Mauve hakeas, red dirt and Bilbies

Check out the colour of this Hakea rhombales. I think it is fantastic. I first saw it in flower on a trip to the Carnarvon Ranges back in 2000. I determined then I would one day grow it in my garden. It has been a long time coming but here are images of the first flowers in my own garden. This hakea which I grew from seed, was planted about eight years ago when we first moved here. It pays to be patient.  

To the Ngaatatjarra people this plant is known as Walukarra.  Hakea rhombales was first collected by Ernest Giles in 1876 on his fifth journey into the arid regions of Australia. His party began at Perth, headed up towards the Ashburton River then travelled inland across the Gibson Desert. The hakea grows on red sand and loam dunes and sandplains. On this trip it was growing on the sandplains at the base of the Carnarvon Ranges in the Little Sandy Desert.

Currently access to the Carnarvon Ranges is closed while the Birriliburu native title custodians of the land work out conditions and management of access to this area for the general public.

Here is just a taster of the Carnarvon Ranges. We were fortunate to travel there in the year before access to the area was restricted. Our first stop was at Virgin Springs. Here there was a seep in the rocks which we camped well away from as many birds came in to drink during the day. 

Here are emus coming in to drink. They are well camouflaged in this environment. A little way down from here was a small pool at which we saw finches, budgies and birds of prey.

An old and gnarled tree growing beside Talbot Rockhole.

Serpent's Glen has this lovely copse of white trunked eucalypts growing at the base of the rocks.

The bark of a minni richi acacia glows against the sunlight.

In some survey work done in the last few years colonies of Mulgara and Bilbies were found in this area - fantastic! For information about the work that is currently being done in the area by the Birriliburu people in conjunction with biodiversity experts, anthropologists and DEC follow this link here.

Charmed feathers

My parents stayed with us a little while ago; Dad had been invited to give a talk to a local community group. One morning he spied a heron flying overhead and remarked it looked like the flight of a white-necked heron rather than the ubiquitous white faced heron. I'd never seen them around and said it was sure to be the common variety.

A few days after Mum and Dad had left I saw a strange large white necked bird down by our dam. Hmmm. Perhaps Dad was right after all.

Yesterday I saw it again and grabbed my camera and stalked it from bush to bush as I headed down the hill towards our dam. The bird knew I was there, staring at me, and moving slowly about it's business. It's long white neck waved from side to side, a bit like the cobras being sung to by Indian snake charmers. I don't know if the snakes really do sway from side to side, but it is how I remember them being portrayed.

The bird in turn was stalking things in the grass, perhaps looking for tasty frogs or grasshoppers. But why it had a swaying neck - it's head stayed steady - is still a puzzle.

When I was too close for comfort it flapped over to the other side of the dam. The bird eyeballed me again then came in closer for a drink. The double row of spots on the neck are sported by juveniles. The neck is all white on adult birds. As the birds grow up to a metre in height they are quite impressive.

This bird is sporting plum coloured breeding plumes. I think it looks magnificent. In the south they generally breed in spring to early summer, building a nest in a mature tree near water.

Finally it had had enough of me snapping pictures of it from behind a small tree. It gave a harsh guttural croaking call and slowly flapped off up the valley.