Eucalyptus ficifolia x ptychocarpa "Summer beauty"

I think these are one of the most beautiful small trees to come out of the fairly recent hybridising that's been going on in the Eucalyptus/Corymbia families. There is also a soft pink, a bright orange and a white now available in the these lovely small trees.




I love the way the bud cap folds back, like a little trapdoor, to tantalisingly display the flower waiting to emerge from inside.

Only one of my three trees has produced flowers this year,
and it has only managed one truss instead of the usual magnificent coverage of the whole tree

The flowers last for quite a long while too. I haven't tried picking them for the house because I hate the idea of taking anything from the outside display when the tree looks so lovely.

Also I know there are lots of little creatures that rely on the nectar, produced in abundance, for part of their evening meal. Animals like the Sugar Gliders and Feathertail Gliders.

If they weren't so expensive I could plant lots and lots more, then I wouldn't mind having to pick the odd bunch.

Click here for more information on Sugar Gliders


Click here for information of Feathertale Gliders

King Parrot or Alisterus scapularis

Peek-a-boo King Parrot.

Beautiful birds aren't they? Beautiful but pesky in orchards. Most years we don't get any of the fruit off this apple tree. They are all eaten before they ripen.

Birds, up to a dozen at a time, congregate, feast and party here amongst our fruit trees. After three years of drought the birds number have decreased dramatically and this fellow was all alone.

King Parrots are fruit eaters and can sometimes be a menace to growers who are trying to make a living from supplying fruit. We, however, are not in that position and we welcome the bird life and are willing to share with them; even though apples certainly weren't part of their native diet. They like to eat seeds of eucalypts and acacias, berries, other fruits, nuts, nectar, blossoms and leaf buds - so a fairly wide diet which includes apples without any trouble at all

These birds can become quite tame and will happily feed near you, whilst keeping a wary eye on what you are up to. Look at these photos and you will see
what I mean. This one is a male because he has that gorgeous red head and chest. We usually have 8 or so living here fairly permanently but with the drought we have noticed the numbers dropping considerably. In fact we have very few birds around. I hope they have flown away to better areas and haven't perished here because of lack of food and water. The local blossom trees have finished and the exotic ones in my garden have shrivelled and dropped their buds and fruits. Our local creek is now dry. We do still have water in our dams but have noticed that the birds prefer to drink from smaller bird baths scattered around the place than attempt to drink from large open areas.

Click here to learn more about King Parrots

Australian Frogs Genus Litoria

We came back from a recent holiday to find a frog in our bathroom. It was sitting on the edge of the bath pretending to be sponge or perhaps invisible. With my new fantastic camera I can take close up pictures so I snapped away very happily.
Then I attempted to name the frog using 'A Field Guide to Frogs of Australia.' by Martyn Robinson. That was a good idea but the problem was that I had taken many photographs much like my first one here, which is pretty much useless for naming a particular frog. I couldn't clearly see the toes, or the colour in the armpits or much else that would help me distinguish this frog from its close relatives

I had managed to place it in the Litoria genus at least. I vowed that next time I would photograph what I needed in order to make a decision as to which frog it was.

These little brown tree frogs all look very, very similar. Sometimes it comes down to the colour of their eyes. Note frog 1 has silver eyes with a cross across it, all helpful for distinguishing who he is.

The next little frog I saw, only a couple of days later again in the bathroom I managed to look for and photograph the colours that I needed.



Here you can quite clearly see the marbling in the groin area, colouring completely hidden in the first photograph.















Notice also the creamy/white tummy. I decided that this was Litoria peronii. They can vary from grey or dark brown to cream and can change colour depending on where they are. He also has a flecking of emerald marks on his back, which I didn't see with my eye but noticed at once in the photograph.









The next photograph was taken yesterday. It was a very hot day so I don't understand why he was where he was. He was on our deck and was almost squashed underfoot by our comings and goings. He blends in so beautifully with the grey of the decking and was very difficult to see.

He was hunched up tight, presumably to keep all moisture in.


Again I checked the marbling and colouring in the thighs, armpits and groin area and decided that this one is Litoria tyleri.
Maybe I'm right, maybe not but I learnt quite a lot about what you can see when you really look very, very closely.

He looks very undignified in this position but be assured that he was quickly given his freedom, tucked inside a nearby bush.