More Birds …
Welcome Swallow. Pretty little bird.
Noisy Mynah. Noisy bigger bird.
Young crow, made it through the winter, eater of other little things. The Welcome Swallows were harassing it up on the lamp post.
Rainbow Lorikeet at the bird bath. Caught between movements, lots of doing around the stillness.
Butcherbird, hooked beak for tearing at stuff. More doing. Gotta keep doing til we’re done.
But do we have to do so much, let’s go for a swim with the Pelican brothers and sisters.
Duck, not doing much at all, just getting away from the guy with the camera. Gotta do something …
Welcome Swallow – what’s that down there? Hmmm, we’ll never know.
Young Magpie, getting less jumpy at my back door. Say hello Maggie …
An unexpected visitor. Owl, I’m fairly sure. An uncommon for me night time shot, by torchlight – I’m not equipped for distance night work. She didn’t see me behind the light.
… or nothing much happening.
Winter is just breaking into spring here in Brisbane. Those that have survived are the strongest or the luckiest of their kind. Not that our winters are harsh, but everywhere is itself, not somewhere else.
And with nothing much happening nothing much happens, just survival, which is instinctive anyway. No effort.
It’s when we make an effort that more effort is needed, to do the more that happens when something is made to happen.
The more we do, the more happens, the more we have to do.
Until the realisation dawns, all doing gets is more doing.
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What nonsense is this my lord. Shall we put it out of its misery?
Hmmm, I don’t know Sir Gawain. It might not be as crazy as it sounds.
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look …
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Welcome …
Welcome Swallow. Welcome the spring after a long cold – relatively speaking – winter.
Early morning and the days activity has only just begun.
And curious too, wondering ‘what is this attention directed at me …’
Victoria Point jetty before sunrise, where the Welcome Swallow lives out the winter.
Sun rise …
Welcome swallow, so called as it welcomes in the spring down south of Australia. So it probably migrates north from there for the warmer winter in Queensland and up into the Northern Territory.
It’s a native bird so it knows its way around. Considered to be lucky as it brings the warmer weather with it after winter, not that people from the northern hemisphere would consider our winter cold. But cold it gets …
In the common psyche they are also associated with hope, renewal and protection. The power of suggestion and belief is strong. But there is a power in the presence of these little creatures. The quiet beauty of birds.
They build nests out of mud and grass or other suitable material, in all the nooks and crannies of the pier at Victoria Point. Can be seen in any daylight tracking and catching food on the wing. And the cyclones and king tides don’t get them.
Great little survivors.
But not to worry, ‘I can fly away at the first sign of trouble.’
No trouble here though. Just a quiet time for the little ones to gather themselves for the coming days work.
Ready or not … Sun is rising and it’s time to spread those wings.
Ok, not just yet …
Hello little one …
Ready …
Steady …
Go …
Hahaha …
© Mark Berkery … Click on those pictures for a closer look …
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A Jewel of Harlequins
On the white flowered Hibiscus in the nearby bush is a small herd of bugs, Harlequins they are called, don’t know why – possibly for the distinctive symmetrical markings on the ‘face’. These ones are real beauties; they go through many different colours in their little lives, blues, greens and reds. And there are times when they can be found with developing wings that make them look like something from a futuristic car show, and very elegant.
Anyway, these last days they are this wonderful blue with hues and patches of green and red and iridescent, overlaid on a very purposeful looking form. A very attractive little jewel of the forest.
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You have to know where to find them as they don’t appear on all Hibiscus plants, only a few I know of. And then you have to know how to handle them, with care of course. But they also respond to a kind of attention so it’s possible to get a few shots without disturbing them unduly.
And when they are done sitting I put then back exactly where I find them. This one is on my stick, the one I use for stabilising the camera at times is also good for shooting on.
I am usually in the nature just for a walk these days as the little people are shy or just not around after the drastic weather of the last year, and health permitting – other bugs I am catching are from visiting children, no fun at all, the bugs caught this way.
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It’s a simple pleasure of mine, this walking and seeing or sensing. To see the colours and form, the movement and the life in it all.
And then I go home, to tend the wildy garden I have encouraged and nurtured.
Just for a while now.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
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Ready or Not …
… Keep your place or you’ll be caught! It was a game we played as kids, hide and seek if I remember right. And I went on playing it for decades after, in one form or another.
Now I don’t play any more, because I’m not so inclined, and you’ll have to go back and close your eyes to count some more. That’s what the seeker used to do, count up to a number and shout out – Ready or Not …
Have you ever seen any bugs play this game? Of course it’s not the same, they don’t count, not like us anyway. But they do play, why not. Why would a living creature, however small, be excluded from play.
Just look at the design, the colours. So much ingenuity and no play, absurd. And when they are in action it can plainly be seen they enjoy life.
That’s what I see, it’s the way it is, until it is some other way.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
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Sunrise on Dew Laden Nomad and Friends …
… in the Wildness.
Cold nights and humid air with warm sunshine in the morning means something to drink and life goes on, if you’re lucky and survive the day, if luck it be. All the creatures are making the most of the light and warmth at sunrise. I would too if I was sleeping on a leaf, though I think I might hang under it and brave the spiders rather then carry all that cold water on my back.
Well, I was this side of the camera so I don’t have those considerations today. ((:
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
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There Is No Such Thing As ‘Just’ A Bee …
There is the magical messenger of the spiritual Earth, carrying the music of creation from flower to flower until the symphony is complete and the mind of Man is at peace.
And when will that be? Well, there is only one ‘real’ time. More real.
It comes down to what you give your attention to – first.
No ‘pop’ religion intended. ((:
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A nomad bee from a nearby field at sundown on a cloudy afternoon.
Little beauty, to me.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
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Nature's Place 
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