Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

Sorry that this is late (again), but I'm finding that the new job sculls up most of my spare time. Anyway, excuses out of the way, January...what can we say about January. Well it was hot, really hot. On New Years day we measured a temperature of 40 degrees in the shade, on the back deck, and mid-month we had another heatwave when the temperature hit 42 degrees.  To save the chickens from the heat I had to clear out a downstairs room, lay down some paint sheets and move all the vulnerable chickens inside and into the air conditioning. It saved the chickens, but the house had the smell of chicken poo circulating for a week afterwards.  It was not pleasant at all.  It was hot and humid, as one would expect in the Wet Season, but hardly any rain and the garden was struggling. In fact it didn't rain until mid-March, by which time my citrus trees had shed all their fruit and almost died.
When it comes down to it January was a bloody unpleasant month, and don't ask me about the electricity bill brought about by the entirely necessary use of the air conditioning.

Arthur the Garage Cock - avoiding the heat

Some of my younger pullets staying in the shade.

Emily is still going strong.

If it's hot, have a dirt bath to cool down.

Despite the heat, or perhaps because of the heat there seemed to be a lot of Koala activity and the cute and furry "Drop Bears' could be heard growling most nights.

Koalas abound

The heat, whilst unwelcome to the rest of us, proved very popular with the lizards and skinks were everywhere. The abundance of lizards proved very popular with birds such as the Laughing Kookaburras that were enjoying a feast.

A Skink slithers through the leaf litter

Another species of Skink

A Tawny Frogmouth (skink devourer)

A Red-necked Wallaby enjoying some Barbed Wire Vine...

They must have lips of steel!

and so to the birds...

Regular (seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Common Bronzewing

A male Common Bronzewing

Double-barred Finch
Galah

Portrait of a Galah

King Parrot

Mrs King Parrot drops by.

Noisy Friarbird
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck hoovering up the scraps from the feeders.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater on Violet Thalia

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (seen weekly)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Honeyeater
Cicadabird
Eastern Yellow Robin
Grey Shrike Thrush
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Olive-backed Oriole
Pied Currawong
Spangled Drongo

Spangled Drongo

Uncommon (seen occasionally)

Channel-billed Cuckoo

A Channel-billed Cuckoo winging past at dawn.

Forest Kingfisher
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Friarbird
Magpie Lark
Noisy Miner
Pale-headed Rosella

The ever shy Pale-headed Rosella

Pied Butcherbird
Scarlet Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail
White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (seen once)

Brown Thornbill

Brown Thornbill

Common Mynah
Dollarbird
Eastern Boobook
Little Pied Cormorant
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Variegated Fairy Wren

So, only 44-species, but taking into account that I was either at work or sheltering in the air-conditioning then I'm not really surprised.