computer problems are sorted Nora.

And thanks, too, Chris.

Here's another picture of the treecreeper just for you two!;)
 

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Beach, Albany and Emu Point

11 November 2019

I finally got a picture (not very good though) of a Red-winged Fairywren in the shrubs on the way to the beach. What a run-around he gave me, flitting here, there and everywhere!!!

This time we went directly to Rushy Point, rather than the hide, the tide was quite well in so the birds were up close.

First a couple of Caspian Tern, followed by Greater Crested Tern, a Little Pied Cormorant and a wee flock of dozy Red-necked Stint.
 

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Well, it took a few days, but I finally got a usable picture of the Greater Sand Plover! And it was so nice to see a Ruddy Turnstone too, one of my favourite little waders.

Back at home, we had an Australian Ringneck on one of the feeders. a Silvereye on another, while a New Holland Honeyeater was foraging in the surrounding trees.
 

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Thanks for the second Treecreeper, Delia. And I really like the Silvereyes.
 
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