Birds - especially a Wedgie

 The catalyst for this post was the episode with the Wedge-tailed Eagle detailed below.  It's bookended by a couple of other interesting birdie bits.

On our morning walk we were very pleased to re-sight the family of Black Swans.  All 5 cygnets still present and swimming along in the Inlet.  When we returned they had gone to explore the marsh, but were climbing back over the Samphire to get back to the big water

Later in the day I rode down to Bucklands to see if I could find the 3 Nankeen Night Herons reported earlier by some friends.  (Spoiler alert: I did eventually.)

My searching of the Pittosporum was distracted by a large ruckus.  That was a gang of Ravens mobbing a Whistling Kite and a Wedge-tailed Eagle.  The Kite flew off but the Wedgie landed as did its oppressors.

The wedgie seemed reluctant to fly off and I was wondering whether it had got a serve of rat bait.

The Ravens continued to harass it.

Eventually the wedgie took off, revealing why it was reluctant to fly.  It was schlepping a joey of significant size!  I have no idea if it had nailed the joey itself or if it had chanced upon a dead one.

Here is one of the Nankeen Night-Herons which emerged to perch on a dead eucalypt.

The moon revisited

After the success of photographing the full moon we thought we would try again the following night (25 July).  Although the moon was a day past full it was due to rise soon after dark.  From our previous experience we thought Fisheries Jetty was the place to go.  This is a shot Frances took there the previous night.

We got there a few minutes early and sat in the car, as it was a little chilly (about 10C).  

It looked, by starlight, as though there was a bank of clouds on the horizon and at the appointed time (1817) there was no trace of the moon.  By 1825 a red glow suggested that the horizon was indeed nebulous, but things were happening.

The moon began to emerge at 1831.

As seems always to be the case with celestial bodies (OK, the setting sun and the rising moon) it took about 2 minutes for the moon to rise through the cloud.  Clearly we were going to get a nice "line in the water".  

I think this is my favourite.  1834.

1837

Here is a direct shot of the whole moon.

2 shortish walks

The first walk was always intended, and was a lap of Shady Gully with Frances.  The hope was to find a Red-browed Treecreeper, but I reckon they only show up when a guru is in town.

Most of our walking was on tracks used by the local mountain bikers.  On the stretch near Genoa Rd they have put a lot of effort into infrastructure.

When I first saw this I thought it was the front of a Tawny Frogmouth and then realised it was the back of a Wonga Pigeon.

Caladenia catenata

Anser antiqua photgraphing ...

.. a beetle under some loose bark.

Corymbia gummifera: wherever the bark has broken off the red sap was doing its job of sealing the wound,

There were not a lot of flowers around so Correa reflexa got a photo.

Any orchid earns a picture: Pterostylis nutans.

I was pleased when I first identified Eustrephus latifolius (Wombat Berry) and now find it everywhere.  The orange berries stand out!

The second walk was by myself, arising out of a thought that I should either do something energetic or take a nana-nap.  Going to the swamp from Fisheries Jetty seemed like a Good Thing. 

I was wearing my wellies as I thought it might be a tad damp and began by walking along the shoreline (as the marsh itself was clearly replete with water.  As the track was slippery (where muddy) or tangled vegetation I decided to come back along the road.

It is unusual to see a solitary Royal Spoonbill ..

... and thus more normal to find a group about halfway along the shoreline.

Two members of the Heron Family (White-faced Heron and Great Egret).  Interestingly, the Heron is in the genus Egretta, so should it be the Egret Family?

Towards the end of the return trip the Egret was clearly visible and enabled a close up.

Bird of the Day was Caspian Tern.  Two of them were fishing in the Inlet.

.... like a red rubber ball

 Frances spotted that the full moon was due to rise at 1706 on 24 July so after a little research to find spots with particularly good views to the East we headed to Captain Stevenson's Point.

The evening view was as always delightful.  The clouds didn't get a lot of colour but the overall texture was nice.

While waiting for the moon to appear there were wading birds to look at.  Here are 3 (of 15) Royal Spoonbills and 2 Australian White Ibis out the back of Goat Island.

Gabo Island lighthouse was flashing.

We first noticed the moon appearing at 1707:54, but there was probably a tip of it above the horizon at 1706, so the forecast gets a pass.

That is as much like a red rubber ball as any morning sun I have seen (without bushfire smoke to add to the colour).

I have just discovered how to take geocoordinates and bearings so that they can be recorded.  Duhhh!  It was quite a bit (30 degrees) to the South of where we expected.

The trees framed the moon as we left.

Coming back home we had to stop at Fisheries Jetty

It was getting pretty dark by now so my camera struggled to capture this passing pelican.  And I didn't try to catch it in between the reflections.

By 1729 a line on the water was beginning to form.  

Reflection of a channel marker.

Clearly we will have to come back tomorrow night when it will be fully dark.  If it isn't too cloudy.

Another walk

 We continue to take our exercise walks.

Todays walk featured some burnt trunks ...

.. and some really burnt trunks!

In a couple of spots the rain has washed away the soil between bits of gravel giving an even of the gravel like a capstone on a hoodoo.  These are only 5 -10 cm high but look quite amusing.

A very interesting fungus.  It is in the puffball part of that Kingdom which seems to be more of a taxonomic mess than the rest of the Kingdom. The tessellation makes it most like Mycenastrum corium although it seems a bit small and the habitat isn't right.  The genus seems to have had quite a few members at various times but most of them have since been renamed or classified to other genera.  Let's see what iNaturalist (iN) has to say.  Thus far the offer is Scleroderma sp - one of those into which Mycenastrum has been moved.

A more standard, but nicely coloured, bracket fungus.

Mitrasacme pilosa.

A very large bank of tall Dampiera stricta.  There were a couple of other patches on the opposite side of the road.

Platysace lanceolata according to the iH atificial intelligence system

Billardiera scandens: it is somehow difficultr to get a camera to focus on these flowers!

A nice contrast with the red Epacris impressa lurking behind the green and yellow stems of a sedge.

Amperea xiphoclada:  these flowers are tiny and very hard to photograph.  The ID came from iN.

An interesting effect with most of the flower parts having fallen off leaving an umbel of umberellas!

A Prasophyllum breaks out of of its sheath,

It was a mini-forest of the them  I have put dots on the 10 in this image, but Frances conted 15 in the colony.

I think this is some form of Cap-orchid.  An expert friend has advised the following is a Thelymitra "just waiting for some rain and sun".  There were about a dozen in the colony,