Like many of us, I love flowers although I rarely pick them to arrange inside. I started this post at the end of last year and then put it to one side. So, from the ‘draft folder’ is a short but rather nice reminder of a happy nesting event.
Pigeon orchids – Ceraia saaronica – flower in response to heavy rainfall. While the onset of the wet season rains are a good trigger we also see sporadic flowering at other times after rain.
Pigeon Orchid – Ceraia saaronica – delicate, sweet scented flowers which barely last for a day.A sunbird nest attached somewhat precariously to an orchid stem right outside our bedroom. Sunbird nest with young – the tissue-like white decorations are petals from the Pigeon orchid which was flowering in November just when the female Sunbird was ready to add some final touches to her nest. A Black Butcherbird regularly patrols our verandah looking for easy prey and with the nest visible from our bed we would wake in the morning and check to make sure the youngsters were still alive before we started our day. Amazingly they both managed to fledge – we can’t be sure how things went after that but we like to imagine they made it to adulthood.
Now that our major restoration projects are complete we are taking more time to simply enjoy the privilege of living in such a beautiful, peaceful and endlessly interesting area.
While there are always a few maintenance tasks the work is not onerous and we can take time out to enjoy our walking tracks as well as to sit and simply look around.
It is immensely rewarding to observe the growth in the vegetation, watch trees mature and to delight in the variety and number of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects both residing on and visiting the property.
Allen
Barbara
Wild Wings & Swampy Things 