youkidme from southern highlands

I found an interesting Fantail link that answers some of our questions: http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=13439. See what you think.

Good morning Ykm. Hope all is well with you in the Southern Highlands. In addition ion to the ducks on the dam, another grebe has joined the patty. I'm hoping we'll get some little grebelings, or whatever they are called. In answer to your duckling thought, her is the answer I put under the pi: I don't know Ykm. The literature only talks about eye ring difference to differentiate the sxes.

I don't think we're cooking them : patty = party!

Hi Ykm. I think I have read or heard somewhere that Grey Fantails do become semi tame in gardens. So it's not surprising that they let me so close when they are sitting. I also found out they only weigh 9 grams!

Hi ykm, hope all is well with you. Re fantail pic: The dog doesn't worry about the little birds, but hassles the bigger ones like kookaburras. I was just in the right spot at the right time. Just lucky that it posed!

Hi Ykm. Just wait for the birds I photographed in St. Helens and Bicheno. I think I have become drawn to photographing bird life. When I worked I didn't have time to look sideways and so didn't even see what brilliant little creatures were in my own backyard! This year in particular I have loved what I've discovered. It's all good fun and interesting for me as well.

Hi Ykm. That herom definitely had 2 legs. I watched in run away as it took flight from the swan.

We once found a young devil sunning itself in our barn. There was a den under he hay bales! I think they are quite shy and no threat o humans unless thy are cornered. I don't think I'd risk putting my fingers near those strong jaws though.

Hi Ykm, I think they go to an area in the north-east called Moulting Lagoon , appropriately named to moult. They may return, I don't know, because this is the first year thy have bred here. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

The 'sportsmen' with their guns are definitely a risk for them. Duck shooting season still happens here. Moulting Lagoon is one area that shooters target.

Hello youkidme. Thank you for your birthday wishes. I am the Kathy celebrating her birthday on Dec. 4, but I am not the Kathy who posts the daily puzzles & all those great smilies! That is the Kathy from MD. I can see how you might get us mixed up if you don't notice which place we are from! You may not see me as often as Kathy MD, but I'm usually around reading if not posting. Like you, I have been fascinated with Sacky's wonderful bird photos. I love animals & birds of all kinds. Please come by & visit my page someday.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas and nothing but the best for 2013. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas
YKM

Hi Ykm. I'm sorry about the photo removal. I don't know if there is a limit, but I just find the photos become jumbled, so I took them off while I think of a new project to replace them.

YKM

Hi YKM,
Thanks for visiting my gallery!
the flowers open from the bottom to the tip & die off from the bottom to the tip, so you never get the whole stem covered with flowers at the same time!
Re the semi shade - it seems happy! It's out on the nature strip at the end of the street (it's a dead end) & the nature strip there is higher than the road!

YKM, wishing you and yours the best in the New Year.

Hi ykm,
Thanks for visiting my gallery! We will be in the river if it gets too hot!!

Hi youkidme, thanks for your comments and questions about the photos. I have answered under your comments as best I can.

Ykm, you're right about Lake Pedder.

For me, it's one of those places that you feel relaxed and at ease. The worries of the world seem to disappear as soon as you get there.

Catching a fish would have been a bonus.

Hi Ykm. The Beautiful Firetail is only found on the coastal south-east of mainland Australia, Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands.
They are pretty shy and rarely stop for a photo opportunity. I think I only got that one because I was a long way off and it didn't know I was there. They are very nice from the front view too. Check out this link. http://australianmuseum.net.au/Beautiful-Firetail

Nice to be in touch again. Things are a bit busy here. Hubby's leg still hasn't healed - now on 4th lot of anti-biots!, so I have more to do. Hopefully I'll be contributing on the site again soon

Tasmanian Native Hen is thriving youkidme. I loves short grass and a wet area, such as around a dam. I think there is very little chance of them becoming extinct. They don't have much sense around cars, but they are very wary of people and noisy birds. I don't know about Aboriginal food, though. The early pioneers recipe for cooking them was:
Place hen in pot with a rock. When the rock is soft, throw away the chook and eat the rock.

When they feed their tail stick up. It is thought this is to offer a target to hawks. When they grab the tail, the feathers just fall out and the chook escapes.

I watched 3 magpies harrassing one yesterday, just outside my kitchen window. It obviously didn't want to leave and the magpies didn't want it there. It hid behind the power pole they were sitting on, so they couldn't see it. When it did come out in the open it ran round and round in circles, squawking loudly. It was really funny.

Fantastic, youkidme. I'm looking forward to see what you find. I see so much more now that my interest in photography is developing. things that I took for granted, such as the birds, I now see in a new light.

Thanks for visiting Ykm my page. How's you photography going? There's not much here at the moment to photo. Its so dry lots of the birds are a bit scarce.

Re Tas native hen.
Yes, ykm, this is the one known locally as turbo chook. Apparently it used to be on the mainland as far north as Queensland, but died out eons ago. According to a local expert its design is ancient and it has hardly evolved from its original form.

Hello Youkidme - thank you for visiting my photo gallery and for your lovely comments.
I'll try to answer a few of your queries:-
1. The dust storm - we were in my daughter and SIL's 4xdrive and it wasn't as bad as we expected driving through it. Some of the off-the-road dirt tracks we went on would have been a lot dirtier.
2. The drive home - I was co-driver to my daughter as she has driven it with her husband quite a lot. She did most of the driving, though. The landscape is how it looks. The mining towns are more off the beaten track and I think they are fairly well contained to their area.
3. The salt pile in Port Hedland - I guess that's what makes the sea salty!!!
4. Busselton - yes, it was the setting sun making it look like lights but I do think there are lights on the actual jetty for people to walk along or fish at night.

Re Bumblebees: No youkidme, they don't make consumable honey. Bumble bees came to Tasmania by accident, in a shipping container. There is a debate going on as to whether they are robbing nectar and pollen from the native bees and the native birds. The jury is still out on that. The tomato growers love them because they vibrate the blossoms, which saves the effort of hand vibrating each of the plants in hot houses every day. Your tomato growers on the big island want to bring them over the water too. Quarantine will not allow it.

Re Bumblebees: No youkidme, they don't make consumable honey. Bumble bees came to Tasmania by accident, in a shipping container. There is a debate going on as to whether they are robbing nectar and pollen from the native bees and the native birds. The jury is still out on that. The tomato growers love them because they vibrate the blossoms, which saves the effort of hand vibrating each of the plants in hot houses every day. Your tomato growers on the big island want to bring them over the water too. Quarantine will not allow it.

Sorry about the repeat Ykm. A note came up to resend, so I did.

I used a flash to take the owl's pic, ykm, because I took some without and the photos are just black, no Errol

Hello YKM - thanks for checking out my latest photos. The photo of the Church of the Lonely Shepherd in NZ was taken on the south island beside the lake where Mount Cook is. Can't remember off hand the name of the lake, though.

Hi Ykm. In the Launceston City Park photos Frank Dowse was former superintendent of Launceston Parks and Gardens. He was also a horticultural announcer on the ABC radio.

Thank you for all the photos of the Southern Highlands gardens. I have visited a few some years ago. A wonderful climate to produce all those lovely old trees and gardens. Great photos.

Great photos of the gardens youkidme. You must have had a wonderful day. those gardens looked very peaceful. The new photos on my page were of tonight's sunset. I hadn't got back to put the captions on. The sky looked like it was on fire. We've had a lot of spectacular sunsets lately.

Hi youkidme. I've put a better explanation on the Pitcher plant photo. A friend gave it to me the other day. She has quite a few different carnivorous plants and hopefully I'll be able to get some more..

Hello Youkidme - thank you for your good wishes for my forthcoming trip. I'm looking forward to it and am now getting quite excited.
I have put a daily itinerary on my page with some of the places we will visit.
Cheers,
Anne

Hi there, I don't suppose you have a mac? Anyway what browser do you use for the internet, I'll try to help you bookmark.

Hello. I use Google Chrome.
Took me a while to figure out how to bookmark so hope you can understand this. lol
On your homepage up the top on the right hand side you will see a yellow star.
When you are on a page you want to save click on this. It comes up with the name of the page you are on. click DONE and it adds it to a list.
Then right next to the star are three black horizontal marks. Click on this and menu comes up. Then click on BOOKMARKS and the whole list of your pages you have added will come up.
Hope this helps. :)

Hello youkidme,
Thanks!! Kate!!

Hello. Hope all is okay with the bookmarking. lol A lovely day here. Still 20c at 4.30pm. Hope you are having nice weather in your neck of the woods too. I must have a look at your pics now.