The most common birds I see on a daily basis are magpies, cockatoos, lyrebirds and rainbow lorikeets. Sometimes all of this birdlife becomes a bit too much for humans! For example, to prevent magpies from "swooping" people during their mating season, cyclists will put pipe cleaners sticking out of their bicycle helmets. But every bird species is distinct in Australia: Australian cockatoos have green mohawks and are incredibly noisy; Lyrebirds have a call that sounds like a crying baby; and (my personal favorite) Lorikeets have the most beautiful coloring.
This hot summer weather has meant rain most afternoons, which is great because it means some relief from the heat. Rain, unfortunately also means that the spiders come out in order not to drown in their burrows. On my runs in the morning, I have seen some pretty large spider webs, a couple with spiders on them! Mostly, I've seen Golden Orb-Weaver spiders, which are large but not poisonous. Luckily, I have not seen any Funnel Web spiders, as these are the most poisonous spiders in the world!
My neighbor's garden is in full bloom! They take excellent care of their gorgeous hibiscus garden in front of their house, and I love walking past it every morning. Though their garden includes lots of differently colored hibiscus, I think the yellow and pink variety is the prettiest.
