WILD BUNDANOON

WSFB?

2012-02-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'm no microbat expert, but I reckon I've got a White-striped Freetail Bat roosting in the ridge of my pergola (I'm basing this opinion on the mammal's size). Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to see the bat return to one end of the ridge (which was about ten feet away from me), after a couple of flybys. This was at ten past six in the morning. Last night, I waited for the bat to reemerge, to take on the impending darkness. It did, ears first, then hid. Two minutes later, the ears appeared again. The bat then dropped headfirst from its hiding spot, in one easy movement, and flew away, over the roof of my house, to hunt. I've seen a few small bats in Bundy before, but never at this close range.

LJ, February 16 2012.

A VERY BRIEF GUIDE TO BIRDING (FOR BEGINNERS)

2012-02-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some tips (from twenty-five or so years of experience) for novices on how to be a better birder...

I'm not a twitcher (that obsessive birder who jumps on a plane as soon as, say, a Grey Nightjar or House Swift turns up at the limits of Australia's territories, then busts a gut hoping to 'tick' it), but I'm a keen birder who spends every hour of every day with part of him in tune with what our birds are up to. So, here are some things to contemplate when in the field (from an east coast of Australia perspective).

1. Listen, listen, listen. Most of birding is actually being alert to the various calls birds make. Familiarise yourself with a Noisy Miner's repertoire. NMs are particularly adept at emitting loud, piping, high-pitched raptor warning calls. This alarm call has helped me spot many birds of prey over the years: Pacific Bazas, Grey Goshawks, Collared Sparrowhawks, Australian Hobbies, Peregrine Falcons etc. They also make a different, more drawn out (read whiney) call which tells you there's a perched predatory bird close by (good for finding Boobook Owls). Birds make a racket for a reason, often. If cockatoos, currawongs and magpies are all carrying on, I'd bet a raptor is responsible. Try to understand the language of birds as much as you can.

2. Buy every Australian bird field guide on the market. Make sure you purchase the latest editions. They all have their benefits; they are not exactly the same. I love Pizzey & Knight for the textual detail, Simpson & Day for the clear illustrations, Slater for the info on vagrant birds, Morecombe for close detail on distinctive plumage. Debus has two great guides out, one on birds of prey, the other, recently published, on owls and frogmouths.

3. Go birding at any time of the day, not just after dawn and before dusk. Go out in light rain and mist - many birds are still active then.

4. Revisit local spots. One or two visits will not give you a true indication of what birds frequent the area. A case in point is my local swamp. I've been there many, many times. Only recently did I see my first Latham's Snipe there (a summer migrant that's flown from Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan).

5. Buy binoculars that suit you. I've never bought expensive 'bins' in case I damage them. Know how to use them. Rely on the naked eye as much as possible, then lift the bins when a bird is in a particular position. Know how to quickly focus/adjust your bins. If you lose a bird in a tree, don't try to locate it again with your bins, use your naked eye.

6. Imitate calls. This works well for Powerful Owls! Whistlers, thornbills, flycatchers, pardalotes, scrubwrens, misteletoebirds etc. may come closer to you if you call them in.

7. Predict or read up on what birds are expected to be in a habitat before you visit it. This will avoid identification confusion in the field.

8. Do a hell of a lot of birding by yourself so you can immerse yourself in the world that surrounds you. Only then will you really understand what birds are doing, why they're acting the way they do, what calls they're making etc. Birding with others, though terrific, can be distracting (saying that, I've been guilty of being too loud/enthusiastic in groups before and had certain folks tssk tssk me!).

8. Look at everything around you when you're out and about - the sky might contain needletails/swifts or eagles, the understorey may produce logrunners or quails, there could be a flock of sitellas and monarchs in the midstorey, as well as thornbills and lorikeets in the canopy.

9. Visit the websites 'Eremaea' and 'Birds in Backyards' regularly. Document any interesting sightings on the birdlines Eremaea offers. BIB is a great sight for bird calls; I often use it when trying to distinguish certain honeyeater's calls.

10. You don't have to dress like a rebel or soldier when birding. I guess camouflaged clothing helps, but I've never been fussed. Wearing bright colours from head to toe may not work in the bush, but if you're looking at waders on a beach, a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper isn't going to care too much.

11. Have fun. Laugh a bit. Birding shouldn't be a serious business. Let's celebrate the exquisite bird life we have by our sides. Humour and enthusiasm can only draw more people in.

I hope this is beneficial. May your next bird be a lifer.

LJ, February 4 2012.

AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER LACH-NEWINSKY

2012-01-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd begin 2012 with something different - an interview with poet, activist, ecologist, Bundanoon local and mate, Peter Lach-Newinsky. Here Peter talks about many things including coal seam gas extraction, Peak Oil, the origins of apples, an out-of-control fire on his property and his dog, Billy.

What's kept you in Bundanoon for so long?

Bundanoon itself. Bundy is a biodiversity hotspot and still pleasant small village. Perhaps the question can also be read to imply moving often is a natural thing to do. It's not popular to say so but I think hyper-mobility and mass tourism will just be a historical blip due to the historically short era of cheap oil. Although I've had to move about a fair bit in my life, I don't like or believe in the wisdom of frequent moving. Too stressful for self and planet. Maybe it's time we all stuck around long enough somewhere to really care for it - ie. grow some roots in a place, know its ecology and culture intimately rather than just be temporary visitors passing through - 'permanent transients' in Edward Albee's phrase. Peak Oil will do that for us anyway.

A nature lover from overseas arrives on your property for the first time. What do you show them straight away and why?

First, the five over 200 year-old messmates for a sense of perspective. Then, for an even wider perspective, the 120 heirloom varieties of apple tree in the orchard, including the weird and tough-as-boots Court Pendu Plat brought to Northern Europe by the Romans. Because apple trees are propagated not from seed but by grafting, our tree will have come directly from that original Roman(?) tree from two thousand years ago, passed on like a flaming torch through the centuries by apple tree grafters and growers. This fact still amazes me.

Tell me something else I don't know about apples.

Wild apple forests originated five million years ago in the Tan Shan mountains on the borders of Kazakhstan and China, where they still exist. Each neighbouring tree a different variety. The sweetness we like about apples was first selected by our mammal cousins like bears and pigs. Then we added about 10,000 varieties over the centuries. Now, due to industrial food growing, we have very few left.

What creature living on your property appeals to you most and why?

Our border collie, Billy, because he has a large and gentle soul.

How does your property enhance your poetic voice?

Perhaps a poem written on site might be an answer to that question...

Summer Dam

The way reeds succumb to gravity's wind,
sky force propelling them water-wards,
soul-wards till all is grace & light

or a water lily open-handed
to the sun, flat paddle-leaved,
still as an emblem

over the brown murk of water
flicked, tensing like the dun ripple
on a stallion's silk rump

marsh frogs clicking their pebbles
of territorial air, a cabbage white
jinking & reeling low, drunk

with shimmer, two dragonflies
reed-locked & pumping
their violent U, distant screeching

cockatoos planning their next blitz
on wattle seeds, apples, equanimity,
nature romantic to the urban mind.

Has global warming affected your property in any way?

The effects of global warming are of course regional and becoming apparent over time. We are already experiencing decreased average rainfall, more and longer droughts, milder winters. All this impacts on our property in terms of planning for changes in water availability, soil moisture retention and growing different plant species and varieties more adapted to the changed conditions.

What's your position on coal seam gas/fracking (I think I can guess!)?

In my view it's a criminal, last ditch attempt by the energy corporations and governments to extract the harder-to-get fossil fuels that have now become more economically viable because of rising energy prices due to diminishing supplies in the age of Peak Oil. To poison or deplete aquifers, especially in the age of increasing water scarcity and thus food insecurity - both due to climate chaos - should be a capital crime.

What part of Morton National Park do you most love?

The walk to Erith Coal Mine for its rich and shifting biodiversity and altitudinal changes in vegetation and vibe. Good for the cardiovascular system.

Share with me a story from life on your property.

Mid-nineties, I was trying to reduce some blackberry patches by burning off. The fire became a grass fire that very quickly got out of control. There was no house on the property then. This was also before mobiles. I had to drive to a neighbour's to phone the bush fire brigade. When I drove back, I could see huge billowing clouds of smoke rising from our property and my heart sank through my boots as I thought that the fire might now have spread to the big trees and our neighbour's property. Luckily, it hadn't, although it had spread up the grass slope and was licking the big trees. After a long and nervous wait, the bush fire brigade finally arrived in totally laid-back fashion, and to my surprise considered it an insignificant kind of fire, even complimenting me on trying to burn off blackberry. They put it out in no time and even politely declined my offer of money or at least a couple of beers. Long live our bush fire fighters.

Will you stay in Bundanoon for many years to come?

If possible, I'd like to only leave this place inside a coffin.

LJ, January 16 2012.

XMAS EVE

2011-12-23T19:36:00.002-08:00

A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles, a Crescent Honeyeater (summer visitors to our high country), Pilotbirds, a Superb Lyrebird, a Black-faced Monarch, several Copper-tailed Skinks (I've never seen them in Bundanoon), a Sword-grass Brown, a Snail Parasite Blowfly, a few Red Eye Cicadas (I think), a lone Green-headed Ant (maybe - the ant was iridescent green, with red legs, and was close to two centimetres long) & a few Golden-tailed Spiny Ants were some of the species that came out of an hour or so at Bonnie View, late morning, for my son and I. The weather - shock, horror - was warm and still. Clouds were lethargic.

My son was entranced by everything. We sat for a while, eating biscuits and drinking water, and immersed ourselves in the sandstone cradle and hypnotic view. Bonnie View is my favourite spot in Bundanoon. I could gaze at the seemingly immeasurable gullies/valleys below it, forever. I'm surprised more folks don't get down there. And glad.

LJ, December 24 2011.

HERE WE ARE IN THE COLDEST DECEMBER IN FIFTY YEARS

2011-12-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

I donned a beanie, jumper and jacket to walk my Cocker Spaniel earlier this week. So, is this chill a symptom of a sick planet?

LJ, December 9 2011

A GREY GOSHAWK LIKE A FALLEN FRAGMENT OF STORM SKIES

2011-11-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

The local Pied Currawongs, Australian Magpie-larks and Australian Magpies were less than impressed with a Grey Goshawk darting from tree to tree late yesterday afternoon, close to home. They all took turns harassing the raptor, which probably posed no threat. The Goshawk's plumage perfectly matched the storm-wrapped sky.

LJ, November 30 2011.

MONDAY

2011-11-27T15:21:00.001-08:00

What tremendous weather at 6:30 this morning. Not a cloud, anywhere, as I hung out the weekend's washing. Just stillness, punctuated by the odd burble and fluting of Pied Currawongs and Australian Magpies. Mild, tranquil mornings like these are uncommon in Bundanoon. They are a tonic when they come.

I wanted to take a day off (even though I treasure my teaching job in south-west Sydney) and wander down to Bonnie View and chill there all day. To just sit or lie down and watch the sky and valley. To see what the land wants from me. To learn from it. To return home, restored.

LJ, november 28 2011

YOUNG TAWNY (PART 2)

2011-11-21T01:08:00.002-08:00

A week later. The young Tawny Frogmouth is fine. Its parents have been looking after it at night. No cat has had a go at it.

My neighbour called the Kangaroo Valley branch of WIRES about the bird. They said they couldn't take it due to lack of money. How sad. To one day live in a world where not-for-profit animal charities received more money from governments than they do.

LJ, November 21 2011.

YOUNG TAWNY

2011-11-13T15:11:00.001-08:00

A neighbour called me early Saturday evening saying he had a young Boobook Owl in his backyard.

I headed over immediately with my son, finding a juvenile Tawny Frogmouth, which, I guess, are moderately common in Bundanoon (I've seen a family in the gums lining Gullies Rd). The Frogmouth was sitting on the ground - it had been squatting there all day, wide-eyed. My neighbour was concerned a local cat that has a particular enthusiasm for injuring birds, might maul it.

The Frogmouth appeared to be uninjured. I touched its delicate, mottled grey tail and got it flying a bit. We considered calling the local WIRES workers (bless 'em), but gave the bird the night to work itself out.

When my boy and I were crouching by the Frogmouth, it opened its yellowish mouth as wide as possible and let out a low hiss.

I wonder whether the night was congenial to the bird.

LJ, November 14 2011.

OCTOBER

2011-10-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of watching - with family members - a gargantuan storm front to the north-east, last Saturday night. There were several stacked pink-grey cumulonimbus clouds, wracked by lightening, that gradually moved towards the coast. It was formidable. Younger members of my family either freaked out and ran inside my house, or scaled a ladder and video taped the storm's Academy Award winning performance.

Last week, after dark, at Gambells Rest, I lured a trapdoor spider from its deep burrow with a leaf tip. The beastie was thicker-set than I thought it would be. I'm not sure if I've seen a live trapdoor before. The spider back-peddled when it realised there was no prey and it was exposed.

A Dollarbird and a White-throated Gerygone were calling close to home, yesterday, in sterling summer weather. I've only heard gerygones in the cow and roo paddocks next to Ferndale Reserve.

When barbecuing in the backyard on Saturday evening, I found a black praying mantis, about four millimetres long. I didn't think God made them that small.

It seems the morning frosts are gone. Earlier in the year, a Wingello resident who dropped off a ute tray-load of firewood to me, said he remembered frosts from his childhood that used to hang about until midday. He wondered whether global warming had changed things. I think 9:30am has been the latest I've seen frost in Bundy.

Waiting for my 130th Bundy bird species to show itself. Will it be an Eastern Shrike-tit, Straw-necked Ibis, White-naped Honeyeater, Glossy Black-cockatoo, Brown Falcon or Nankeen Kestrel? Paradise Parrot? Or something completely unexpected?

LJ, 31 October 2011.

A WASP MIMICKING SPIDER (PHOTOGRAPHED LAST SUMMER)

2011-10-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

2 LOCAL FROGS: EASTERN POBBLEBONK OR BANJO FROG & PERON'S TREE FROG

2011-10-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

CICADA RHYTHMS

2011-10-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

I heard a cicada buzzing ecstatically before 8pm tonight. Somewhat of a shock: we had cicadas, in droves, last year. I was under the impression they didn't emerge again for another seven years. Maybe, this one slept in.

LJ, October 20 2011

HALCYON DAY

2011-10-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

A Saturday meander at the end of Quarry Rd produced an Azure Kingfisher powering over the broken creek at the entrance to the quarry. The minute bird flashed in the periphery of my vision. I was lucky to spot it. It perched for a couple of minutes above the green-brown shallows of the creek, then, when I had imitated a Sacred Kingfisher's rolling trills, vanished between a dark tapestry of tree trunks and shrubbery.

So, my first Azure Kingfisher for the Southern Highlands. I've dipped on them where some observant Highland birders have successfully located them (at both Lake Alexander in Mittagong and the pooling corners above Fitzroy Falls).

LJ, October 17 2011.

THE FIRST KOELS

2011-10-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

Around 5pm on the 7th, when back from a few relaxing family days in the Lower Hunter & Newcastle regions, I heard Common Koels offering up their 'we've returned' mantras at either end of Penrose Road. Such a primal sound. A mournful and brimming sound from my childhood in Sydney's Cremorne and beyond. A sound for a deathbed, another life. A sound for living, now. I'm not sure what the angels would say about these first koels. Or what shepherds might say. I'd say they have anchored me since a child and maybe they're bigger than all religion.

LJ, OCtober 8 2011.

GASLAND

2011-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I viewed Josh Fox's documentary about America's obsession with gas extraction, and the horrendous fallout from this obsession, Gasland. It was bittersweet, sobering, distressing, fascinating and poetic all at once. It may well be essential viewing for all residents in Bundanoon, Exeter, Sutton Forest & Werai.

LJ, September 15 2011.

WHAT'S AWAKE OR AWAKENING DOWN IN MORTON NATIONAL PARK

2011-09-14T02:39:00.001-07:00

I'm no Joseph Banks. However, I've identified - with the help of Burnum Burnum's WILDthings - the following plants flowering in Morton NP:

Dracophyllum secundum
Comesperma ericinum (Match Heads)
Patersonia sericea (Native Iris)
Pimelea linifolia (Rice Flower)
Boronia floribunda (Pale Pink Boronia)
Dillwynia retorta (Eggs and Bacon)
Isopogon anthifolius (Drumsticks)
Grevillea sericea (Pink Spider Flower)
Hovea
Hybanthus monopetalus
Pomaderris intermedia

LJ, September 14 2011.

9/11

2011-09-13T18:44:00.001-07:00

After returning home from a scrumptious lunch at Lauren's Cafe at Penrose, on September 11, I noticed a raucous mob of Sulpher-crested Cockatoos flying above Penrose Rd and a raptor near them. Grabbing my 10x50s, I found the cockies were 'mobbing' a Grey Goshawk. Interestingly, the birds sort of clustered around, or by, the raptor, but didn't make any great aggressive movement, as a collective, at the Goshawk (the odd cockie half-heartedly went for it). On a couple of occassions, the GG was actually in the middle of the flock of cockies and all the birds were sailing along contentedly.

I find this fascinating. I've seen this behaviour before, with a white morph/phase GG, at Lane Cove National Park in Sydney. I think HANZAB (big deal Australian avian handbook) authors and other birders have an inkling that white GGs do this to disguise themselves when approaching potential prey. I had a grey individual - what can this mean? Maybe, it's just birds together, celebrating their freedom. After about ten minutes of interaction, the GG was left alone to soar a long way above Bundanoon's rooftops.

LJ, September 14 2011.

ORIGMAS

2011-09-07T19:41:00.001-07:00

On Father's Day, I specifically left home to find a Rockwarbler (aka Origma), with my wife and son in tow. Not long after parking at Wishing Well in Morton NP, we ambled down to Beachamp Cliffs and Bonnie View to immerse ourselves in the intoxicating panorama there that can awaken all of us if we allow it.

Two Rockwarblers revealed themselves between BC & BV. One of the pair called incessantly, its fine bill opening wide with each series of shrill yawps. I was stoked - I'd not encountered a Rockwarbler in the Southern Highlands before (although they're around here and there). The bird is a NSW endemic, restricted to sandstone/limestone escarpment country within about 200km of Sydney.

In the late 90s (when I was living briefly on Sydney's North Shore) I found a Rockwarbler asleep under a sandstone overhang near The Sphinx monument in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, whilst I was searching for the unmistakable Red-crowned Toadlet (listed as 'vulnerable' by NSW DEC). My torch beam didn't startle the Rockwarbler. The bird seemed a breathing metaphor for solace.

LJ, September 8 2011

BITTER IRONY

2011-08-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

So, the council's wombat sign has been up on the Exeter side of town since early June. I was hoping, really hoping, that that might make a difference and save a few wombats in our area. Sadly, I've counted, since the erection of the sign, 4 or 5 deceased animals between the sign and the first few houses of Bundanoon.

LJ, 24 August 2011.

WHAT WHITE CAN DO

2011-08-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

I had decent views of a White-eared Honeyeater near Bundy's sewage treatment plant yesterday (again, my new clapping technique brought it closer). Interestingly, this foraging individual (brought to ultra-life thanks to that magical conspiracy of prisms and light) had white tips to its tail. This feature isn't mentioned in any of the current field guides. Maybe, I'll declare this bird a subspecies and dub it the Bundanoon Honeyeater!

LJ, August 23 2011

AROUND THE GROUNDS

2011-08-07T02:03:00.000-07:00

One crowded hour of birding from 4:30 to 5:30pm produced the following...

2 White-eared Honeyeaters at swamp by Ferndale Reserve (I was clapping my hands in case of flushing a rail or a quail - instead I brought these two out of the brush - unexpected and thrilling - with each of my claps the birds came closer - another newie for my list).

1 Brown Goshawk by railway tracks near Shangri-la Road (the raptor startled, then pursued, a Crested Pigeon - not sure of outcome as chase continued through blur of eucalypts).

2 Musk Duck on dam by Shangri-la Rd.

1 Cattle Egret in paddock by Shangri-la dam.

1 Little Wattlebird (heard in scrub east of Penrose Rd and Shangri-la Rd intersection; another newie!).

An Australian Magpie with a hell of a lot of white on its back (race tyrannica from South Australia and Victoria?) feeding on lowlands adjacent to Birchwood Drive.

12 Grey Teal on sewage works near Ferndale Reserve.

LJ, August 7 2011.

WATTLE

2011-08-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

I'm loving the brilliant Big Bird-yellow galaxies of Silver Wattle in Morton NP.

Lyrics from John Williamson's gorgeous 80s number Cootamundra Wattle spring to mind...'Hey, it's July and the winter sun is shining and the Cootamundra wattle is my friend, for all at once my childhood never left me and wattle blossoms bring it back again.'

LJ, August 2 2011

THE TRUTH ABOUT LYREBIRDS (PART ONE)

2011-08-01T03:09:00.000-07:00

The Superb Lyrebird would have to be THE most hypnotic Australian bird. It has it all: a memorable, complex and voluble call, interesting feeding habits (endless scratching in the soil for invertebrates), a mesmerising courtship display, speed when provoked, unique plumage etc. We're blessed to have them in the bush surrounding our township. As it's now their breeding season, the males are very vocal.

Last Saturday, mid-afternoon, I had the pleasure of watching a male complete part of his courtship hullaballoo, in rugged terrain, at Echo Point. There was much wing-flapping and noise-making. Unfortunately, I didn't get to witness the celebrated tail-over-the-head culmination of the courtship extravaganza, where the bird's feathers are spread into a lyre-like arrangement.

This particular male mimicked (perfectly) the calls of 10 other birds - Pilotbird, Crimson Rosella, Sulpher-crested Cockatoo, Eastern Whipbird, Bassian Thrush (or European Blackbird; their calls are similar), Noisy Friarbird, White-browed Scrubwren, Golden Whistler, Satin Bowerbird and Laughing Kookaburra - on several occasions. The mimicry was interspersed with a thread of its own classic song and various peculiar noises, adding up to a bizarre, chopped-up soundscape that musicians DJ Shadow or Trent Reznor would be proud of emulating. Interestingly, when the male was desperately trying to seize the attention of a foraging female close-by to him, he ended his mimicry, replacing it with a five-note sequence (the fifth note less clear than the previous four) of otherworldly, almost mechanical, clipped buzzes, looped over about five minutes. Once the female wandered off, utterly underwhelmed, the male fell back into his original repertoire of song and mimicry. I've never heard a male do this before.

Female lyrebirds can also use mimicry in their assembled vocal routines, but they do it far less frequently. Males tend to be the major songsters. Ornithologists believe males put so much effort into their calls so as to (a) attract a mate and (b) establish territories. Hardly revelatory stuff. I wonder whether it's really that straightforward. Perhaps the male enjoys what he does and this outpouring of noise cum music, this grand Hallelujah to the day, is a bi-product of sheer joie-de-vivre. Think a breaching humpback.

I've had several close encounters with Superb Lyrebirds out at Fitzroy Falls over the last few years. In June 2010, I listened to a male imitating twelve bird species that frequented his local area; I've not found a lyrebird to mimic more species than this. It would be interesting to note whether males have a limit to the number of species they can mimic. I will follow this up asap.

Stay tuned.

LJ, August 1 2011.

A KILLER AT THE BACK DOOR

2011-07-03T02:42:00.001-07:00

A Sydney Funnel-web Spider (I'm pretty sure it was a SFW, as opposed to another species of FW; there are thirty-five described FW species) was lurking at my back door the other night. I think it was a female. I was somewhat surprised to see this Funnel-web, as it was very cold. I've only seen them in Sydney during hot months. Recent rains may well have flushed the spider from its burrow.

Poking the beastie with a long stick (I know, pure childishness) infuriated it (surprise, surprise) and it assumed its classic attack position, with forelegs held high. It struck the end of the stick twice with its fangs. After this, I crushed it with the point of a mop handle (I've got a child and a dog to think of).

It's hard to have an objective stance on SFWs. I think they're super-cool, but they do unnerve me. Maybe it's all that Hamlet-black - or the fact its venom (atraxotoxin) is the most deadly stuff in the animal kingdom.

In his detailed and attractive guidebook Spiderwatch, Bert Brunet says this about SFWs - 'All Funnel-webs should be approached with caution. Some species are now known to be among the most dangerous creatures in existence... the male Sydney Funnel-web is perhaps the deadliest spider in the world.' Brunet goes on to say fifteen people have died from SFW bites between 1936 and 1996 (the latter year was when Spiderwatch was published). Here's what Struan K. Sutherland mentions in his volume Venomous Creatures of Australia (1994), 'Children have died in less than 2 hours after being bitten.'

Here are some random points from both guides: the male's venom is five times more toxic than the female's; excessive sweat, tears and saliva result from a bite: after this, shock, brain damage and coma; they can sometimes live in substantial colonies (over one hundred individuals together); males, when wandering around looking for a mate, are at their most dangerous; they are from a lineage of rainforest spiders; sloping land near water is favoured habitat; the nest has a silk tube entrance; for most of the day, the spider huddles in the lower end of the nest in a purse-like chamber; preferred nesting haunts are under rocks and fallen timber.

I've never forgotten a moment from about twenty years ago (in north-west Sydney), when my father sprayed a SFW with Mortein. The thing, transformed into an albino spider, staggered about like some lost adventurer in the Himalayas, then died. This was comical and grotesque and sad all at once, really. Why didn't Dad just step on it?

I am privileged to have this iconic spider as a neighbour.

I think.

LJ, July 3 2011.

BUNDANOON HAS FIFTEEN PERCENT OF AUSTRALIA'S BIRDS

2011-06-13T01:23:00.001-07:00

A Cattle Egret did it. A lone, lowly Cattle Egret. The egret was spied near feeding horses, on a paddock between Shangri-La Rd and a major dam that hosts grebes and Musk Ducks, at midday today, in icy conditions. This egret has now brought my Bundanoon bird list to one-hundred and twenty species.

That number equals fifteen percent of Australia's bird species, if we solely consider the species found on the mainland and Tasmania (not the vagrant or rare species found sporadically on outlying islands, seas and reefs at the limits of Australia's territory). This percentage is based on numbers from a Birds Australia communications and research guy, who emailed me last November; I've mentioned this person before.

So, impressive stuff for a little town and something to be bloody proud of! This one-hundred and twenty have been unearthed within about five square kilometres.

A while ago, I posted the birds bringing the town's total to one-hundred and ten species. Here are the additional species bringing the new total to one-hundred and twenty...

Buff-banded Rail
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren
White-bellied Sea-eagle
Spotted Turtle-dove
Flame Robin
European Goldfinch
Hoary-headed Grebe
Barn Owl
White-headed Pigeon
Brush Cuckoo
Cattle Egret

And I'm sure there will be many more birds to come. Rose Robin, Little Bittern, Jacky Winter, White-eared Honeyeater, Origma, Glossy Black-cockatoo, Grey Currawong, Common Bronzewing and Brown Quail are some of the species other Bundy locals and visiting birders have found. They're yet to land on my binoculars!

LJ, June 13 2011.

DREAMS OF DINGOES

2011-06-11T03:00:00.002-07:00

I was down at Dimmocks Creek early this arvo. I'd never ventured down there before - what a stunning spot. I took a photo of canine paw prints in mud underneath a sandstone overhang. Could they be dingo prints? I doubt it. They probably belong to a local dog; someone may have been walking their pet labradoodlespoodlebadoodlecockadoodledoo (totally forgetting - or not caring - that they're within a national park).

Still, one can dream of primitive dogs, derived from Gray Wolves, brought to Oz some four-thousand years ago, can't they?

LJ, June 11 2011.

NEW WOMBAT SIGN

2011-06-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

My sincere thanks to councillor, social activist and environmental campaigner Larry Whipper, as well as those peers of his at Wingecarribee Council, who helped back my proposal for a wombat sign on the Exeter side of Bundanoon. The new sign was erected a few days back and positioned well. Hopefully, motorists will slow down a little coming into town and a few wombats will be saved as a consequence.

LJ, June 10 2011.

MISCELLANY

2011-06-05T02:49:00.000-07:00

1. It's winter. May there be snow. In July. Perhaps when the day wants anything but predictability.

2. I approached Fairy Bower Falls from a different access point this morning. The world enveloping this path to the Falls was ringing with water. Each boulder passed seemed an event (I'm such a sucker for boulders, particularly those wearing feathery moss; I'd love to see the birth of one). The terrain seems inviting for Greater, and maybe Yellow-belled, Gliders.

3. Is there much more satisfying than cleaving wood cleanly with a new axe?

4. Woodsmoke from our chimney often blurs into one with open galaxy.

5. There were Brown-headed Honeyeaters down at Gambells Rest today. I love their weird grating/mechanical calls. The call lies somewhere between a woodswallow's and a cicada's. No other bird around here sounds like them.

6. Our imported trees have become skeletons; our natives are grand survival totems.

7. The Origma is still an enigma.

8. I now greet my car (circa 6:30am, when work-bound) whilst holding a kettle filled with warm water and the look of a man who only wants to dance with the dawn.

9. Forget arrows of desire and chariots of fire... bring me my one-hundred and twentieth bird for Bundanoon!

LJ, June 5 2011

DISTRACTED

2011-05-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

Of late, work, family engagements, illness and other things have all distracted me from truly letting nature in...

This will be corrected.

LJ, 31 May 2011.

4AM

2011-05-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

A Barn Owl called close to home, at 4am today - another new one for my Bundanoon list. I was too exhausted to get outside and look for it (and I call myself a birder). It's been a long time since I've seen a Barn Owl. I heard one make its sharp otherworldly hissing, one night when I lived at Moss Vale, in 2009. Seeing one floating above the flying buttresses of St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, close to midnight, about ten years ago, was most unexpected and tremendously gothic. Happening upon five in skeletal trees various on a cold Leeton (NSW Riverina) back road, years ago, was also momentous.

Now for a Masked Owl...

LJ, May 4 2011.

SHANGRI-LA FLAME

2011-05-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

The contrasting orange-red chest feathers, ash-black wings/back and white stripes of a male Flame Robin make it one of the most stunning and mesmerizing of Australia's birds. I was fortunate to see one last Saturday, down Shangri-la Road, where cow paddocks give way to riverine habitat. With the aid of my 10x50 binoculars, I showed the robin to my son, who was suitably impressed. One is truly blessed if they have seen a male Flame Robin. It is a holy thing, a beacon.

LJ, May 4 2011.

QUINTESSENCE

2011-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

By God, I felt Australian this morning, when I pulled away from home, a little after 6:30am, cruised down Penrose Rd and had an Eastern Grey Kangaroo burst from left-field and fling itself out onto the road ahead of me. Seemingly spooked and disoriented, the animal meandered all over the place, hopping along bitumen, grassy roadside and embankment. I slowed the car and followed the roo around the bend of Penrose Rd to where it meets Anzac Parade. The roo sped up and disappeared between the Country Inn Motel and the railway lines.

On another note, I found fifty-three Eastern Greys (inc. a joey in its mother's pouch) in a paddock near Ferndale Reserve a couple of days back - the largest mob I've seen in Bundy.

LJ, April 27 2011.

NEST

2011-04-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

I just found a Yellow-throated Scrubwren's scraggy, pendulous nest near the entrances to Erith Coal Mine - a cool discovery. I'll keep an eye on this nest from July, when it's the bird's primary breeding time. I located another YTS's nest a couple of years back at Fitzroy Falls and had the great pleasure of watching a bird coming to and from the nest's side entrance hole one morning... I came across the same nest weeks later, lying on the forest floor, a cold egg in its central chamber.

LJ, April 22 2011.

ON A NIGHT WHEN THE MOON IS A RICE CRACKER, A BINDI, A PORTHOLE IN ANOTHER LINER AND A HYMN WRITTEN WITH LIGHT...

2011-04-17T02:47:00.000-07:00

A Powerful Owl, down in Morton, emitted its resonant double-hoot, just before 8pm. I heard this from my front verandah. Perhaps it was calling for its lost mate.

LJ, April 17 2011.

SEA-EAGLES OF MIND AND ALL-MIND

2011-04-13T17:48:00.001-07:00

Strolling home from the bakery and chemist with my son and my spaniel, on a breezy, warm, clear school holiday (yahoo) morning, I was thinking of White-bellied Sea-eagles, as bird nerds do. I considered whether a White-bellied Sea-eagle could appear in Bundanoon. I dismissed the idea due to our inland location and the lack of extensive nearby waterways.

Two minutes later, I gazed into the wide cyan sky to the east of Penrose Rd and... unbelievably... a distant Sea-eagle appeared! I was completely floored.

At first, I had a fleeting view, as a row of pines soon obscured the raptor. I wondered whether it was a Pacific Heron (old skool terminology). Luckily, it came into view once again and I could easily pick up the distinctive V-shaped wings and soaring flight, as well as whites and greys, without binoculars. This WBSE is another new bird for my Bundy list. I've seen WBSEs at Wingecarribee Reservoir and over Chevalier College in years gone by.

Is there any connection at all between the conscious mind and what nature brings us? Can we push away coincidence and reach for something else? I'd love to think so.

LJ, April 14 2011.

SUNDAY'S ZENITH

2011-04-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

A Blue-tongue Lizard in the vege patch hissing and showcasing its tongue as if it was a flare from a purple sun... a resplendent male Superb Lyrebird bathing in a rockpool above the falls at Erith Cole Mine... migrating mobs of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters... a single Grey-headed Flying-fox cruising over darkened paddocks... new high-pitched frog-notes where the Southern Highlands rail-line intersects Shangri-la Rd... twenty-three Eastern Grey Kangaroos romancing the grassland outside Gambells Rest... stillness... stillness... and that incredible, lost sunshine, returned to us.

LJ, April 4 2011.

SATURDAY'S NADIR

2011-03-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

My son and I found a Powerful Owl hanging from power-lines just outside the entrance to Morton National Park, yesterday. I pretended it was a piece of bark(!) for my son. He replied, "It doesn't look like bark." I had to go against my nature and tell him it was a dead Powerful Owl. Promptly, he started crying; this crying continued for almost ten minutes. It was a great shame his first Powerful Owl was deceased. I imagine the poor bird was electrocuted.

The owl is listed as 'vulnerable' by DEC. This death will obviously affect the breeding and numbers of Powerful Owls in Bundanoon. By what degree, I'm not sure. I don't think there are many of them in the area.

LJ, March 27 2011.

EDITION 64

2011-03-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

Edition 64 of JCG, with a splendid shot of Fairy Bower gracing its cover, is both a fascinating and important read.

I feel flattered (and almost embarrassed) that I feature so prominently in this edition. Many thanks to editor Pam Davies for her enthusiasm when it came to me putting together an article on Bundy's birds, as well as running with a 'Wild Bundanoon' theme for the issue. I'd also like to thank Graeme Whisker for his detailed profile of my family and I, the Stantons for their super-kind words (wait until we get out into western NSW guys - I'll know little!), my friend Edwin (uberbirder) Vella for his black-cockatoo photo on p.27 and Ben Mawston for his graphic flair and acceptance of visuals.

It's tremendous to be part of a magazine which has such a strong focus on community, history, sustainability, conservation and growth.

What did you think of Edition 64?

LJ, March 9 2011.

THE GULLIES ROAD

2011-03-05T23:32:00.001-08:00

The Gullies Rd., between Grey Gum Lane and Church St, often asks my Cocker Spaniel and I to walk it. In one sense, it's an unspoiled, fecund wonderland, and in another, a tarnished, tattered spot that needs serious reinvention. In between the imposing, sentinel-like trunks of eucalypts and a rich variety of native flora, there are imported, invasive species such as cotoneaster, wandering jew etc. In certain sections, crippled trees have fallen on others. From a strangled thicket, a barbed briar lashes the pathway like some sadist's whip or Triffid. Blackbirds (forget the Beatles-infused romance - should they have stayed in England?) utter their sharp scoldings in the weed-ways, whilst ravenous Brown and Striated Thornbills map and celebrate the reaching, expansive, native canopy. The Gullies Road is a gorgeous corner of Bundanoon, yet it is a riot of contradictions. In turn, it is fascinating, eye-catching, disappointing and bleak.

LJ, March 6 2011.

CHASING MASKED OWLS WITH J&J

2011-02-27T03:09:00.000-08:00

I was just out with locals, Jenny and John Shepherd, chasing Masked Owls in Morton NP.

J&J are convinced they saw a pair of the birds not far from Gambells Rest in early February, right on dusk. The three of us didn't see or hear any nocturnal birds whatsoever (even with my solid call imitations). Maybe the overcast conditions were to blame. Or perhaps the owls were hunting on the other side of our world.

I would dearly love to see a Masked Owl. I've dipped on them over the years (saying that, I haven't put a lot of hard work into finding them). Perhaps Morton will offer me a gift one day.

To be continued.

LJ, February 27 2011.

TG@SHN

2011-02-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

A big shout out to Tahnae Goldsworthy, journalist with Southern Highland News, who kindly interviewed me a little while ago about the 110 species of birds in Bundy, then put together a piece for the paper's 'Lifestyle' section, published online and in print, last Wednesday.

LJ, February 27 2011.

110

2011-02-12T00:22:00.000-08:00

You beauty! I've now recorded 110 species of bird in Bundanoon - that's about 13% of the species found on Australia's mainland and Tasmania (based on numbers from Birds Australia, our premier body for bird conservation/information; a publicist told me there are some 799 species on the mainland and Tassie combined). Here are the additional 10 birds...

Buff-banded Rail
Collared Sparrowhawk
Little Lorikeet
Brown Gerygone
Fairy Martin
Australian Reed-warbler
Golden-headed Cisticola
Black Swan
Dusky Woodswallow
Indian Mynah

When I get to 15% of Australia's birds for our town I'll be truly stoked. Onward and upward...

LJ, February 12 2011

BOILING SKIES BEFORE 'THAT' STORM

2011-02-08T02:31:00.000-08:00

REVIVAL

2011-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

Whilst sweeping out the laundry the other day, I came across a seemingly lifeless Macleay's Swallowtail. I picked it up and was knocked out by the brilliant jade/emerald geometry on its wings. The creature's eyelash-thin legs flickered. I placed it upon a rock and sprinkled some water on it... the butterfly took to the air.

LJ, February 8 2011.

WILD BUNDANOON ALRIGHT!

2011-02-04T00:52:00.000-08:00

A sudden storm late Wednesday absolutely brought the wild to our quiet town... A streak of electricity struck a telegraph pole out the front of my house (about thirty feet from where I was standing at the time) and consequently blew fuses various, so my family and I were left without fridge power, a set top box and an oven (not a huge deal in the face of what our poor brothers and sisters up in Queensland have faced of late; it's miraculous more folks weren't annihilated in the core of Cyclone Yasi). The lightning's crack was staggeringly loud. There was no space between lightning and thunder. Smoke drifted down the road just after the snap. I could smell burning, even the soul of God. My son wept. I've never been so close to lightning, so much in awe of lightning. Thankfully, the house didn't burn.

LJ, February 4 2011.

FRANKENSTEIN LINE

2011-01-31T00:25:00.000-08:00

I love this quote from Shelley's classic work from 1818, which I'm currently reading for Yr 12 purposes...

'The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effect of solemnising my mind and causing me to forget the passing cares of life.'

A C19th English voice echoing Emerson's C19th American voice, highlighted on my profile page.

LJ, January 31 2011.

A DIAMOND PYTHON IN THE ROUGH

2011-01-30T23:25:00.000-08:00

Exeter's ecologist extraordinaire, Steve Douglas, emailed to tell me he came across a 'very healthy' Diamond Python, above Fairy Bower Falls, on the 29th. Nice one. I'll have to chase it up sometime.

LJ, January 31 2011

DIARY OF A (DEAD) WOMBAT

2011-01-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

Geez, I'm sick of seeing dead wombats on the Exeter-side of Bundanoon, just near the grand, stone 'Bundanoon' sign. It's not exactly a great advertisement for the town, is it? VISIT BUNDANOON - HOME OF GORGEOUS GULLIES, PRISTINE WATER AND DEAD WOMBATS. We've all got to slow right down (hum along at 50 km) and be a lot more vigilant when entering town.

LJ, January 27 2011.

STORM

2011-01-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

Late Friday night, I sat in the gutter on Penrose Road (no, don't cue the violins), just near Lucas Street, and watched an electrical storm dance across the moaning southern horizon. It may well have been way out to sea. Lightning fired up practically every second over the course of an hour; ninety-nine percent of it was obscured by thick cumulus cloud (thus, sheet lightning).

It was a storm straight out of Shakespeare, Medieval England, all plays, short stories and novels carrying some cleansing metaphor. It was a storm that could end adventures, homes, towns, forests, dreams and lives, if the electricity slipped. The weird thing was the detachment from it, as my wife put it. You couldn't hear any thunder. My brother-in-law said some lightning isn't made for our ears.

I didn't feel small in face of all that electric power-play, I just felt privileged, maybe braver than before. Another storm like that would calm me in the presence of my own death.

LJ, January 23 2011.

LEAFLESS SAPROPHYTIC ORCHIDS (TRY SAYING THAT FAST FIFTY TIMES AFTER TEN LONGNECKS!)

2011-01-21T00:39:00.000-08:00

I came across my first Hyacinth Orchids (Dipodium variegatum) today by the side of a track between Quarry Rd and the railway line. A beautiful plant the colour of boysenberry and vanilla ice cream.

LJ, January 21 2011.

THE BUNDY BIRD YOU'RE LEAST LIKELY TO SEE...

2011-01-18T01:21:00.000-08:00

The night before last, circa 9pm, I heard a Sooty Owl let out its distinctive and mournful 'falling bomb' shriek, followed by a sustained trill, in the deep green world below Bonnie View. The night was as still as the Great Wall of China, warm (twenty degrees), clear (finally) and moonlit. Insects and microbats sliced the humid sky. The conditions for owls were perfect.

Sooty Owls define mystery and beauty. Very few Aussies have had the pleasure of their company. I've only watched them twice before, in the cool, almost spooky, limestone grandeur that is the Devil's Coachhouse at Jenolan Caves in NSW (the birds have been there for thousands of years according to scientists; Jenolan's Twitter site says the owls were roosting in the adjacent Nettle Cave during Nov. 2010) and in the steamy tangles of Katandra Reserve, on the Central Coast of NSW, near Erina. The latter sighting occurred in 2001, with good friend and uber-birder, Edwin Vella. We were fortunate to see an individual with a rat in its talons. It called for an hour, not far above our heads.

Sooties are known to feed on (aside from rats) bandicoots, potoroos, possums, rabbits (they're out at Bonnie View, unfortunately) and gliders various. They are solidly-built things, with huge black eyes and plumage as dark as the soul of charcoal - think a Barn Owl back from Hell and you're close.

The field guides say the following about their distribution: Slater: 'rare'; Simpson: 'moderately common'; Pizzey: 'probably commoner than records suggest'; Debus: 'uncommon... there may be 5000 breeding pairs in Australia.' The NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) lists them as 'vulnerable', due to the threat of clearing and burning sclerophyll forests which hold trees that possess suitable large hollows for nesting.

The Sooty is probably the Australian bird that captures my imagination and lifts my heart the most. A Sooty Owl can turn the most impossibly dark night into light.

LJ, January 18 2011.

THE RAIN MERCHANTS

2011-01-02T14:51:00.001-08:00

A couple of nights back, I had a Peron's Tree Frog in my hand, then perched on my thumb like some backyard emperor. The amphibian was shark-grey, shot through with tiny flecks the colour of lime-flavoured Aeroplane Jelly. His eyes were a dull gold/copper; his throat inflated rapidly. I was impressed with the Frog's ability to leap about forty centimetres with each spring, thus covering a lot of ground quickly.

I have also heard/seen the following frogs at Currabunda Wetlands, Birchwood Drive, the bovine paddocks adjacent to Lucas St and Ferndale Reserve: Eastern Banjo Frog, Striped Marshfrog, Spotted Marshfrog, Whistling Treefrog and Haswell's Froglet. I may have also heard both Smooth and Bibron's Toadlets.

LJ, January 3 2011

100

2010-12-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

I've recorded 100 species of birds in Bundanoon. This means our town has roughly 12% of Australia's bird species - pretty good for a few square kilometres. All but 4 of these have been found since I moved to Bundanoon in September 2010. I'll write more about this in an upcoming issue of Jordan's Crossing Gazette. For now, here's the list, presented in taxonomic order, according to The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Second Edition, New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd., 2009. I'm not sure whether any birder has published an official Bundanoon bird list.

1. Masked Lapwing
2. Black-fronted Dotterel
3. Australasian Grebe
4. Australian Wood Duck
5. Pacific Black Duck
6. Northern Mallard
7. Australian Grey Teal
8. Chestnut Teal
9. Musk Duck
10. Little Pied Cormorant
11. Little Black Cormorant
12. White-faced Heron
13. Australian White Ibis
14. Dusky Moorhen
15. Purple Swamphen
16. Black-shouldered Kite
17. Brown Goshawk
18. Grey Goshawk (white morph)
19. Wedge-tailed Eagle
20. Peregrine Falcon
21. Southern Boobook
22. Powerful Owl
23. Sooty Owl
24. Tawny Frogmouth
25. Australian Owlet-nightjar
26. Crested Pigeon
27. Wonga Pigeon
28. Brown Cuckoo-dove
29. Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo
30. Gang-gang Cockatoo
31. Galah
32. Sulpher-crested Cockatoo
33. Little Corella
34. Rainbow Lorikeet
35. Australian King Parrot
36. Eastern Rosella
37. Crimson Rosella
38. Channel-billed Cuckoo
39. Eastern Koel
40. Fan-tailed Cuckoo
41. Shining Bronze-cuckoo
42. Laughing Kookaburra
43. Sacred Kingfisher
44. Dollarbird
45. White-throated Needletail
46. Welcome Swallow
47. Tree Martin
48. Superb Lyrebird
49. Satin Bowerbird
50. White-throated Treecreeper
51. Red-browed Treecreeper
52. Superb Fairy-wren
53. White-browed Scrubwren
54. Yellow-throated Scrubwren
55. Large-billed Scrubwren
56. Pilotbird
57. White-throated Gerygone
58. Buff-rumped Thornbill
59. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
60. Brown Thornbill
61. Striated Thornbill
62. Spotted Pardalote
63. Striated Pardalote
64. Lewin's Honeyeater
65. Yellow-faced Honeyeater
66. Fuscous Honeyeater
67. Noisy Miner
68. Brown-headed Honeyeater
69. Scarlet Honeyeater
70. Eastern Spinebill
71. New Holland Honeyeater
72. Red Wattlebird
73. Noisy Friarbird
74. Eastern Whipbird
75. Varied Sittella
76. Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
77. Golden Whistler
78. Rufous Whistler
79. Grey Shrike-thrush
80. Olive-backed Oriole
81. Grey Butcherbird
82. Pied Currawong
83. Australian Magpie
84. Little Raven
85. Australian Raven
86. Magpie-lark
87. Willy Wagtail
88. Grey Fantail
89. Rufous Fantail
90. Leaden Flycatcher
91. Black-faced Monarch
92. Scarlet Robin
93. Eastern Yellow Robin
94. Silvereye
95. Bassian Thrush
96. Blackbird
97. Common Starling
98. Mistletoebird
99. Red-browed Firetail
100. House Sparrow

LJ, January 1 2011

THE SECOND LAST NIGHT OF 2010

2010-12-30T00:55:00.000-08:00

The end of the day dunked in pale amber light, utter cloudlessness, a stillness only pyramids know, rising/saving coolth, savignon blanc and Melody Gardot's liquid vocals, a Common Koel, high in the pine, asking all gods for another day of life, Eastern Spinebills piping nectar-songs faintly in the shrubbery, the ubiquitous nearby lawn mower's murmur and, a while back, forty minutes with pretty much my favorite Aussie bird, the White-throated Needletail (formerly Spine-tailed Swift), when a loose flock of them arced and fluttered in our great pool of Southern Highland sky like diving-petrels or angels thrilled to be home.

LJ, 7:50pm, December 30 2010.

SHOTS FROM THE PURSUIT OF OTHERNESS

2010-12-22T02:24:00.000-08:00

ALMOST MASTERCHEF

2010-12-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Two adults and a juvenile Grey Butcherbird were flitting urgently through foliage along Riverview Road late yesterday. One of the adults had snatched a skink from the ground and the juvenile was in hot pursuit, uttering a series of urgent piping notes not dissimilar to a young Noisy Miner's 'I'm bloody starving - give me something right now' racket.

Anyhow, the parent with the skink flew from tree to tree to escape the juvenile, bashing the skink to death on branches various as it went. Two minutes after it had snared its prey, the adult handed it to the youngster, which devoured the creature effortlessly.

I'm wary of anthropomorphism, but it seemed as if the adult Butcherbird deeply cared about the welfare of its offspring, handing the skink over only when it believed the reptile was dead. Perhaps there was a concern the juvenile would either not cope with a living skink or perhaps choke on its food. Regardless, life goes on in a species because of that attention, that compassion.

I've never seen such fastidious food preparation before in the bird world - Matt Moran and Heston Blumenthal would've been proud.

LJ, December 2010.

THE CURRENCY OF DOLLARBIRDS (PART 2)

2010-12-18T22:57:00.000-08:00

The pair of Dollarbirds haunting the corner of Penrose and Quarry Roads now have chicks. Close to 9pm last Wednesday evening, I watched one bird, presumably the male, fly to his nest hollow. On entering the hollow, there was a rapturous clamor from chicks. I'm guessing the female is with her young inside the tree, as I've only seen one bird perched on power lines and hawking above paddocks over the last few days.

LJ, December 19 2010

BUNDY WEDGIE

2010-12-11T00:56:00.000-08:00

Mid-morning today, I saw my first Wedge-tailed Eagle for Bundanoon, beyond Mount Carnarvon, where our world and our hearts surrender to complete wilderness. The bird was flying into mad winds: its huge tail became a rudder of sorts. Stunning stuff.

LJ, December 11 2010.

'THE SPIDERMAN IS HAVING ME FOR DINNER TONIGHT'

2010-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday afternoon, I killed the largest Huntsman Spider I've ever seen. It was the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin of Huntsmans. A Kodiak Bear of Huntsmans. Think undiscovered Central American jungles, B-grade horror, Spiderman shaking uncontrollably and ordering another whiskey, Little Miss Muffet in a psychiatric hospital for years...

It was too hard to get the thing out the back door with the careers section from the Sydney Morning Herald, so I had to resort to rolling up much of the paper and whacking the beast. I never feel great about killing spiders, but I was worried about this one snarling and snapping at a family member.

*

There are heaps of spiders lurking about at the moment - House Spiders between fence palings, Wolf Spiders prowling the concrete, Jumping Spiders waiting in ambush on rose petals, Daddy Longlegs hangin' with dozens of babies, White-tailed Spiders trying to shake off their horrid reputations and a member of genus Dolophones, which is incredibly well camouflaged against the mottled green-grey-white trunks of our backyard blossoms and retreats with the speed of an edgy Sailfish when scared (the effect of this is odd; a section of the tree looks as if it's shifting and one wonders whether one is hallucinating).

*

(The title quote above is from The Cure's early 90s hit Lullaby).

LJ, December 9 2010

THINGS, OTHER THAN A GRUMPY HULK-GREEN OGRE, A SWAMP HANDS YOU...

2010-12-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

Keen local birders, John and Lynette Desmond, came upon an expansive swamp near the sewage treatment plant and ovals, along Quarry Rd. in Bundanoon, some time ago... It was one of four Bundanoon locations visited on Saturday's Southern Highboca/Southern Highlands Birdwatchers bird count excursion, which took amateur ornithologists everywhere in the Highlands from Bargo River to Lake Alexander at Mittagong. The focus of this outing, which lasted from 4pm Sat to 4pm Sun, was to count as many Highland species as possible in twenty-four hours. The group and I were able to tally ninety-three species, which is a decent result.

The seemingly vast, otherworldly swamp (I imagined I was in the Aussie tropics for a while there, nervy/adrenalised by Saltwater Crocs) has much potential for sought after birds such as Brown and Little Bittern, as well as various ducks and crakes, frogs and more frogs, and perhaps, Tiger Snakes (I've never come across one in the wild - would love to). Scarlet Robin and White-naped Honeyeater have been sighted there at the right times of year.

A pair of Brown-headed Honeyeaters were foraging in the midstorey of the swamp's tangled outskirts when the Highboca crew and I were there. BHHs aren't birds I've studied much in my decades of birding. I hope to find them again and let them sing me their secrets.

LJ, December 6 2010

SOUTHERN HIGHBOCA OUTING

2010-12-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

I'll be leading a spotlighting bash (think spotlighting without rifles and pig dogs and Bundy Rum and Southern Cross iconography) for active local birding mob Southern HighBoca, in Morton NP, this coming Saturday evening.

If the world's not crying, as it has been for days, the group and I should find a few night birds, microbats, frogs, possums etc. If you're interested in getting involved with Southern HighBoca, email me. Stay tuned for a report.

On another note, those Fairy Bower photos ARE coming soon.

LJ, December 2 2010

PD/JCG

2010-12-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

My thanks to Pam Davies for promoting this site in the latest edition of Jordan's Crossing Gazette.

LJ, December 2 2010

GANG-GANGS

2010-11-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

Gang-gang Cockatoos are listed as 'vulnerable' by the NSW Government's fauna/flora gurus. They are patchily distributed throughout the Southern Highlands - one sees them infrequently. Last year, I was fortunate/chuffed to see close to twenty birds behind the Sutton Forest Inn - an outstanding tally.

A pair turned up in an acacia opposite my place, early in the evening, yesterday. For an hour and twenty minutes they feasted on seed pods, occasionally omitting their bizarre troubled cat meets hedge trimmer screeches. At one stage, the male got into biffo with a Galah trying to munch pods along the same branch: the Galah, rattled, flew off. Both Gang-gangs used their beaks as a third claw to manoeuvre their way along branches.

The excellent Government website www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au has a wealth of information on Gang-gangs, including eleven points on how to protect the species so it doesn't become endangered in NSW. Clearing, frequent fires and climate change are major issues the bird has to contend with. In Bowral, PCD (Psittacine Cirovirus Disease) has been a great concern.

It's up to all of us to do what we can to look out for the bird, possibly the most beautiful of our cockatoos. If you've seen any Gang-gangs in Bundanoon lately, please send me an email.

LJ, November 29 2010

THE PURSUIT OF OTHERNESS

2010-11-14T16:26:00.000-08:00

Early Sunday, I went for my first wander to Fairy Bower Falls. The day was steamy, throbbing, almost suffocating: summer had arrived like a squadron of Black Hawks.

I think Samuel Taylor Coleridge, if he was still amongst us, would love Fairy Bower Falls. He wouldn't have felt incarcerated there, as he did in his famous poem incorporating a lime tree bower, for the place speaks only of liberty. Down there, amongst a multiplicity of ferns, you can reinvent or recapture yourself.

The ecstatic static and sound of applause/breaking surf in cascading water, stalactite-like tree roots hanging over and around the Falls, a cliff face plastered with orange lichen, a purplish flower at chest height (which I'm guessing was some sort of orchid), the sharp ticking of Large-billed Scrubwrens (the Falls are my third spot in the Southern Highlands for this irregularly seen species - Ferny Glen at Fitzroy Falls and Robertson Nature Reserve are the other two), a retreating Swamp Wallaby's thud-thwack paw-cadence then fearful stare at you, a Spotted Pardalote's bobbing as it called above a potential nest hole embankment and, of course, that humbling view across the measureless gullies that harbour Bundanoon Creek and Sooty Owls (hopefully the subject of an upcoming post): so many immaculate things for the person who craves otherness.

Snapshots to follow...

LJ, November 15 2010

TWO KINGS

2010-11-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

An adult male King Parrot turns up in my backyard every few days, for seeds, and possibly company (not that a parrot needs human company - unless it's a bedraggled, schizophrenic parrot kept in the bottom of a rotting hulk in some far-flung, fantastical, pirate-infested corner of the globe, or dead, on a TV, in a British living room).

This morning, two adult males appeared and hung out with me for twenty minutes. I handed them some seeds and fruit. They were flighty, screechy and evasive if my son, dog and I got too close. But then, they'd come back, feed some more. Eventually, some other disturbance beyond our comprehension, involving an hysterical cockatoo, pushed the birds into the air, then memory.

The vermillion on the parrots' heads and chests was dazzling. I used to think the orange-red of an adult male Flame Robin was the most blindingly beautiful colour in Australian nature, now I'm not so sure.

LJ, November 12 2010

A LIFE IN SEARCH OF TERMITES

2010-11-07T14:21:00.001-08:00

Another walk to and from Erith Coal Mine on the weekend produced an Echidna. Serendipity plays a large part in finding them. A naturalist doesn't say, 'Today I will track down an echidna'. The echidna tracks you down.

I love Echidnas for their doggedness, their resolve: they just get through. Up close, they're a colony of sharpened pencils, a conspiracy of minarets, a breathing sea urchin. Their snout is like a dead man's little finger.

This is the fourth or fifth Echidna I've seen in the Highlands.

LJ, November 8 2010.

BRAWLING ROOS

2010-11-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Late morning, my son and I were privileged to see two (I'm presuming they were male) Eastern Grey Kangaroos scrapping on the sodden flats between Blue Gum Rd and Birchwood Drive. There was much kickboxing going on. The fight lasted for about ten minutes. I wasn't sure who the victor was - neither animal staggered away dazed and bemused. The pair were part of a mob of about thirteen kangaroos. The females, all nonchalance, weren't paying attention to the males' hullaballoo. I've only witnessed this behavior once before, in a steep north-western stretch of Kangaroo Valley guarded by towering eucalypts.

LJ, November 4 2010.

WELCOMED SWALLOWS

2010-11-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

There are four juvenile Welcome Swallows on their nest outside The Good Yarn. The cupped nest is a sturdy thing of mud, stuck onto brickwork. The nestlings are being fed by both parents.

LJ, November 4 2010.

PLN PLUG

2010-11-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

Celebrated poet, Soil Saint and mate, Peter Lach-Newinsky, tends a twenty-acre permaculture farm in Bundanoon. He has a fascinating essay on the minutiae of his property in revered Tasmanian literary mag Island (#121); it is well worth a read for its illumination of Bundanoon's often unseen wild side.

You can check out Peter's writings on permaculture/bioregionalism/animals etc. at www.wind-dance.net and assorted other things at http://peterlachnewinsky.wordpress.com.

Peter's a man who really walks this Earth and understands its spirit.

LJ, November 3 2010.

MIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

2010-11-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Following a report of Brown Quail and Origma at/near Erith Coal Mine by Melbourne-based birder Ian Lundy, I tramped along the track to the Coal Mine in 24 degree heat last Sunday morning. Neither bird showed. I need the latter for my Southern Highlands list.

What I did discover (by myself, and then later, with my son's keen-eyed help) between the almost metaphysical waves of cicada song, grass trees, boronias, irises, eggs and bacon, hakeas, geebungs, banksias, coral ferns, scribbly gums with their polygraph graffiti and eucalypts various, were frogs or toadlets making the noise of distant geese (odd, will have to follow this up), a Jacky Lizard sunbathing (it's been a long time between Jacky Lizards), a minute snail with olive and yellow shell patterning, a centimetre-long red and black spider (I'll have to consult my spider guide), a well-camouflaged brutalist-architecture-grey grasshopper or cricket, Tree Martins arcing beneath the canopy (I've not watched them below the canopy before; I also saw one perched in a tree on my last visit: another first), bull ants ready for biff-o, excitable Striated Thornbills and full-voiced Rufous Whistlers.

The coachwood-blessed wet forest beneath and beyond the entrances to the disused mines, has huge potential for Sooty and Powerful Owls, perhaps a wayward/lost Pink Robin, Green Catbirds, Noisy Pittas, Logrunners, crayfishes, a variety of amphibious things and, if one's lucky, quolls.

The place has seduced me. Naturally, I'll return.

LJ, November 2 2010.

READING A BOOBOOK

2010-10-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last night, a Boobook Owl turned up opposite my home and positioned itself high in a pine. For twenty minutes it called incessantly: it would let out its 'mo-poke' every three seconds; once it just uttered a 'mo' without the 'poke'. I was unable to get my torch beam onto the bird due to the pine's dense mass of needles.

A couple of weeks back I was out in Morton NP at about 7pm and heard five Boobooks calling from various areas about the gully that holds Bundanoon Creek. Surely, the Boobook's two-syllable hoot is the quintessential Australian night noise.

LJ, November 1 2010.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE DAYTIME

2010-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, much to my son's horror, my cocky (read foolhardy and dopey) Cocker Spaniel ate a Yellow Monday whilst it was still alive!

"Why?" you ask.

If only I could answer that question.

We do feed her dog food.

LJ, October 27 2010

THE CURRENCY OF DOLLARBIRDS

2010-10-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday afternoon, in awesome summery weather, I happened across a pair of Dollarbirds on the corner of Penrose and Quarry Roads.

Dollarbirds are the only representative of the roller family that visits our shores. With their red bills, deep purples and white, coin-like, underwing markings, they are one of the most striking of Australia's migratory birds. Each Spring they arrive from PNG and islands close to PNG. I was most fortunate to see the male of the pair bob his head, cackle and carry on for a minute, then attempt to copulate with his mate. I've never seen this in over twenty years of birding. The literature I have accessed speaks nothing of a Dollarbird's courtship theatrics/rituals.

At the markets on Saturday, I bumped into local birder Tony Stanton, who informed me he's got Dollarbirds hunting cicadas in his backyard near Morton NP.

It's great to know Bundanoon is a preferred destination for these wandering gems.

LJ, October 27 2010

ALMOST SUMMER

2010-10-18T16:18:00.002-07:00

October is mercurial. Serene, warm days wrestle with days that bring ice-winds and darkness and memories of Polanski's Macbeth. It seems an early Summer feel has been shunned yet again. Still, Spring has brought Channel-billed and Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Shining Bronze-cuckoos, Common Koels and Black-faced Monarchs, those migrants I look forward to hearing in Sep-Oct each year. The local male Satin Bowerbird is renovating his north-south aligned bower with blue bottle tops, blue feathers, blue Lego pieces (!) and blue magic, then dancing and whistling to attract a mate.

Last Thursday, the world was bursting with cicada hymns and for the next few days I had cicadas the colour of oil and curry (Yellow Mondays: great name; saves a Monday from being blue or manic or disliked) lying upside down in the middle of roads, dead and eaten by ants, buzzing in trees, staggering from their birth-shells like wounded knights and on my jumper as brooches. My young boy is scared of them. Cicadas are our sun heralds, telling us that heat and a time of winding down is on the way. Our years, and perhaps our Australian identities, would crack without them.

Lorne Johnson, October 2010

WILD BUNDANOON

2010-10-18T00:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to WILD BUNDANOON, a blog exploring the verdant side of the town of Bundanoon, located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia.

Bundanoon is an adored honeymoon destination, place of healing and rejuvenation, mecca for cyclists and the first town in Australia to ban the sale of bottled water. Its homes are known for their sprawling, resplendent gardens. The town sits next to Morton National Park, a wilderness of jagged scarps, almost bottomless valleys, glow worm havens, gum kingdoms and hypnotic creeks.

As a local of Bundanoon, writer/poet, avid birder and nature tragic, I thought the glories of Bundanoon should be celebrated online. Regularly, I will pen observations, comments and musings on all things natural, whether info on Superb Lyrebird calls or the way pines talk to late winter winds. It's all about tracking down and truly inhaling the pure world we often miss, then recording its poetry.

Check out the beautiful quote from Emerson on my profile page - I feel his timeless words define why I wished to start this blog.

I hope you get something from the passages you find yourself in. Please email me if you'd like to discuss Bundanoon's flora, fauna and wondrous aesthetics, or if you have any specific wildlife questions/info.

Lorne Johnson, October 2010.