A good couple of days at home.
We had two Wedge-tailed Eagles low and huge over the creek yesterday, with a
White-bellied Sea-eagle in a nearby tree later in the day, and around 5pm
the Black Bittern reappeared in exactly the same spot as I saw it some days
back, but this time it stayed long enough to be scoped, and Eileen got a
good view.
This-morning, an influx of Fairy Martins was accompanied by seven
White-backed Swallows, and also during the morning Black Kite and Brown
Goshawk. Bob Bennett from England arrived just too late to see the
White-backed Swallows. He's been to Australia many times, and his 'want
list' is a bit daunting, but he managed four lifers this-afternoon; Diamond
Dove, Speckled Warbler and Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, all at home, and
Australasian Shoveler (about a dozen) on a nearby pond.
Just to go off-topic briefly - are the autumn months the best for
butterflies?
I've been seeing so many different butterflies here, that I decided to make
the effort to take a refresher course on the local lepidoptera. I scanned
all the images I could find of butterflies that should or could occur in SE
Queensland, and made up a dozen or so pages of life-size images. Then in
early April I started trying to identify every butterfly I saw in the
garden, and added a column of butterflies to my pro-forma monthly checklist
for Abberton, in an attempt to begin to build up some seasonal understanding
of what's about and when.
To my amazement, I've identified 32 species here in the six weeks so far,
and I know I haven't got nearly to grips with the skippers and darts and
blues. Anyone who is interested in what's happening in the Abberton
invertebrate world, or who knows enough about those difficult small
butterflies to help when I get confused, do please drop me a note offline
from birding-aus.
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at http://www.abberton.org
Email:
Ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111 Fax: (+61) 7 4697 6056
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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