Woodsman, woodsman sell that tree!

June 25, 2013

As soon as it got light I could see a flock of Pelicans fushing (a typo, but I thought it might make any Kiwi readers feel at home) in the Inlet. My guess is that they were about 400m from the deck, so this photo isn't too bad.

The dog walk today was the Western route passing a jetty which is about to be declared a guano mine

and added two species to the bird list. The first was an Azure Kingfisher

and then a flock of Royal Spoonbills roosting with some Pelicans.

On the way back home I spotted a Whistling Kite in a tree and it took off just as I went to take the photo. Sometimes you get lucky.

The supply of firewood was getting a little low but the folk at the bakery had given me information about contacting the local sawmill in Genoa, about 20km away. This was made easier by finding the local phone book (put out by the Community Radio Station rather than Telstra). With a small difficulty due to mobile phone running out of charge we arranged for a load to be dropped off sometime in the afternoon.

To fill in the rest of the morning we went for a second walk at Bastion Point. The small dog took the direct route through the foam and disappeared completely from view. This led to the first time I have seen her get scared: when I dug her out she was shivering and not looking happy. That lasted about 1 minute then back to normal.

We added some more species to the birdlist. I didn't try to snap the Eastern Curlew as it was too far away, nor the European Goldfinches (too mobile). However the Hooded Dotterel was obliging.

These birds are of conservation concern but I think we nearly always see 1 or more here. I also took an immature Red-capped Dotterel as a comparison.

We went for a look at the boat ramp area where White-fronted Chats were catching insects on the beach.

Just before 2pm there was a knock on the door by Fred who was looking for somewhere to deliver a load of firewood. I allowed that I could assist him with that. The truck was carefully backed in

To my great surprise he and his offsider Ron (and myself) unloaded the truck by hand and stacked it neatly away.

(In Carwoola when wood is delivered it is by tip truck which just dumps it, grabs the money and runs.) After this service they requested about half the price for a cubic metre of firewood compared to prices in the Canberra area and that doesn't include delivery! A great big bouquet! So, anyone in the Mallacoota area who needs firewood, contact the Genoa Sawmill.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent recovering from the exertion, with some scrutiny from Rainbow Lorikeets checking the unsatisfactory condition of our feeder (ie no seed, unlike every other house's feeder).

I wandered up the Avenue snapping a few things. A Gymea Lily about to flower, with the Inlet as backdrop (this spike is about 2m high)

Another garden had some Hakea laurina (Pincushion Hakea)

A female King-parrot

and another Little Wattlebird.

When I took the photo, at some distance, I thought it was a Red Wattlebird but even though this is the umpteenth image of an LWB I thought it a nice image so share it with you.

On the subject of images, here is the wonder dog, looking for her royalty cheque from HMV!