After a dippy visit to Jerrabombera Drylands hoping to score the Cattle Egrets I noticed 63 Straw-necked Ibis on the turf farm. Heading towards the best hamburger in the Southern Highlands (details available off-line) I noticed a further 17 on the edge of the dam opposite the Southern end of Sutton Rd.
I was a little surprised to note the straws on the necks of this latter flock since I had thought this was breeding plumage. However, I can find no support for this view in field guides nor HANZAB: it is further evidence of the adage attributed to Mark Twain "What you don't know, isn't the issue. The problem is what you know for sure, that just ain't so."
On the matter of localised ignorance, if one can reverse engineer Peter Ormay's very useful recent comment about vegetation, yabbies and Musk ducks,:
- When (hopefully not 'if') Kellys Swamp gets water back in it;
- there is going to be a lot of flooded vegatation; so
- there should be lotsa yabbies; and thus
- it will be wall to wall with Musk Ducks.
Martin Butterfield
