a dawn bird
In response to Silent Sunday
Tag: photography
Do look back … 30 November 2019
I think reflecting on the past month is a wonderful way to take a breath …
I’ve come to realise in the past few months, it is at home and in my garden is where I find best balance.
Where birds comes to visit me for a change.
I’ve enjoyed a long drive between Carnarvon and Geraldton. This is my favourite roadhouse along the way. I found out this area is prone to flooding when it rains, and quite beautiful with numerous billabongs that attract birdlife. The change between spring to summer has been swift. It was a hot drive.
The highway between Carnarvon and Geraldton is long and lonely. My colleague and I always feel carefree in these parts. We usually stop here and stretch our legs at a lookout that overlooks Gladstone Beach in the far distance.
Geraldton has become my second home. I’ve grown to love this place and the easy lifestyle.
Returning home from trips I found the gooseberries were turning into jam on the bush from the heat. What happened to spring, this year?
The mulberries are plentiful and most out of my reach, except for my zoom.
In Esperance the wildflowers have disappeared and birdlife is plenty. This wattlebird was as curious about me, as I was of it.
The wildflowers have disappeared in Foxes Lair too except for a hardy few. I saw a blur in the bush and found it was the tiny pink trigger plants.
The pied stilt was gorgeous at Chinaman Pool, in Carnarvon, at sunset.
I’ve just returned from being away for nearly ten days and found Perth is sweet home, after all. Now that came as a surprise to me!
It’s the first day of summer tomorrow. I’ll be starting it in the heat of the Goldfields.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to The Changing Seasons – November
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …
Christmas Lily, Esperance, Western Australia
Around this time of year, the Christmas lily blooms in the garden of the hotel where I stay in Esperance. I love the colours and perfection of the flower. It reminds me to hang in there, the year is coming to an end.
As we prepare for Christmas, Thanksgiving is on the horizon for my family, friends and blogger friends in the Northern Hemisphere.
May you enjoy your celebrations on a day of togetherness and gratitude.
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Cee’s FOTD Photo Challenge –
Captive by the sea
Sand crusted sea weed, Jurien Bay, Western Australia
Alive, under water
swaying like in breeze
caressed they emerge
salty with sea forest
when
tethered to her ankle
an embellished shackle
held him captive, too,
by the sea.
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Wednesday – Embellish
Sunday companionship
Sharing the space, in my garden.
a dawn bird
A Walk in the Park …
I work all over this big State of Western Australia, so naturally, this vast land is my neighbourhood as I am rarely home and, I post pictures regularly from wherever my work takes me. It is rare for me to share pictures from my neighbourhood. I have posted these pictures some years ago and the prompt is a good reminder to explore the world closer to home more frequently.
My home adjoins Yellagonga Regional Park, some 1400 hectares of protected land of which nearly half is protected wetlands. This area is four doors down from my home. The land in this area is laden with cultural significance for the regional indigenous people and is part of their Dreaming. I only became aware of this some years ago after a walk through the park with an elder as part of my workplace cultural learning.
I love that this place teems with new life. I recall the sheer delight in discovering the black swan’s cygnet is white.
There are spaces where the Australian shelduck and I can catch our breath.
Ancient gum trees for company.
As I approach this roundabout in spring, I have to be careful about the Wood Ducks that use the pond as a nursery before taking their family across the road to the Lake.
This spring there have been many new families that have arrived over the last six weeks. This year I’ve seen school children stop and take pictures with their phone as they walk home from school. I love watching their discovery through the lens.
This is my little oasis where other birds, too, call home. Glad I could share this with you.
As always
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge – In the Neighbourhood
The nature of the sea …
Sunset, Exmouth Gulf, Exmouth, Western Australia
When I’m by the sea I often reflect on relationships. Is there such a thing as forever? Or is there more to be enjoyed in those fleeting moments of visitation, like those experienced by the tides’ ebb and flow?
The picture jogged my memory about what Anne Morrow Lindberg wrote …
“When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread of anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the seas, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.” Anne Morrow Lindberg, Gift from the Sea (www.goodreads.com).
One day I will find someone who understands, fully understands, and embraces this philosophy.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: Open Topic
I visit the Central Wheatbelt area in Western Australia, on a regular basis. Although it is only around 260km, it is around 3-3.5 hour drive East of home for me. The highway is dangerous. It runs east and west, so some drivers are always driving into the sun early morning or at sunset. It is a narrow road, and used by roadtrains and with open farmland on either side, there is always danger of fox and kangaroo as well, at dusk.
But the landscape is stunning at sunset. For years I’ve been trying to get to this region at the right hour to capture it. I often see the sun setting in my rear view mirror and it takes my breath away. This month I timed it almost right.
In a paddock between the small township of Kellerberrin and Merredin a lone tree stands. I have photographed this tree many times and each time, it speaks the same message loud. Against all odds, still standing tall. The message has become my daily mantra.
Between Doodlakine and salt lakes at Baandee Lake I had to stop in near darkness and take this photograph. In the silence, the sky roared in colour, and soon it was dark.
There was a time I did not have the temerity to get out of my car to take photographs on this trip. It is a lonely drive when the trucks have zoomed on. I’m anxious to just get to my accommodation. These pictures are special to me because the landscape, nature, spoke louder than my inner voice of anxiety. I’m glad I listened to it.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to: A Photo a Week Challenge – Open Topic
This, too, is karma …
I’ve just returned from Esperance. It is probably the first trip in dozens that I did not visit magnificent West Beach. There was something in the air at Woody Lake that kept me there, something more than the fact I was on my own at dusk and early morning. I got there early and waited. I’m not sure for what. I just surrendered to the serenity of the moment that lasted two hours this morning.
The kangaroos were too quick to photograph and disappeared into the scrub before I could focus. Soon there was birdsong. Nothing I have heard before. It was a nursery choir with unfamiliar sounds, all tuning up to perfect one day. But not today. Today, the off key cacophony made me smile.
The scrub was filled with little chicks.
Not yet afraid, the Silvereye held on …
To catch this tiny bird at breakfast with an even tinier spider made my day.
It was as curious about me as I was of it. I wandered around for a couple of hours and as I was leaving I spotted something white in the scrub.
A tiny, fluffy grey fantail chick.
With sun beaming at, or was it from, her chest. I was dazzled.
Another juvenile played hide and seek, with several attempts at spreading the tail.
There was another chick
And another, resting after play.
And my first ever glimpse of a juvenile cuckoo.
Where does this delight in birds come from? Perhaps it is this …
As a child I yearned to be free. Free as a bird I would say to my mother who tightened apron strings. Even birds have to conform to the flock she would caution, or they die. I thought I was invincible, as I threw a “Not me!” over my shoulder and out the door.
I believe I knew what I wanted from about the age of six and every step of my life’s journey has been activated, framed, motivated by that one desire. To be free. I’m not sure what I wanted to be free of, but I knew I wanted freedom.
I believe I’ve achieved my childhood dreams. Is it karma?
I have lived a life of freedom and on my terms. Every step I have taken, every decision made, has led me to this point. I have not lived life passively or as an observer. I have lived my life, as intended. And, I’m not done yet.
Karma is not a b*tch. It is not life’s punishment for something bad you may have done, or rewarding you for something you have done right.
Karma is not a backward glance. Karma is filled with hope and is forward thinking. It is an acceptance, at any point of one’s life, one has the ability to change the course of how one lives, if one chooses to do this. It’s taken a long time to come to this realisation. So I start new each day. Yes, life can be that simple for me.
May your steps today lead to good karma.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
Australian icons …
I know they are not the farmer’s friend and they can cause chaos on country roads at dusk but to me, an unexpected encounter with a wild kangaroo is a delight.
I’m always careful early morning in Foxes Lair, Narrogin, in the south eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. At dusk too, when I drive through. I usually see a kangaroo or even a small mob. This morning I was later than usual and got there around 7 am. The early morning walkers had already gone through the reserve except for one. I often see him with his dog and he’ll say a few polite words.
I inched my car through the narrow pathway heading to the car park when I heard a gentle rustle. A joey!
It hopped in front of the car and then went behind a small shrub, yet so close and within reach. Oh! that look! I melted just like that. 
The joey hopped away, stopped and looked around as if searching 
… this is a quintessential Australian bush scene.
Then I saw mother. I’ve only noticed the third kangaroo (to the left of centre) when I uploaded the pic. They blend in so well with the bush and being shy creatures they can slink away into the scrub very quickly.
All three crossed to the other side of the reserve. As the mother and joey hopped away, the male stood upright, his stance unmistakably, don’t mess with my family. I respected his guard and waited until they were out of sight.
When I could no longer see them, my gaze scanned the ground. Since being in the Murchison, I’m now interested in animal tracks, too. I don’t believe I have ever seen tracks made by a kangaroo tail, before. A first for me!
I’m home overnight and leave again tomorrow. As the year is winding down, I feel a bit fatigued. I know I’m not comfortable in my skin when I feel this way. Besides, today has not been a good day. What a difference 12 hours make. I drove home with roadworks and big farming machinery on the highway slowing my trip only to find a hotel has messed up my booking. I accept people make genuine mistakes. But when one tries to cover up with a lame excuse, that’s something I find hard to accept. I feel I let myself down by losing my cool. I wish I had taken a deep breath. What’s done can’t be undone. I’m expecting to get the worst room in the hotel when I get there!
But for now, I think I’ll just go and indulge in some comfort food … Vegemite on barely warm toast, a slather of butter and a cup of tea. I feel better already!
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Tuesday – Butter
Flower of the Day Challenge
Scented blue sun orchid, Manea Park, Bunbury, Western Australia
a dawn bird
In response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge – FOTD
Finding self, among shadows
More often than not, I wake just before dawn. I make a cup of coffee, open the curtains and wait for shapes to emerge from familiar shadows. I do this wherever I am. No two mornings are alike. That’s the gift of the day. Start anew.
We were travelling in the outback Midwest and spent the night at Mt Magnet, Western Australia. We were tired when we got there after a long hard drive and taking in the acres of wildflowers. It really was overwhelmingly beautiful.
My companion had been to a place called The Granites and wanted to take me there. We rested briefly and went at sunset. It was another world.
The Granites is ancient country of great cultural significance to the Badimia people and among the massive granites, one can find ancient rock art. We didn’t have time to explore as it is mostly unsealed roads without any signage and after a while every turn looks familiar. So with one navigating and one driving we left as it got dark.
I held that moment of arrival in the palm of my hand when we got back to the accommodation. It was still there when I woke early morning. It was dark and raining. Such relief! It was getting warm during the day, even with air con. I stepped outside as quietly as I could on creaking floors and wriggled with delight at the cool air and rain. I knew I needed to be at The Granites. I knew what would emerge from the shadows. I knew I needed to touch base with ‘self’.
As sun broke free of the clouds just past the ridge, what struck me was the absolute silence of this grand place.
I was an audience of one
As Mother Nature unveiled her art
The still life
The paintings
It was a gallery wherever one looked.
In the early light, the granite ridges softened
And tree limbs twisted into intricate lace.
Like I said there was absolute silence. Not a bird call or tweet, not a rustle of goanna, or bounce of kangaroo.
I’m there as I write.
It is possible I brought that moment of arrival back home with me.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Saturday – Shadows
Horizon
On one of my previous trips to Geraldton I drove past the foreshore when I saw the new sculpture, Horizon, being put into place. I caught a glimpse of it through the pulleys, cranes and high vis clothing of workers and knew it promised to be something special. Of all the dozens of trips I’ve made to Geraldton, how fortuitous the timing.
My first trip post surgery was to Geraldton and I found myself drawn to the art. Being school holidays, there were holiday makers in town and people taking selfies, most drawn closer to the sphere. I stood away from it to experience it differently.
‘Horizon’ is a 1.5 metre globe by artist Lucy Humphrey. The water within turns the world upside down because of the way the light reflects off it.
There is, of course, the technicality of the idea inherent in this. But for me, I thought of the water within the sphere as the life within one. The idea that despite all, if one accesses it as intended, despite distortion, we can find a horizon. It is there, we just need to pause to let it define itself as a steadying point of reference.
In the weeks before and after the surgery it did feel like my world had been turned upside down. Living with palpable fear of the unknown is an unsettling experience. As I’ve mentioned before I am not church going but I did believe, my faith was my horizon. It kept me steady. It gave me perspective. It gave me pause. It gave me time to reflect how grateful I am of each moment that make up my day.
May you experience the joy of gratitude today. The joy in the ordinary that makes life, extraordinary.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Friday – Thankful
Wreath Flowers
It was on my bucket list of things to do but I never got around to taking time off to see these wonderful flowers until this year partly because the timing has got to be right. This year we got there at just the right time, a week too early, a week too late, and we would not have seen them.
They are known as wreath flowers, a type of Leschenaultia that grows wild in the midwest region, north of Perth. 
The flowers grow roadside where gravel has been disturbed and we met people from around the world who came to see this iconic, rare flower that grows in Western Australia.
The colours were from soft butter.
To infant pink …
Deeper pink …
To fuschia … the coverted red was elusive.
Close up they are delicate.
It was a memorable day but I was saddened when I talked to the local lady at the petrol station who told me they are desperately waiting for rain. Their annual rainfall is 390 mm and they have only had 100 mm this year. The farmers have been optimistic and planted, looking upwards and sideways for rain.
May Lady Luck and Mother Nature join forces soon. The farmers deserve a break.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to One Word Sunday – Luck – hosted by Debbie Smyth
Milkmaids
Milkmaids (Burchardia umbellata), Manea Park, Bunbury, Western Australia
As the Northern Hemisphere moves into autumn, we in the Southern Hemisphere embrace the warmth of spring.
Nothing speaks more of spring to me than these beautiful milkmaids that grow wild in the bush. They float on tall stalks among grass and scrub, delicate and inviting.
Enjoy!
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Cee’s FOTD photography challenge – 29th September 2019
A Shared Space 
You must be logged in to post a comment.