Arising at 5 am as usual a couple of weeks ago, I noticed when painting,
hordes of tiny insects (one can't help but notice them as they end up on
the brush!). In the garden caterpillars and other invertebrates were
stripping the foliage of several trees resulting in a large concentration
of birds in those trees, namely honeyeaters, and Varied Triller.
Brown and White-gaped Honeyeaters are stripping nesting material from an
old Yellow Oriole's nest outside the bedroom window. Green-backed
Gerygone and Little Bronze-cuckoo are calling vigorously, and pairs of
Red-headed and Rufous-banded honeyeaters are chasing each other around
the trees.
In Leanyer swamp Mangrove Gerygone and Brown Honeyeater are nesting
although not without difficulty. I found an empty gerygone nest lying on
the ground a hole torn through the back.
Usually by this time of the year flocks of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins
(accompanied by Yellow-rumped) are usually making an appearance at the
feeder on the verandah. Not this year however with just a few birds.
Whether this has anything to do with a second Brown Goshawk and a
Collared Sparrowhawk hanging around, or 'tidying up' of nearby parkland I
don't know.
There's been quite an explosion of aquatic vegetation in and around my
pond, including Nardoo, 'Azolla pinneata', Yellow Fringed
Waterlily,'Ludwigia' sp., 'Hymenachne' sp., and several other plants.
Several taxa including grasses are anchoring on the carpet we used to
cover the plastic on the edges of the pond. Water travels up the carpet
keeping the vegetation constantly damp. All we have to do is top up the
pond. I'm hoping the vegetation will become thick enough over the wet to
attract a Banded Land Rail - we found a dead bird of this species in the
yard before the pond was built.
It's a great time of year, much more exciting than the cool Dry.
Denise
Denise Goodfellow (Lawungkurr Maralngurra)
Follow these direct links to my work on the web:
Four Short Stories
http://www.2DocStock.com/shortstories/Index.html
Birds of Darwin Sketches
HYPERLINK http://www.2DocStock.com/BirdsDarwin/Index.html
http://www.2DocStock.com/BirdsDarwin/Index.html
Birding & Natural History in the Far North
http://www.earthfoot.org/places/au002.htm
World Birding Event
http://www.earthfoot.org/birdweek/birdweek.htm
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