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.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
NEW WOMBAT SIGN
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.
LJ, June 10 2011.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
MISCELLANY
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
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
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
DISTRACTED
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.
This will be corrected.
LJ, 31 May 2011.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
4AM
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.
Now for a Masked Owl...
LJ, May 4 2011.
SHANGRI-LA FLAME
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.
LJ, May 4 2011.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
QUINTESSENCE
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.
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.
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