Thirsty, Busy, Romantic Visitors
June seems to be nesting season at Arkaroola. There are lots of pairs of birds around, and I’ve even been seeing a few different species collecting nesting materials. A Little Crow went past my lounge room window on the weekend with several large sticks in its beak. The Mallee Ringneck Parrots seem to be collecting moss or lichen from my roof. And all the lads have started trying to impress their dinner dates by bringing them to the very exclusive Chameleon’s freshwater café and bar.
The nights here have become very cold recently, which causes water to condense on our roof and verandahs. It is also increasingly dry here again, so this condensation seems to be an important source of morning water for the local birds. So, when the conditions are just right, we get a queue of feathered visitors to drink from our gutters. Most are very camera shy, and flee at the first scent of paparazzi, so it has been challenging to get good photos. But I have managed to snap and identify a few of the different species.
The handsome fellow in our colour board is a Mallee Ringneck Parrot. He brought a lady friend, but she stayed on the roof out of sight until they were ready to leave. He posed for just long enough to get a couple of pics for the society pages. My other recently identified visitors include Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, White-plumed Honeyeaters, and Purple-backed Fairywrens. The Crested Pigeons and Willie Wagtails continue to visit too.
In the sewing room, I’m still making good progress on the Lunarcy quilt. The cold nights that are watering the birds are also playing havoc with my bobbin tension though….. so sewing is off the menu until the ambient temperature rises each morning. Not that I am often allowed to touch the quilt until Mr Mew is warm anyway.
More Birds
Do not adjust your glasses or thump your device! Some of the bird photos below are truly awful. But the little darlings come and go in a matter of seconds, and so far this is the best I’ve got. No bird hide and no time to sit for hours, I have to concede it might be the best I’ll ever get. The Arkaroola environment changes so quickly from week to week, I never know whether we will get repeat visits.
Fairywrens
First up we have a Purple-backed Fairywren and his harem. He only gets his colours if he is a breeding male, so he literally wears his heart on his sleeve. Females, juveniles and non-breeding males are drab for camouflage. So I’m guessing we have crossed paths before, and it’s only because he’s now dressed up to party that I’ve noticed and ID’d him.
Honeyeaters
More regular visitors, (but also very flighty), are a pair of Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. By honeyeater standards, this is a large species – most are smaller.
A smaller honeyeater that also lives here is the White-plumed honeyeater. Adults apparently have black beaks and grey legs, and the juveniles pink, so this must be a young(ish) one. Obviously it is already fully fledged. There was at least one other with it, but they never stopped moving in and out of the gutter, and this is the only time I got one in frame (just). I haven’t seen them again yet.
Pigeons
More reliable visitors are our Crested Pigeons. They move as a small flock that flies off if disturbed, but they never go far.
I think I have probably mentioned Crested Pigeons before. They are pretty common in Adelaide as well as here in Arkaroola. They are not a problematic pigeon in my experience, and they make a cool noise on take-off. I just discovered more about this feature after decades of taking it for granted. The noise they make is purely mechanical, who knew?!
Lunarcy Progress for this week
I am up to the Year of the Tiger block. This was one of the appliqués I was most concerned to try to draw. I wasn’t sure how to capture the essence of a tiger and remain in keeping with the other friendly animals. But I am very pleased with the result.
Happy tiger.
Disclaimer: Island Batik supplied these fabrics to me free of charge to create the prototype Lunarcy BOM available here soon at Clever Chameleon for the remainder of 2020.
Next week: I’ll have the first half of this quilt completed to show. No bull.
Actually I lie, the 6th block is the Year of the Ox, so it is a bull. But it is also finished and ready for photography, when the cat gets off.
In the meantime, let’s party!
The birds have got their glad rags on, time to see what else has been brightening up the quiltsphere this week.
Ann at Laughing Gas Quilts sewed this quilt “Diamonds in Leftovers” from her scraps. Not that you’d ever know, as it is amazing.
Ann likes to play chicken with her quilts and the lake, so head over to her post to see whether this one got wet. And to admire her glorious photos.
Speaking of “birds and glad rags”, nothing yells both louder than Turid’s Crazy Bird pincushion at Den syende himmel!
I want one! Crazy Bird appeals to me enormously. Surprise? Not so much! Turid has quite the growing collection of pincushions, head over to her blog to see lots more and for links to the annual pincushion parade winding up soon.
Frédérique of Quilting patchwork Appliqué served up an amazing finish this week with Quilt Australis. It is a beautiful representation of the southern night sky, with real constellations of paper-pieced stars that are represented by magnitude and temperature. For good measure, the Milky Way is quilted in.
The Chameleon thoroughly recommends reading this post. He wants one of these too, but with the Chamaeleon constellation in, of course!
And a “relevant” joke from the Chameleon to make you smile.
Why do pirates never have any headache pills?
Because their parrots eat ’em all.
Visit the links for more information in each featured project. And then show us what you are working on….
Because it’s Party Time again!
What are you working on, or have recently finished in your sewing room? We want to know so we can visit and be inspired. Link up a blog post, an IG post or simply a photo from your computer. See if you can get the Chameleon to turn quilted with happiness. We’d love to see your quilting colours!
- Link up your latest or recent quilt/sewing excitement. All quilt construction stages welcome – finished quilts, quilt blocks – even fabric pulls! Or inspiration sources!
- You have 50 characters in the link description…. tell us who you are and what your fantastic project is.
- URL links are not necessary to link up…. non-bloggers 100% welcome! If you don’t have a URL, you can link up with just a photo.
- Take a moment to visit some friends who came to the party – leave a little love and make their day. And a link back to Clever Chameleon is always appreciated.
- Do it now……. before you forget!
The Chameleon turns rainbow with pleasure when he hears from you. Now that it’s your turn…. Scroll to the end and tell me what you think. Thanks for connecting!
Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!
Birds totally fascinate me – glad to know about the crested pigeon – and I do love its crest! I spent two days quilting a small quilt, should be on the blog tomorrow, so I feel you pain but think I would never have the patience for all those flowers, unless I entered some heretofore unexperienced zen state! Good luck finishing it, I know you will and hope that the tension issues gives up soon!
The first bird all of my favorite colors! So many pretty birds. Thank you
I’m going to share this post with my birder daughter. She has Australia on her bucket list, so I think she’ll enjoy this post. And I forgot to mention a link up to your blog (again – sigh). I need to figure out how to remember linkies!
Hi Dione! Now a post about birds – I can definitely handle that. So many pretty ones – the colors in the parrot are just FABulous. ~smile~ Roseanne
I am very impressed and think you Lunarcy Project is just wonderful. I do a good deal of machine appliqué and I am wondering what machine stitch you use on that project. I often use a very small blanket stitch and sometime a zig zag. I really like the stitch you use, and wondering if you could share it.
Super interesting reading about your bird visitors! Thanks!!! And looking forward to the first half of your quilt!!!
Nice to see your nature pictures. As I’ve grown up in a place with no trees, I don’t know many birds. But I love my Crazy Bird. And If you like one, I recommend a round in Bea’s pincushion swap. She’s taking new members just now.
Your quilt is coming along. I love your tiger. Ohh but these birds are lovely. I especially love this pigeon. Thank you for sharing your experience with life there. Quilty Hugs.
I had to say that parrot joke aloud…more than once! It’s great, though I doubt if North Americans who don’t have any English connections will get it… The parrot in the first photo is stunning! Seems fake it’s so gorgeous. Now that noise the pigeons make – I am sure I’ve heard it by some birds here, so I will pay attention. We have doves here who make the most beautiful coo sound. Fréd’s quilt is stunning! And Ann’s is just fabulous, such a good post she wrote too, and that picnic table, well! Might have a post to link up if I write it rather than fooling around visiting and commenting on various blogs ha!