The House(s) of Fran_mart

The Black-shouldered Kite ( Elanus axillaris ) is not an unusual bird in the Southern Tablelands of NSW.  They have been rather scarcer during the recent drought but have reappeared in the last few months.   As usual they have been seen in 1s and 2s although a friend and near neighbour had reported a flock of 6 watching him do some work in a paddock. Another near-neighbour rang me yesterday morning (29 September) to report that she had a flock of 6 roosting near her house.  As both properties look out across the Hoskinstown Plain, and are only 1km apart as the Kite flies, it seemed highly likely that they were the same birds. However on the evening of the 29th my friend rang to say that the flock had grown to 14 and were roosting in a single tree.  He had taken a photo: By the time I got to his property the flock were on the move but I still got to see most of them. While deserving the term extraordinary such a flock is not unheard of.  Wikipedia refers to a feeding flock of

This is not about the AFL Grand Final but dispute resolution by Gymnorhina tibicens , the Australian Magpie. This year we have had a group of 5 Australian Magpies hanging around our lawn and nearby areas, doing all the things Magpies do.   We presume this is a family group of 2 adults with 3 juveniles from last year, and have been surprised that they have stayed together so long.  In our experience the juveniles get kicked off once breeding season approaches. Today there was a brief battle in the bare paddock about 60m from my window.  This distance, the poor light on a cloudy day and being taken through a window explain the rather grainy effect. However,  I think the sequence of images are reasonably self explanatory in showing one bird dominating the other. It will be interesting to see if the number of birds in the group decreases over the next few days. If the post had been about the AFL Grand Final, it would have noted with glee the fact that every 'unbiased

This follows on from my post about the Australian Painted-snipe at Kelly's Swamp in the Jerrabombera Wetlands.  The next few paragraphs are a (slightly edited for clarity) copy of my message of 27 September to the COG Chatline, with a few images added.  By 1pm (ish) the Painted-snipe had moved towards Cygnus Hide (but of course on the Southern bank of the swamp).  They initially emerged from the grass  between the grazing cattle and then headed for a large patch of mud/water which they slowly crossed, in an astonishingly obliging way so that they could be tracked in my scope. About 2 pm (coinciding with Milburn's return) they flew back across the patch of mud and disappeared into the grass. One Nankeen Night-heron seen just past Fulica Hide  and the Glossy Ibis grazing in the Painted Snipe (and cattle) infested grass. To cap off a rather good couple of hours, after a snuffle at the bird-free mud in the Sewage ponds Milburn spotted, and was able to poi

This post starts with some environmental politics, moves through  a little local geography and ends with some pictures of interesting (to me) plants. One of the features of NSW rural activity used to be the provision of reserves in which stock being driven (on hoof) could be spelled en route.  Since trucking came in these reserves are not used much for that purpose - to prove this most of the (many) beer bottles found in them date from the 1960s or earlier. However as the agricultural areas have been cleared these reserves have become islands of remnant indigenous flora. This Reserve is obviously 6 miles from somewhere but I am unsure where!  It is about 5 miles from Bungendore and about 8 miles from Hoskinstown.  However, delving into history, it might be 6 miles from the crossing of the Molonglo River, which was an important site back in the day. Whatever: we saw some great plants there today. Frances nailed our first-for-the-season Diuris pardina (Leopard Orchid) within abo

On my way up the block to check on ( inter alia ) the progress of the Glossodia (no progress to report) I noticed this Galah hanging on the outside of a nest hollow. This caused me to wonder if Ms Galah was in the hole brooding some eggs.  However on looking a little more closely I spotted another galah a little higher up the tree (and to the right). That was I thought quite OK, it is just supervising the work from a higher position.  Situation normal for galahs as for humanity.  I have subsequently looked more closely at the image and realise that there are two galahs on the higher perch (only the tail of the second is really visible).  This caused my interpretation of the next two shots to change a little. I had thought that the worker had downed tools to have itself a little smooch.  However I now realise that it was a totally separate pair - perhaps one had brought the other along to point out that a good partner builds a nice nest hole?   If that was the case it doesn&

On the afternoon of 24 September the twitch system of Canberra Birds fired up with a report of there being a pair of Painted Snipe at Kelly's Swamp.  I have only seen this species once - and it was in difficult circumstances - before, so headed off for a look. On arrival there were a number of cars parked at the Southern end of the swamp and on getting in to the area a number of birders were immediately evident.  As with the previous event getting the 'tickable' view was easy since I was immediately offered a look through an established spotting scope.  Having got that insurance for my year list I then picked the bird up in my binoculars and then used a convenient fence post as camera support to get a photo. The second bird was in fact still there lurking behind the tussock abaft of the obvious bird.  There was much discussion about the sex of the birds (referring to i-phone Field Guide apes( sic )) and it was concluded that both were female with 1 adult and the othe

While taking the small dog for a walk this morning Frances noted our first examples of Glossodia major , the Waxlip Orchid, growing in the verge of Whiskers Creek Rd.  These are far from unusual in this area but being the first of the season here are some photographs. Of course they also earn photo points by being rather spiffy!  On returning to the area with camera (see below for results) I found at least 3 additional colonies. This sighting led me to explore the points on our property where I knew there to be Glossodia leaves (or past sites of flowering).  The nearest I got was finding a couple of buds, which I estimate to be a day or two off flowering.  There were also some nipped off stalks with a pile of 'roo droppings nearby: thus the usual suspects are hoist by their own pootard.  On returning to the roadside several other interesting plants revealed themselves.  What follows is in order of discovery and not 'interest'. Indeed, the first species Brachy

Perhaps some readers will recognise the title as being the catchphrase of Arthur Fallowfield the famous West Country character from Beyond Our Ken .  I was thinking of this today as I prepared a new bed for some gladioli we have acquired for Summer colour My blogging friend Denis has commented  a few times about the rocky nature of Carwoola.  This  proves he is familiar with the area.  His observations form the basis of my classification of the soils of our garden.  This has three elements, based on the tool one uses first when starting to garden in an area. Crowbar country: this is most of the area.  Once the inch of grass and topsoil has been penetrated the next step is to get the 2m long crowbar into the revealed shale.  Some clay is also evident and that, together with compost and what soil is able to be gathered from the surface becomes the basis of the bed.  No worms or other life visible until they come in with the compost. Mattock Meadows: Probably this stuff has been &#

Yesterday (20 September) I went for a stroll in a relatively new Nature Reserve in the ACT.  It is called Kama and contains some really nice grassy-box woodland running down to the Molonglo Valley.  There are some really magnificent trees in there - which will be the subject of a later post I hope - and also a group of Brown Treecreepers.  I rather like this shot of a Treecreeper creeping up a tree! There were also a few dragonflies about - very active and far too busy to pause for a portrait - and one attractive (in a rather restrained-palette way) moth. I will attempt to ID the species later, but for the time being will apologise for the phrase "restrained-palette".  It is collateral (linguistic) damage from the Fred Williams show at the National Gallery . Today was a COG mid-month walk which took us to Narrabundah Hill.  It is a hill, but some distance from the suburb of Narrabundah.  It used to be the site of a pine forest but that exploded in the January2003 bush

Some years back I referred to a site as being "infested with reptiles".  An eminent local naturalist suggested I meant "enhanced with reptiles": I think it depends on circumstances (and to some extent the type of reptile). We are currently having a preview of Summer and it is bringing the reptiles out in numbers.  I have put images of a Shingleback and a Long-necked tortoise in the linked posts. A few days back a friend who lives on Hoskinstown Plain commented that he'd seen his first 'tiger' of the year: he wasn't referring to a stripey pusscat nor a Tamil separatist.  Last Saturday, on our way back from Tallaganda a rather long snake - I think an Eastern Brown Snake - was crossing the road just outside Rossi (I'd definitely regard that as an infestation).  I also saw a Bearded Dragon posing beside the road. This morning I was over near Lake George when I encountered 2 Shinglebacks in circumstances which suggested they might have preferr

One of the objects of desire amongst aficionados of Australian Native Plants is the flowering of the 'peas'.  This refers to members of the family now known as Fabaceae (ie 'beans': go figure) with yellow/red flowers.  We have a reasonably good collection of these on our property but until today we had not found any flowering. That changed when Frances spotted some flowers on a Daviesia mimosoides . Undoubtedly the excellently warm weather (maxima over 20 degrees and no fire needed for 3 nights) has got these going. We have had excellent representation of the purple members of the Fabaceae - which don't seem to be viewed as 'peas' - with the mauve Hovea heterophylla everywhere and Hardenbergia violaceae anywhere that nothing else will grow.  I thought this one, growing up a eucalypt sapling very attractive .