Rainbow Lorikeet

For the last few days I've seen lorikeets in a eucalyptus tree in the park. Getting pictures of birds can be hard because 1) most don't like people getting close to them, 2) they frequently are in trees or shrubs where it is hard to see them, 3) they often blend in with their surroundings, 4) many are relatively small, 5) their quick movements make them blur, 6) the light isn't good a lot of the time, and so on.

In this case the bird was moving quite a bit and the light wasn't good. I had trouble getting a clear view and he was about 30 feet away. But finally, I got this shot.

Grey-headed Flying Fox (Pteropus Poliocephalus)

I've been seeing bats as I walk home through the park lately. Yesterday I followed them to see where they are going. Here is what I found...

These particular bats eat pollen, nectar, and fruit - they are sometimes known as fruit bats. The tree they were landing in is a Moreton Bay Fig tree. You can see the fruits in the picture. The yellow ones are unripe, and the bat is eating a ripe one the color of a strawberry. Moreton Bay Figs are large trees and there were at least 50 bats in it. The fruit is edible and was part of the diet of the aborigines, but I couldn't reach any ripe fruit to try it myself.

The grey-headed flying fox is one of the largest bats in the world with a wingspan that can be in excess of a meter. They climb through the tree using their feet to hang and wings to reach and pull themselves. When it has the fruit, it holds it with one leg to the chest like this one is doing while eating it. They squabble in the tree as they eat and make quite a bit of noise. This bat is endangered so it was nice to see them in the park and get a few pictures...

Fashion

It is time for me to write about fashion again. Actually, I never thought about fashion at all when I was growing up. But since I have gotten a bit older, and got outside Texas, I have started payin' a bit more attention. And I have developed my own ideas about which places are fashionable and which are not.

To be fashionable, a place has to have a couple of characteristics:

1) it must have a recognizable style of it's own,
2) a majority of the female citizens have to participate,
3) it should have seasonal and annual variation that the citizens more or less adhere to,
4) it can't just copy Paris or Milan - there should be indigenous designers and small botiques,
5) there should be an avante garde - some people on the edge.

Brisbane, for a small city, is very fashionable and has all the characteristics above. These Goths in the park are great examples. The local style is informal, changes from day to night, and is trendy. Brisbane girls look different than European or American girls.

On the other hand, Houston is not fashionable. Doha is not fashionable. LA isn't that fashionable either - there is just a small subset of the population that wears designer labels. New York is very fashionable. Tokyo is fashionable. Italians in Rome and Milan are very, very fashionable. London used to be fashionable - I don't know any more. To be honest, same way with Paris - there are some very fashionable parts but maybe not the whole city any more.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia. One of the guys and I went looking for a turkey sandwich at lunch but all we could find was chicken. I was able to spread cranberry sauce on my chicken though.

Come to think of it, you don't see much turkey in the stores here. You do see these brush turkeys wandering around outside quite a bit. I haven't heard of anyone eating them though.

Mt. Coot-tha Japanese Garden

The Japanese Gardens at Mt. Coot-tha were built for the World Expo '88 that was held in Brisbane. Locals like to say that the Expo put Brisbane on the map. The style is a traditional one in Japan that has mountain, stream, and lake. It looks pretty authentic to me but the buildings don't appear to use traditional methods of construction.

Chair

This chair was in the fern house at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. It is essentially a bronze sculpture.

Gold Coast Tumgun Lookout

This is the view from Tumgun Lookout on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane. The lookout is on Burleigh Head, a rocky headland formed of lava. North is Surfer's Paradise and south, the direction of this photo, is Coolangatta. The stream in the foreground entering the Pacific is Tallebudgera Creek.

This area is full of waterways and beach - and is being developed at an incredible pace. It is the fastest growing area of Australia. I don't know... it is very pretty but a bit too develped for me.

CBD

I haven't put up a picture of the city from our balcony in a while. This one was taken just after the sun went down and the city lights came out.

The ferry is in the middle of the picture heading down the river to the landing at the bottom of our hill. When we first moved here I thought I would ride the ferry to work fairly often. It turns out I never use it to go to work. I enjoy the walk too much although it is starting to get a bit warmer now....

Australian Spider

This spider is about 5" long and lives down the street towards the university. I left him alone - if you don't know Australian spiders you leave them alone.

Bush Stone-Curlew

I have seen this curlew a number of times at night but today I saw it in the daytime and got a good picture. It was with it's mate and two chicks. It is a shy bird but can become tame in parks. This family lives across the river from us in the arboretum.

Pacific Black Duck

The Pacific Black Duck is the common "wild" duck in Australia. But around parks and such it is common and quite tame. It has a black mask and a beautiful blue or green speculum on the wing.

Ferns

There are a lot of ferns in Australia and this is spring so the fronds are sprouting forth...

Roma Street Parklands

The Roma Street Parklands is really nice right now. The rain (and a little recycled water) has really made the park beautiful.

Flowers

Here are some close-ups of the flowers at Roma Street...

Queen Street - The Little Tramp

We are back in Brisbane and this is Queen Street in the Central Business District (CBD). Queen Street seems to be the daytime place to be. The Valley is the place to be at night and is edgier.

Anyway, there always seem to be street performers on Queen Street. Here, as in most other places, jugglers seem to be the most common performers. But there are some unusual ones like the guys who carry fish puppets around on poles. And then there is this Charlie Chaplain mimic who is around most weekends.

I guess I don't get the Little Tramp. I know, I know, he is supposed to be a comic genius. But why? Anyway, this imitator seems to do OK. He stands still until you drop some money in his bucket and then he comes alive.

Fuji san

This last week I was back in Japan for the first time in over a year. There wasn't much time to take pictures since it was a business trip. But we were lucky enough one morning to see Fuji clearly from the hotel and I got this picture. Of course it instantly brings memories of Japan for anyone who has seen it. But when I lived in Japan I used to look for it first thing almost every morning. The view from my apartment was not too good really. Fuji was small and distant even on a good day - and most days there was no view at all. But from Yokohama it is much closer. Beautiful...

Yokohama at Night

This is a view from the Yokohama Intercontinental Hotel. Japanese cities always seem prettier at night to me - even new areas like this one in Yokohama. The city and the people seem to come alive. This area has been built out into the bay and is popular with Japanese tourists as well as foreigners (usually on business).

Kanji

I am posting this picture for one reason - I like the reflection at the very bottom of the picture from the Landmark Tower. It kind of looks like Japanese Kanji characters written in the old style with a brush.

Powerhouse Mens Room

And now for something entirely different. Here is the mens room in the Brisbane Powerhouse. The powerhouse originally was built around the '30s and among other things supplied power for the tram system. The grafitti on the wall is from when the building was derelict and inhabited by the homeless and street kids. A lot of the grafitti was left and made part of the decoration when it was converted for public use.

Switch Gear

This is a artsy shot from inside the Brisbane Powerhouse at New Farm. The building has the simultaneous feeling of early 20th century industry, urban decay, and updated trendy hangout.

Kayaks

One of the best things about Brisbane (there are many) is the river. It is still widely used for transportation and of course recreation. The river became somewhat polluted for a while but has apparently cleaned up from what I read. A 100 years ago it apparently ran clearer with less silt - I am guessing that is due to the deforestation and farming that has occured since early days.

Noisy Miner

The Noisy Miner bird is also known as the

Soldierbird and Micky. They are common around Brisbane, are curious, and not much afraid of humans. They have a nice little song although it is a bit complaining at times.

Kangaroo Point

It was such a nice day today. Cool and clouds at times. This picture shows the cliffs at Kangaroo Point from the balcony in the late afternoon.

Cloudy Day

Black and white photographs are considered "artsy" these days. I shot this one in color and converted it to B&W. I used a polarizer to increase contrast in the clouds and then bumped it up even more during the conversion. B&W can definitely change the mood of a picture - this one was pretty boring in color.

Story Bridge

Here is the Story Bridge at dusk just down from Eagle Street Pier. It has been cool, overcast, and rainy for the last few days. When the rain stopped, the sun came out, and this is what it looked like as it set.

The rain is sorely needed. I understand that the reservoir is only at 20% (it was at 17% before the rains).



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Torresian Crow

The crow is another common bird in Brisbane. I like the white eye on this one. Crows are smart birds and learn how to live with people easily.


The latin name for a crow or raven is corvus. I know this because of my books on birds but also because there is a small Southern constellation called corvus - I think that is where I first learned that corvus means crow. One of the things I need to do while I am here is get out in the middle of nowhere and look up at the stars.


This is one of the first pictures I took with my "new" Nikon AF 300mm f/4 lens that I bought used. This lens has a couple of features that are well demonstrated in this photo. First, it is a very sharp lens. Click on the picture to enlarge it and examine it a little closer. I reduced the size from the original to load faster but it is still nice and sharp. Second, look at the background - it is soft and out of focus in a very pleasant way. The technical term for this is "bokeh" and this lens has good bokeh. My lens is about 10 years old and still looks brand new. It cost about a 1/3 of what the latest version would cost too. Be thrifty...

Australian White Ibis

This ibis is pretty common in and around Brisbane. They get into the trash and grub around the parks and such. Ibis are striking, but not particularly handsome birds.