Amazing news: Frogmouth Chicks Fledged Today

This morning when I went to greet the Tawny Frogmouths , I found the nest empty....

After the fierce winds we have had, it seemed possible the chicks had been blown out of the nest, but no! with a little searching I found the whole family, which included Mother, sitting comfortably on a limb not far away. This is really amazing that they have fledged after only a week since we first saw the one chick. They are excellent parents as you can see, they all sit companionably together and this is how it will be for quite some time

 They will come and sit on our patio vines during the hot weather and not take any notice of us as we go about our gardening work....

They are such Zen birds, beautiful in their ugliness....they inspire such calm in our lives......We love them to bits...

Two Tawny Chicks Discovered in the Nest....

Such excitement this afternoon when I went to say "G'Day to the Tawny family and find two little faces peering at me with Dad in the back ground....

You wonder how they all fit in the very modest nest made of a few twigs and grasses and I do hope one isn't going to fall out onto the little shed roof...

At present I am writing this during wild winds and lashing rain so I do hope they will all survive this night of thunder and lightening..

Yesterday I took photos of the paddock to the west of the house. My share farmer gave up using the three acres I have here, as he had to come from quite a long way to bring his machinery. So he organized for another bloke to come in and plant a crop. Sadly this man has let me down rather badly and the paddock has become a great mess of weeds, the tall, yellow flowering plant is mustard weed and all sorts of weeds have come up. A lot of the usual wild oats of course but also dock, which is a deep rooted plant hard to get rid of.

So this morning I had another local man come in and he slashed the paddock for me.

You can see the difference and I will be able to walk over to the shed where the little old truck and the ancient tractor now live and check to see they are OK.

Next season I hope to have someone plant pasture, so it will be ready when the horses come over from Western Australia.

 The Tan Iris has produced another bloom which is a wonderful surprise too....

What with the twin Tawnies and double Tan iris blooms...life can be full of surprises

It is raining cats and dogs outside now, do hope my feathered friends will keep dry somehow....

Tawny Chick and Catkins

The Tawny Frogmouth chick is growing at an enormous rate as you can see by the latest photo taken this morning three days after the last one was taken. It is actually looking at us now and very aware of what we are doing.

The little white plumed honey eaters come along in a noisy little mob and sit in the tree higher up swearing at them, but Dad sits firm and just makes this soft throaty noise to warn them off.

At right is a photo of one of the Holm oaks which is flowering prolifically with these wonderful catkins and the tree is full of bees....it is so good to see so many bees this year, the lavender bushes too, are full of them..

The photos don't really show up the lovely pale yellow colour of the catkins, the sun seems to bleach them out. It will produce a host of acorns this autumn which will mostly fall into the pond,sadly and make a mess. The Holm oak is an evergreen tree and in America they call it the live oak.I think they originate in the Middle eastern countries, correct me if I am wrong.... They give wonderful shade in our hot climate and I now wished we had planted a lot more. They are slow growers of course....

On the right is a close up of the catkins 

The catkins below are on the Walnut tree and the bees were busy in them also. It will mean Walnuts this autumn ....if we can keep the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos off, the blighters sneak in early in the morning and can do a lot of damage and reduce the already meager crop to barely a couple of kilos...

 The walnut tree has also developed die back , sadly, it does have to compete with all the gumtrees it is in close proximity of......and we all know gumtrees suck everything dry.....

Tawny Frogmouth and Chick as well as Bear Facts

It is a great delight to tell you , the Tawny Frogmouth chick has hatched at last and it is sitting comfortably under Dad's chest. they are sitting in a good sheltered position in the Ash tree above the little work shed.It is not easy to photograph them as the tree limb gets in the way but if you click on the photo you will get a better view. The chick follows Dad's idea that if he closes its eyes and holds its beak in the air to pretend he cannot see you.. you are not there to disturb its' Zen attitude...

On the right it is a great pleasure and relief to show a photo of the tan-brown Iris that I have managed to save after years of thinking I had lost it. The rhizome  was given to me back in 1989 by a friend who lived in Tasmania and had collected a huge variety of irises, some coming from America.

The tan-brown is very rare, I have not seen another one in South Australia.

The yellow ones on the left were also a gift  from her and they make a splendid display with their flamboyant butter yellow falls.

The garden this year has been amazingly colourful as we have had a lot of rain and constant little showers every few days. I have lost a lot of other coloured irises over the drought years sadly but may find some others a bit later in the season.

 On the right are a collection of knitted bears which have found homes as far away as Western Australia.It has been fun making them and it is lovely to know they are being treasured by some very caring little people....

Covid has not affected them fortunately and we too, are getting through this pandemic soon......