Flowers and Birds

Yesterday, I went for a walk along the path beside Schnapper Creek that is often called the flower walk. Everything down there was very wet but also very green with all the recent rain. The most beautiful flowers that we found were these little Christmas Candles (Burmannia disticha) which were growing right where I had found some a couple of years ago.
I also saw a number of Native Lasiandra shrubs (Melastoma malabathricum) which were making a beautiful splash of color among the Paperbark trees.
There were birds everywhere - but unfortunately most of them did not have time to sit and have their photos taken. The only ones that came close were a couple of Peaceful Doves (Geopelia striata) that were walking along the path towards me and were very busy picking at seeds from the side of the path.

An Interesting Day Out!

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Yesterday I went out with the Gympie Field Naturalists club. I had hoped to see lots of little bush birds so I could get photos and help with IDs at the same time – but – the only bird we saw that I don't usually see around my yard was the Peaceful Dove (Geopelia humeralis)
So the rest of this post is NOT about birds but instead about all the other little flying things – both rather beautiful and distinctly menacing! Part of the fun of belonging to a club like this is the number of people who know an enormous amount about all things other than birds. So when I was wandering along looking wistfully up into the trees for the birds that weren't there - I was urged to look down and see everything else that was flying around! So I took the photos and others – especially Kelvin! - told me IDs. I had left my camera on all the wrong settings so I have done quite a bit of PP to make the photos better (and have taken off exif data which is now not relevant.)

Common Australian Crow Butterfly (Euploea core corrina)

Black and White Tiger Butterfly (Danaus affinis affinis)

Orange Palmdart Butterfly (Cephrenes augiades sperthias)

Fiery Skimmer (Dragonfly) (Orthetrum villosovittatum)

Robber fly species (Someone might know a more precise name for this.) This one looks distinctly menacing to me and apparently they catch other insects and suck their juices out.
P.S.Definitely back to birds next time!