The House(s) of Fran_mart

After yesterday's exhausting activities we felt like a bludge this morning so drove to the halfway mark into town, parked and walked the second half of the walk.  The excitement started with seeing 2 Azure Kingfishers at the town end of the lagoon loop.  Unfortunately they were very active so no photo is available. Getting to the start of the Shady Gully Boardwalk Frances spotted a male Superb Lyrebird digging in the litter beside the road.  It was very accommodating and we got within 10m of it.  This is the best of my photographs. After getting nearly back "home" Frances spotted another Lyrebird on a track at the foot of Mt Karbeethong (or as it is officially known Karbeethong Avenue).  I took some photos but think this one, taken later when I walked back down, is better. The reason I went back was to try to get some better photos of the remaining bats.  I think I succeeded.  A clump shot.  This is my favourite: cropped from a larger image. I went to peer a

Many years ago I used to wear a kepi on long runs in Summer.  This caused some of my acquaintances to wonder which manifestation of Beau Geste I was channelling: Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck or most likely, Marti Feldmann.  (This once caused a problem when I rang one of the friends and spoke with his mother.  She apparently became a bit worried and reported to her son "Someone rang you and seemed a bit confused.  They didn't know their own name but said they were Marty, Gary or Gregory.". This came to me when trudging across the sandy waste of Bastion Point.  The mouth of the Inlet is still blocked and with a very low tide the seaward side of the dune seemed even higher than on our last two visits.  On the inland side the amount of exposed sand was more extensive.  This morning we walked from the house into town.  Going past the bat camp it was obvious that the numbers had dropped dramatically.  They were still audible and smellable but not too many visible. Moving al

Our schedule revealed a small chance to get down to Mallacoota so we headed off. The small village of Bredbo has branded itself as the Village of Poplars and the whole area around there was well endowed with trees of that group.  At least they were showing some Autumn colour!  The surrounding hills were very dry, contrasting with patches of irrigation near the rivers.  The row of letterboxes looks very cute! It should be recorded that traffic was very heavy, particularly coming towards us.  Perhaps it was just late school holiday stuff but I wondered if there had been a stupid causing the Princes Highway to be closed. Soon after passing through Nimmitabel (about 80km from Bredbo) the temperature dropped to 11 o C and cloud appeared.  This got denser as we headed South and drizzle began to be noticeable. I was less than impressed with a Victorian registered laden log truck which turned in front of us on the outskirts of Bombala and then seemed to have trouble getting up

As seems to always be the case thee days the BBQ Stakes was run on a sunny day.  No sign of the desperately needed rain. No sign of a parking inspector where one is needed either.  What really ticks me off is that these lazy sods - the company may be called "Gracious Homes " whereas their behaviousr suggests Obnoxious Homes would be better - could park legally on the other side of the road.  But would mean them having to move their fat glutes 4 extra meters. Enough with the negative vibrations.  Here is a view looking South.  One looking North.  And here is the Eastern Outlook: perhaps there is a cloud in this one but it hasn't brought us any rain yet  Here is looking to the finish: with the traditional horde passing me When I started up again I was walking the whole course and taking about 64 minutes.  (Bob Harlow also walks the whole course but does about 20 minutes less than that.)  Today I managed 48:23 on my watch, with Km splits of 7:48; 7:39; 8:3

A few days ago I posted about a mixed bathing flock in our birdbath.  Today we had an even more diverse crew turn up. The most exciting were at least 3 White-naped Honeyeaters.  They are part of the migration out the mountains which happens at this time of year.  I this first image the higher bird, with a red eye-wattle is an adult bird while the lower one with an orange wattle is an immature.  Two adults.  Other honeyeaters to visit in this burst were Yellow-faced Honeyeater and Eastern Spinebill. Several Superb Fairywrens were also present.  I suspect this is a juvenile male. Other species to front up (in a 5 minute period) were: Silvereye, including at least one Tasmanian bird); Striated Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; White-browed Scrubwren; and Red-browed Finch

We decided to go far a stroll around Jerrabomberra Wetlands today.  Knowing its risky to park at the Wetlands .. .. we parked at the canoe club and walked to Kelly's Swamp.  There is quite a lot of exposed mud there giving some of the Grey Teal a Dunlin-like black belly. They made a surprising amount of noise slurping around in the mud.  Even more surpising was the sound of the Swamphens trudging across the ooze. Frances noticed the unusual lighting effects of the reflection of things, such as this snag, being 90 o from the shadow. I'm sure they are independent phenomena but is still looked (and looks) odd.  There were 5 Black-fronted Dotterel in the smaller part of Kellys, enjoying the mud.  There were 10 Red-kneed Dotterels in the larger part of the Swamp.  You can't see the red knees (which are actually ankles) as the water was just deep enough to cover them.  The Swamp is going to be dry soon! We then headed off on the Billabong Loop ...  ... n