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At 1500 today we went for a bird walk in the brisk air at Shepherds
Lookout. First thing out of the box - literally - was a large brown hare that
erupted from an open-ended cardboard carton laying on its side at the edge of
the carpark. True to its species, the startled beast hared off across Stockdill
Drive and disappeared.
"Did you see that big jackrabbit!" Sami-brat yelled.
"It's a hare, they don't have jackrabbits in Australia," I advised.
She thought for a moment and rejoined, "Well, it was a jack-in-the-box
rabbit."
Now, to avian highlights. A group of five Kookaburras sitting quietly
on dead branches of a eucalypt tree, all fluffed up against the cold. In scrubby
eucalypts, adjacent to the bitumen path (usually a good spot for a mixed feeding
flock), seven Brown Thornbills, three Southern Whiteface and a female Golden
Whistler. In wattle shrubs, about six Yellow Thornbills (a 'first' for Sam),
beneath the wattles, about a dozen Yellow-rumped Thornbills.
It wasn't quite Finch City, but we did orright. Arrayed along a fence were
10 Double-barred Finches, a bit further along, three Zebra Finches. In a patch
of seeding flat weeds (probably dandelions - bit surprised to see dandelions
flowering and seeding in June but strange things seem to be a-happening these
days) were six European Goldfinches. A grey Butcher Bird, three Flame Robins, a
pair of Scarlet Robins and a feeding flock of 24 Crested Pigeons added to the
highlights.
But, the 'best' was yet to come. As we returned along the bitumen
trail at 1645 the light was becoming a bit dodgy, but we saw something
perched on a strainer post. We crept forth, binoed it, and 'something'
turned out to be a Tawny Frogmouth. We watched for a moment and quietly
withdrew.
Back in the gloom of the carpark, the redoubtable Sami-Jane did a quick
recee of the rubbish hoping to scare up another 'jackrabbit' or maybe the fox
we've seen there before. She found another cardboard box which, unfortunately,
and sadly, contained five or six tiny, dead kittens. Oh, dear.
Back home, we roused our little tom-kitten from his fireside slumber, gave
him a big cuddle, a saucer of warm milk and some cat crackers. Then we
pigged-out on cinnamon doughnuts and hot tea while writing up our birdwatcher
diaries.
To very roughly paraphrase Clancy of the Overflow: "A birder's
life has pleasures the town folk do not know."
Look, I'll probably be shot for these long postings, but am not alarmed,
'cause from past, long-ago experience, I believe I'm fireproof.
John K. Layton
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