Here and there on 12 March

Today's post starts at the top of our drive at about 8:30 as we returned from our dog walk.  I was astonished to see that a stringybark (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha) had a heap of blossom in the upper part.


Apart from being very pleasing to see in its own right, there were several Noisy Friarbirds dining in the canopy.

A little later inthe day I took myself off to see what was occurring in other parts of the area.  As I drove down Widgiewa Rd I noticed one of the houses has put up a most good sign on their drive.
I had thought of swinging by a friends house to see if he wanted to go birding.  However I think he had other priorities, in the expectation of some rain in the next few days.
 On getting to my main target site, Foxlow Lagoon, it was apparent that the water depth had dropped quite a bit.  (I assume this was from lack of rain and heat, rather than helicopters scooping water.)
Photography wasn't great due to heat haze but this snap shows the waterfowl standing on a mud bank rather tha swimming around.
This gives an idea of the number of birds.  My estimate (OK, guess) was that there were at least 500 Eurasian Coots there: 3 months ago there were hardly any coots on the Monaro.
The other big surprise was the number of Little Pied Cormorants.  I ended up estimating 80 birds of this species, with a good count of 50 in perches on some willows and at least 30 hunting in the water.

Coming back along Captains Flat Rd I was surprised by:

  • how the fire damage was limited to a relatively short stretch where it jumped the road; and
  • the greening that has occurred in the following 3 weeks.

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