A ride around on the Hoskinstown Plain

I received an email yesterday in which a friend mentioned going on a 100km bike ride.  This inspired me to fire up the treadlie rather than drive around in my Palero.  The friend also mentioned that while on a training ride he had been swooped by nesting ravens which sounded like fun. so that gave me my initial destination.

The nest was in some very tall elm trees.  When returning from Robertson on Saturday we had noticed the contrast between these trees and the hawthorns a little further along the road.

I had thought the brown colour was due to flowers, but in fact it is now seeds.

In Canberra Superb Parrots are feeding on elm seeds (not flowers as I had thought) so the question is why haven't we been up to our elbows in Superb Parrots recently?

The hawthorns did still have some flowers!

This is the nest from which the Ravens have been launching their dastardly attacks.  I presume the green growth around it reflects the high nitrogen level over the rim of the nest.

A former resident of the nest.  From the calls going on around the nest I determined that these were Little Ravens rather than Australian Ravens.

Heading back I went along Plains Rd towards Hoskinstown.  Here I was delighted to hear the distinctive call of a Rufous Songlark: the first of the season out here.

Moving right along I found these two goats enjoying a high vantage point.  When I stopped for a snap they rushed over in the (false) expectation that I might offer them food!

The reason for heading down Plains Rd was to check on the Fairy Martin situation.  There were a good number of them (at least 20) swooping around this large culvert, but none of them would pose for a photo.  So I snapped their bottle shaped nests.

Heading back for home it was good to see a decent flow in the Molonglo.  Looking towards the top of the image some flood debris is visible 2m above the current water level.  I presume this is a remnant from the flood about 3 weeks ago which I was told at a recent community event turned a fair part of the Plain into a lake.

Getting into Widgiewa Rd I checked out the Leucochrysum albicans albicans.  This colony is a little unusual in that both white and yellow petaled forms are found, very close together!

Here is a close-up of the yellow form.

On the bank above was a large colony of Tetratheca sp.  (aka Black-eyed Susans) ..

.. Coronidium scorpiodes  ...

... and Leptorhyncus squamatus.

What a nice end to a ride!  On checking I found I had recorded 31 species of birds!