We are all part of nature

I startled the Nankeen night heron on my morning walk. I recognised it by its cinnamon wings. It flew away into the mangroves on the other side of the river. It was too quick for a photo, but a day or two later I saw it again at dusk.

Nankeen night heron – Nycticorax caledonicus.

The night heron is elusive. As it’s name suggests, it’s usually only seen at dusk and dawn. It hides among the mangroves during the day. Spotting it again so soon was a highlight of my evening walk along the Cooks River.

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Lens artist challenge – reflections

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Reflections are one of the rewards of walking and bird-watching along the Cooks River and adjacent wetlands.

Black-winged stilt and tea trees at Landing Lights wetland

A duck among the reeds at the ponds at Cup and Saucer Creek

Reflected power poles and buildings remind me we are still in the city — it’s easy to forget sometimes.
But the rubbish that litters our waterways is a sad reflection of human nature.

Egret and rubbish bin

Thanks to Patti for the theme this week:

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: #25 Reflections

To join the challenge, tag your post with lens-artists.

Before and after

The fairies have been renovating.

Do you prefer the old look (purple door) or the new?

Check out even more colourful pics in the new Lens-artists weekly challenge

Pelican

My entry for a couple of photo challenges: My Place in the world and Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge — Pelican.

Pelecanus conspicillatus splash landing

Pelicans have lived along the Cooks River since at least the Dreaming, I learned from a book I’m reading about the river: River Dreaming. They are called Goolay’yari by the local Aboriginal people and feature in creation stories.

The Cooks River is an important place to me. I live a ten minute walk from these pelicans. I have been picnicking, bird-watching, riding bikes and walking along the river for twenty years. I’ve hosted and been to birthday parties and attended kid’s soccer matches and training in the parks along the riverbanks. I’ve blogged about it numerous times. I even wrote an essay about it for uni.

I love the river, imperfect as it is, so that’s why this post is also a contribution to this week’s WordPress photo challenge: My place in the world.

Six degrees of separation – in books

I’ve just stumbled across a blogging meme called 6 degrees of separation. Once a month a book is proposed as the starting point for a chain of six more books – each linked in some way to the one preceding it.

I decided I should seize the opportunity to have a go at this because:

1. I feel like getting back into blogging and this is a good excuse
2. This month I’ve actually read the starting book, which will probably not often happen. It’s Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible
3. It’s a fun way to avoid study (reading about risk assessment!)

A wife at Gorge River

A Wife On Gorge River by Catherine Stewart

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Catherine Stewart has had an interesting life, but the telling of it is not so interesting. The book conveyed very little of Catherine’s motivations or philosophy – which is surely what you most want to read about, when a person has made the decision to raise a family in such a remote area: in the early 1990s Catherine moved in with her new partner, Robert Long, who was already living in a shack at the mouth of Gorge River in south west New Zealand that is only accessible by air, or a 2 day walk.

Surprise!

I’m back. Well, briefly back. Just like mushrooms, I’m not sure how long I’ll last. The past 7 months I’ve been studying (Environmental Management) and it hasn’t left much time for blogging. 

Mushrooms are often a surprise, appearing out of nowhere, vanishing within days.
Find more surprises at the Weekly Photo Challenge.