Sun on the ranges

Walked home from site yesterday and the late afternoon sun was streaming through a break in the clouds to light up the ranges opposite the Village. Spectacular sight!!


On the way, I spotted some Brown Quail as well as the usual suspects of Blackfaced Cuckoo Shrikes, Great Bower Birds, Magpie Larks and Torresian Crows, not to mention loads of unidentified LBB's (little brown birds). Just before I got to camp, I came face to face with a huge red kangaroo. He sat up and watched me for a few seconds but bounded away just as I got my phone camera turned on - rats!! Still, it was a lovely walk!

Gouldian Finches in Camp!!

I was, as my daughter would say, pee-my-pants excited yesterday morning when I spotted a flock of 8-10 Gouldian Finches near the bus stop in camp. WOW! They are very rare in the wild, only a few thousand left, and range from Argyle through to Wyndham. Gorgeous little birds! I managed to get a couple of quick snaps on my phone camera. They're not great photos but they are evidence that I wasn't imagining things!!

Brucey/Lucy out for the evening!

About this time last year, a couple of the camp cleaning staff reported seeing a baby crocodile in the pond that surrounds the mess hall in the Village camp. For months, the Environmental department tried to spot him/her, but she always managed to hide when they were looking. Eventually its existance was confirmed via phone photos. Traps were set and the Enviro Reps spent weeks trying to net her but to no avail. After much discussion (and the loss of most of the Koi from the pond), it was decided that she could stay and the loss of the non-native fish was a small price to pay.

When first seen, she/he was less than 12 months of age and no-one could work out how a tiny baby croc had made its way from the nearest known croc habitat over 40km away, over arid semi-desert land, into our camp but it was thought it might have come in via some water pipes. Now Brucey/Lucy is coming up for 2 years old and is about 2.5-3ft long. He/she is a fixture in the camp and comes out to sun herself most evenings on his/her favourite rock:

Crimson Finches at Breakfast

Today started out well for me. I found a spot for breakfast by the full-length windows in the dining hall, where I could see out onto the pond around the hall where a mated pair of Crimson Finches were building a nest under the eave. It was really cute and only about 2 feet away from me, so I could see everything!

They were really sexist too, hehehe. The male was doing all the heavy fetching and carrying, while the female sat in the nest and faffed about arranging the bits as he brought them to her. Every now and then, she’d chuck a bit over the side and he’d fly off, circle around, come back to the nest and pick up the discarded bit and re-present it to her, as though he’d found a new one. You could just about see the thought processes going on:

“Stupid bloody woman! Nothing wrong with that bit! I’ll just give it back to her and the silly bint will never know the difference.”

It worked too!

(Note: I took these photos at the Village last year, not this morning at breakfast. The male is all crimson, while the female is crimson and brown.)