Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia

My wife and I both enjoy seeing the various species of Eremophila plants in flower. Eremophilas – commonly called Emu Bushes – are found in many parts of Australia and especially in the drier inland regions. They are becoming a very popular garden plant too, mainly for their wonderful show of colourful flowers over many months. They also attract many of our nectivorous birds like honeyeaters.

This series of photographs was taken earlier this year at the Pangarinda Arboretum at Wellington, South Australia. This is just over an hour’s drive south east of Adelaide. I’ve featured this special collection of plants and flowers over recent days here on this site, so look back through recent posts for more beautiful flowers.

Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia

Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia

As a treat for my many readers, today we will have something a little different. Instead of an article about somewhere I’ve travelled to, I want to share some photos of my favourite places.

Enjoy.

If you’d like to leave a birthday message in the comments section, that would also be great.

Australian Pelican, Mallacoota, Victoria

Ama Dablam, Nepal

Circular Quay, Sydney Harbour

Giant Panda, Adelaide Zoo, South Australia

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Australian native plants in an Adelaide Hills garden (Hardenbergia)

Over the last few days I have been sharing photos of flowers and plants in the garden of a friend. Today I feature the last of these photos, plus a bonus.

Our friends told us that a pair of Tawny Frogmouths had been resident in a tree just over the fence for some years. These birds had even raised several broods of young in recent times. It just happens to be one of my favourite birds too – and so easy to photograph!

Tawny Frogmouth

Australian native plants in an Adelaide Hills garden (Grevillea)

Murrumbidgee River, Balranald

Sydney Trip June 2011

On the second day of our return visit we stopped briefly at Balranald for lunch. We visited the tourist information centre, then drove down to the picnic area on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. During and after lunch I did a little birding and captured a nice shot of the White-faced Heron shown below.

White-faced Heron, Balranald

Lake Roberts, Lameroo, South Australia

Earlier this year my wife and I drove from our home in Murray Bridge in South Australia to Sydney in New South Wales. We were going there to play with our precious grandson – oh, and see our son and daughter in law. On our first day of travelling we left early and reached Lameroo in the Murray Mallee region of eastern South Australia.

We stopped at our favourite place on the edge of town at Lake Roberts. Here we had morning tea and a cuppa. The sunshine was lovely but the breeze was bitterly cold. I managed a few photos of the local birds before we headed east again. We had a great distance to cover before bed time.

Grain silos, Lameroo, South Australia

Lameroo is a small town in a prominent farming region. The main agricultural pursuits are wheat and barley crops with potatoes grown at nearby Parilla. Many farmers also run sheep and cattle on their farms.

After leaving Lameroo we continued driving for about an hour and half before finding a convenient roadside parking area where we stopped to have a picnic lunch. There was a interesting patch of scrub next to the car park, complete with a short walking trail featuring a good range of local native flora (see photo below). This was of particular interest to my wife but the bird life was keeping a low profile and rather quiet so I didn’t get a long list species seen in this location.

Roadside walking trail between Lameroo and Ouyen

Eucalyptus erythrocorys (red-capped gum), Edithburgh Nature Reserve

On the last morning of our recent holiday on the Yorke Peninsula we stopped for about an hour to wander through the Edithburgh Nature Reserve. This reserve, set up and maintained by a local community group, has been a focus of ours every time we visit the small coastal town. The reserve is at the western end of the main street and is open at all times to the public. Several excellent gravel paths suitable for wheelchairs meander through the reserve.

The reserve is not great for checking out a wide range of Australian Native Plants which interest my wife, it is also a good place within the town to see many of the local bush birds. Being only about 500 metres from the coast it is also possible to record a few sea birds flying overhead. My brother in law used to live opposite this park so we know it and its inhabitants quite well.

Apart from the birds I also enjoy the challenge of taking photos of wildflowers. I’ve dedicated this post to the plants in flower that we saw.

Calothamnus quadrifidus (one-sided bottlebrush), Edithburgh Reserve

Grevillea flower, Edithburgh Nature Reserve

Hakea laurina, Edithburgh Nature Reserve, Yorke Peninsula

Edithburgh Nature Reserve, Yorke Peninsula

Emus, Stenhouse Bay, Yorke Peninsula

On our recent holiday on the Yorke Peninsula we had lunch at Marion Bay, visited the visitor centre of the Innes National Park and then continued on driving through the park near Stenhouse Bay. We stopped many times to admire the scenery, take photos of landscapes and seascapes and check out the bird and plant life.

One species of bird virtually came to us. A small flock of 5 juvenile Emus wandered along the side of the road quite unconcerned that we were only metres away. They are certainly unafraid of vehicles passing by as this happens many times every day in parks like this. They just went about their business finding their lunch.

This group consisted of juveniles probably about 18 – 24 months old. The female Emu lays up to about a dozen eggs in a shallow nest on the ground. The male then incubates the eggs and looks after the young for up to 2 years after hatching. The birds we saw were over half grown and independent of the father, so I’m guessing they’d have to be at least 18 months old.

Emus, Stenhouse Bay, Yorke Peninsula

Emus, Stenhouse Bay, Yorke Peninsula

Osprey, Marion Bay, South Australia

I have tried many times to photograph birds in flight with limited success. On the second day of our recent short holiday on Yorke Peninsula we were having lunch at Penguin Point near Marion Bay. The wind was blowing a gale so we sat in the car to eat.

As we ate two Ospreys began soaring low overhead on the wind. They came over low enough and often enough for me to get a few reasonable shots of them. This was one bird I wasn’t expecting to see on this trip, and to get a half decent photo or two was a real bonus.

Sometimes you get lucky.

Osprey, Marion Bay, South Australia

Penguin Point, Marion Bay, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Penguin Point is a well visited tourist destination in the small holiday town on Marion Bay at the southern tip of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Just to the south east of the town – perhaps a 5 – 10 minute walk from most places in the town – there is a car park with board walks through the sand dunes leading out to Penguin Point. From the headland one has excellent views over Marion Bay to the north and towards Rhino Head to the south west (see photos below).

While I’ve never seen a penguin here it is entirely possible that Little Penguins do visit this area, and may even nest in the region. I didn’t record many birds on this most recent visit because the wind was near gale force by lunch time and they were all keeping low in the coastal bushes. I did manage several good shots of an Osprey soaring overhead on the wind as well as a Rock Parrot walking along the path in front of me.

Rhino Head near Marion Bay, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Penguin Point, Marion Bay, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Australian Magpie, Barossa Reservoir, South Australia

On our short holiday on Yorke Peninsula last week we stopped briefly at the Barossa Reservoir for lunch. We had enough time for me to take a few photos of the dam and some of the birds seen in the picnic grounds and on the reservoir. I probably heard far more birds than I saw, and certainly didn’t have time to search out more birds.

The Australian Magpie in the photo above sat in the tree above us and sang to us but we didn’t give it a treat from our lunch as it probably expected. The Rock Dove in the photo below was one of several inhabiting the installation halfway around the dam wall. The last photo shows a large group of Eurasian Coots feeding in the shallows of the reservoir near where we had lunch. For a more comprehensive list of birds seen, go to Trevor’s Birding.

Rock Dove, Barossa Reservoir, South Australia

Eurasian Coot, Barossa Reservoir, South Australia