The House(s) of Fran_mart

There has been much muttering on a weather forum about the rain event scheduled for today, which suggested huge rainfall for Sydney and the mountains West of there.  This first image is a forecast from Metelogix  from about 5 days ago.  It's got a pretty palette (and actually seems pretty accurate)! This was the Weatherzone radar for NSW about 0530 on 28 November.  Sydnet is already copping a big serve. Here is the BoM Doppler radar at 0630 showing the wind coming from the coast.   The BoM radar at 0700 is interesting since, when set on loop, it showed moisture coming down from the North as well as that coming up from the Coast About 0830 there was a comment on the Forum from Lane Cove " 97mm since 5am here in cyclone like conditions".  That was more or less reflected in comments in the SMH, which also  covered delays at Sydney Airport due to strong winds.  Yep the planes are going into holding patterns over Dalton (image from Flightradar Pro). That situat

Some Callistemons on our smaller lawn are flowering well at the moment.  They are doing a good job of attracting Red Wattlebirds and Easter Spinebills at present.  I expect Noisy Friarbirds to get in on the act when they can spare time from nest building down at the Creek. You can see the red wattles in most of the photos.  This first one also shows the nice yellow belly. This photo is in because it illustrates the way the birds contort their bodies while feeding: note the position of the tail relative to the head. Spiffy photo rule: showing the striations and flecking. This one is focussed enough to show the primaries and tail feathers quite well. Finally a Spinebill paused for long enough to give a decent image.  One day I hope to get a photo of one hovering like a hummingbird. The Noisy Friarbirds seemed disinclined to come up to the Callistemon so I went down to the ford to see what was occurring.  The nest seems to be well on the way, although currently unoccupied

A strong squall came through in the afternoon of 25 November and blew one of the chicks from its very exposed roost (roughly position 1) on to the ground.   It was able to launch itself back into the air - I think quite a feat for a bird only 4 days out of the nest - and made it to a small Acacia (about 10m from the roost).  It was about 1.5m off the ground so I thought quite safe.  The male adult was calling to it and after a few minutes took off to another large Acacia dealbata ( position 2 - about 15m from the roost).  The second chick then joined the adult.   About 40 minutes later the three of them were all together again in the large Acacia.  The chicks were well snuggled under the adult - it seemed rather like a joey seeking shelter in Mum's pouch.  I didn't take any photographs of this as getting blown around was probably enough stress for them in one day. Today (26/11) I went to look for them and found the whole family at approximately position 3. This

Frances reported that she had tried to take a photo of three Striated Pardalotes, but thought it was too backlit.  Personally I reckon she got a spiffy image.  A bit later I had a go, but couldn't get all three in the frame at once.  Here are two of them  And two snaps of a single bird.

A couple of milestones have been achieved in the last few days: We have settled on the place on Bunda St in Civic, so now own it; and Today was the last day of open inspections for our place in Carwoola. Bunda St. There were of course some small excitement in the settlement event!  The first of these arose when we did our final inspection and found that a sliding drawer - which contained the recycling and garbage bins - didn't close fully and there appeared to be some doubt about the fans working properly in a few places. The guy from the agency accompanying us thought these should be fixed but on the lawyers exchanging correspondence the legal position was more or less "that's now your problem".   So we settled and rocked around with a few items so that we can camp in the apartment if we wish.  The sliding cupboard worked properly every time: GOOD!   There was an enormous amount of lint in the fans' grills and on top of the drier. I can't imagi

Sorry I have been a bit slow in updating this with text Been a bit busy with real estate stuff recently. On 20 November I went for a drive round the area which is the focus of this post but it begins with a few things from home. I was surprised to see the Frogmouths nest empty!  The chicks haven't flown but have just crawled a metre or so away and perched on a branch with Dad in attendance. This isn't that unusual but they were still there on the morning of the 21st.  That is unusual, as they usually go back to the nest before dark.  The next day they had moved further away to such a position they must have flown: this is the shortest brooding period I have recorded. There has been an outbreak of unwellness amongst some wildlife,  A beetle - still with a nice purple iridescence on the elytra. This spider was actually still alive when I chucked it outside.  Only then did I notice the white tip to the abdomen, which made me glad I hadn't picked it up in my hand

7 members didn’t believe the BoM weather forecast and gathered at Baroona Rd for a guided tour by one of the owners of Illilanga of their property and the adjoining wetland.   While the wind was a tad gusty there was not a drop of rain during the outing! We began with a loop around a woodland remnant particularly notable for interesting nest sites.   These included White-faced Heron (Occupied Nest); Brown Falcon (Nest with Young - the arrow points to the eyass' head);  Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Carrying Food); Easter Rosella and Common Starling (both Inspecting Hollow, with some disputation over ownership);  and Dusky Woodswallow (Occupied Nest).  Less common species observed, but not undertaking breeding activity , were Speckled Warbler,  and male White –winged Triller.  What was thought to be a Rufous Songlark (interestingly silent and on the ground rather than noisily flying from treetops) was subsequently identified from a photo in the checklist as a female T