Lunar Eclipse (28th August '07)

There was a lunar eclipse down here on Tuesday evening so we decided to go for a snorkel after work and then stay down at Clovelly to watch the action.

Full moon over Clovelly

Snorkeling as it goes dark is a scary thing. Especially when you're outside the bay in the open ocean. Lets just say I kept up with Allan on the way in and he used to swim for Denmark! There were a couple of little sharks as usual and a nice octopus although I missed that probably due to the building terror.

Going........

......gone, revealing the Blood Moon

Silverware!

Or rather plasticware. My first plastic-man-on-a-plastic-base sports trophy in Australia! Although we were comprehensively outplayed in the Grand Final, Division 1 runners-up is not too bad I reckon.

Spotlighting Owls

Crazy night-time trip into the bush

Following up on the Barking Owl tip, I headed out to Chatswood last night to a small piece of bush surrounded by houses and office towers. It didn't look too promising to be honest but 6 sightings in the last three weeks was enough to get me along. Walking about in the rain and darkness was more than enough of an attraction to lure Paul and Sneaky Pete along too.

Crazy lads

Unfortunately there was no sign of the rarer Barking Owls but we did spotlight a Southern Boobook #359 which is another hawk owl and the most common owl in Australia but still a new one for me although I've heard a few on nights out camping before. Anyway the sighting was good enough to get us published on my Rare Bird Bulletin website again! We did hear some barking but was this just a dog?

Lots of Footie and Swimming

Port Jackson Sharks

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but nothing too dramatic has been happening down here in recent weeks. My football continues and is getting a bit out of hand really as another team signed me up a few weeks back which means I've been playing in 5 different competitions as well as coaching the ladies. Its all beginning to wind down for a bit though as we enter the play-off period. We've been knocked out of everything except for my Monday night Div. 1 team which has made the Grand Final. The silverware is up for grabs next Monday!

There have not been enough days as nice as this one at Long Reef

As well as football 5 days a week, I've been continuing the snorkeling of course. The water seems to have stopped cooling and has reached a steady 16-17C which is ok by me. The sharks continue to over-winter in the bays so plenty of them about and the Giant Cuttlefish continue to amuse. We saw a couple displaying and mating the other day which is really quite impressive.

The bizarre Sergeant Baker

The weather hasn't been the best for bird watching recently but I've been tipped off to the presence of a couple of Barking Owls close by so a bit of spot-lighting is on the cards........

Moray Eel

Giant Cuttlefish