Another miscellany

One of the delights of birding - particularly for someone with a tin-ear like me - is tracking down a bird call and discovering that the warbling item is the species you thought it was.  That happened to me today with a male White-winged Triller.

These are a migratory species that appears, between September and February, on a very variable basis from year to year.  Some year they are sighted in one or two months while in others they are present for 4 or 5 of the 6 possible months.  This year seems like a big year!

I was intrigued by the half-open position of the wings.  On consulting HANZAB this, combined with the very loud song (trilling indeed), seems to match closely to the bird advertising a nest site.  I shall have to monitor the area.

A little further away Dusky Woodswallows were calling.  5 of them were trying to persuade a Laughing Kookaburra to go somewhere else.  As they fly quickly this is the best photo I could get showing a swooping bird!

I had gone to this area to photograph some Acacia falciformis.  The trees had been badly burnt ....

 ... but had a few shoots coming on a few branches.  Some pruning will happen to get rid of the dead bits.

 The pleasing - and surprising sight was the apparent growth of additional shrubs from the rootstock.

 Nearby some Acacia dealbata was also growing briskly.

Later in the morning I was in Queanbeyan and saw this large stick insect on a glass window at Frances'gym. 

 This gives an idea of its size.

 Unfortunately the resources available to me don't let me name it as far as Family!  It has since been suggested on Facebook by Kimberi Pullen that this could be Ctenomorpha marginipennis (family Phasmatidae).