Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Pictured above is a small part of an artwork which occupies the entire lane-facing side on one West Leederville residence’s back fence.
It is a lovely, loving salute to/depiction of Calyptorhynchus banksii naso – the Forest red-tailed black cockatoo.
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Many birds can swivel their heads across a much greater arc than we humans can.
This is good news for bird photographers; a “from behind” image does not always lack the relevant bird’s watchful gaze…
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Long before Europeans reached Australia, what is now “Perth’s Pelican Point” was already a place of considerable significance to both humans and birds.
Given its inner urban location – as a bird flies, a couple of minutes or less from the CBD of a metropolis – it is no small achievement that the bipeds who effectively “own” Pelican Point’s actual point are avian, not human.
In the featured image: white-headed stilts, black swans, and a little pied cormorant.
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As you can see, on 18 April 2023, Perth and its big estuary – the Swan River – were bathed in bright sunlight.
It was a perfect day to enjoy good things which are not so readily available – all, within just part of a single day – to most urban humans.
Where else would convenient, uncommonly cheap public transport (free, to “seniors”, outside “rush” hours) deliver you to one of Australia’s better pub lunches, after which the nearby riverside presents you with kilometres of glorious, publicly-accessible, uncrowded foreshore?
Even if you simply zip down to-fro the nearby jetty, you will enjoy a splendid vista and – almost certainly – a close encounter of the pelican kind.
And if you bother to walk along the foreshore….
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Pictured above is one of several “flying saucers”.
Apparently, all were abandoned, shortly after landing.
They were recently discovered and photographed by Pelican Yoga’s Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Unit.
If you believe this – let alone the endlessly-repeated but false claim that Perth is the world’s most isolated city/capital city/ substantial city – please discuss further with Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, Donald Trump, and the Tasmanian Tiger of your choice…
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The birds pictured above were formerly known as “pied stilts”, and considered an Australasian subspecies of Himantopus himantopus, “yesterday’s heroes” – see #10 in this series.
This post’s heroes are now generally considered members of their own species, Himantopus leucocephalus.
Their “preferred” common name: white-headed stilts.
Each of these three individuals has the full complement of two legs.
Stilts, however, often prefer to stand on one leg, with the other one neatly folded and tucked into their lower feathers.
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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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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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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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16 October 2022 was – even by Perth standards – a particularly benign Spring day.
All photos in this post involved a long lens peeking over North Fremantle residents’ front fences, into gardens of highly diverse persuasions; the “unkempt” and the “manicured” proved equally alluring.
The two first images were taken from Stirling Highway’s western footpath; I suggest you zoom in/enlarge – the Hibiscus’s stamen is especially worth a closer view.
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