A bit stormy

 On the evening of the 28th it looked as though some weather was incoming.

The appearance of virga just on sundown added to the foreboding.

This was not displaced.  By midnight we had recorded 20.6 mm with a peak rate of 83mm/hr, which while not record breaking, is more than drizzle.  Also a couple of thunderclaps (one about Secret Beach, the other on the road near the hairpin bend).  

Things then calmed down until 0700 on the 29thsince when it has been shower after shower, currently totalling a furth 12.8 mm.

By 1300hrs we were beginning to feel cabin feverish so went for a drive to Bastion Point to if there were any interesting birds blown in.  There were not!  However the sea was quite photogenic.  I started sitting in the car:

We then walked down to the seat at the end of the breakwater.

And ended walking out on the jetty.

Possibly accompanied by Judy Garland singing in the background ...

What's likely to flower?

In late June 2024 I created a google sheet for the period June - August listing the plants recorded for the extended Mallacoota District in iNaturalist.  As the month of July passed I added to that any additional plants we caw in flower (and were able to identify.  

We ended with 28 species for July, which is not bad for mid-Winter, and probably helped by the relatively minimum temperatures experienced this month.  On confirming the ID of Pandorea pandorana (Wonga Vine) a local expert commented that it was "pretty early".

I have now compiled a similar sheet for July - September which should cover the plants likely to be flowering in August.  It was notable that the list of additions for September was quite extensive: Spring springs in that month!  At this stage there are 23 species list for August per se but 103 species for the entire 3 month period.

The plants are sorted in two ways:

1. the first sheet has them sorted by month of expected occurrence with August first, then July and September last (then by Family);
2. the second sheet is by species name order, but with the known August species highlighted in yellow.

As for July, I will adjust the lists as we add to them set of identified species.

(Australo-Papuan) Robins-R-Us

 I went out to the Airport this morning looking for a Flame Robin, having seen at least 2 out there yesterday and them being gazumped by Brown Quail.  As expected, Scarlet Robins of both sexes were easily found.  Ladies first!

The anals of Crap Bird Photography bring you a male Scarlet Robin.  I blame the mucky windscreen for this fuzzy shot.

Then a Jacky Winter (also an AP Robin).  Ibid re fuzzy.

And at last (for the Airport) a male Flame Robin.

I called in at Betka and was pleased to find an Eastern Yellow Robin in attendance.  A couple of photographs taken from outside the car get the average artistic quality of image up to about poor (although they are all quite positive in proving the identity of the species so rate as GOOD birding records).

The Flame Robin was looking forward to a few seconds of fame as my Bird of the Day (BAD) but then a Collared Sparrowhawk - from size I'd guess a male - hurtled overhead.  They are far from common so the grabberaptor rule was invoked and that got the  BAD rating.  But no photo: it was really hurtling.

Garden Flowers

 Although these are not wild, the weather was nice so I can slip these images - mainly testing some ideas I found in my camera manual - of garden plants, in here.

Colourful skies 23 - 24July

 
Sunset on the 23rd

Sunrise on 24th: from the back lawn ...

.. and out in the street.

The widest setting on my camera.

The time of Herons

 The past few days have been full of Herons and close relatives.  On the 16th I got to the ocean end of the Pumping Station Creek Track and found 2 Little Egrets and a Great Egret.  All of them had some plumes (so thoughts of Plumed Egret - previously Intermediate Egret - crossed my mind).  My usual key feature for Great Egret is the yellow gape going past the eye, but I couldn't get a decent look at that.  However the larger bird was clearly MUCH larger rather than a little bit larger so that was sorted.

In passing I will note the congenital daftness of taxonomists: a bird is known as Intermediate Egret and it is intermediate in size. So Muppets Inc. go and rename it as 'Plumed' while at least 2 other species of Egrets are adorned with plumes!  Go figure: given the PC traits of academia perhaps giving it a middling name was seen as a threat to the birds self-esteem?

Anyhow, on the 17th I was ploughing through a phone conversation with a nice lady arranging contents insurance for our place on St Kilda Rd when I got a phone alert from Frances who was out walking.  The probabilities were this meant one of two things: she had been damaged or she had found an interesting bird.  The latter was more likely so I finished the phone call as a text arrived mentioning a White-necked Heron.  The Mazda was fired up - but not excessively so as that has got expensive in the past (a ticket for 34 Plumed Whistling Ducks @ $15 each) - and I was briskly at Sunny Corner .

I think this was my first Mallacoota White-necked Heron/

Very spiffy!

Also 5 Royal Spoonbills, presumably ejected from the Broome St Lagoon as too much water driven in by the gale.

4 Australian White Ibis, with a bonus Pacific Black Duck.

2 White-faced Herons (quite common when the area is soggy).

Frances reported a Nankeen Night-Heron at the Narrows carpark so I also snapped that. I am reasonably certain a second of this species flushed, but I did 'y get a good look

We had also seen - but not photographed - an Eastern Reef Egret a little earlier.

A July walk on Captains Creek Fire Trail

The weather of 14 July was ordinary, approaching average.  However, rather than spending the whole day more or less huddled over the fire, in the afternoon we went for a walk along a kilometre or so of the Captains Creek Fire Trail.  My aim was to take snaps of the flowers, and hopefully find an orchid or two.  Cutting to the chase we saw no orchids and only heard 4 very common birds!  However I did get some reasonable images of a few flowers.

The first image is at the start and shows a mass of white flowers: mainly Hakea decurrens and Spiridium parviflorum.

A bit further in and Acacia - in this case mainly A. suavolens - in the dominant genus.

There are some impressively tall specimens of Banksia serrata along this walk.  In this example a branch had fallen from the arrowed site.  On hitting the sandy ground it had embedded itself by about 10cm.  I think one would have been unwell  had it sconed one!

Now to some close ups, as identified on iNaturalist.  Hakea decurrens

Spiridium parviflorum - actually some flora here, although very parvi!

Styphelia ericoides - it used to be Leucopogon ericoides but someone needed a publication, and had a DNA sequencer on hand.

In this image the 'beard' is easily visible.

The three colours of Epacris impressa are shown here.

Dampiera stricta

There were a few wattle species in flower.  Here they are in alphabetical order.  A. myrtifolia

A. oxycedrus

A. suavolens

A. ulicifolia

This walk added a few plants to the list of July(ish) plants in flower!