The House(s) of Fran_mart

Our trip to Canberra will be a little longer than thought due to me needing to get a medical issue fixed up.  So here are the next tranche of photos. They begin with things seen on a walk to and through Commonwealth Park.  This plaque honours the designer of the Park in 1964 (when the Lake was filled). The underpass  next to the plaque had some pleasing images. Choughs were evident, including one excited enough to be flashing a red eye. This one got tangled in a ring of bark and flashed the white in the wing as it escaped.  The bones in the wing are very visible. The following morning I went to Parkwood, looking for the Red-backed Kingfisher (RbK).  No joy, but I did tick a Rufous Songlark which became BAD. A colourful sunset. Out to Bluetts Block looking for RbK.  No luck, but a Black-faced Cuckooshrike was sitting on a nest. Our morning walk had gone past what used to be Commonweaith Park.  Now known as Temporary Fence Hire Dump.   Out to Kellys.  Australasian Grebes stacking some ze

 Having got my mid-range lens replaced I took some photos with it. On the Sunday we went to Bungendore, showing some visitors some birdy things.  Fortunately one of their hosts spotted the key birds.  The two lower birds are Plumed Whistling Ducks. It was very windy so rather unpleasant (and low on birds) out towards Lake George.  THere were a few Shinglebacks around. The second one is hard to spot, but in the upper part of this image. Evening views form the apartment. On the morning of 23 October Frances drew my attention to a good sunrise.  The next three pictures show this taken with different camera settings over about 5 minutes. The first was at 55mm. The next at 45mm. And finally 18mm. Later in the morning we went to Kelly's Swamp and got some very good birds.  The first was a Latham's Snipe (my first for the season). There were at least 3 Baillon's Crakes visible from Ardea Hide.  A bit difficult to count as they were roaming widely (at surprisingly high speed). Alth