Western Australia – Page 17

Word power: Natalie Merchant and Walt Whitman

Published April 4, 2023 by Pelidoug

Word power: Natalie Merchant and Walt Whitman

Natalie and Walt have just unwittingly delayed the promised leopard post!

(it will be the next one, I promise)

The photo alludes to one of my favourite Walt Whitman poems, from Leaves of Grass.

Most printed interviews with musicians are time-wasting, publicist-driven piffle.

A notable exception is The New Yorker interview, published today – worth reading, whether or not you admire/know Natalie Merchant’s singing/songs.

There aren’t a lot of people writing love songs to Walt Whitman.

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Four moons, no tripods (with musical bonus)

Published January 29, 2023 by Pelidoug

Four moons, no tripods (with musical bonus)

All four images feature the same moon.

However, as is true of just about anything observed more than once, “our” moon offers an infinite number of different “faces”.

The featured image shows a “blood moon” over Perth’s Lake Monger at 9.31 pm on 31 January 2018.

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Footprints: literally, mostly (with musical bonus)

Published January 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

Footprints: literally, mostly (with musical bonus)

This post’s actual footprints come from bears in Alaska, birds on the Indian subcontinent and continental Australia, a Tasmanian wombat, and humans in an African desert and Australian suburbia.

The musical bonus is courtesy of one of the greatest jazz musicians – equally so as composer, virtuoso instrumentalist and inspired improviser.

There’s also a metaphorical footnote which involves New Zealand’s largest farm…

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Warren River, 28/07/2022

Published January 6, 2023 by Pelidoug

Warren River, 28/07/2022

For easy access to magnificent virgin Karri forest, there is no better place than Warren National Park.

Its main entry point is only a few minutes’ drive from Pemberton.

My beloved and I have been there many times.

No two times are the same, even when they are only hours apart!

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Winter walk, Ashfield Flats

Published January 4, 2023 by Pelidoug

Winter walk, Ashfield Flats

If you confine your “nature walks” to places easily-reached without a car, and within 15 kilometres of Perth’s GPO, your worthwhile menu options are still surprisingly numerous.

Among them are the largest remaining river flats within the metropolitan area; Ashfield Flats’ nearer side is less than 10 kilometres from the GPO.

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Winter afternoon, Herdsman Lake

Published January 2, 2023 by Pelidoug

Winter afternoon, Herdsman Lake

This afternoon – and for too many afternoons over the next 100+ days – “too bloody hot, no thank you”, is an appropriate response to any invitation to go walking along the shore of one of Perth’s many wetlands/lakes/rivers.

This post fondly remembers a late afternoon, back when most days were ideal for wetland-walking.

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Tern, tern, tern (with musical bonus)

Published October 31, 2022 by Pelidoug

Tern, tern, tern (with musical bonus)

Terns are particularly lovely in flight… or when hovering, intently.

The pictured individual is a Caspian tern, I think; s/he was our post-lunch highlight at Cottesloe yesterday.

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No smugglers: (wild) Budgies

Published October 27, 2022 by Pelidoug

No smugglers: (wild) Budgies

Budgerigars, according to CSIRO Publishing’s The Australian Bird Guide, are always in flocks, sometimes of immense numbers.

That ain’t necessarily so, always!

On 18 October 2022, a whisker less than 200 kilometres north of Perth, we enjoyed an unexpected encounter with a pair of wild Budgerigars.

They were alone, together/ish.

The “/ish” is because they probably had offspring, safely invisible to us, nestled snugly within the tree hollow from which the female member of “our” pair only very occasionally and briefly emerged.

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Attractive South African entices Aussie FIFO…

Published October 23, 2022 by Pelidoug

Attractive South African entices Aussie FIFO…

…and – certain prejudices and misinformation notwithstanding – neither is a noxious pest in southwestern Western Australia.

The South African is a flowering plant.

The FIFO is a fly.

Flies deserve rather more credit for their beneficial activities than most human Australians realise.

Not every South African plant “runs riot” and/or becomes a “noxious weed” when/if it “succeeds” on Australian soil.

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Rocky Bay, Swan River estuary

Published October 19, 2022 by Pelidoug

Rocky Bay, Swan River estuary

Walking along the path atop Rocky Bay’s cliffs, full-on residential suburbia is generally only a few steps away.

If you look over and down to the other (south/ southeastern) side of the Swan, residential suburbia, yachting facilities, and assorted urban infrastructure oft encroach to within a few steps of water’s edge.

Miraculously, however, on the top/ edge of the steep, cliffy (North Fremantle/ Mosman Park) side – and immediately below, on/near that shoreline – Rocky Bay is altogether wilder and lovelier than is usually true of a riverine environment within a “premium residential real estate” area of a capital city

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Category: Western Australia