The House(s) of Fran_mart

As the year gets close to finishing I found a few interesting birds on 29 December.  As I happened to be passing close to Kelly's Swamp I thought to check it out for unusual birds. There were none of the really unusual ones present but the sighting of 3 Royal Spoonbills was a pleasant reward. A report to the COG chatline from earlier in the day covered 31 Lathams Snipe present on the swamp, including 23 in an area cleared of reeds in front of a hide.  Such numbers were not visible at mid-day when I was present - much hotter - but one posed very cooperatively close to the hide I was using. At home there were a couple of interesting interactions between birds and exotic plants.  We are developing some borders of lavender and this was popular with Crimson Rosellas. I have included a second zoomed image showing that the lavender was being eaten, not just used as a cool roost on a warm day. In the same bed the Kniphofia (red hot pokers) are starting to hit their stra

This is the first post of four covering our Christmas visit to Mallacoota.  Links to the other posts are at the end of this one. After a very hot night we got up on time, did a few chores and were heading off towards Mallacoota by 9:20.  After a stop in Queanbeyan to refuel we hit the Monaro Highway heading to Cooma.  The traffic seemed heavier than we expected in both directions and some drivers seemed very slow, even allowing for people wanting to stick to the speed limit.  Eventually we got some clean air and decided it was three proto-pelicans that had caused the blockage.  We took the usual Polo Flat bypass around Cooma and headed out towards Nimmitabel.  As always the scenery was barren and we wondered if it was ever green.  This trip some new powerlines, looking like the Martians in H G Wells “War of the Worlds”gave us something to look at.  Then we had the North end of a queue of three cars heading South to look at.  And at and at and at.  They were driving well

There will be some natural history reports before getting to the more academic material inferred in the title of this post.  Hope you don't mind. A pretty reasonable night's sleep with a slight interruption when a possum gallumphed along the deck.  At least it couldn't get down the chimney this time! The day dawned somewhat before I woke up and looked as though fine weather was a possibility, but I am aware that in Victoria: ➢     If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change; and ➢     In this State you get 4 seasons in a day. A Whistling Kite was enjoying the view from a dead tree below the block. Off for a very pleasant walk along the multi-use track by the Inlet, heading upstream.  We came back through the houses observing the lush gardens. Several birds added to the trip list, including a Rose Robin which was most surprising at this time of year.  We met some pleasant folk with a Chihuahua named Poppie: one of the fe