Too many photos of are impossible

In a recent Facebook exchange it was agreed that too many photos of echidnas, pelicans and a couple of other things were impossible.  Several of them feature in this post (although not echidna - I saw one yesterday, but the phone-photo went to Echidna CSI from whence it is not really shareable).

This post covers two days, as I didn't take many photos on Tuesday 11/12.  Dawn looked promising but didn't develop strong colours.

I was up on the roof making sure the gutters were clear and had an eyeball with this young person in the adjacent gum tree.  Definitely a species of which too many photos are never enough.

We did the Casuarina walk today and everywhere was very dry.  Hardly any ground layer flowers and only Leptospermum sp in the shrubs.

There were many fallen florets of  Dendrophthoe vitellina on the ground.  I had never noticed this mistletoe until last Saturday (see also below).

We found no open orchids but the Dipodium punctatum was in bud in a couple of spots.

In the afternoon we went for a walk to Quarry beach with the small dog, who has been feeling a bit poorly this trip for some reason:  So we didn't go far but the beach was beautiful.

So on to 12 December!  The best sunrise of the trip!

There was a good range of fowl on the lagoon near Broome Street ...

.. including 2 Great Egrets.

As we passed Shady Gully there was a whole lot of mistletoe flowers on the ground.  This time I was able to spot the Dendrophthoe vitellina on the host eucalypt.

A nice little white flower which I think is Myoporum sp (Boobialla).

The house on the left at the top of the paddock is for sale and got looked at yesterday.  It has got spectacular views over the Inlet, which are unlikely to be built out, although a house could appear in the hoss paddock..

Back in Karbeethong our neighbours have a spectacular array of Yuccas.

In the home garden the Agapanthus are flowering well for Christmas.

Our main outing during the day was to the Water treatment Plant (aka the poo pits).  I suspect someone had a few issues opening the personal access gate!

This snip from Google Maps shows the layout of the site: I have decided to number the ponds for reference.

The greatest concentration of waterfowl were on pond 2 - some photos are below.  As we walked beside pond 4 a moderate sized (about 1m long) Lace Monitor - aka Goanna - appeared from the rocks, crossed the track and scrambled up a tree,

These are the hind claws.

To keep a balance this 1.5m Red-bellied Black Snake then slithered across the track and disappeared into the rock.  It was suggested, firmly, that I didn't get closer.

The notable denizens of Pond 4 were about 220 Hoary-headed Grebes.  They are definitely the more common small grebe in this area and counts of this order are quite common at the ponds.

Back at pond 2 there was the usual flock of Pink-eared Ducks.

Some extra Australian Wood Ducks flew in ...

.. followed by Grey Teal.

Horse numbers seemed low in the open paddock but the white foal was having a great time.  Frances commented that the foal's legs were nearly as long as its mothers but the body was much smaller.

Walking back towards Watertrust Rd I was taken by how straight the trunks of the trees were.  The colour of the one in the foreground was a good contrast to the 50 shades of grey-green of the standard pattern.

The wind was evident throught the day and got stronger as the day progressed.  The pelicans seemed to having great fun sailing up and down parallel to the ridge.

They seemed to use their feet as air-brakes when they wished to slow down.

They have obviously watched WWII movies of Stukas going in for a bombing run.

Fortunately they haven't fixed sirens to their legs!