Glorious April

What a difference a month can make. As we move into winter SE Queensland hits perfect weather.  Dry warm days, cool and clear nights. It's times such as this when I could almost like living here! Of course its also the time when you can really get back into the garden, so I started with a fresh new garden bed.

As you are well aware, I have no topsoil on my acreage. If I want to plant anything I have to carve a hole in the rock with a mattock, add earth, water, plant and then hope for the best.  Fortunately our good friends Neil and Bobbi were having some work done at their place, on the top of Mt Tamborine, and this led them to having several tons of spare soil. Rich, red, nutricious, Mt Tamborine soil.  So, several trailer loads later I had the makings of a garden.  I'd bought a treated wood planter set that was mouldering away under some breeze blocks at the back of the local hardware store and away I went, and here's what I did.

Step 1.

Allow small dog to choose site.

 Step 2.

Mark off site using pegs and string to line up with house.

 Step 3.

Dig in planter so it's level and line with old bird seed sacks.

Step 4.

Use barrow loads of rich volcanic soil.

Step 5.

Half fill the planter with soil

Step 6.

Add layer of straw and fresh chook poo straight from the chicken coop.

Step 7.

Scatter 2 kg of Dynamic Lifter onto chook poo.

Step 8.

Cover with second layer of soil.

Step 9.

Fill planter to brim and level with rake.

Step 10.

Plant and immediately add sugar cane mulch around plantings, and add corner rods for anti bird netting.

Simple process and all done within an afternoon...a long afternoon as it took a hell of a lot of barrow loads of soil.

One of the joys of this time of year is the wildlife and here's a recent pair of visitors to the Holt, a Red-necked Wallaby and her joey.

Joey's head just poking out of pouch.

Checking around

Time to get out?

Out and time for fun!

And he's away!

but stays close in case of danger

A real delight to watch, but on with the birds...

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Brown Honeyeater
Bush Turkey
Galah
Mallard Duck
Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Duck just digging the rays...

Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Double-barred Finch
Eastern Whipbird
Grey Fantail
Laughing Kookaburra
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Butcherbird
Rainbow Bee Eater
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times a month)

Blue-cheeked Honeyeater
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Bushhen

Bush Hen hunting.

Collared Sparrowhawk
Eastern Spinebill
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike Thrush
Intermediate Egret

Intermediate Egret hunting

Gotcha!

King Parrot
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Black Cormorant
Magpie Lark
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Rufous Whistler
Spangled Drongo
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

 Rare (Only seen once in the month)

Eastern Yellow Robin
Forest Kingfisher
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Friarbird
Mistletoe Bird
Scarlet-backed Fairy Wren
Scarlet Honeyeater
Straw-necked Ibis
Variated Fairy Wren
Weebill
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

Willy Wagtail
Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Which, by my sums, is 57 species, and the numbers are climbing.  Several of those birds included as uncommon or rare, such as the Eastern Spinebill and the various Honeyeaters, will really start appearing more regularly now that the dry weather has come and the grevilleas are picking up steam.

Before I go here's some pics of a Jabiru.  I didn't see it on our dams, but about a mile down the road on a nearby farm dam.  I did offer it an invite, but it ignored me.  they aren't common around here and it was a real treat to see one.

Jabiru on a dam

Otherwise know as the Black-necked Stork

Coming in at around 1.25m tall it's one big bird. Another name is the Policeman Bird!

And that wraps it up for April.

March and the weather begins to turn.

March was a month of two halves, split by a business trip to Singapore from the 11th - 17th.  Before the trip it was still very wet and in the first week we were flooded in again.  It rained every day until we left, but by the time we came back the rains appeared to have broken and apart from a couple of tropical downpours later in the month things began to dry out. It was still very humid and several nights we had showers, but at last we could see winter on its way.

The Lap Swamp is full...very full!

The water tanks were filled, the dams overflowing and the ground largely sodden, but the plants were beginning to spurt.  In the infrequent dry moments I tried to get a bit of trimming in with the brush cutter, but nature was in a vigorous mood and at best I could only slow the spurts of weeds.  Still, the ducks liked it!

Pacific Black Duck having a wash

In the southern hemisphere March is in the Autumn and this is a time when a lot of the native beasties are mating in preparation for the drier Winter months to come.  It's most obvious with the ducks, but from past experience I know that in the next few months we will begin to see a lot of juvenile birds appearing and some of the wallabies will be carrying joeys.

In the chook pen all has been well, despite an ongoing war between Susanne and Pierre le Coq.  Salmon Faverolles are supposed to be gentle to the point of timidity, but Pierre obviously didn't read his instruction manual and regularly has a go at us.  He seems to like chancing it with Susanne, especially when her back is turned.  This demonstrates what a pea-brain the bird is as Susanne will retaliate with the wellie boot and if she catches him will bury his face in the mud and give him a good seeing to, whereas I largely ignore him. The Salmon Faverolle chicks are now pullets and growing well.  Susanne has got them to sit on her lap when she gives them treats, grated cheese being a favourite.

Mothering the hens or Mother Hen?

Next month we will be moving some of the cross breeds on as make space for more Faverolles, but at them moment the coops are rather crowded at night as we currently have 19 chooks in coops designed for twelve.

And onto the birds....

Regulars (Seen at least x5 per week)

Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie with his eye on the dog food!

Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing

Male Bronzewing

Galah
Noisy Miner
Peaceful Dove
Rainbow Lorikeet
Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Currawong
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Bush Turkey
Double-barred Finch
Eastern Whipbird
Forest Kingfisher
Grey Butcherbird

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Magpie Lark
Mallard Duck
Noisy Friarbird
Rainbow Bee Eater
Spangled Drongo

A trio of Spangled Drongos

Spotted Turtle Dove
Striated Pardalote
Torresian Crow
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen 2-5 times a month)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Falcon
Golden Whistler

Female Golden Whistler

Leaden Flycatcher
Lewins Honeyeater
Plumed Whistling Duck
Scaly Breasted Lorikeet
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (only seen once during the month)

Blue-cheeked Honeyeater
Bush Hen

Bush Hen

Collared Sparrowhawk
Glossy Black Cockatoo
Little Black Cormorant
Little Friarbird
Rufous Fantail
Scarlet-backed Fairy Wren
Variated Fairy Wren
Varied Sitella
White-throated Honeyeater
Willy Wagtail

Which makes 52 species and the numbers are starting to climb as we head towards winter. And that's all for now.  April update coming soon.

Drip. drip, drip....

At the end of January we were hit with remnants of Cyclone Oswald and had the four day power outage making life pretty grim.  Well we got the power back and the cyclonic winds faded away, but the rain kept coming.  It may have varied in intensity, but it hasn't stopped and the weather experts are talking about records being broken and at one point receiving a months worth of rain in 3-days.

Rain on the back dam

And it's not been soft gentle showers...its pissed down! It rained every day in February and only the intensity varied.  There were some gaps between showers on 'drier' days, but all in all Australia continued to live up to its reputation for extremes. In November and December we were crying out for rain, well someone obviously heard us and pressed the on switch and it hasn't stopped since.  Our water tanks are overflowing and the intermittent creeks that are dry for most of the year are flowing well.

Waterfall at the top bridge

The Walking Stick Palms enjoy a drink.

And this was taken in a 'drier' moment

and it flows and it flows and it flows!

From the gardeners point of view there would appear to be little you can do, but it is important to keep an eye on things.  One problem is with shrubs that are growing at a bit of an angle.  What happens is the rain builds up on the leaves and the extra weight causes the shrub to lean over.  Eventually the weight of water reaches a point where it falls off and the shrub whips back up into its normal position; however, the process is now repeated and this can continue weakening the roots grip on the now sodden soil until eventually the shrub is pulled from the ground.  I lost one of my favourite Grevilleas to this process and since then have been quick to react with my pruning shears to cut any leaning shrubs back into a more upright shape that can better handle the weight of water.

The chooks have been growing fast, despite being somewhat soggy, but I have been busy cutting drainage channels around the coops to remove the worst of the water.  The channels have worked well, but there has still been a mud pool around the run.

Mucky runs

To keep them from the worst of it I've been keeping an eye on their bedding and changing the straw and sawdust more regularly, and so far we haven't had any problems.

The grey headed pullets at 11-weeks old with mums and the Partridge Wyndotte Bantams.

The Salmon Faverolles at 8-weeks old (Cock on the right)

Despite branches being broken from the trees and shrubs being pulled over most of the plants have done well and the woodland is very green.  In particular the Beehive Gingers have come into flower and are looking gorgeous.

Tall Red looking a little tatty

Beehive Ginger in flower

Green Beehive Gingers on left and Chocolate Beehive Gingers on right.

And so onto the birds....

Regulars (seen at least five times per week)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Bush Turkey
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
Magpie Lark
Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Ducks enjoying the rain

Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo with soggy seed.

Cocky, crest down and in flight,

Wood Duck

Common (seen at least twice a week)

Eastern Whipbird
Noisy Friarbird
Pale Headed Rosella
Spangled Drongo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (seen 2-3 times per month)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Dollarbird 
Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Laughing Kookaburra
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Little Pied Cormorant
Olive-backed Oriole
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (only seen once in the month)

Azure Kingfisher

Azure Kingfisher (last post incorrectly labelled as Sacred Kingfisher)

Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Collared Sparrowhawk
Eastern Spinebill
Figbird
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Sea Eagle
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Which comes to 48-species, which, considering the foul weather isn't that bad.

The rain is still going as I write this, but hopefully as we move into Autumn it will begin to dry out.

January and Cyclone Oswald

As is normal at this time of year the droughts of winter give way to the wet season and throughout the month we were getting some solid rain.  At first the ground sucked it in greedily, but as the month progressed the soil became sated and we began to start seeing surface water and run off.  The grass started showing signs of recovery and a couple of shrubs that I thought had died sprang back into life. By mid-month I was very pleased with the way things were going and I was preparing my tools to hold back the huge spurt of green growth that was beginning and then on the 28th we got hit by the remnants of Cyclone Oswald.  It has to be said that we were very lucky.  The top of Mount Tamborine was smashed by huge winds and lost thousands of trees.  We drove through a week later after the clear up had got into progress and there were large bonfire piles of wood almost every 50 metres alongside every road.  Our friends, Neil and Bobby had lost a beautiful mature Fig and had been struck by flooding as well.

Over the 36 hours of the deluge we got drenched and for the first time in our history at Pardalote Holt we were completely trapped.  Each wet season its quite normal for the old wooden bridge crossing Guanaba Creek to be flooded, but we've always been able to escape up the back route over Mount Tamborine.  Not this time, even that route was blocked by normally intermittant creeks flushing up to over a metre deep.  I've heard a number of claims to the amount of water that fell ranging from 750 cms to a metre, either way it was a deluge.  This isn't normally a problem to us, but this time there was a power outage that lasted 4-days.  We were loaned a generator by our neighbours, but it was so weak it couldn't really manage the fridge and so we lost most of our frozen food.  The biggest buggeration was water, silly really seeing we had so much of it around.  We rely on rainwater from the tanks and without power we can't get water to the house.  So, massive rain, high humidity and no toilets, no running water, no lights and no power. Bit of a pain really!  As soon as the waters fell a little I got Susanne out to stay with friends and I stayed to look after the animals. It was a great relief when the power finally came on again.

Overall we got off lightly.  We lost the contents of the fridge and two of my favourite Grevilleas had been pulled out of the ground by the sheer weight of water building up on their leaves, but otherwise all our menagerie survived.  And as a bonus a Nankeen Night Heron appeared on the dam on the morning of the big wet.

Our Salmon Faverolle chicks have gone from strength to strength and we've continued their daily walk in the pen, handling them as much as possible so that they get used to human contact.  With more feathers on we've now been able to sex them, two cocks and three hens.  Not the ideal grouping, but when you order them as eggs you take your choice.  Still, all five are doing well and we're really happy with them.

3 hens and two cock Faverolles enjoying a peck in the pen.

And on to the birds...

When I started this I was planning a 1-year survey and we've now completed that, but I enjoy it so I'll continue.  If you're really lucky I might be able to put some graphs together to cover the information from last year.

Regular (seen at least 5 times per week)

Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Bush Turkey
Double-barred Finch
Forest Kingfisher
Galah
Magpie Lark

Pacific Black Duck
Pale-headed Rosella
Peaceful Dove
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Wood Duck

Common (seen at least twice a week)

Dollar Bird
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Friarbird
Mallard Duck
Noisy Friarbird
Spangled Drongo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow

Uncommon (seen 2-3 times in the month)

Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Blue-faced Honeyeater

Immature Blue Faced Honeyeater (as it has a green face!)

Brown Honeyeater
Eastern Whipbird

Figbird
Grey Shrike Thrush
Little Pied Cormorant
Noisy Miner
Olive-backed Oriole
Pied Currawong
Scarlet-backed Fairy Wren
Spotted Turtle Dove
Variated fairy Wren
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Rare (seen once in the month)

Australian Ibis
King Parrot
Nankeen Night Heron
Rainbow Bee Eater
Rufous Whistler
Sacred Kingfisher

Sacred Kingfisher (taken from a long way away!)

Satin Flycatcher
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-throated Treecreeper
White-headed Pigeon

White-heade Pigeon

White-thoated Needle Tail Swift
Willie Wagtail

 Which makes 52-species despite the rain, including several completely new to the Holt.  Can't be bad!

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.

Even drier November

The November and December reports have been delayed, partly due to my laziness and partly due to Christmas and extreme weather events (Cyclone Oswald) so I apologise, but hopefully today I'll put things back on track.

This year (2012) Novemember was dry, really dry, following the theme set in October. The only gardening that I was able to do was a little tidying up.  Cutting the remains of the grass would just kill it off and it's pointless planting anything as I'd be forever watering it to keep it alive.  Some of my newer plants have already turned a crispy brown and will need replacing when the rains come.

Despite the dry there have been a lot of Cane Toads about, perhaps anticipating the wet season to come.  At night they seem attracted to the lights of the house, presumably because the lights attract insects.  The other frogs have been noticeably quiet on the dams.

Cane Toads under the Cumquats.

In the henhouse things have moved on after our tragedy in October.  Joy and Isha have shared their eggs and the result is our first hatching, six lovely little chicks.  They are cross breeds of course, mums are Silver Sussex and the father (Pierre Le Coq) a Salmon Faverolle, so we have no idea as to what they'll turn out like when fully grown.  The chicks are black like the Sussex, but some have the extra claw and feathered legs of the Faverolle so it will be interesting to see how they develop.

Joy taking care of two of the new arrivals

Mum and the chicks in the chick house

We ordered new Salmon Faverolle chicks, and they arrived at the end of the month.  Unfortunately the individual who sold us the brooder also supplied sawdust for the floor and this turned out to be unwashed sawdust and full of fine dust particles.  We discovered to our horror that the dust particles caused respiratory problems and within 10-days all of the new Faverolle chicks had died despite my best efforts to save them.  It was one of the most gut wrenching periods of my life, nursing the chicks almost hourly and watching another die each day.  The last in particular fought for so long to stay alive I was devastated when it finally died.  I suppose that if you are going to keep chooks you just have to toughen up and expect these things to happen, but it was sad nonetheless.  We ordered another brood from Cat the chook lady and have taken steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.

On to the birds of the month...


Regulars (seen at least x5 per week)

Bar-Shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Brush Turkey
Double-barred Finch
Galah
Magpie Lark
Mallard Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Immature Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow
Wood Duck
Yellow Faced Honeyeater


Common (at least twice a week)

Australian Magpie
Dollarbird
Forest Kingfisher

Forest Kingfisher

Laughing Kookaburra

Little Friarbird
Noisy Friarbird
Pale-headed Rosella
Spangled Drongo

Uncommon (seen 2-3 times in the month)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Eastern Whipbird
Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Olive Backed Oriole
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Scarlet-backed Fairy Wren
Spotted Turtle Dove
Variated Fairy Wren
White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (seen only once)

Australian Ibis
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Black Cormorant
Noisy Miner
Pied Butcherbird
Scarlet Honeyeater
Wedge-tailed Eagle

Wedge-tailed Eagle which I snapped from a Hot Air Balloon

White-breasted Treecreeper
White faced Heron

 Which is 46 species, not a great month in terms of variety, but still plenty of birds for me to enjoy watching.