This morning, as I strolled the Ross River Parkway in Townsville, poincianas painted scarlet onto feathery green, and huge, bare sandbars lay exposed in the river. Clouds brooded overhead, only fragile wisps of breeze stirred the air, and thick humidity shrouded the city in a sticky cloak. Parkway birds – oriole, myna, rainbow lorikeet, peaceful dove – serenaded me, their voices a chorus of disparate sounds, one melodic, one soothing, one punchy, one provoking. I drank in the sight of scarlet poinciana petals and white frangipani blossoms among gleaming, dark green leaves, and of the irridescent blue on the wings of a kookaburra. So often we focus on the long views or the middle distance, and walk right past the more intimate details of the close-up view. Today’s post is an eclectic photo collection of captivating Aussie subjects which Vilis and I thought merited a closer look.