Spring has sprung

Spring is here and I know that because the cuckoos have started arriving in Sydney over the past week. The Channel-bills in our back yard haven't put in an appearance yet but the Koels are popping up here and there around the city.

Blue Gum Swamp track, Winmalee

It seems that La Nina is also behind us and the return of El Nino means hot and dry conditions are on the cards for this summer. It's been very nice the last couple of weeks and so a couple of weekends back I headed up to the Blue Mountains to try and catch some of the rarer natives. At this time of year the Pilotbird begins to get vocal as it skulks through the rainforest gullies and a spate of Spotted Quail-thrush sightings round Glenbrook in the lower mountains was well worth following up on with the chance of a Painted Button-quail in the same sort of dry woodland.

 Lower Blue Mountains

An early start on the Blue Gum Swamp trail at Winmalee is a good tactic for the Pilotbird and sure enough I tracked one down to a patch of thick scrub where it was calling loudly. Some people might call that a tick but I like to actually see the birds and so it was disappointing to hear the call get fainter and fainter over time as it skulked off up a creek. More disappointing as the usual masters of the skulk, the Eastern Whipbirds, were very happy to show themselves at several points along the track. The other birds were great though with highlights being the less common Red-browed Treecreeper and Rose Robin as well as a Collared Sparrowhawk harrassing a flock of Cockatoos.

 Boobook

No joy down round Glenbrook either but back at the in-laws' the consolation of a Boobook owl hawking from a tree at the top of the driveway.

Pittwater

Last weekend I went for a spot of fishing with Howard and Pete at Pittwater at the very top end of Sydney's northern beaches. We hired a small boat and after dodging all the big yachts while crossing the channel we dropped anchor and offered the local piscine population an appetising mix of prawns and squid. They were very happy with that and proceeded to eat the lot without allowing us to hook them. On the very last cast of the day I did manage to get into a Snapper. A baby Snapper that is and so not technically a blank maybe but considering mature Snapper can reach up to 1.2 m and 20 kg, this was nothing short of pathetic.

Baby Snapper

 Sunset

Not quite so pathetic was the first spider of the season that appeared in the laundry closet today. Hopefully this isn't the way things are going to go this summer but the standard has been set at large!

They're back!