December 2019 the end of a Decade

The big dry continued until the Christmas period when finally the heavens cracked and we started to get some rain (a few days after I'd paid $200 for a tanker load of water to be delivered!), but oddly enough it was before then, whilst the dams were at there lowest that we became home for a Nankeen Night Heron and we also attracted the attention of a Great Egret, both very rare visitors. I can only surmise that the dam's water, that were now very shallow and and full of green algae were forcing the fish to the surface and the birds were having a great feed; however, as I write this a month later the dams have been filled with  decent rains, the algae has gone and the Night Heron is still here, so who knows!

Nankeen Night Heron & Intermediate Egret

Intermediate Egret

Oi! stop eating my fish

Set up home in the Violet Thalia

OH don't get the hump

Great Egret (blue face) having a laugh

My demure little Nankeen Night Heron

Settling for the night

The long drought has been bad, certainly the driest that we have seen since building here all those years ago. A number of established shrubs and trees which I planted 10-years ago have died and at one point I though the back dam would dry completely. 

Of course, being summer we are back into Dragonfly season again...

Graphic Flutterer

Graphic Flutterer

Scarlet Percher

Yellow-striped Flutterer

Scarlet Percher

And back to the birds....

Regular (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove

Bar-shouldered Dove

Brown Honeyeater
Bush Turkey

Boris the Busk Chook

Cicadabird
Common Bronzewing
Common Koel
Dollarbird
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher

Forest Kingfisher

Galah
King Parrot

King Parrot

Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Nankeen Night Heron

Nankeen Night Heron

Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Ducks

Rainbow Lorikeet
Scarlet Honeyeater

Female Scarlet Honeyeater

Spangled Drongo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Channel-billed Cuckoo
Common Mynah
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Brown Goshawk
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Boobook
Figbird
Great Egret

Great Egret

Intermediate Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Friarbird
Magpie Lark
Pale-headed Rosella
Pheasant Coucal
Satin Flycatcher

Satin Flycatcher

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Buff-rumped Thornbill
Little Pied Cormorant
Pacific Baza
Rufous Whistler

Female Rufous Whistler

Scaly Breasted Lorikeet
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

And this months Australian mammal is from the back garden...

Red-necked Wallaby

Cleaning up the leftover bird feed