Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Trees in my yard

I want to have a moan and a whinge this morning because the big wet we had in January and February has caused more destruction in my yard than I had realized! As soon as the yard dried out I had a friend come in and chop up and cart away trees and bushes that had been blown down. However, this week I discovered that the big Grevillea tree has to go also. The side that I see is fine but the other side which reaches over the fence is broken and falling down. I planted this tree soon after I came here because I noticed that Grevilleas attracted more honey eating birds than anything else around here. Unfortunately, Grevilleas around here are not long lasting trees and shrubs - and I have neglected to plant young ones to carry on! If I get another tree of the same kind - immediately! - I wonder how long it will take to grow and flower and attract the birds again. So-o-o-o - this post is in praise of my late Grevillea tree and the birds it attracted! Here it is under a grey sky -

 and at sunrise under a red sky.

Rainbow Lorikeets especially liked this tree - and I especially liked photographing them.

Blue-faced Honeyeaters tried to keep this tree for their own special use. They are most aggressive birds!

Noisy Friarbirds were often among the branches.

Little Friarbirds were also frequently around but much less easy to photograph.

Then there were the birds that came and rested briefly in the tree. This Spangled Drongo was one such bird.

And this Galah was another.

Even the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos came down for a while.

My favorites were always the Rainbow Lorikeets!

For more photos from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more bird photographs visit Wild Bird Wednesday tomorrow.



36 comments:

  1. Great shots, always love to see our native birds.

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  2. What gorgeous birds and superb captures! They are so colorful! Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great week!

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  3. that would make me very sad, too.

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  4. Oh wow, I feel your pain. What a lovely tree and the birds are all gorgeous. How fast do these trees grow? I would put them all around my yard! Your photos are beautiful. Have a happy week!

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  5. wow these are the bird life in your yard???? it's like going inside a zoo. spectacular.

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  6. How very beautiful indeed !


    robert geiß

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  7. What an amazing variety of birds, and a wonderful tribute to the great tree that attracted them. I do hope you plant another.

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  8. That would be so very cool to see all those wonderful birds in my garden! I love all the great colors.

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  9. Mick, there are so many varieties of grevillea that you can plant your garden with them to flower all year round. My big one was smashed in a windstorm but we cut our the centre and it kept on going although it was no longer a perfect specimen. I like my honeyeaters close to the house so I can watch their antics and here it is the wattle birds that are the bullies.

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  10. What wonderful shots and colours!

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  11. Beautiful colours!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  12. Gorgeous shots! My favorite is the second one.

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  13. lovely tribute! hope your new grevillea is a beauty.

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  14. You must plant another one. Such an array of birds no wonder you are sad it's had to go.

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  15. Nice to see your post!
    Great photos!

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  16. Your beautiful tree has certainly had its share of lovely visitors! It made a lovely backdrop for the colorful birds.
    I too would be heartsick and I am for you at its loss.
    Getting a new tree immediately - a great plan. :)
    Just wondering if cutting the limbs way down would let it sprout back again.

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  17. I´m amazed. I do really hope you will have a tree flowering soon. Don´t it come new from the root system? Well, good luck with the project.

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  18. I feel your pain at the loss of such a special tree. Those awesome birds it attracts will also be a sad loss for you.
    I hope when you plant a new tree will grow extremely fast.

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  19. I envy your colorful birds! They look so exotic to me...

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  20. Wow! I'm pretty sure a Grevillea tree wouldn't attract those birds to my backyard in Missouri! Beautiful photos! :)

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  21. I can see why you are upset Mick in having to lose that tree when it attracts all those superb species. Maybe you can get a new tree with a good head of growth to give it a good start. With so much water in the ground I'm sure any new tree will quickly grow to give you the same results. I'm crossing my fingers for you.

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  22. Shame about the tree - but I'm always surprised by how fast replacements can grow.

    Bit of a role reversal for me to post waders and you post bush birds!

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW.

    Stewart M - Melbourne

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  23. Sorry about your tree! I love to see all of the fantastic birds that visited it! Very nice photos of them all!
    Greetings Pia

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  24. So sorry to hear of the loss of your Grevillea. Is there somewhere where you can buy a mature specimen? There are places like that in UK. You pay quite a lot, but get instant results. You must be really mourning a tree which attracted such a fabulous array of birds. Superb photos too! Hope you get something to replace it soon. Best of luck!

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  25. That is a beautiful tree and some gorgeous visitors, so sorry to here it is badly damaged by the weather. A great series of pictures.

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  26. I'm so sorry you lost a beloved plant, especially one that attracted so many colorful birds. I enjoyed your photos very much. Beautiful photos and vibrant, interesting subjects!

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  27. Sorry about the Grevillea tree.. what a birder's paradise! These are breathtaking!

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  28. Hi Mick...Wow your bird life is amazing to see..enjoyed all your lovely photo's of them especially the Cockatoo makes me smile : )!!
    The furry of mother nature can be very had to take : (!!
    Grace

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  29. OH! How sad that the tree must be taken down! Can you remove the broken bit and allow the rest to remain while you wait for a new one to flower?

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  30. Gorgeous Mick!!! I like 'em all, as we don't have them here in the states...of course....but my favorite is the rainbow and the blue faced!!

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  31. Oh I am so sad about your tree! But this post is a wonderful tribute ....I'm so glad you took the pictures of it and the wonderful birds it attracted to your yard. And I hope the replacement tree grows quickly.

    As always the birds are wonderful; I can only imagine having these beauties as backyard birds.

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  32. These are outstanding images, from the colourful birds...wow that Blue faced Honeyeater is amazing, to the skies, all marvelous~

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  33. All the colors of the rainbow in this post. Too bad about your tree. We had to wait 5 years for our first mangos and would hate to lose one of those trees.

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  34. your grevillia has certainly attracted a lot of birds into your yard. Yes, sadly a lot of our native trees are not long lived, particularly in gardens. I guess in the wild if they break, that part just falls and the rest keeps growing!

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