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Greetings all,
Thanks for the expressions of concern and well
wishes. Our power has been restored, we have to boil water but it is on
continuously and the phone is working!!! Our place received no structural
damage, only a little water forced in where it was not wanted. The yard and the
forest are a mess. I am concerned about weed invasion in the
forest.
I have only found two dead birds. A male
Scarlet Honeyeater over which I grieved and a
Common Mynah which ...
During the storm birds went to ground. As the winds eased
I went out to survey the damage and disturbed the following birds from the
ground in dense vegetation; 5 White Headed Pigeons, a Barking Owl, 2 Macleay's
Honeyeaters, 3 Dusky Honeyeaters and a Bush Thicknee which was in ferns and
covered by fallen leafy branches.
At about 10.30 when the winds had dropped to gale force we
saw two birds fly along our patio. They were a Lewins Honeyeater and an immature
Metallic Starling. They stopped in a little bush with berries where they fed for
some time, no more than a metre above the ground and mostly out of the
wind.
By 11.45 the winds were light and birds and butterflies
were everywhere. From huge female Cairns Birdwings to Orchard Swallowtails to
tiny Blues, Darts and Skippers, the butterflies lightened our spirits as we
looked at a couple on months work cleaning up the garden. A few flocks of
Topknot Pigeons flew over heading west towards the storm.
The birds in the garden were very hungry and confiding.
Around mid-afternoon I was clearing a fallen Grevillea with my chain saw while a
Dusky Honeyeater fed on the branch I was cutting about two metres away. Later I
was working in amongst fallen wattle leaves to about knee depth when I was
surrounded by a flock of gleaning White-throated Gerygones. Scarlet Honeyeaters
fed to within a metre of myself and three enthralled children. I was able to
approach to one of the preening Barking Owls until there was less than
three metres between us. Even the black tree-ants were not biting.
They only animal showing aggression was a male Blue-banded Eggfly. These are the
most agro of all butterflies; I once saw one chase off a Willy
Wagtail!
The Noisy Friarbirds have left, being replaced by the more
usual Helmeted Friarbirds. We had the Noisy Fb move in during the dry but did
not retreat when the rains came last year. Some years ago, during a
drought, there was a general movement of friarbird species towards the
coast. This happened again last year despite the fact that it was only a dry
year and not a drought.
A Black-faced Monarch has taken to feeding on our patio,
taking the insects attracted to the lights at night. In the afternoon the bird
returns to try its luck for spiders driven by the heat from their hiding
holes under the roof.
The two nights after the storm the Barking Owls may not
have left the yard as I slept fitfully and heard their quiet chortling very time
I surfaced. They have now move on and are roosting down by the creek I
believe.
A Peregrine Falcon spent some of the second day sitting in
the top of one of our denuded Tallowwoods. A pair of Wedgetail Eagles have
been seen at my possum and tree-kangaroo site on three occasions. I hope they
are eating carrion. Green Ringtail Possums camp out on branches during the day
and have been taken by wedgetails in the past. Now there is almost nothing to
hide them.
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