The House(s) of Fran_mart

 It was a much nicer day than when Margaret led a walk here some years ago, with a maximum of 4 degrees and (I think she mentioned snow).  Today the temperature was mid 20s with lots of shade.  A good day to go for a row. Approximately 23 members gathered at the National Rock Garden for a stroll around the Lindsay Pryor Arboretum.  Sandra gave some remarks explaining the career of Lindsay Pryor which clearly justified him having an Arboretum named after him.  It appears that the Arboretum was planted to improve the view from the back of the Lodge. For some reason the nearest eBird Hotspot is called Barrenjoey Point.  Here is the route we followed: As we headed off a number of brown ground-loving birds were seen and originally identified as Australasian Pipits (and the ID stuck for this one.  On looking closely several of them were soon renamed as female White‑winged Trillers    Personally, I always find them a difficult species to identify, ...

24 members and guests gathered, at social distances, on Urriara Rd on a fine and mild morning. Thank you to Jean Casburn for leading this walk through a very interesting patch of bush.  Our route is shown here (although it actually finished back at the start - my phone ran out of electrons at the empty circle!). Those with long memories will recall it being threatened with conversion to a motocross track but saved by lobbying from COG and other groups concerned with conserving what remained of the Bush Capital.  The list of species seen on this walk justifies the conservation effort. Not far into the walk we came across a nice little clump of orchids: I will establish the species when I get back to my books tomorrow.  This is a rather bland image of the habitat for much of the walk. At the highpoint of the walk - near the loop in the map above, some were interested to see a pair of mating Vine Months  Phalaenoides glycinae   The avian highlig...

21 members gathered beside the North Weston ponds for a foray along the banks of the Molonglo as far as the low level crossing and back.    The catalyst for this outing was a report on Cormorants and Darters nesting in the willows along the banks of the River. Indeed breeding was happening.   All three locally common species of Cormorant (Great, Little Black and Little Pied) were seen on nests as were Australasian Darters.   The first 4 photos are various aspects of the breeding Darters.  Little Pied Cormorant ON. It is to be hoped that these willows are retained. Two checklists were made, one in each direction.     38 species were recorded on the outward leg on the South bank of the river(vide https://ebird.org/checklist/S61591346 ) and 34 on the Northside return (vide https://ebird.org/checklist/S61592593 ).   Overall we logged 48 species (thus adding 10 additional species on the return, but omitting some of the...

11 members gathered at Gambles TSR on Sutton Rd where the coordinator had great trouble in counting same - not aided by one member walking across the  circle.   The entry to the Reserve is a bit tricky as the gateway is narrow and hard to see from a road with 100 kph speed limit.    Here is the route we followed. The Reserve is however well worth a visit.   While the understorey has been overgrazed in much of the Reserve there are many magnificent eucalypts which were proving good habitat for a wide range of bush birds. At one point we found a strange deposit in a hollow in the rocks.  Members with a long memory said this was an after effect of  something called "rain". As we set off early sightings included White-plumed, White-eared. White-naped and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters.  In the same family, but somewhat larger Red Wattlebirds and Noisy Friarbirds were seen and heard.  Also heard were several Rufous Whistlers ...

The ponds at Hume were definitely Muddy Waters . 7 members turned up at Hume to do as much of the usual loop as the building frenzy in the area permitted. One patch of woodland towards the Highway appeared to be blocked off so we went back towards Tralee st.  As we did so a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles were seen soaring over the land between Hume and the Tip while a flock of white birds were even higher over the Tip.  They were probably Australian White Ibis but too far away to (a) identify with certainty or (b) include in the area covered by the hotspot). The first pond produced an Australasian Grebe which seemed to be either flufffed up or transporting a chick.  After it emerged from a dive it was obvious that it had just been fluffed up. Also on this pond were 2 Pacific Black Ducks and a nice family of Australian Wood Ducks, including 5 ducklings, skulking at the base of some reeds.   Very surprisingly no Australian Reed-Warblers were calling....