Yesterday, I went up to the property again. Mum and dad had to meet someone so I took advantage of the lift to properly check out the changes. Apparently it is a lot easier to look for fungi when it isn’t incredibly windy?
I’ll talk about the fungi in a future post as there were a LOT of photos.
This photo was taken to compare with the photos of the burned cars I shared in the first post. There is one main difference. There is a lot of greenery on the grown! Two weeks and decent rains can make a difference.
This is to contrast with the green fields in the background.
The sundew is coming up really nicely, accompanied by grass.
I tried to experiment with little dew drops on the sundew. Alas, it was incredibly muddy so I kept on sinking into the ground.
This is a little dip where there are a lot of quartz around. I’m not sure what the proper explanation is for it. Regardless, there is NEVER water in it. Yesterday, it was full. Was a great area for fungi too.
Plants:
I didn’t notice any orchids on this trip but I did notice other plants growing from the ground. Not sure what they are or if they are relevant.
The above photo I took because it reminded me of the monster from “Little Shop of Horrors.” I showed Seth the photo and he saw the similarity. YES! It means I’m only slightly weird.
Birds:
Great day for birds to, in many respects it reminded me of what it was like before the fires.
Grey fantail chasing a varied sitella. Haven’t seen a sitella here for ages!
Young grey strike thrush. Two hanging around as we were walking back to the car.
Wedge tailed eagle! It was sitting on a tree and then it flied off. I swore in front of my parents because I didn’t expect to see a wedgie that close. A friend since told me it’s common to find them near farming areas, as they get easy feed with the dead lambs.
I also heard a whistling kite and kookaburras. It definitely sounded like the birdlife was back.
Creative:
Mum had an interesting comment recently. She said a lot of these photos weren’t my style, that I’ve been trying to emulate someone elses style. She is true, to a degree. I’ve been pursuing citizen science projects and my number #1 priority has been getting all the diagnostic features I can. This really limits creativity when you are pressed for time or when the animal is at risk of moving.
Or when it is really muddy.
These are a couple of experimental shots. I may explore properly next time, if we have longer.
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I’m hoping to get more scientific in future trips. Look into ethical surveying techniques, like tiles for reptiles and and wildlife cameras. Just need to do my research and wait until the clean up has finished.