Random Ramblings

 This covers things we have seen in the last few days of October 2022.  The first two show the level of water a day after the near flood.

We decided to walk the track opposite the Pony Club towards the poo pits.  People have obviously driven it while wet, with more accelerator than sense, and the downpour has then unimproved the track. 

Our aim in the walk was to check the flowers.  There were lots, beginning with the genus Patersonia.  There are three local species and the distinguishing feature used in Joy Grieg's book is the height of the flowers relative to the foliage.  IMO that makes this P. fragilis, stems shorter than foliage.

Stem equal to foliage (P. glabrata) ...

.. and stems longer than foliage (P. occidentalis). 

Melaleuca sp - I think M. squarossa.  One large colony in a damp area.

Only saw one orchid in the whole walk.  Caladenia carnea.

A pea.  I have put it on iNaturalist but as it is a fuzzy snap and doesn't give much about the leaves I have little hope.

It did make a spectacular understory in places.

Brachyscome spathulata

A range of shots of Xanthorrhea sp showing the development of flowering.  The grass-tree plains are still showing the many spent spikes after the massive flowering of thousands of plants in 2020.

The biggest: close to 2m to the tip of the spike.

An odd little fungus.  An observer on iNaturalist has suggested genus Hygrocybe.

The next day I went to geology point for a sea watch.  That was good as there were few birds to watch.  This immature Great Cormorant was obliging (and wet).

Finally this creche of Australian Wood Ducks/Maned Ducks/Maned Geese were amusing to watch.  Both the female and the singular duckling jumped into the water when the rest were led under the jetty.

October 2022 Bird Report

 I seem to be very busy recently, a situation which looks likely to continue for a few days at least, so this will be  a rather brief report.

We had quite a few visiting birders this month which gave us quite a good list of species.  One party made a visit to Howe Flat (before it was closed for deer shooting) which added a few less common species to the list (including of course Eastern Bristlebird).  The total number of species recorded at 144 was quite a bit lower than the 176 recorded in 2021.  That was very high due to:

• BLEG holding a week-long campout in the area; and
• The Spectacled Monarch sighting attracting a number of other experts to the area.

For trend-line enthusiasts I tried fitting a polynomial to the monthly data for 2022 and depending on the order of the function it suggested that we were going to have either bonanzas for the rest of the year (4th order) or barely see a bird in  the next 2 months (3rd order).  As this blog is NOT bought to you by the Murdoch press I will merely say that is what happens when you get too fancy with a small number of observations.

Looking at the number of species x category in comparison to all Octobers, we appear to have over-achieved for most passerine groups but done less well for seabirds and parrots.  The low result for night-birds merely indicates bad luck and possibly limited after-dark outings.  We had a few days with a very good roll up of waders so I anoint them as bird-of-the-month, rather than tapping a single species on the shoulder.

I have also done a little exploration of the migration status of species recorded in Mallacota as detailed  here.  We recorded 25 Summer migrants in October 2022 (42 of the species seen in any October are Summer migrants) while 1 Winter migrant species was 'hanging on' (3 in all Octobers).

10 species were recorded exhibiting at least one type of breeding behaviour.  Possibly the most interesting breeding performance is that of White-faced Heron and Whistling Kite which have swapped copses on Angophora Drive.  The Herons have raised chicks (at time of writing close to where the Kites nested last year and vice versa.  I have attached snap of one of the three Heron chicks.

And here is a better view showing all three  chicks!

Back to (what is left of) Bastion Beach

 After the success of my visit to Bastion Beach yesterday I went back today (26 October) to see what else I could see.  I will justify the title of the post towards the end, but will begin with some birdy stuff.

As I walked along the top of the sand dune this bird scampered around in front of me.  I was initially quite excited as it didn't look, nor behave "right" for a Red-capped Plover, but on consulting the Australian Bird Guide there was no doubt that is what it was,

Looking across the MFKATM (maelstrom formerly known as the mouth) a heap of shorebirds were visible feeding around the washed up eel grass and kelp.

A number (at least 5) of Caspian Terns were fishing in MFKATM and making a fair amount of noise while doing so.  One of them was perched on a sand bar next to the first Pacific Gull I have seen for some time.  Unfortunately the image just about shows a massive bill with red top and bottom so not a Kelp Gull (1 was seen here recently).  Of course the term took off as I pressed the shutter, distracting the autofocus on my camera 

Here are the heaps of 4 of the Caspian Terns.

Some Stints came along the beach from the Point.

Others strolled in the foam, about 200 metres away.

A great Cormorant knew that if it itched, you scratched it.

Today I did get a clear view of a Ruddy Turnstone, but not through a view finder.  One of the 3 Pacific Golden Plovers I saw was a little more obliging.

This is a phone photo of MFKATM.  The discolouration of the water seemed to go halfway to the horizon.

The the vegetation on top of the dune was plastered with foamy sand, presumably thrown up by breaking waves. 

The dune is being eroded.  I suspect that if there is a further strong Southerly storm the sea will break through reducing Bastion beach to about 100m long!

Minor flooding

 Yesterday the BoM issued a minor flood warning for the Genoa River.  The gauge at the Genoa Gorge shows that happened late yesterday, but it has now dropped below that level.

The drop has yet to get to the lower parts of the River!

Sorry about the poor focus: camera wasn't happy with the lighting!

Good that PFDs float.

I did ask a Shire worker when Parks were going to open the Mouth.  He laughed and commented that "We haven't got that phone call yet."

A couple more snaps from Karbeethong Jetty, later in the day.  As it has continued to rain all day I suspect the level will be higher tomorrow morning.

24 hours (and an inch of rain) make a difference

 The difficulty of birding from Captain Stevenson's Point recently has been the vast expanse of sand visible. I can't track down a recent photo of this as a 'before image but here is a snap from yesterday (25/10) to show a total lack of sand.  The banks are sort of visible as the areas with a yellow tinge.

The only waders visible in this view were 2 Masked Lapwings in a patch of Samphire near Goat Island and an Eastern Curlew on a clump of detritus towards the Wharf.  A flock of Bar-tailed Godwits and a few Red Knot were seen at the channel to the Mouth when looking over Devlin's Inlet.

That sight made me wonder what might be visible from the beach at Bastion Point so I took myself off there and walked out to the Mouth Channel.  The current through this channel was as vigorous as I have ever seen it!

Being a very intelligent person I had left my camera at home.  Closing in on the Nobel Prize for Stupidity I also left the adapter to connect my phone to my telescope in the car!  However I was able to line up the phone on the eyepiece to get a few record shots of about 50 of each of Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints foraging in the Eel Grass washed up on the far side of the channel.  I had wondered where all the Plovers had gone.

Actually I step back from "record shots": they aren't that good, but they get the idea across.

To further illustrate the level of water in Bottom Lake on the way home I took this image of jetties at the Fisheries Jetty turn out.