A short trip to Canberra (pt 1)

 Because the medical industry cannot get its act together Frances has an appointment early this month and I had one tomorrow.  There seemed no point in subjecting her to sitting in the Mazda for 8 hours for no benefit so I have come up solo.  Lots of music to listen to as I came along.

I called in to refuel at our New Best Place in Bombala but they had no diesel.  😲but it wasn't a problem as NBP has caused the other places in Bombala to drop there prices also, so I filled up at Ampol.  Then on to Black Lake where there were man, many waterfowl.  I guessed 500 Coot! Top bird was an Australian Hobby.

On to Nimmitabel where a pie was acquired for lunch.  This was a disappointment as the crust was very dry: rated about 7 on the official scale whereas they are usually about 8.5.  Given the temperature as I left 'coota I had expected it to be around 23C when  got to Nimmitabel.  That had started to look a bit unlikely as it was 15C at Black Lake!  In fact it had staggered to 19C for Nimmitabel so I was out of range.

Driving along towards Canberra I hit a major storm just after Michelago: about 5km of very heavy rain,  I hope I can get a bit of birding in at Kelly's Swamp.

The deal at Kelly's was to spot an Intermediate Egret - an officially rare bird.  That turned up quite quickly. Note the gape doesn't go past the eye.

While the neck is bent this is not the sharp s-bend of a Great, and the neck is no longer than the body.  Note the huge feet.

I saw at least two of the egrets: some other observers have seen 3 on one visit.  A Little Pied Cormorant and a pair of Darters were at the school end of the swamp..
This is a radar image of the storm I drove through, a little after I had done so.
Looking South shows the storm incoming.  I headed for the car.
I called in ay Summit Brewery and while there the storm arrived.  I had to stay in the building for about 30 minutes before the rain stopped.  This guy had to go out to his car and was nearly drowned.
There was a lot of wind in the storm with the spray coming at least 30 m down this passage.  Eventually a worker dropped the door.
This is about the peak of the event,
A shot of the lightning strikes from Blitzortung.com.  The circles are the latest,
The BoM at Canberra Airport recorded 27mm in the hour 1500hrs to 1600hrs.  On the radio news a little later somewhere a little further West reported 82 mm in the hour: I think they should move their gauge away from the overflowing gutter!




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