Dollarbird!

I saw him chasing insects from his perch on the power lines outside yesterday. He was very handsome, and he was completely new to me. He's a dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis).

Somehow I'd never heard of him, let alone spotted one of his kind. 

The books and the birdo sites don't actually seem to indicate that dollarbirds are particularly rare in Sydney. Like the channel-billed cuckoo and the koel, they are summer visitors from New Guinea and Indonesia.

A leaf out of the mystery picture book

 

Here's today's mystery picture. It was on the front steps the other day.

Is it a lizard's tongue?

Is it an abandoned slice of pastrami out of someone's sandwich?

It's a very thin slice of something.

This is an interesting view

And of course it's actually just.......

........................................................

...................................this:

 

A gum leaf with a very water-repellent surface

Nature Photographer 2020

 

It's time once again for the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition. This year the finalists turned up at the Australian Museum. Once again they were all rather magnificent.

 

 

 

 

I particularly liked the runner-up in the animal habitat section, an out-of-focus picture of a bushfire with black kites flying around in it.

Liversidge & Birrabang again - this time with the troops

Back in July, my Thursday exploration group surveyed this walk, along some of the amazing scenic ridges between the Bells Line of Road and the Grose River. There was clearly an excellent walk to be had for the bushwalking club.

So yesterday I was out there again, leading a formal bushwalk. And it was a great day out.

Here's the view to the east from Liversidge Hill.

 

 

 

Then lunch above Birrabang Walls.

 

 

 

 

 

Some like to live close to the edge. Others sat back a little.

 

 

 

Among the many colourful flowers around was this 'Crinkle Bush' (aka Lomatia Silaifolia).

Looking east along the Grose Valley

 

And looking west

The hardy expeditioners

Exploded pagoda

It's usually called the 'Plain of Shards', presumably in reference to the Plain of Jars in Laos, which I also visited once. But apparently, it's also been referred to as the 'Exploded Pagoda'.

It's on the way to Point Cameron in the Gardens of Stone National Park. (See here: Point Cameron walk )

 

 

 

And it looks exactly like .......... an exploded pagoda. So if there's another theory about what it is and how it got there, (or how the pagoda exploded), let's hear about it!

Once more unto the Gardens of Stone: Point Cameron

And once more I declared it the best walk ever! We started from Camerons Point Trail, off the Bicentennial National Trail. Then northwards via McLeans Pass, skirting Mt Jamison and Mt Davidson, and on to The Pondage, and Point Cameron.

Along the way there were the most amazing views in all directions.

And lots of wildflowers, like these flannel flowers

 

 

 

 

 

Looking to the north and west towards Baal Bone Point and Pantoneys Crown.

Above right: the rare pink flannel flower. When we saw some last year we were told we'd likely never see them again. Only after a fire, and only if you're lucky. I'm not sure that the multiple massive fires we had since then count as luck, but there are indeed lots of pink flannel flowers around now.

Above: The Wolgan Valley and the amazing Donkey Mountain can be seen to the east. I understand it's not so amazing after the fires, and has been damaged rather horribly. Here's what it used to be like: 2016 Donkey Mountain visit

Right: A bit of an obstacle, but very convenient tree roots

Looking west, towards Baal Bone Gap 

 

 

 

Ahead of us is Point Cameron, with its big cluster of pagodas, and lunch destination, 'The Nipple' (the pointy one to the left of centre, also called Ngamperi Rock).

 

Lunch atop 'The Nipple', with views across the Capertee Valley, said to be the world's second biggest canyon somehow.