Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Sunday Selections #86

Sunday Selections, was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock,  as an ongoing theme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

The theme is now continued by  River at Drifting through life.

The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.

Like River I generally like to have a theme for my Sunday Selections posts.  This week I am featuring Silvereyes, and some of the delights of spring from our garden.

The silvereyes were able to enjoy apple while the attention of bigger birds was elsewhere.
Clicking on any of the photos will enlarge them.




Spring is here now, although sometimes the weather would argue the point.  We had some beautiful, sunny warm days last week but for the past few days the wind has been fierce and vile.  It has flattened some of our prize blooms in the garden - giving me the perfect excuse (as if I needed any) to bring them indoors.






61 comments:

  1. What cool, plump little birds those Silvereyes are! And your flowers are so pretty. Yup, you're enjoying spring while here the fall is just starting to put on its coat of many colours. Enjoy every moment, EC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cathy Oliffe-Webster. Thank you. I am enjoying it, although dreading summer.

      Delete
  2. I've never seen a Silvereye before, they are quite beautiful :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All Consuming: Silvereyes do have their charm. However I remember them raiding the fig tree we had when I was a child. They would open the fig up and climb inside. Having hollowed it out, they would go to the next one. Leaving me the job of collecting hollowed out, rotting fig shells. To this day I cannot eat fig.

      Delete
  3. Sweet little birds.....and I can see why they call them Silvereyes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bonza photos. Ya could almost mistake the Silvereye for a leave if ya didn't know what to look for. Your blooms are blooming excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Windsmoke: Their camoflague is excellent isn't it. And yes, the garden is blooming well. Thank you.

      Delete
  5. I love those little dears. Can you tell the difference between silvereyes and white-eyes? I can't but I could tell the time by them. Didn't have to look at the clock, once the silvereyes started foraging outside the kitchen window at our Mt.Lofty house, it was 2.15pm.
    We had some nasty gale-force winds that smashed my big, all year round flowering Grevillea, brought down a huge old weeping willow across our daughter's garden entrance, demolishing two Cecile Brunner roses and also doing unpleasant things to my Hyacinths.

    How are all the health issues in your household? I have finally got my husband into
    respite care and am starting to find my equilibrium.

    Isn't spring wonderful?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arija: No, I can't be certain about the silvereye/white-eye question unless this little dears stay still while I have my bird book out. And staying still for the camera is a feat in itself.
      I am sorry about your wind damage. Ours was very minor.
      Health issues are still here - but have been put on the back burner.
      I am so glad that you are finding your equilibrium again. Not nearly as easy as it sounds.
      And yes, spring is special.

      Delete
  6. Oh what a pretty little bird, and your blooms are gorgeous! We are heading into autumn, my favourite time of year. I'm so glad summer is almost gone!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen: Thank you. I love Autumn as well, both for the displays in the foliage and for the blessed cooling down of the weather. Spring is pretty good as well though.

      Delete
  7. Lovely little birds, beautiful spring flowers. You will keep our screens colorful these winter months to come.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joannne Noragon: Thank you. If my garden wishes come true I will certainly try.

      Delete
  8. Loving those blooms, I have little silvereyes currently hopping around on the branches of the climbing rose outside my study window. Hope this week brings some finer weather. xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kakka: Silvereyes seem to be pretty well Australia wide. One of the few birds that are.
      Are your climbing roses out already? It will be probably two months before ours bloom.

      Delete
  9. lovely. The little Silver-Eyes are cute. Wish I had some here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. J Cosmo Newbery: They are cute little birds unless you have a fruit crop ripening. My father was peeved because they always, but always got to the figs before he did.

      Delete
  10. I love your flowers - they are beautiful..We don't see them up here in the Tropics....I have never seen the Silvereyes either. They are such a cute little bird!! I love their name..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One Too Many: While I do love our Spring Bulbs, you can grow things that I can only dream about.

      Delete
  11. You have some interesting flower vases! (I like vases of all kinds)

    I don't like summer either; why can't it go from spring to fall to spring again? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jenny _o: We have a very big collection of vases. All of them have their place. I refuse to admit that there might be too many.
      Spring to fall to spring again sounds fine to me.

      Delete
  12. Lovely post, EC. We have lots of "silvereyes" about here, but in this country they are called waxeyes. Your name is much prettier!
    We've been having lots of bluster and blow, too... I love your daffodils, and that pink is glorious, although I'm not a hyacinth fan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexia: I agree - silvereyes does sound better. We have many, many different types of daffodils yet to come out. And most of the tulips are yet to bloom. And the crab apple, the lilac and double cherry. Ooooh. I don't like the wishy-washy coloured hyacinths much, but do like the very vibrant, in your face ones.

      Delete
  13. Gorgeous arrangements there. The stark contrast from one set of flowers to another, and their respective dominant colors, strikes even my taste-dead heart.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John Wiswell: Thank you. Taste dead is not a description of you that leaps to mind.

      Delete
  14. Lovely flowers and those silver eyes are delightful!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I never tire of your wonderful birds and beautiful flowers. My sympathies over the wind--I despise windy days. Glad you could rescue some flowers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen): Windy days send me and the cats a little feral. I understand that teachers of the very young also dread windy days. As I am sure I have said, one windy day a few years back one of our cats ran up a tree - and bit it. Hard. While pedalling furiously with his back feet. The wind had got under his tail.

      Delete
  16. The silver eyes are cute little things, so green they'd be hard to spot in a thickly leafed tree.
    I love your hyacinths. I thought about growing some once, then last year we had pots of them for sale in Coles and my nose very quickly told me to not go anywhere near them. I'll settle for looking at yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. River: Like many small birds the silvereyes are also fast - flitting from spot to spot. Hard to see, harder to photograph.
      Hyacinths are hard on sensitive noses. Another thing given back to me by a course of desensitising injections.

      Delete
  17. Beautiful rewards for all of your hard work planting those hundreds of bulbs! Gorgeous colours, the hyacinths and blue sky.
    I'd never see a Silvereye, very cute.
    Thinking of you often x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bugerlugs63: It is wonderful to enjoy them now when the very real pain of their planting is a distant memory. I hope all is well in your world.

      Delete
  18. Some really beautiful images, here. The first ones quite adorable. Thanks for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dave King: Yesterday's pair had obviously spread the word. There was a small flock of silvereyes this afternoon. And very welcome they were.

      Delete
  19. Silvereyes - a perfect description for that bird. Amazing - I'm never heard of them. And gorgeous flowers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynn: Thank you. Silvereyes are quite common here but as they are small and move very fast lots of people don't know about them.

      Delete
  20. It's curious that springtime flowers are so brilliant, while we ready ourselves for the brilliant change in the color of leaves. That blue blue sky is so pretty behind those pink blossoms. And I love those birds! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DJan: There is nothing subtle about a lot of the spring blooms. Trees blossoming are mostly in muted colours, but the plants seem to go for the 'in your face' colouration. I love it - and the birds as well.

      Delete
  21. What an adorable little bird ... quite a contrast to your parrots. And "Spring"! What fun ... you have so much to look forward to. We are moving into fall which is a favorite time for me. The weather is gentle, not too hot, not too cool. The colors are magnificent, at least they have been. I have no idea how this summer's harsh drought is going to effect fall colors ... fingers crossed. I hope something good can come from such miserable weather. Your pictures a re bright and cheery, like you. Thank you for sharing ...

    Andrea @ From The Sol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrea: We had a vicious drought which lasted four or five years and the autumn colours were a lot less intense. I hope the same isn't true for you.
      Our drought broke the year before last (though they are predicting hot and dry this year) and the colours have come back with a vengeance. Yay.

      Delete
  22. beautiful as always. the flowers are astounding!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have Myelin?: Thank you. One of our best every years for hyacinths.

      Delete
  23. Seeing your spring while we wait for fall--such a pleasure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan Kane: I am looking forward to seeing some of your autumn colours.

      Delete
  24. Beautiful flowers :) Birds are so adorable.
    I wish if I had the spring season over here with lotsa flowers all over the place

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WildBlack: I do like spring - but autumn is one of my favourite seasons.

      Delete
  25. How lovely to see vivid hyacinths while out my window the greenery starts turning to gold. There was a movie where a character said, "I follow the Spring." I wish I could! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Austan: I would be happy to just give summer a miss. I like all of the other seasons.

      Delete
    2. I also dream of following Spring as it creeps it's way across our world. Sigh...oh, to be a winged creature and on the go.

      Delete
  26. How very nice to see your spring blooms as I face the worry of our coming cold season. I love the perfume of hyacinths. Nothing compares with it, in my book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon: I am very partial to hyacinth perfume myself. Which is why I planted another thirty this year.

      Delete
  27. I think if I lived in a place with such beautiful birds of such vibrant colors, I would have to live in a house with glass walls because I would not be able to stop watching them. So wonderful... thank you for sharing...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cindi: We spend a LOT of time looking out the windows. Wasted time? No.

      Delete
  28. Dear EC, that plate in one photograph and the slim column of a vase in the final photo are so lovely. Thanks for suggesting that we click to make the photos larger. Those birds are plump aren't they! So delightful. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dee: We have far too many things in this house - but I would not willingly lose either the plate (which I have had for thirty years or more) or the vase. Both are much loved. And yes, the silvereyes are a tad tubby. Thank you.

      Delete
  29. i have never seen such bright pink hyacinths (only pale pink, blie, white and pale yellow), wow, they're truly gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pia K: This year we had the bright pink (which I don't remember seeing) and a deep, deep purple as well as the more usual pastel hyacinths. Truly beautiful.

      Delete