HAPPY NEW WEEK!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I thought I'd start the thread, because Annette is traveling.
I'm posting this photo (a National Park Service photo), because I was astonished to see a Scarlet Tanager eating small red berries in my garden this evening. These birds migrate to the tropical rain forest just east of the Andes in South America. It's been fairly cold here in my area, so this species should be long gone from here. I guess the one I saw this evening was a late migrater. I felt quite blessed to see him, and I wish the little fella well on his long journey. I hope the berries were good for him.
Scarlet TanagerIndiana Dunes National Lakeshore, northern IndianaU.S. National Park Service photo labeled Public Domain (Copyright Free)
15-second video of a lovely Scarlet Tanager singing his song.
Info about the Scarlet Tanager.
Thank you Diane for a lovely bright start. I want some scarlet tanagers in my garden.
Swan Hill saga, at last. We left Adelaide 7.30 am as it is a 5½ hour drive to Swan Hill – with frequent stops for coffee, food, toilet & stretch legs, we took 9 hours. (Swan Hill is a town in NW Victoria on the River Murray, almost 900 miles from Murray Mouth.) Up the Freeway to Tailem Bend, coffee, on through Lameroo, Pinnaroo (more coffee). This is great country for growing potatoes & onions. Across the border tp Victoria, change clocks ½ hour. Through Murrayville, Cowangie, Underbool, Walpeup – we’ll stop at these on return. Lunch at Ouyen . Only the bakery open; I ate my lunch while I took camera for an airing! Brief stop in Manangatang. Their Uniting church, still in use, built 1925 as Presbyterian, typical weatherboard church in these small towns.
The drive since Tailem Bend was through the Mallee country. Before the land was cleared for farming, it was thickly covered with these eucalyptus trees that have many stems growing from a large bulbous woody structure called a lignotuber or mallee root. Mallee roots are good firewood, give great heat, excellent coals, little spitting/sparking. Trees can grow to 10 metres. Most mallees are slow growing, tough trees in arid and semi arid regions.
Mallee is particularly difficult to clear because removing the top growth and leaving the tuberous stump simply encourages new shoots to emerge from the stump. If burnt in a bushfire, they regrow from the root, as these have, leaving burnt branches bare.
to be continued
Very interesting photos, AQ! Wish I could travel with you. :-)
Diane: Thank you for starting us off, especially with the photo and video of the spectacular Tanager.
AQ: We don't have those particular eucalyptus here; they're clearly survivors.
Lindybird: Glad you had a nice time with the family and hope the drive wasn't too bad.
Our hosts are very chatty, so not much down time here. We all drove up to Crater Lake today - it's the caldera of a 12,000ft mountain that blew its top some 7 thousand years ago. I took some photos and will post one hen I get home. Not much on tomorrow (which is good since we're wiped out); then we head back south Monday morning.
Hope OG is okay.
Thank you, Diane and AQ, for starting my day off with some super photographs. Certainly started my day with a smile. It's miserable here today with rain and wind and cold.
Have a good day, everyone.
Good Morning, and thank you to Diane for starting us off with the gorgeous, glorious tanager. I hope the one you found got away safely.
A lovely treat, too, to come on and find AQs pics, which I'll go back to look at now.
It's bright sunshine here and we've enjoyed our extra hour in bed courtesy of the hour change.
Unknown said: Very interesting photos, AQ! Wish I could travel with you. :-)
Lindybird said: Very interesting photos, AQ! Wish I could travel with you. :-)
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Ha, you two, all you have to do is hop on a plane - - -
Swan Hill saga cont. We drove around Swan Hill, then a short escorted walk to see sights. As soon as we had our rooms at motel, I dumped bag and took off with camera to capture 2 churches each a block away. Captured. Ah, only another block to St Mary’s. Ah, the door is open. Stained glass windows, large & small, galore. Back in time for evening meal, followed by the Sound & Light show at Pioneer Village. I did not enjoy the bright strobe & laser lights and mostly kept my eyes closed. Next morn, breakfast (cereal, fruit & English), leisurely start, coffee at cafe beside River Murray & Pioneer Settlement Museum. Several of us ordered coffee. We waited & waited. Our guide came to tell me that gate to village was open &, as he had, I snuck in to photo the church & its windows. Not an original church but one created from bricks of old courthouse. Windows from a demolished Melbourne church and memorial plaques from another lost church from nearby town. Back to cafe, still no coffee. I cancelled my order, luckily we were to pay after. Some of our group waited 45 mins before cancelling. A quick visit to art gallery, ugh, modern stuff, bits of cars stuck on walls, etc. Swan Hill Uniting, the most picturesque church we saw.
Near the cafe is the Paddle Steamer Gem, built in Moama in 1876, red gum planking over iron frame, originally carried freight & passengers below Mildura. In 1882 taken to Goolwa SA, beached, sawn in half by hand, and the two parts pulled apart by bullocks to allow an extra section to be inserted, increasing passenger accommodation. Lower deck was used for cargo, the engine, the dining room and galley; middle deck for passenger accommodation; and top deck for the wheelhouse and the crew. The Gem also had a smoking room on the upper deck for men and a music room for ladies on the middle deck. Later used as floating boarding house at Mildura. Purchased 1962 by Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement to serve as art gallery & focal point of Australia's first outdoor folk museum. It had been expected to take just 10 days to tow her behind the PS Oscar W from Goolwa to Swan Hill, but low river levels left the Gem and her crew stranded for long periods. It eventually took eight months to make the journey. Now undergoing a progressive restoration.
AQ - Fascinating story of the 'Gem'. Thank you for so much detail. Good that people care enough of their heritage to spend so much time and, presumably, money, to restore something with such an interesting background. Even though we can't travel with you, you bring it alive for us to share - thank you.
DIANE Thank you for starting the week.
We had a lovely walk at Merkinch Wetlands this morning.. The weather was wonderful, cold with brilliant blue sky and lovely to see the snow on Ben Wyvis.