ABC Wednesday, G for Gum Tree

Many of us know the song:"Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree..."And we also heard about the
koala eating gum tree leaves.The gum tree  is a Eucalyptus and typical of the Australian flora.
Steve Parish, the wellknown photographer, has dedicated a photobook to this "Gum Tree". He says that the humble gum tree captures the essence of the Australian homeland.
There are over 700 species of eucalypts which dominate an enormous range of the Australian environments. He also says that the mighty eucalyptus is the tallest flowering plant on Earth.

Wikipedia says:
" Ghost Gum, is an evergreen tree that is native to Central Australia.
It grows up to 20 metres in height and has smooth, white to cream and pink-tinged bark, which sheds seasonally in thin scales. White flowers appear in summer and the fruit are woody brown goblet shaped, valved capsules. The tree features in aboriginal Dreamtime stories and gained prominence with the wider public in the 20th century through the paintings of aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira.^"

Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree...

 How important the gum trees are for the indigenous people proves the next newspaper item:

"Two ghost gum trees made famous by the work of Australian Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira have been  destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
The trees, regarded by indigenous leaders as living spirits, had been due to be added a national heritage register as they are widely viewed as a symbol of Australian identity."

Painting by Albert Namatjira

 We thank Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and we must thank Roger too for the weekly job to find  ten bloggers for each of the ABC Team members  to visit and to read their posts. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words    beginning with G , in our new round.

Photobook by Steve Parish

Eucalyptus flowers

ABC Wednesday, F for Fairywren

To enlarge the photo please click on it!


When we were on one of the beaches I showed you a couple of weeks ago,
my daughter pointed at this bird.Look at this little fellow it is called Fairywren and it lives all over Australia. So it was no surprise to find this bird on one of the beaches of north Tasmania. In Wikipedia I found some more information. During the breeding season the male is beautifully coloured with blue feathers . After the breeding season the male and female birds and also the young ones take a brownish, greyish colour.

"They are small to medium birds, inhabiting a wide range of environments, from rainforest to desert, although most species inhabit grassland or scrub. The grasswrens are well camouflaged with black and brown patterns, but other species often have brilliantly coloured plumage, especially in the males.
They are insectivorous, typically foraging in underbrush. They build domed nests in areas of dense vegetation, and it is not unusual for the young to remain in the nest and assist in raising chicks from later clutches.
Fairywrens are notable for several peculiar behavioral characteristics. They are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they form pairs between one male and one female, each partner will mate with other individuals and even assist in raising the young from such pairings. Males of several species pluck petals of conspicuous colors and display them to females for reasons unknown."


Click on these photos to enlarge them.
These photos belong to Wikipedia.

Male in breeding plumage subspecies cyaneus
Female – Victorian High Country
We thank Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and we must thank Roger too for the weekly job to find  ten bloggers for each of the ABC Team members  to visit and to read their posts. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words    beginning with F , in our new round.

ABC Wednesday, E for Echidna

This is the photo I took in the zoo of Tasmania.

 

Photographer Steve Parish

Photo from Wikipedia

Wikipedia says:

"The Echidna (or Spiny Ant-eater) and the Platypus are the only two surviving monotremes, a primitive link between the reptiles and the other more advanced mammals. Like the Platypus, the Echidna lays eggs.
Echidnas are widely distributed throughout Australia, and New Guinea. In Australia they live in a variety of habitats, from dry deserts to humid rainforests or in the Australian Alps.
 
There are several kinds of spiny ant-eater. A short-beaked species with strong and numerous spines is widely distributed throughout the mainland. The Tasmanian species is larger and more hairy. 

 They look like a hedgehog or porcupine but are not related. Echidnas grow up to 50cm (20") in length. Their backs and sides are covered with spines and coarse hair. They have small eyes and the ears have no outer part, being mere vertical slits. It has a long, black, tubular snout with a small mouth and long narrow, sticky tongue to gather up their food. The nostrils are at the tip of the snout. It has no teeth. The Echidna has short strong feet with sharp claws. It waddles when it walks. The male is larger than the female and has a spur on the ankle of the hind leg, however there is no functional poison gland. It is a useful means of distinguishing between the sexes.
 
Echidnas are solitary and restricted to a home range. They rest in hollow logs, under stones, clumps of vegetation or in short burrows. Unlike other Australian mammals, it can be seen during the daytime. Their pattern of activity appears to be influenced by the temperature, and they may be active by day or by night. In the hotter parts of the continent they tend to be nocturnal. They are rarely seen during winter.
 
The Echidna is not an aggressive animal.
 
The short-beaked Echidna eats ants and termites, the New Guinea species eats worms. The short-beaked Echidnas living in arid areas may fast for weeks when there is a shortage of insect food.
 
The spiny ant-eater has remarkable defensive ability when it feels threatened. It rolls itself into a ball, with prickly spines out to protect its soft under-parts, and can dig itself into sand or earth with a great rapidity. If disturbed, the Echidna's instant reaction is to burrow straight downwards. Once half buried, with the massive claws of its incredibly strong limbs hooked under roots or rocks, it is almost impossible to lift up or turn over.
 

Man is the only natural predator of these mammals, though they are increasingly falling prey to feral cats and dogs.
Echidnas in captivity have lived for up to fifty years."

The only echidna I saw was in this zoo on Tasmania, but my daughter saw many of them while walking on the beach. 

 We thank Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and we must thank Roger too for the weekly job to find  ten bloggers for each of the ABC Team members  to visit and to read their posts. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words    beginning with E , in our new round.

ABC Wednesday, D for Dismal Swamp, Tasmania

To enlarge the photos, please click on the rectangle in the right bottom corner.


Dismal Swamp sounds very black and gloomy, but the opposite is true.It is a piece of rain forest, with
a lot of educational and interesting facts. There are signs everywhere telling about the vegetations and animals living here.
For the children and adults who are young in mind, there is the Slide, an enormous affair only for the very brave! My grand children did the slide twice. They had to wear  helmets and to sit in a kind of small sledges.

Tarkine Forest Adventures - Dismal Swamp

   

Experiences

Facilities

Tarkine Forest Adventures is an eco-tourism and forestry interpretation centre near Togari, northwest Tasmania. Dismal Swamp is a natural blackwood forest sinkhole, believed to be the only one in the world. Formed over thousands of years by dissolving dolomite, the 40 metre deep sinkhole is a unique forest habitat supporting a range of plant and animal species.

 

Visit the Visitor Centre, and view the forest from a cantilevered walkway, suspended over the treetops. Enjoy a tasty meal and glass of fine Tasmanian wine in the restaurant, visit the forest interpretation centre or browse in the shop to choose from a range of Tasmanian-made products.

From here you can follow the walkway to the floor of the sinkhole, or take the exhilarating 110 metre slide from the viewing platform to the swamp floor. Stroll along the timber walkway to discover this ancient environment through interpretation signs and artworks interpreting the spirit of Dismal Swamp.

We thank Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and we must thank Roger too for the weekly job to find  ten bloggers for each of the ABC Team members  to visit and to read their posts. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words    beginning with D , in our new round.

Australia,Our World Tuesday, Sky Watch,

 Yesterday I telephoned my daughter in Cooktown, Queensland, Australia, to ask her if she was affected by the flood, but although they had a lot of water on their land, they were okay.
This week is also the week that we commemorate the flood which happened in the Netherlands 60 years ago and which caused the death of 2551 people in three countries (1836 in the Netherlands), but also in the UK and Belgium people drowned .Around 30.000 animals drowned, almost 50.000 houses were damaged or totally destroyed.
These events are still alive in our minds and therefore we know how our Australian friends must feel
 when we read this:

Flood in Bundaberg

"Floods continue to threaten Queensland in eastern Australia, with the town of St George expected to be worst hit.

Thousands have been evacuated from the area, which is seeing its third major flood in less than two years.
The Balonne River in St George reached 13.48 metres on Monday and was expected to keep rising to a peak of 14-15 metres by late Tuesday.
Despite a mandatory order to leave, about 400 residents remained in town, Australian media reported.
''The danger area now is St George,'' Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told ABC News.
The evacuation, which she said was the largest ever for a town in the state, was orderly.
About 1,700 people left in their own vehicles, and another 500 were transported by bus and planes.
On Monday morning, a major highway was closed due to flooding and the town of about 3,000 was accessible only by air..

More planes will be sent to take the remaining 400 residents out, said Ms Bligh.
The highway is expected to be under water for five to seven days, she added.
''When people do return to town they are going to find I think a lot of devastation, a lot of heartache,'' she said".

 Sky Watch is hosted each week by the Sky Watch team of Sandy,and Sylvia. And this week as every week, we remember Klaus and know that he joins us in spirit! .
It's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.

Welcome to Our World Tuesday! This meme continues in memory of the work of Klaus Peter, whose "that's My World" brought people together from around the world every Monday to share the wonders therein--big and small.Please click on our  logo for "Our World Tuesday" in the sidebar.