Slim gets updated

Possibly Slim Dusty's most famous song is the pub with no beer.  It includes the very correct words:
"But there's nothing so lonesome, so morbid or drear
Than to stand in a bar, of a pub with no beer ."
 Mallacoota today updated them a little:
"But there's nothing so lonesome, to make a bloke cry
Than to stand in a town and getting no pie ."
Yes, the bakery was closed and no other vendor could provide pie or even sausage roll.  (Thank goodness for Wild Rye's having provided brot yesterday.) But that was the only blot on a pretty good, albeit hot (31oC) day.  The sunrise was pretty good in a Monetesque was.
On the dog-walk there was a good range of heron-relatives around.  A Royal Spoonbill was working on the definition of bad hair day.
A small flock of Ibis looked down from above.
A White-faced Heron was above the proceedings (or at at least above the water).
Back home the Koalas were roosting close together.
Later in the morning I went for a walk down to the bat roost and found a third koala zoned out.  I think its neurons must have disconnected, to a greater extent than usual, as it camped since only its arms are preventing it from falling out of the tree.
While the bats were absent a Lyrebird was doing a great display.  Unfortunately it bolted before I could get the camera into operation.
As it was hot we decided to do the shadiest walk, from Betka Beach along the river and clifftops.  There were some flowers!  This first is Bursaria spinosa.
Not a great image, but it is intended to show the growth habit of a flowering plant.  Its obviously a mistletoe.
And is, in close up quite spectacular.  I think this is Dendrophthoe vitellina commonly known as Orange Mistletoe.
It was a bit tricky to identify it, but once I had the genus, the advanced search option of the Atlas of Living Australia quickly delivered a map for Dendrophthoe vitellina showing nearly all records coming from the Mallacoota area.  I have added one more.
Towards the end of the River loop we went out into the area under the powerlines.  That had been slashed over winter but there were quite a few things in flower.  Hybanthes sp.
Gompholobium sp.
Pimelea sp.
Leptospermum sp.
Wahlenbergia sp.
Melaleuca sp
As we got to the cliff top track it was evident that:

  • there have been strongish winds recently; and
  • Parks Vic (or the Shire) are being a tad slack on track maintenance.

The only orchid seen today was this rather sorry Dipodium roseum.  I couldn't decide if it was just coming into flower or more or less dead.
A skink posed nicely beside the track.
In the afternoon we went to Captain Stevensons Point.  The most interesting sighting was this Caspian Tern (low in image - the other birds are Australian Pied Oystercatchers).  As it didn't move from this spot, but did shuffle around a bit, I suspect it is sitting on a nest.
That's about all for the day.

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