Birds and Plants of Pangarinda Arboretum
Banksia flower, Pangarinda Arboretum
Last week we had a short picnic at the Pangarinda Arboretum at Wellington East about a half hour drive south of our home here in Murray Bridge, South Australia.
It was a sunny winter’s day and the birds were very active, especially the honeyeaters. I didn’t get much of a chance to take photos of birds because none would sit and pose for me -except for one very cooperative New Holland Honeyeater.
New Holland Honeyeater, Pangarinda Arboretum
So instead of getting upset with the uncooperative birds, I spent most of my time taking photos of the many plants in flower.
Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
Wattle (Acacia) flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum
Hakea flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum
Flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum
White-winged Choughs, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
White-winged Choughs, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
The White-winged Choughs I saw in the Australian National Botanic Gardens earlier this year are obviously used to large numbers of people visiting the gardens. They seemed quite at ease with me taking photographs of them from a few metres away. They were more intent on finding something to eat.
White-winged Choughs, Botanic Gardens, Canberra
Choughs spend much of their day on the ground, scratching in the dirt or removing any mulch put there by gardeners. One of them found a buried cone from a tree and there was suddenly a great kerfuffle and they all came running to have a taste of this delicacy.
I didn’t distrub them to have a closer look at the cone, but in the photo it seems to be something like a Hakea seed cone. It could also have been a Banksia seed cone.
Banksia flower, Botanic Gardens, Canberra