Early Autumn

Sometimes, in early Autumn, the days become sunny in a way utterly unlike summer.
The mornings are cool.
There’s a brief wave of heat in the afternoon,
before coolness returns with evening.

Grey heron standing in a rockpool 22 March 2016 12.12 pm
Grey heron standing in a rockpool
22 March 2016
12.12 pm

I wish you could hear the sounds accompanying today’s photo.
It was still.
Hot.
Intensely sunny.
I could hear gulls’ legs moving through the water,
and tiny rock-creatures made bubbling noises beneath the surface.

By late April, this weather will vanish,
and the grey skies of Autumn will begin.
You have to treasure these moments, don’t you?
Treasure them.
Treasure them.

The one-legged seagull

Questions, questions, questions

Sunset at Taperoo 17 January 2016 7.15 pm

If you’ve seen a one-legged seagull, you’ll know what I mean.
Why are there so many of them?
Do they lose their legs during epic battles for territory?
Why don’t their predators attack other parts of their bodies? (Do seagulls have predators?)
And then, too:
How do one-legged seagulls survive?
Do they grow replacement legs, like reptiles grow new tails?
Or does the remaining leg grow stronger over time?
So many questions.
I could google for answers, I suppose,
but I’m enjoying the mystery …

Tangled

The bush is in the throes of mid-summer right now.
It’s dry and brown.
It’s a tangle of trunks and branches —

and grasses —

and twigs and leaves.

But the mistletoe in the trees …

… is in flower:

And one or two bushes are heavy with creamy blossom.

Insects tick.
Shrike thrushes sing.
Whistlers call.
Black cockatoos swoop and shriek.
Kookaburras laugh.
Summer slumbers on.

Spring joy

I took a walk through the bush again in late September.
Skinks rustled through the undergrowth.
Whistlers burbled; shrike thrushes sang; blue fairy-wrens and fantails darted about.
And there were wild flowers everywhere, including common fringe-myrtles;

paper flowers;

smooth rice-flowers;

and grevilleas.

Every month brings a new season in the bush.
Every month brings a new, different kind of joy.