December and light relief

December arrived with the hope of rain.  Very hot and humid days with the thermometer hitting 39 degrees and the humidity up in the very high percentages suggested summer was coming on, but despite one good rain on the 7th December there was very little, and the one good rain just got sucked into the parched earth and then burnt off the following day.  More plants dying and still little I could do in the garden.

On December 13th our new clutch of five Salmon Faverolle chicks arrived, only one day old having been hatched in an incubator the day before.  After last months tragedy they were treated as if they were in high intensity care and no-one was allowed near them unless they had disenfected their hands.

Salmon Faverolle chicks

Largely they lived in the brooder in the garage, but on a couple of really hot days I moved the brooder into the library so that the air-conditioning could stop the chicks from overheating.  It was a very nervous time for me, but they survived and grew very quickly.  Before long we had made a seperate pen near the side door and each day we would give them an hour to frolick amongst the grass and weeds.  Susanne would mind them as I went off and caught grasshoppers for them to greedily munch on.

The hybrid Sussex/Faverolle chicks appeared to be doing well and Pierre Le Coq proved to be a proud and caring father providing them tidbits to munch on.  Unfortunately he also proved very protective and would attack both Susanne and I almost every time we entered the run.  The war between Pierre and I continues, but I'm beginning to get the upper hand.

What's this I spy?

Perhaps because of the long dry we found a lot more activity amongst the wild animal population.  Almost every night you could hear the deep bass groling of Koalas in the trees and the bird tables attracted a whole family of Brush-tailed Possums.

Mummy Possum

Baby Possum

Poppa Possum

Second baby Possum

And so, on to the birds....

Regulars (seen at least x5 per week)

Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Bush Turkey
Double-barred Finch
Galah
Mallard Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella
Peaceful Dove
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Wood Duck

Common (seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Honeyeater
Forest Kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Friarbird
Magpie Lark
Noisy Friarbird
Pied Currawong
Spangled Drongo
Spotted Turtle Dove

Uncommon (seen x2-x3 per month)

Dollarbird
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Little Black Cormorant
King Parrot

King Parrots in the Eucalypt

Olive-backed Oriole
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Ducks and the gang around one of the bird tables.

Scarlet-backed Fairy Wren
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Welcome Swallow
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (only seen once in the month)

Australian Magpie
Australian Raven
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Cattle Egret
Channel Billed Cuckoo
Little Pied Cormorant
Little Wattle Bird
Noisy Miner
Shining Bronze Cuckoo
White-necked Heron

White-necked Heron

Which is 46 species again...it's a quiet time of the year for birds, having said that I do look forward to the Plumed Whistling Ducks arriving.  They usually show around Xmas and this year it was no different with a group arriving on Boxing Day.