The House(s) of Fran_mart

 Today I thought I would got to MSAC before it got closed off.  Leaving the tram stop, at least one resident had expressed an opinion about the bogans.  I suspect the majority of locals would agree with their sentiment, if not precisely his choice of words. This is Gunn Island, still well decorated with Australian White Ibis, about 450m away, at 8x magnification. Mud Island with a city backdrop. I met my friend Cathy (who was on a run round the Lake) and she told me she had seen A Great Crested Grebe and Grebeling earlier in her outing at the South end of the Lake.  Here are Ibis, Swans and friends on Mud Island. Great Cormorants: 150m range. I then discovered how to add digital zoom (up to 40x) and got this bunch of Little Corellas. Some Ibis flew by. A Gull passed by some Corellas o the edge of the NE ponds. A Pied Stilt (BAD) with a Silver Gull. The back side of Gunn Island. Oops! Men at rest.  Certainly not working.  This is why they need months to set ...

 I have finally bitten the bullet and got a new iPhone.  I now have an iPhone 17 Pro, acquired through MYMAC on Flinders St, who were as always very helpful in setting the device up. A large part of the reason for choosing this model was because of its excellent camera.  The device has many other other good features - one can even make phone calls with it!  So I decided to go to Albert Park Lake to test the camera.  The first few images are of birds within about 50 metres.  I am very pleased with their quality. The photos were taken at the SE Conservation Ponds. When I got to the top pond I saw a tiny Crake with tawny upper side and grey breast etc.  Clearly a Baillon's Crake.  I didn't have the phone in my hand and by the time I had got it out the bird had disappeared into the reeds.  I hung about for about 20 minutes, and saw a crake-shape in tunnels in the reeds but no snappable sightings The species has been reported to eBird 5 times in t...