Pelican Yoga

“Bin Chicken” makes a splash

Published September 18, 2023 by Pelidoug

Our local lake never disappoints.

That said, bird-wise, the least interesting time is during Perth’s cooler, rainier months.

Then, migratory birds have all flown north – some of them, to far-off places in Eurasia.

Other birds spread out across southwestern WA; with water and food generally-available, they do not need to congregate around “permanent” bodies of water such as Lake Monger.

Still, as today’s & tomorrow’s posts illustrate, at Lake Monger there is always some avian activity to enjoy…

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Kings Park, late August 2023

Published September 17, 2023 by Pelidoug

Kings Park, late August 2023

Perth’s Kings Park is really three parks in one… plus “lookouts”.

The “lookouts” offer sweeping views from the rim of the scarp on Kings Park’s eastern and southern sides.

Looking east, they flatter the adjacent CBD, and look across the Swan Coastal Plain to the Darling Scarp.

Looking south, they show the full splendour of the Swan-Canning estuary, around which Perth’s wealthier suburbs sit.

If you walk (or catch a free bus) from the CBD – or West Perth – into Kings Park, the loveliness of its manicured, “picnic-friendly”, well-treed, grassed parkland is immediately obvious, as you can see in the featured image, above.

Every pleasant, sunny weekend, thousands of people take advantage of Kings Park’s generous supply of that kind of parkland.

However, what makes Kings Park so very special are its two other kinds of “park”: a superb botanical garden (which showcases WA’s extraordinary flora, conducts internationally significant research, and provides useful information to the general public) and its astonishingly expansive, essentially “natural” bush/woodland section.

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The Quality of Sprawl: flower power/ word power

Published September 15, 2023 by Pelidoug

The Quality of Sprawl: flower power/ word power

The moment I saw this exuberantly “bird-ready” example of Western Australia’s floral emblem, I suddenly remembered one of my favourite Australian poems.

Les Murray (1938 – 2019) never became a Nobel Laureate.

Depending on my mood, I find that fact “puzzling” (at his best, Murray was so very obviously – for much of his adult life – one of the greater 20th century poets) or “utterly predictable”. (his verse was so overtly Australian, and his views were not always “palatable”)

The Quality of Sprawl’s opening verse:

Sprawl is the quality

of the man who cut down his Rolls-Royce

into a farm utility truck, and sprawl

is what the company lacked when it made repeated efforts

to buy the vehicle back and repair its image.

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Urban bushland poses unanswerable question

Published September 13, 2023 by Pelidoug

Urban bushland poses unanswerable question

If it had presented itself to us a few days earlier, the “unanswerable question” would have qualified for the “quirky moments” series.

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‘Roos, enjoying winter grass (2 of 2)

Published September 12, 2023 by Pelidoug

‘Roos, enjoying winter grass (2 of 2)

Both photos from same morning and location as previous post, but taken 8 minutes later…with self and ‘roos both on the brrrrrrisk outside of Goondooloo Cottage.

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‘Roos, enjoying winter grass (1 of 2)

Published September 11, 2023 by Pelidoug

‘Roos, enjoying winter grass (1 of 2)

In South Australia’s Deep Creek Conservation Park, those who hire Goondooloo Cottage can expect to see Western grey kangaroos, just outside the walls and windows.

This is especially likely in the first and final hours of daylight.

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Wedge-tail, Lake Eyre Basin, near Marree, June 2023

Published September 10, 2023 by Pelidoug

Wedge-tail, Lake Eyre Basin, near Marree, June 2023

Once aloft, a wedge-tailed eagle generally appears “effortless”.

However, on the ground, wedge-tails are quite “clumsy”, and getting airborne again is decidedly (and obviously) effortful for any eagle in flattish terrain.

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Wedge-tail, Flinders Ranges, June 2023

Published September 9, 2023 by Pelidoug

Wedge-tail, Flinders Ranges, June 2023

The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia’s largest raptor.

It is one of the world’s largest raptors, and is almost certainly the most abundant of any of the world’s big eagles.

Wedge-tails range across almost all of Australia.

They are, however, very “difficult”, photographically speaking.

Until the fifth afternoon of June 2023 I had never taken a “successful” photo of an airborne wedge-tail.

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Quirky moments (#20, final in series: “je ne sais quoi”)

Published September 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

Quirky moments (#20, final in series: “je ne sais quoi”)

Certain moments/circumstances – and/or an image which “captures” one of them, without seeking to “manipulate” it – have a “waking dream” quality.

That quality is hugely dependent on how the particular observer responds to the particular moment or image.

Certainly, however, a “waking dream” moment or image does not require the obvious presence of “conflict”, “high drama”, “hilarity”, “tragedy” or “somebody famous/infamous”.

To me, this post’s image captures a “waking dream” circumstance, but another pair of equally “perceptive” eyes could find “nothing special to see, here”.

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Quirky moments (#19 in series: Indian pond heron)

Published September 6, 2023 by Pelidoug

Quirky moments (#19 in series: Indian pond heron)

Most human observers cannot accurately “read” a bird’s face.

So, the “quirkiness” of a particular bird species – or the “quirkiness” of a particular bird’s appearance/demeanour at a particular moment – is usually all about human perception/misperception.

Typically, it has little or no informed connection to the bird’s actual nature/intent/emotional state.

That said, to this human observer at least, the pictured individual looked marvellously quirky at 6.29 pm on 20 February 2023.

Both of us were on the shoreline of India’s longest lake, shortly before darkness fell.

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