Tumbling Waters of Tumbling Waters

If you’re flat out in the office trying to get things done but things aren’t coming together. Here try this .

Or if you’ve had a long noisy day and just need to chill out before bed.. Try this…

So I’m in a sanctuary or sorts, an Eden on Earth where the flora and fauna are free to frolic and the smooth wet waters of the tumbling type tumble away inevitably to an end. To a plant, to a thirsty critter, into the air or all the way to the ocean. Birds sing, lizards drink and all sorts of wonderful little samples of life’s little evolutions wake and work run and hide whistle and sing the songs that keep the evolutions evolving with life.

Hi there and welcome to one of my Biological Babbles. I live by a river so I hope I don’t Babble on too long.

As you may know physics, geology and archaeology are my first sciences and I’m only a newbie to these biological sciences. Perhaps you have guessed that every new creature or flower or friend I encounter becomes a new moment for a memory to cherish when time and life take those inevitable alternate paths when our memories are all we have to embrace.

So I hope you enjoy these biological things I share as I've been out with my camera again and have even managed to start taking video footage of things. Jeeze there’s some seriously peaceful peace up here in the harsh north of Australia. This first video is just a nice little sample of some of that peace you might find sitting by a stream of flowing water and amidst a chorus of birds.

Get ready to chill out. Take your shoes off. Sit back and just watch and listen.

So now that you’re all relaxed, let’s go a little deeper into life and find some cool little critters enjoying the waters of this area. The next Blog is more of a collage with stills of a wonderfully colourful blue-wing diving bird and a sneaky cheeky little lizard with some piano-backing music from yours truly. :)

Below there is an image of something splashing into the water. Click on it to go to the next blog. :)

These Blogs are proudly supported by kind folks who leave tips and purchase stuff in my website shops. www.murryrhodes.com

Image from the Next Blog Video - Click on the Image to go the next Blog. :)

Tumbling around in Tumbling Waters

How chilled out was that last video?.. Nice huh? Glad to see you here for a little more nature. THis time we have a nice little duo of life. One is a spectacular blur winged forrest kingfisher enjoying the water and the other is a wannabe crocodile showing off his crocodile techniques. :)

I think you’re enjoying these little jaunts of nature. Now the next one is a really nice one with a mix of still and video action of some far-out mushrooms and critters and a pair of Curlew parents-to-be stalking and scoping around where they placed their eggs. You’ll be amazed to see the eggs in the nest? :)

These Blogs are proudly supported by kind folks who leave tips and purchase stuff in my website shops. www.murryrhodes.com

Curlew - Click on the image to see the next Blog.

Mushrooms, Eggs and trippy things of Tumbling Waters.

Wow, you’re in for a treat. From relaxing waters to cheeky critters of the last two blogs and now onto some serious Fungi and butterfly cocoons and rainbow bee eaters to the coolest of cool curlews stalking the area they put their googs. :)

This site is supported by you kind folks who leave tips and buy souvenirs in the online shop at www.murryrhodes.com

Sorry, I know you’re perhaps used to having a link here to a new blog about now. A new one is coming soon so check in again later. In the meantime, you may like to explore outer space and the science of it or the music industry adventure blogs or the personal life story ones. Click the Blue button to go to the Blog menu. :) Take a look through the shops too.. You may find a nice little souvenir or gift idea for someone special.

A tropical Eden of insects.

Welcome to one of my scribbles of life and nature’s gifts of it. 20221203 Written on the Banks of the Blackmore River, Tumbling Waters in the Northern Territory. Australia.

Sometimes we sit and watch a nice documentary about stuff and marvel at the symmetries and synergies of evolutionary life having done what it does to become what it is or better-adapted versions of what it was. Luck, chance, biometrics and mechanics with DNA strands of mRNA being printed out by Nature’s own 3D protein printers/ribosomes and in response to ever-changing environments bring us to this diverse diversity of life. Then once us the bun is done we pop out into the world, adapt and overcome and if life gets lucky then it propagates and proliferates if possible. How cool is life and biodiversity?

So yesterday was pretty awesome. I heard the news that we had visitors from the museum and one of them wanted a guide to where we might find a specific species of mantis and other rarer oddities of nature. Safety thongs on, water bottle in the bag a little Slip-Slop-Slap under the tropical Sun and it was time to go for a walk and learn a little more about the wonders of life.

It was really nice, PhD student Matt Connors came all the way from away down south to visit the north to explore the things of life in life as studied in books. Guided safely along a path through this Eden by a blank slate wet-clay tablet, being me. It was awesome, an insect expert pointing out many species that I’d often brushed off my shoulder or walked past otherwise captivated by the bigger things like birds and butterflies and always with naked eyes and ears looking or listening out for the slightly larger things like snakes and the ever hungry Crocodylus critters.

By the end of the walk, Matt was stoked to see things out in the field and I was stoked to be learning of this new tiny world of the tiny things, some of their behaviours and habitats and the plants they love to munch out on. So now I have a few new targets of interest for my photographic journeys.

So today I ventured out with my camera and started down the path of learning how to take close-up photos in the field and managed to capture a few tit bit pics of a few teeny tiny natural contraptions for you to see.

The Blue Argus butterfly images were particularly tricky to get. I found both the Blue Argus and the wonderfully Orange spotted Meadow Argus were having a tustle over some butterfly territory. It was kind of funny as when I approached, the Meadow Argus seemed not bothered by me, indeed the little flitterer fluttered onto my big toe and sat there for a minute or two.

The Blue one however was a little less friendly. It flew off. So I got some nice photos of the Meadow Argus and as I started departing I noticed the Blue Argus hadn’t flown away but had been hiding waiting for me to leave to then continue the bout. The little orange Meadow Argus started following me and kind of bugging me to not leave, almost as if it appreciated my being there for the peace of the blue one not harassing it. Nature’s cool like that sometimes.

I spent about an hour watching their behaviour and passively interjecting, all the while tracking the Blue Argus to get a photo opportunity. It was a lot of fun but I’m sure you can imagine that these glittery flittery little flutter bys’ are tricky to photograph close up on the wing and so it took about an hour or so before the Blue Argus got used to my presence and calmed down enough to let me get closer in. Pretty little things.

On the design front, I think between the butterflies and the cute lil’ spidey spider I may have some nice new designs in the pipeline for shirts or prints next year. If you haven’t already, you may enjoy some of the prints and designs already in the gallery.. I’ll pop a link here for your viewing pleasure. Click on the Gouldian and Crimson finch photo for some design gallery fun and below that link, there is a small gallery containing a few happy snaps from yesterday and today. :) Below that link I’ve popped a link button to some other nice photos too. :)

There’s also a contact form below so if you have any queries let me know.

As always, Take care and travel well.

Cheers

Murry :)

Ooops!! my appologies, I almost forgot.. Here is a little button to some music you may like to play while viewing the galleries. :) A few little songs I whipped up earlier.

Today’s Photo Journal. 20221203

Message me below or you can visit the '“Friends of Tumbling Waters Biodiversity Inc.” Facebook group to learn more.

FaceBook Group Link - ( Friends of Tumbling Waters Biodiversity )

Genesis of biodiversity by design.

Genesis of biodiversity by design.

Murry Rhodes © 20221002

In the beginning, all was dark, The rains stopped and then the Sun rose up and the day began.  A rake in hand, garden snippers in the other it was time to enter the jungle of a wet season of growth and tame the beasts that thrived.  Snip Snip Snip, rake rake rake, life was good, it was simple.  My back injury had seen me on a walking stick for the past year and other injuries had anchored me into my bus like a hermit crab but now as the dry of twenty-twenty-two was coming my injuries had subsided and I was able to walk. For a short while at least.  Life was good life was simple.  Snip Snip. 

It’s still quite simple although life took a weird and wonderful turn.  For the years I’d spent here in the outback turning a hobby of piano playing into a music career I never really had the time to immerse myself in the nature of the wilds.  Snip Snip Snip and Rake rake Rake, I was rejoicing that I could walk, rejoicing that I could work again.  Snip Snip.

This little one to the left is a Rainbow Pita. Endemic to this region and quite a friendly little bird.

There was another here in this Eden.  One who had gained a grant from the government for an art project.  Butterflies and Moths was his art installation and he brought with him a heart of gold and a quirky, artsy, folksy, academic intelligence.  Ian is his name.  As I snip snipped my way through the jungle growth he and his hoard had delicately transformed an old decaying bird cage into a haven or refuge for butterflies and moths and planted some new plants that they love to munch on and other stuff.  Rake Rake.

We shook hands and he described his plight. I saw the awesome impact he had on bringing life and beauty into this Eden.  Over the weeks I learned he would take people on walks through the jungle and introduce them to the many birds, trees and butterflies of the region and point out the need to bring back those species that had disappeared.  Weeds, fires, poisons and progress had pushed many species out and so with the planting of certain plants and weeding of certain weeds, the job ahead was to promote and protect the biodiversity of this region.  Snip

I’d totally trimmed back the wet season overgrowth and the gardens were now pretty on the eye and clean for the tourist hoards coming here for their tropical experience of the North.  The bulk of my mission was done and then Ian presented me with a new mission. “ I need to make an identification poster of butterflies but I don’t have a clue how to do one” He commented.  I said “ No Worries, I’ll do it”..  My live performance days saw me learning how to make gig posters for gigs and so It was right down my alley.  Well, that’s what I thought. Snip.

By the time I loaded the first twenty butterflies onto the one document my computer processor started to falter.  What I thought would be 40-50 hour job turned into a 200 ++ hour ordeal that was solved by upgrading my computer and learning a few tricks of design.  Nonetheless, I said I would do it and I made it my mission to do it.  Along the way and during the process I decided to draw up a few nice little drawings.  Just little birdy and butterfly ones and a fish one for a little bit of fun.  I posted the little images onto my social media and folks responded really well to them and some even wanted shirts and hats with the little images on them so I started down that path to research how to set up a shop.  I turned my old music website into something a bit like a blog page but with a shop for my designs.  I finished the butterfly identification poster and everyone loved it.  Rake Rake.

With the poster finished, i was then asked if I could take up the position of secretary of a special group that had been formed to gain grants for helping promote and protect the biodiversity of the region.  I accepted not really knowing what I was in for.  I sat in on the first meeting and was officially named the secretary of this group.  Intellectuals with passions to make a difference and get things rolling.  The group was still in its infancy. You might say that the official constitution was still wet from the stamp inc.  Snip Snip.

And so this was the genesis of my birth into biodiversity.  Up to this time, my only photography had been done using either video snapshots or my phone’s camera which were nice but from a design perspective, I needed to step up and learn how to use a real camera to take some real photos.  So I found a good second-hand one for sale and a couple of cheap entry-level lenses and started tinkering with all the buttons. Within a week I had taken my first few high shutter speed photos that I still love looking at and within two weeks I felt ready to take the camera into the bush and start trying to get some magical photos.  How blessed I am to be where I am and to have the time to do all this.  I was walking without my walking stick and with a camera in my grasp that I could start capturing images of the life that I was learning about.  Snip, Rake

if you haven’t seen the gallery yet then you may enjoy taking a peak.  If you see something that would look good on your walls or on a shirt or hat then check out the shopping feature too.  If what you want isn’t there then send me a message and ask to match an image to be printed onto an item or a matching set or something.  Rake Snip

There’s more to share about this adventure as last weekend we had our very first groupie get-together which was basically a nice walk around for an hour or so and then an hour of planting and labelling plants and identifying weeds.  It was great to start to meet the people who care about this sort of stuff as despite their backgrounds they all have something special to offer.  Sometimes when Ian isn’t available to take people on the nature walks I’ll put on my shoes and lead the way but what is really wonderful about it is that many of those folks interested in the walks are very keen birders, or botanists or some other biological science guru from whom I gain a lot of great knowledge from.   Rake Snip Rake

And so before I close this entry, if you’re reading this and think maybe you’d like to help out or find out more about this group then please do contact me and I can send you some information and put you on the right track.  I’ll see if I can put a link at the bottom of this blog.   In the meantime enjoy the images and the stories.  My background also includes physics and geology and astronomy-type stuff so you may see blogs and images regarding that too.   

Last Sunday I was in the wildlife park up the road helping folks clean out their natural stingray ponds with the stingrays still in the pond. Big friendly stingrays they were too. Who knows what adventures are ahead?.. :)

Take care, travel well and stay tuned :)  

Cheers

Murry

Evolving with time

Like Darwin’s theory of evolution, one tiny increment at a time things evolve. I love the Darwin story of the Birds of Paradise and the incredible observations of the finches in a geographically isolated chain of Islands. Where over such a very short period of time almost incrementally from generation to generation the birds and botanicals of the Galapagos Island evolved with each other.

Certainly, life evolving over billions of years may result in biological changes of significance based on probability alone but here in such a small subset of species and over such a small period of time such significant changes to fundamental structures appear less likely than probability alone. Either way, I was hoping to get some nice shots of Finches and as luck would have it this one happened into my camera. I am still just a babe at photography and especially using the photoshop apps so I was holding the Gouldian images back until I was a bit more comfortable with photoshop.

I like how photoshop works but am always concerned about overdoing it with too much colour or light so now it’s just a matter of refining the sliders and Eq.. Anyway here’s a crop and a photo-shopped image of one of my latest Gouldian finch images taken at Tumbling Waters July 2022 with the Canon 80D. :) Check the Wall Art for more.

A Delightful Darwinite day.

So last night I get a call that Ian our local bird expert and tour guide has fallen ill to the Rona bug and can’t make his Saturday morning bird walk tour. So although I’m no bird expert I have been out taking happy snaps of the little cuties and so was asked if I could take a few folks out for a walk around Tumbling Waters this morning.

BIrds, Butterflies and Botany. There were three ladies of three walks of life. A serious bird enthusiast from Canberra, A Darwinight doctor who loved her botany and a Transient Tassweigian doing a little work at the university.

It was simple really, I walked around and showed them the nice little natural flying critters I’d been taking photos of and they shared their knowledge of the trees and birds and their known behaviours. It was really nice to watch their facial expressions whenever they saw something rare or unusual.

Anyway, they enjoyed the adventure of it and got to see a few nice birds. The walk ended with Coffee and Scones, just delightful..

I went out sometime after the walk with a newish secondhand camera a P1000 to test out its bells and whistles. I’m hoping to compile a nice photographic catalogue of species in this Tumbling Waters area for a Bird identification poster and hopefully get some nice photographic moments too that some folks might like to buy as wall art or other printed items. One can only try. Below are a couple of bird photos I took today. Say if you do have some interest in birds, butterflies, mammals, reptiles, botanicals or other forms of biology perhaps you’d like to visit the “ Friends of Tumbling Waters Biodiversity Inc”. It’s a newly formed official group with a constitution of promoting and protecting the biodiversity of this region and with a few key experts in different fields we are just getting started out. Perhaps you’d like to visit the FaceBook group and find out a little more. :) https://www.facebook.com/groups/769797697538259