143

You little ripper. I heard 3 Grey Currawongs call from the other side of Grand Canyon between 7:30 and 8pm tonight. I was standing at Gambells Lookout when they let out their distinct cries. That's bird 143 for town. I wish I'd seen them. Other highlights: Sooty Owl (one individual calling from the depths of the Canyon; always a pleasure; one of Australia's great birds), Crescent Honeyeaters, Peregrine Falcon, Black-faced Monarch, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, Pilotbird and Superb Lyrebird. LJ, November 26 2012.

EVELYN AVENUE

BUGGIN' OUT

Man, it was hot yesterday. It hovered around 30 for a few hours. And with the heat came droves of insects and their insane light obsession. Bugs various littered the front porch wall last night. Where's an owlet-nightjar when you need one? LJ, November 26 2012

OUCH!

Some poor bugger down the road got bitten by a Common Wombat the other day. He's now in hospital. I hope he heals up asap. I guess there's a moral here. LJ, November 2 2012.

I'M GUESSING THIS IS A TRAPDOOR (WANDERING IN THE BACKYARD THE NIGHT BEFORE LAST)

C'MON, BRING THE NOISE

A few nights back, not long after sundown, whilst sitting under my Manchurian Pear with a chilled glass of NZ sauvignon blanc, I heard what sounded like the sky being momentarily ripped. Years back, in the Devil's Coach House at Jenolan Caves (one of the most spellbinding places in New South Wales; dream stuff straight out of Gothic lit and Romanticism) I heard exactly the same noise, several times on dusk, whilst awaiting a Sooty Owl's arrival from its Nettle Cave roost. A couple of years ago, the same noise visited me once again, out near Fitzroy Falls. Its a peculiar sound, a sound I've never been able to categorise. Until now. Directly after the noise the other night, a microbat about the size of a Tree Martin, showed itself against the pale western sky and twisted away from me! So, the furiously flapping wings of a microbat when manoeuvring. As to the species, well that's another question. Months ago, I put up a post announcing that I had a microbat living in the pergola. Well that bat didn't hang around for long after that post. An enormous huntsman appeared one night close to the bat's roost entrance. I wonder whether the huntsman did the bat in. LJ, November 1 2012.