Wattle Day


 September 1 is National Wattle Day in Australia, marking the start of spring. Wattle day info

The wattle is a lovely yellow. Today did feel like spring! Started with colder weather gear and ended up in sandals as we followed the whales making short excursions to the surface of the nearby waters.But we have talked whales recently so today will be the wattle bird. Generally, these just get referred to as "honey eaters" and they are officially larger and more boisterous honeyeaters. Wattlebirds do have wattles near their cheeks and often have fairly strident calls but they do vary. They are not very shy and tend to be very territorial

Red wattle bird


Little wattle bird

New Holland Honeyeater (much more musical)


Yellow faced honeyeater (much less common in our area)


Scarlet honeyeater


No photo. 


Seen once. We go on regular hunts but no luck so far. However, the nice thing about retirement vs vacation as we can keep looking and not have to worry about packing up

Generally by now we would be on our way back or be back home trying to adjust time zones yet again. It hasn't really hit yet that we are here for the duration (minus trips to visit kids etc)
Still feels like lovely vacation. 

My drivers license did come in the mail; now officially a NSW driver!  Yes, that is as scary as it sounds.







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