December and the land begins to heal.

Mother nature is a wonderful thing and after all the damage caused by the hailstorm in November I was surprised to see just how quickly the land began to heal itself.  The first plants to recover were the lilies, presumably as all the young growth was below the water when the storm hit, and so despite them almost disappearing after the storm they were back in force within a week.

New growth appeared in all the trees, fuzzy clumps of new leaves sprouting from the gums softening their appearance.

One month after the storm and the recovery begins

The leaf cover was still sparse and so there was little shade and a lot of light that gave the land a very different feel to usual.  The Bush Turkeys and Koalas completely vanished, but in their place the lizards and snakes appeared in abundance.  Lace Monitors were regular visitors.  These Goannas are large, growing up to 1.5m long and will take chooks so I had to take special care to ensure they didn't get in the runs.  Obviously I didn't take enough care as one evening a Carpet Python got in with the pullets eating one and killing two others before I could rescue them.

I'm often asked, mostly be Australians, whether I enjoy the country. On the nature front the land hosts some beautiful and amazing wildlife, but this isn't a friendly country. It's a land of extreme weather, venomous beasties and a lot of predators.  It may not boast the large predators such as Lions and Bears, but the lizards and snakes, raptors and Dingos are in abundance. It's not a forgiving land for the gardener or chook breeder. I must admit that there are moments that I just want to throw my mattock away and give up, but then something happens and the world's alright again. In December it was something small, a Dusky Moorhen took up residence in the regrowing reed bed. They are common birds, seen on most of the local dams in numbers, but up until now we had never had one stay for more than a couple of days, but this little fellow seems to have settled.  As I write this, at the end of January, he's still pottering around the dam and seems content. I'm now hoping a female will turn up so that he'll have some company. Later in the month he was joined by a pair of Purple Swamphens, who have also stayed. Attractive birds with a very strange call, which is very difficult to describe. It's a bit like air escaping from an overfilled balloon combined with a plaintive screech, as I said, very difficult to describe.

As we've moved into summer we've had some very hot and humid days and a few noisy electric storms, but no big rains so the dams are low and the land dry.  After the fires from the previous month it can be a little nerve wracking!

These fires were close enough to be very visible at night.

If you go back to the previous picture of the land recovering, the hill burning in this case is the one almost dead centre and beyond the trees.

Canungra bushfires - just a few miles down the road.

Canungra bush fires - the hill goes up.

Hmmm! The green and pleasant land back home may be somewhat water logged at the moment, but it certainly has it's appeal.

Anyway, onto the birds before I have to start my next post.

Regulars (Seen at least five times each week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Dusky Moorhen

Our Dusky Moorhen

Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Magpie Lark

Magpie Lark sitting in the ever popular Silky Oak.

Noisy Friarbird
Olive-backed Oriole

Olive-backed Oriole

Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Ducks fighting over the bird seed.

Pale-headed Rosella
Peaceful Dove

Smaller Peaceful Dove shares a perch with a Bronzewing

Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Ducks just diggin' the rays.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Spangled Drongo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Wood Duck
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Channel-billed Cuckoo
Forest Kingfisher

Forest Kingfisher

Grey Shrike Thrush
Little Friarbird
Mallard Duck
Noisy Miner
Red-backed Fairy Wren
Spotted Turtle Dove
Willie Wagtail

 Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times in the month)

Cicadabird

The elusive Cicadabird

Eastern Whipbird
Figbird
King Parrot
Variegated Fairy Wren

Variegated Fairy Wren

White-necked Heron

White-necked Heron drifting away from the dam.

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-throated Honeyeater
White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen only once)

Black Kite
Blue-cheeked Honeyeater
Brown Treecreeper
Cattle Egret
Dollarbird
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Corella
Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant

Long-billed Corella
Nankeen Night Heron
Peregrine Falcon
Purple Swamphen

Purple Swamphen in the Feather Weed

Rainbow Beeeater
Rufous Whistler
Sacred Kingfisher
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Straw-necked Ibis
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-faced Heron
Yellow Spoonbill

Which, by my sums is 60 species compared to 46-sepcies last December, so although the hailstorm has changed things there's still a lot of birds coming through.  The big disappearance is the Bush Turkey and I'm just hoping that they'll return in the near future.