Keith Horton
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keithhortonphotos.bsky.social
Keith Horton
@keithhortonphotos.bsky.social
1.1K followers 170 following 1.1K posts
I take photos mostly of nature on Dharawal land in the Illawarra, south of Sydney in Australia: landscapes big and small; forests and woodlands; seascapes; plants; fungi; birds and other animals; and so on.
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keithhortonphotos.bsky.social
The Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) emerging from the south-east last week. Taken from a lookout near Fitzroy Falls in New South Wales, Australia.

#landscape #Australia #Astrophotography #Nightphotography #Aurora #AuroraAustralis #SouthernLights #nightscape #Southernhighlands
You are looking down a deep, wooded valley, with the tops of one or two Eucalyptus trees in the foreground. The sides of the valley are capped with sandstone cliffs. The Aurora Australis is emerging from the south-east (left of the photo), magenta in colour.
November 18, 2025 at 6:14 AM
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Tawny Frogmouth adult with chick

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#birds #Australianbirds #WildOz #Wildlife #nature
They look very like owls, though in fact there is a number of differences between owls and frogmouths. The parent has its eyes closed while the chick looks out sleepily with its eyes open. They are sitting on a rather roughly put together nest in a Jacaranda tree.
October 18, 2025 at 6:53 AM
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Pigeonberry ash tree

Elaeocarpus kirtonii, a large rainforest tree with buttress roots growing among ferns and palms in rainforest in the Mt Keira area of New South Wales, Australia.

#trees #forests #rainforest #nature #WildOz #TreeOfTheDay #naturephotography #intimatelandscape
There are a variety of ground ferns (some with dead red leaves), tree ferns, and epiphytes up in the trees. The Pigeonberry ash is in the centre with smaller trees behind. There is a little fog.
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
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A Galah in flight

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#Australia #birds #WildOz #ozbirds #nature #flight
A large parrot in flight with wings outstretched. It has a rose-pink head, neck, and underparts, a paler pink crown, and a grey back, wings, and undertail. One can see one eye through a gap in the wing. In the background is a sunny garden.
September 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
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After the fire

Maddens Plains, New South Wales, Australia

#landscape #Australianphotography #nature #fire #climatechange
On the ground are many grasses, burnt orange and yellow. In the foreground is one small burnt tree and there are other small burnt trees and shrubs behind. The sky is blue with a few clouds.
September 11, 2025 at 10:44 AM
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A Crimson Rosella taking off

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#Australia #birds #WildOz #ozbirds #nature #flight
The rosella is taking off from a tree on a sunny day. Its wings are outstretched. It has mostly crimson plumage and bright blue cheeks. The feathers of the back and wing coverts are black broadly edged with red. The flight feathers of the wings have broad blue edges and the tail is blue.
September 7, 2025 at 10:56 AM
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Sydney Peppermint tree recovering from fire

A photo from the archives. This tree had lost most of its leaves in the 'Black Summer' fires in Australia in 2019, but is putting out new shoots. These shoots grow from buds lying underneath the bark.

#Australia #trees #WildOz #TreeOfTheDay #resilience
The tree in the foreground has a blackened trunk. The new leaves are bright red, magenta, and orange. This is due to anthocyanin, a pigment that protects the leaves from insect predation and from sun damage. In the distance are some Scribbly-gum trees with orange trunks, due to the fire.
August 30, 2025 at 12:52 AM
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Rainbow Lorikeets fighting over a Swamp banksia flower spike (Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia)

#birds #flight #WildOz #nature #Australianphotography #australianbirds #birdsinflight #banksias
The head of the rainbow lorikeet is deep blue with a greenish-yellow nuchal collar, and the rest of the upper parts (wings, back and tail) are green. The chest is orange/yellow. The belly is deep blue, and the thighs and rump are green. One lorikeet is on the flower spike, feeding from nectar and pollen, while another is landing more or less on the first bird. The flower spike is a yellow-green colour. In the distance the sea can be just made out.
August 23, 2025 at 10:19 AM
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Trigger Plant
The 'trigger' consists of a unique floral column in which the stamen and style are fused. It snaps forward quickly in response to touch, covering the insect in pollen. Most of the approximately 300 species are only found in Australia.

#FridayFlowers #Flowers #Australia #nature #wildoz
The distinctive floral column (or 'trigger') lies below the plane of the flower. The magenta-pink flowers are zygomorphic, which means they are only symmetrical in one plane.
August 15, 2025 at 10:40 AM
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A tree with fallen branches in the Robertson Nature Reserve, New South Wales, Australia

#landscape #Australianphotography #rainforest #woodland
#naturephotography #TreeOfTheDay #trees #forests #nature #moss
The branches have fallen toward the viewer, from the centre to the right. The trunk is still intact behind, with broken branches reaching towards the sky. There are vines on the left. Almost everything is covered in thick moss.
August 9, 2025 at 9:21 AM
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A Rainbow Lorikeet taking off from a Swamp Banksia flower spike

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#Australianphotography #birds #australianbirds #WildOz #nature #flight #birdsinflight #banksias
The head of the rainbow lorikeet is deep blue with a greenish-yellow nuchal collar, and the rest of the upper parts (wings, back and tail) are green. The chest is orange/yellow. The belly is deep blue, and the thighs and rump are green. The flower spike is a lime green colour. In the distance the sea can be just made out.
August 2, 2025 at 6:27 AM
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Sandstone cliffs

Looking up at Tahmoor Canyon, New South Wales, Australia

#WildOz #rocks #sandstone #nature #intimatelandscape #Australianlandscape
Many layers, forming fantastic shapes, some the colour of honeycomb, some darker, a few trees half in view at the top.
July 29, 2025 at 9:45 AM
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A male Superb Lyrebird displaying on a fallen branch in rainforest on Mount Keira in New South Wales, Australia. A female is nearby. This is part of his courtship routine.

#birds #WildOz #rainforest #nature #Australianbirds
The superb lyrebird is a large, pheasant-sized bird about 1 metre (39 inches) in length. The plumage colour is mainly dark brown on the upper body, with greyish-brown underparts and red-tinged flight feathers. In this photo he is fanning out his tail horizontally to cover his body and head, and calling out.
July 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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Banksia robur flower spike close-up

Banksia flower spikes may contain hundreds or even thousands of individual flowers. This is a close-up of some of the buds on one flower spike.

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#FlowersonFriday #FridayFlowers #Flowers #patterns #close-up #nature #details
Tiny turquoise buds radiating on magenta stems from an orange-brown core. Bright green and yellow of the leaves on the left.
July 11, 2025 at 9:45 AM
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Noisy miners fighting over a Swamp banksia flower spike (Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia)

#birds #flight #WildOz #nature
Noisy miners are grey birds with black heads, orange-yellow beaks and feet, yellow patches behind the eye, and white tips on the tail feathers. In this photo one is facing away from the camera with its wings and tail fullu outstretched, while the other begins to dart away. In the distance a large tree and the sea can be dimly made out.
July 6, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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This is a Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla) growing in subtropical rainforest at Minnamurra, New South Wales, Australia. These trees can grow up to 60 metres (200 feet) high and nearly as wide.

#trees #forests #rainforest #nature #WildOz #TreeOfTheDay #naturephotography #intimatelandscape
The tree is so big that it has a kind of archway through the trunk, where I am standing to give an idea of the scale. A buttress root comes from the tree towards the viewer. Cabbage palm leaves decorate the scene.
June 29, 2025 at 8:50 AM
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A kind parrot preening

A young male I think. In a garden in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

#birds #australianbirds #WildOz #parrots #nature
June 24, 2025 at 8:13 AM
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Tall rainforest trees

The Illawarra Escarpment near Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia

#landscape #landscapephotography #Australianphotography #forests #rainforest #trees
A rainforest scene with tall trees, large sandstone boulders, and several different ferns and groundcovers. Green and blue in tone, with a pinkish cloud behind in the sky.
June 20, 2025 at 7:21 AM
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This is the painting referred to above.
June 9, 2025 at 8:27 AM
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Galah Portrait

With his crest raised like this he reminds me of certain eighteenth century paintings of women, such as the one of Marie Antoinette by Joseph Ducreux Poster.

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#Australia #birds #WildOz #ozbirds #nature #portrait #cockatoos #parrots
A large parrot with a rose-pink head, neck, and underparts and a paler pink crown, raised in this photograph.
June 9, 2025 at 7:51 AM
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Wave action at Bombo

Bombo quarry, now a heritage site near Kiama in New South Wales, Australia. The columns, moulded by wave action, are the remains of ancient volcanic dykes.

#landscapephotography #Australianphotography #seascape #landscape #waves #geology #rocks
The tall, dark basalt columns of Bombo Headland give the area a moon-like ambience. In this photo waves are crashing into these columns, with a small rainbow in the sky.
June 6, 2025 at 9:06 AM
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The Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) from near Fitzroy Falls, New South Wales, Australia last night. It put on quite a show!

#landscape #Australia #Astrophotography #Nightphotography #Aurora #AuroraAustralis #SouthernLights
You are looking down a deep, wooded valley towards a crazily vibrant light show in the sky, with yellow, orange, red, and magenta colours. The light from the Aurora also reaches a few trees close to the camera in the foreground.
June 2, 2025 at 2:11 AM
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Galah in flight

Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

#Australia #birds #WildOz #ozbirds #nature #flight
A large parrot in flight with wings outstretched. It has a rose-pink head, neck, and underparts, a paler pink crown, and a grey back, wings, and undertail. In the background is a sunny garden and sky.
May 29, 2025 at 6:57 AM
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The bugs are back!

Hibiscus harlequin bugs, common in Eastern Australia, New Guinea and several Pacific Islands.

#bugs #insects #wildlife #ozinverts; #WildOz #nature #close-up #naturephotography #Australia
Hibiscus Harlequin Bug are brightly coloured shield-shaped bugs with a metallic sheen. The colours are quite variable, and experiments suggest that the variation in colour may reduce bird predation, especially on the immature stages. Most of the bugs in this photo are red, and clustered together on an Hibiscus leaf. There is one larger (presumably older) blue bug.
May 23, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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Very large fig tree

In rainforest on Mt Kembla, New South Wales, Australia

#forests #nature #rainforest #trees #WildOz #TreeOfTheDay #naturephotography #intimatelandscape #landscape #Australia #bigtrees
The large fig tree is a Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla). It has thick, prominent buttressing, and many holes in the trunk in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of industrial machinery. It is surrounded by other, much smaller rainforest trees.
May 16, 2025 at 8:16 AM