More Hoodies (mainly green)

The original title of this post was "Who is the real tick magnet?"  I have used that title for Tammy but as my personal tick count is up to around 20 I think that may be giving her the worst of it.  I decided that today I would have discussions with pharmacy people in town about therapeutic solutions.  They didn't have any, but did cover the distinction between grass ticks - about 19/20 - and "shellbacks" - presumably paralysis ticks, the remaining 1/20.  They were very helpful and worthy of support.

I commented 139mm of rain in August including days of 29mm and 37mm with three more over 10mm.  Looking back at BoM records to 1974 there are only 3 Augusts with higher rainfall.
No wonder there have been signs of flooding.  Of which there will be more later.

Yesterday I commented about an Australian Pied Oystercatcher with a leg flag.  Today I managed to get a better photograph of it ...

From an exchange with the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme I was able to find the bird was banded at >4 years of age in 2010 at Corner Inlet ~320km WSW from Mallacoota.  I find that very interesting and urge anyone who can read a flag (or a band - in this case I could only read the last two digits of the silver band, but they helped clarify the ID of the bird) to report to ABBBS.

Getting back from ' Matters Arising' there was a pleasant sunrise this morning.
 As well as myself, a Welcome Swallow seemed to enjoy it.
 On our dog-walk a Great Egret posed reflectively for a snap.
 I did a couple of jobs on return.  The first was mowing the lawns: a very minor chore as other visitors had mown recently (or the Good Fairies had swung by with a Victa).  I then went and cleaned around the gutters.  Again far from a hard job although there seemed to be more evidence of possums than I have noticed in the past.
 Our main nature walk of the day was a loop of about 4km from Betka Beach along the River and out to Fisherman's Point.

The first 900m follow the River through eucalypt forest and was notable today for an excellent display of Greenhood orchids.  I have tried to get the names right - consulting Alan Stephenson's book on orchids of the Shoalhaven and David Jones magnificent tome "Native Orchids of Australia".  Any corrections (other than deconstructions based of DNA magic) welcome.

I think this is Diplodium grandiflorum (Cobra Greenhood): possibly a little late in flowering but Mallacoota is a good step South of the Shoalhaven.
 Somewhat less of these but I think they fit Bunochilus tunstallii: right habitat, labellum and flowering time.
 A maroonhood: I have concluded Pterostylis pedunculata.
 The final species on that side of Betka Road was Pterostylis nutans.
 On crossing the road on to the Fisherman's Point segment of the Coastal Walk we entered Melaleuca forest.  This shows nicely how grass grows beside the path, but once into the dark forest there is no other vegetation than the trees.
Towards the end of the walk there were some heathy areas with several of the species we saw yesterday.  I liked this Drosera with very evident 'dew' on the adapted leaves.
 On turning I noticed this magnificent Leek Orchid Prasophyllum elatum!


 On the first stretch of the walk we noticed a tide-mark indicating the extent of flooding.  The water must have been across the road at full height.
 The River is now very low ...
 .. and this shows how the water, released by the actions of the Shire, scoured out the entrance to the sea.
Back at the house I took this photograph of the Goodwin Sands through my phone on the telescope.  Sorry about the quality but it was 2.5km away and a strong breeze was vibrating everything.  My guess was 200 Crested Terns: yesterday there were more.
Our final outing was to Captain Stevenson's Point near the mouth of the Inlet.  More Crested Terns (I counted 190) but only about 300m away so a better photo.
There were several species of wader present, but some small ones about 1km away got recorded as"peep sp".  However there were 2 Hooded Plovers present - I suspect they were different birds to the ones at Seal Creek.

As evening closed in a shower came through given a nice rainbow.
 Then sunset began ...
 ...shortly after moonrise.
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