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bee hives, Bees, blossoms, bottlebrush, callestimons, flora, flowering gums, flowers, honey, pollination -

I never get tired or sick of the buzzing sound of bees which we have all year round, thanks to the many natives trees, shrubs and flowering gums. I heard that Bees can remember human faces and that doesn't surprise me because when I am photographing them I get up so close to them and they appear to look at me and I have never been stung by one yet (touch wood). So how did honey start?  From reading and researching bees, I have learnt that in 2006 the oldest know Bee known as  Melittosphex Burmensis  was found encased in...

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australian native birds, Bees, blossoms, bridges, carp, cherryblossom, colourful, countrytowns, dams, dubbo, gardenbridges, japanese gardens, maples, ponds, walking tracks, waterfalls, weeping cherries, willow trees -

Lindy and I spent a long time planning our trip to Dubbo in 2019. We didn't realise just how dry the countryside was until we did this trip, specifically to go to Dubbo Zoo and the Shoyoen Japanese Gardens which we had heard were beautiful. We couldn't get accommodation during the New South Wales September school holidays with all accommodation being fully booked out, This is when we were told was the peak time for the gardens. So we booked the last week of October and with it being so dry, the gardens were not at their peak, many things...

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australian birds, breeding, charming, colourful, ducks, eggs, feathers, plumed whistling duck, seedeatingbird, sociable, wildlife, wings, zebras -

I never ever thought we would ever have this stunning duck the Plumed whistling duck on our property and two of them, a pretty little female and a handsome male walked daily around our property, regularly coming up near the back of our house and laying under the shade of a tree near where we had a bowl of fresh water. Late afternoon they would fly out to feed on the seed in local pastures and return to a base camp during the day. Well this couple thought they were living in a resort with fresh water plenty of shade...

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antics, australian birds, australian wildlife, birds, bluewingedkookaburra, breeding, charming, colourful, countrytowns, dams, eggs, estuary, fauna, feathers, flora, Forest Kingfisher, insect eating, Kookaburra, lagoons, lakes, landscape, laughingkookaburra, nativegardens, nest, ponds, rainforests, reptiles, rivers, Sacred Kingfisher, wildlife -

We are very fortunate to have both the Forest Kingfisher and the Sacred Kingfisher living in the trees on and around our property. Just being able to walk out our front door and just take a couple of steps to be able to photograph these beautiful little birds in their natural environment is beautiful. Years ago we put a very shallow frog pond in the bottom corner of our yard, the rain runoff keeps it topped up with lovely cold fresh water. Yes we have frogs in their but because we just let it do what it wanted to do...

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australian birds, australian native birds, australian native tree, australian wildlife, birds, bottlebrush, breeding, callestimons, charming, colourful, double barred finch, dubbo, eggs, estuary, fauna, feathers, finch, flora, lagoons, landscape, landscapes, nativegardens, nest, parks, ponds, rivers, road trip, seedeatingbird, seeds, tiny, wings, woodlands -

Another little Aussie gem is the Double-Barred Finch which is a tiny 10-11cm in size. It is also known as the Banded or Black-ringed Finch. It has 2 distintive thin black bars across its lower white throat and chest, the rump is also white and the tail is black. It is seed foraging in pairs or flocks. Similar species are Banded Whiteface, and White-fronted Chat. I have only spotted this little charfmer a couple of time, first time was onnour road trip to Dubbo in September 2019 where I captured him (see Featured Photo) and at Petrie near the river...

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