Weekends That Were - January 2025

 4.1.25

Minnippi

I picked up Mr P and we were on site at 6am. A pleasant, relatively cool morning with minimum humidity. Thanks to quite heavy rain showers the previous day the long, uncut grass was very wet and several temporary flooded hollows had ‘appeared’ – some apparently having been in existence for some time given the growth of water plants. We walked the usual track, getting wet to our waists entering the M1 track. It was particularly ‘dead’ – as was the lake itself. We noted the surface covered in what appeared to be small bubbles, almost reminiscent of stagnation? The lake itself was very full, but there was minimal bird activity or presence on or around the water.

We had a Tawny Frogmouth on its nest  - apparently using the same nest for this its second brood this season. Something we had not noted before as usually the nests are flimsy and more or less fall apart after a successful breed, however, this one has either re-built or adapted the same nest/site. 

We flushed a Striated Heron from the edge of the lake, which is not a common occurrence and heard at least 1, possibly 2, Pale-vented Bush Hens calling near The Avenue and quite some way from permanent water. It suggests that the wet conditions have encouraged the birds to move more widely away from the creek banks. 

We heard and ‘called in’ a Brush Cuckoo, now, apparently called a Sahul Brush Cuckoo. WTF??? As Mr P said – just how many Brush Cuckoos are there in the world that we need to define the one that is resident in Australia? Seems to be an over-enthusiastic, unnecessary effort to refine a species and complicate things even further. Does someone get paid to do this? I note that the Cicadabird and Sunbird in Australia have also been afflicted with this nonsense. What the fuck does ‘Sahul’ stand for/mean anyway?

We saw 1 Brown Goshawk from the Lookout and later, as we approached the car, a very large female crossed above us. It was an exceptionally big bird and had us guessing for a few seconds.

Breakfast in Stones Corner followed.

                                                                                 21.1.25

                                                               USA Presidential Inauguration

Oh God, America what have you IDIOTS unleashed...........