When I saw this invitation to participate in a photo scavenger hunt, I thought it was a good exercise to get the girls out of the house and into the wide outdoors. Of course, they quickly lost interest, and I was the one prowling through the paddocks, searching for a muddy footprint.
And it’s not exactly winter here, either. But I thought my contributions could be an interesting juxtaposition to the North American norm.
This was my list:
1. A pine cone
2. An animal track in snow or mud
3. 3 different seeds or berries
4. ice
5. A hole dug by an animal
6. 3 different birds
7. An evergreen (try to identify)
8. Tree buds waiting for spring
9. A bird or squirrel nest
10. Orion (turn off flash to photograph stars and rest camera on firm surface if possible)
Here’s what I got. (I didn’t even try to capture Orion — I’m assuming it’s the wrong time of year.)
1. Brioni and her pine cone.
2. A horse footprint in the muddy paddock out the back of our house.
3. Lantana seeds/berries. A native of South Africa, Lantana is considered a noxious weed in Australia. It always reminds me of Nigeria, where we used to eat the lantana berries while on our Sunday afternoon walks around Miango.
3. Powderpuff flower and seed pods (Calliandra surinamensis), originally from South America.
3. Macademia nuts (also known as the Queensland nut), an Australian native.
4. Ice — The only ice around here comes from the freezer, and this is the girls' favourite form of it.
5. A spider hole in our back yard. Possibly a poisonous spider, possibly not. Ignorance is bliss.
6. A very poor photo of a Pale-headed Rosella — he kept flying away!
6. Kookaburra — this one was having a laughing competition with two others in the same tree.
6. Crested pigeon — when it takes off in flight, it sounds like a tambourine being gently shook.
7. Radiata pine tree — A native of North America, it's used in forestry plantations throughout Australia.
8. Buds on a lillypilly bush. These will turn into flowers and eventually little, edible fruits.
9. No squirrel nests around, and it's the wrong time of year for bird nests, so how about a termite nest? (In our neighbour's yard, not ours.)
If you’ve got kids at home, why don’t you participate in the scavenger hunt also?
1 · Aunty Gwenda · 11 January 2010, 21:17
Lauren, How fabulous. I am going to do this next time I have the grand kids. Did you know your Great Grand Father (Mum and Aunty Larel’s father) used to shoe Thunderbolt’s horses backwards? He was a blacksmith at Freestone and Liston. He used to make a double horse shoe so when the police thought he was going in one direction he was actually going in the other.
2 · Sara Harding · 12 January 2010, 02:59
Thank you for participating! And for sharing your glorious part of the world! My fave are the birds. They are not easy to photograph, but you got some awesome shots.
3 · Sheryl O'Bryan · 12 January 2010, 04:00
Very fun! I loved seeing the macademia nuts—-always wondered what they looked like as they grow.
I send the jr. high and high school kids on a photo scavenger hunt every summer. It’s a blast to see what they come up with.
4 · Kathleen · 12 January 2010, 06:05
Great job! Love the kookabura! If it would get above freezing, I might attempt a scavenger hunt! And you’re right about Orion; he’s in our sky right now.