AM I WRONG ABOUT THE GREY CURRAWONG?

I'm pretty sure I heard a couple of Grey Currawongs letting out chiming, fairly musical calls - somewhere between a blackbird and a parrot - to the south of Bonnie View, just before 6pm this evening. They could've been Bassian Thrushes calling though. Listening to online calls for both species, you can hear a few similar notes they share. I'll have to get back down there asap. Hopefully, the birds will be calling a little closer to BV next time. LJ, August 29 2012.

FUTURE BIRDS

Here's a list of close to sixty birds I'm hoping to track down in Bundanoon (in rough taxonomic order). I haven't seen any of them in Bundanoon before. Some may require a deal of searching, others, luck, an alignment of the planets. Many may not live in Bundy at all. Regardless, none are beyond the realms of possibility. At the end of the day, it all comes down to timing... Spotless Crake, Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Little Bittern, Australasian Bittern, Black Bittern, Painted Snipe, Pink-eared Duck, Blue-billed Duck, Freckled Duck, Australian Shelduck, Glossy Ibis, Brown Quail, King Quail, Stubble Quail, Red-chested Button-quail, Little Eagle, Swamp Harrier, Spotted Harrier, Pacific Baza, Square-tailed Kite, Brown Falcon, Black Falcon, Australian Hobby, Nankeen Kestrel, Masked Owl, Emerald Dove, Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Common Bronzewing, Brush Bronzewing, White-throated Nightjar, Fork-tailed Swift, Rainbow Bee-eater, Noisy Pitta, Turquoise Parrot, Red-rumped Parrot, Swift Parrot, Glossy Black-cockatoo, Logrunner, White-winged Triller, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Painted Honeyeater, Regent Honeyeater, Brown Treecreeper, Variegated Fairy-wren, Southern Emu-wren, Olive Whistler, Jacky Winter, Rufous Songlark, Brown Songlark, Richard's Pipit, Singing Bushlark, Skylark, Diamond Firetail, Nutmeg Mannikin, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Green Catbird, White-winged Chough and Grey Currawong. LJ, August 28 2012.

I'VE ALWAYS ADMIRED THIS TREE BY FERNDALE RESERVE

POUCHED CORAL FERN IN HALF-LIGHT

SNOW FALLING (IN MY MIND)

It was minus one when I left home, at 6:50am, yesterday. Minus three where Golden Vale Road meets the Hume at Sutton Forest. Several degrees more than that when I got to work in Narellan, in south-west Sydney. There was snow in Crookwell, Queanbeyan and in northern Canberra at the end of last week. Apparently, the Brindabellas, to Canberra's west, received a fair dump. I was hoping for snow in Bundy on Saturday morning. Alas. Someone told me that the last time Bundanoon got substantial snow was eight years ago. LJ, August 21 2012.

MORTON STORM FROM PENROSE ROAD

GAMBELLS REST

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GRAND CANYON LOOKOUT AREA

SUPERB LYREBIRD'S NEST

GRAND CANYON LOOKOUT DISCOVERIES

My boy and I, on Saturday, came across a lyrebird's nest, that was either abandoned or under construction, on an exposed rock shelf at Grand Canyon Lookout. It was large, yet seemingly flimsy. I questioned how the construction could stay intact with all the wind that batters the cliff faces there. I'd not seen a lyrebird's nest before. Now, to see the maker at the nest... After a bit of rock climbing, investigating and running about the mottled, undulating rocks at the Lookout, we ventured into a damp fold of woodland thick with pouched coral ferns. I'd not seen so many coral ferns in Bundanoon. My son was excited. Apparently indigenous people used strands of these ferns to keep mosquitoes and flies away from their babies. LJ, 6 August 2012.

SEVEN RAINBOW LORIKEETS

Seven Rainbow Lorikeets rocketed over home mid-morning, the most I've seen together at any one time in the Southern Highlands. Though everywhere in Sydney (and, I guess, in the Illawarra), they are infrequently seen in Bundanoon. LJ, 4 August 2012.