Merry Christmas!

The twitch is on at Kurnell

Another day, another plover. Always over-shooting their migrations and the twitchers' bread and butter it seems. This time things were a bit closer to home at Kurnell on the south side of Botany Bay. It was a simple case of turning up on the falling tide and following the hordes who already had the Kentish Plover #510 in their scopes. Not much of a challenge but I guess a tick is a tick and there were also a couple of guys there from previous trips and so it was nice to catch up.

Paul enjoys his plovers too

Probably the last tick of the year but then you never know when and where the twitch will take you next...

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!! 

       

Fire

Too close for comfort

The last few weeks have been generally warm and windy and that spells bushfire danger. There have been terrible fires in the north of the state but recently things hit a little closer to home. A house fire near the in-laws' place in the Blue Mountains sparked a full-on bushfire which swept up the gully behind their property.

Maria was evacuated but firefighters were thankfully able to defend the property and the only thing lost was the back fence. We were heading up there the next day anyway and, by the time we arrived about 24 hours later, the fire was out but what had been thickly vegetated bush was now just charred bare earth.

A few thicker tree trunks were still smouldering but the danger had happily passed. There was even a bewildered wallaby wandering about down there - perfectly healthy but somewhat confused. All a little too close for comfort.

Fire opens Banksia cones releasing seeds into the cleared nutrient-rich ground

Fires continue to burn around Sydney and the city is covered in a thick blanket of smoke which you can't escape. Small bits of ash are raining down from the sky which makes a right mess of your car and the smell of smoke is everywhere - even indoors. Rather that than lose your home though.

The sun struggles to shine through the smoke haze
    

Plover

 Red-capped Plover

During our road trip across the Nullarbor, the same Northern Shoveler that eluded me in Leeton turned up again in Canberra. Sadly it was gone again by the time I got back but it seems that the bird might be slowly headed my way...!

Semipalmated Plover

In the meantime another vagrant appeared down at Shoalhaven Heads where I've twitched a bunch of things in the past. It seems to be a real hotspot for blow-ins from North America. First observed on the Thursday I wasted little time in getting down there with Paul on the Saturday morning. A handful of other twitchers were on the scene and we were pretty quickly onto the Semipalmated Plover #509 which was just as well because it was seen again on the Sunday morning but then not since.

Sand Whiting

Emily and I have managed to get away on a couple of weekends recently with a bit of fishing on the cards but also a trip to Mudgee in search of some rarer birds from the drier inland.

'Frog Rock'

Aboriginal cave art 

The drought and bushfires round the state have meant that some species are showing up in places where they might not normally be seen.

Bearded Dragon

Sadly the flocks of Painted Honeyeaters and Ground Cuckoo-shrikes reported from the Upper Hunter were not present when we visited but I did see only my second ever Plum-headed Finch by the river in Mudgee. Crested Shrike-tit and Rainbow Bee-eater at the nearby Putta Bucca wetlands were also nice to see.

Always time for some caching