moonvoice: (calm - the alert wolverine)
[personal profile] moonvoice
Two today.

We went bushwalking in Koondoola this afternoon. The sun is setting late enough with Summer, that we could get there in time even considering Glen gets home late-ish. Thank goodness for the sun setting past 7.00pm even without daylight savings.

It's probably the most dreary time of year to go bushwalking, really. Especially if you go for wildflower identification. Aside from candle banksias and Nuytsia floribundas (and in Ellenbrook and the North end of Alex. Heights and Landsdale - Morrison featherflowers, or Verticordia nitens), there's not really a bevy of activity happening in the understoreys. Thankfully, the nectar dependent birds and butterflies do just fine with candle banksias and balga blossom stalks. You can see some candle banksias and Morrison featherflowers here, during last year's Summer trip through the suburb: http://moonvoice.dreamwidth.org/738905.html

But even so, sometimes you'll find a yellow Calytrix like this one. :) Calytrix are easily amongst my favourite native flowers, and are endemic to Australia. They come with the understandable, and wonderful common name of 'starflowers.' They are difficult to grow in many gardens (Verticordias are easier, and that's kind of saying something), but regardless; are stunning. The yellow one featured here flowers pretty much exclusively in Summer. In Spring however, they flower in hot pink, dull pink, violet, white and so on. They flower in profusion, and leave little flower skeletons once the petals age and drop off (you can see some in this photo). The flower skeletons last all year round, until the next year, usually.





We also saw a typical skink, wriggling its way across the grey-white lateritic sands.





There were more photos, but none turned out quite right. I had to adjust the overall focus of my camera for my new glasses (new prescription), and then took photos with my old glasses, so things that looked in focus with the lens, actually weren't, thanks to overall optical adjustments. I'll figure it out one day.

Date: 2010-12-09 04:09 pm (UTC)
starstrider: (Misc -- Hasselblad)
From: [personal profile] starstrider
Calytrix would be my favorite flower there, too. Soooo gorgeous. And the skeleton flowers are awesome.

Skink! XD

I often have trouble with getting everything in focus myself. I don't have a huge prescription, but my glasses are several years old at this point. Plus, my right eye is stronger than my left eye, though thankfully that doesn't do much for my dslr, but it made a big difference with the hasselblad and large format view cameras I used in college. I actually generally use autofocus on my dslr. Otherwise it takes me a minute to get it in focus, and then I spend another moment straining because I second guess myself about it. XD

Date: 2010-12-10 02:53 am (UTC)
freyakitten: The top part of a fountain, a man pointing to the sky, photographed with a background of mostly clouds (fountain top)
From: [personal profile] freyakitten
My prescription has to be off in each individual eye, because they compensate for each other when I'm using both. This sucks for using the itty bitty viewfinder thingies :(

Date: 2010-12-09 04:23 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: A red knotwork emblem. (Default)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
Skink! \o/ Those are so awesome.

Date: 2010-12-09 04:33 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] amethystfirefly
Ooooh. Those flowers are gorgeous!!

and SKINK!!!! ♥

Date: 2010-12-09 06:30 pm (UTC)
bodlon: It's a coyote astronaut! (Default)
From: [personal profile] bodlon
It took me a second to realize that I was seeing rocks and shadows, but my first reaction to that skink was that it had far too many legs!

Date: 2010-12-09 07:04 pm (UTC)
ariestess: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ariestess
The flowers are very pretty, but I am in love with the skink and his loooong tail!

Date: 2010-12-09 10:26 pm (UTC)
ariestess: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ariestess
Yeah, some critter's gonna get a good meal...

Date: 2010-12-09 08:50 pm (UTC)
cyprinella: broken neon sign that reads "lies & fish" (frog)
From: [personal profile] cyprinella
Lovely photos!

That skink is much longer than we tend to see in these parts (Mostly I'll see blue-tailed skinks (Eumeces fasciatus) and broadhead skinks (Eumeces laticeps)). Very neat looking!

Date: 2010-12-10 01:53 am (UTC)
silverjackal: (Default)
From: [personal profile] silverjackal
Your skink made me smile greatly, but the flowers are also exquisite.

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