16.10.26
On the way to Diddams Close I saw a great egret north of the bridge at Lawson, so on the way back from shopping we went to see it.
Some red-browed finches landed right near us
And there was a reed warbler poking around too
16.10.26
We dropped in here on the way to shopping one day, so I didn't have my big lens. Stu had spotted these black-fronted dotterels there another day, and this time they were for me too.
Some swallows were nesting above the toilets and the two parents were feeding at least one chick
18.10.26
We went there for some photos for my 40 years project, so I didn't have my big lens. Did manage to get a few ok photos though.
Noisy miner
We waited here for ages to try and spot a crake. Yeah good luck with that.
White-faced heron
Purple swamphen
Black-faced cuckooshrike
Sunday. 18th. Cooked a pretty great slow cooker pork neck and Stu cooked a bunch of veggies.
Watched Professor T 5.6, where they totally left it open for another season. Watched some random thing on Muriel's Wedding on YouTube and went down a PJ Hogan rabbithole. I never knew Rachel Griffiths was in My Best Friend's Wedding (it was a pretty minor role) or that James Newton Howard did the music (he also did Peter Pan, also directed by PJ Hogan). Anyways I couldn't be bothered getting out the DVD for Muriel's Wedding, so put on My Best Friend's Wedding. I saw this a long time ago and never liked the premise then, and still don't now. Also recognised Paul Giamatti from his profile heh.
Monday. Not a very exciting day. Went and got our tax done. Found this spectacular moth outside the accountant's office! Apparently it's a Fallen bark looper.
These things make me smile every time I walk past them
Went for a bird walk after work and saw a plumed/intermediate egret which was pretty cool.
It was getting late so we may have gotten KFC on the way home. Watched some more of Aussie Birding Adventures (Stu got a trial of YouTube Premium).
Another moth.. apparently a Southern Old Lady moth
Tuesday. Had trouble getting to sleep and kept waking up hot. No notes for the rest of the day.
Wednesday. Okish sleep.
Ok day. Neil had a day cause when he patched the test servers stuff broke. So I took him to the pub. As you do. Also, strangely, stormyish rain came in from the south east! Such a weird direction for it to come from.
Watched a new Kenton video after a very light dinner.
Thursday. Bits and pieces day. Ok drinks. Two more Mills&Grills pizzas to tick off the menu - Margherita and King Prawn.
Friday. This morning I got an entry in the APOD feed (not the official feed, but a feed run by some dude who thought he could do a better job than NASA. Hint: he could. But that feed is pretty much dead now :( ) that didn't work so clicked through. OMFG APOD has completely redesigned their website!! This is the first time they've changed their website in like thirty years! Mostly photo stuff for the rest of the day. A small piece of leftover pizza for dinner.
Saturday.
Headed out to the club for a working bee. I gave most of the paths a blow job, wiped down the tables, completely cleaned the tea and coffee bench and cleaned out one of the fridges. Then we had a late lunch, and had a quick dip in the pool. Then home. Watched the Stargate movie from 1994. Completely bollocks but a bit of fun.
Sunday. Heard first koel of the day around 3am. Spent entirely too much time sorting out Lord Howe Island photos and itineraries.
19.10.26
Signed off work slightly early and we headed out to West Belconnen Pond where a plumed egret had been seen recently.
Welcome swallow
We walked from the car park up to the right angle bend where the cormorants usually hang out on the island opposite.
Little pied cormorant
Great cormorant
And there on the other side of the lake was the plumed egret!
Oh, and a white-faced heron.
Plumed egret and white-faced heron
Then a great egret flew across to join them.
Great egret
Great egret
It was handy seeing the two of the egrets together so you can see the difference in size.
Plumed egret (left) and great egret
Plumed egret (left) and great egret
Plumed egret (top) and great egret
So then we thought we'd walk all the way around to the other side of the lake. Because they would never fly away would they no no no.
Half an hour and several birds later..
Grey teals
Australasian grebe
Superb fairy wrens
Black-faced cuckooshrike
Of course when we got to the north west side, the egrets were over on the other side. Of course they were.
Eventually the plumed egret flew over to quite close to us which was super cool.
Eventually the great egret flew back over as well
Plumed egret (left) and great egret
Great egret and plumed egret (in flight)
So pretty cool, and a new bird for me.
Sunday. 11th.
Look at the trash I have to open my front door to...
Stu decided to cook for the week by ordering Dumpling Inn. Of course I ate way too much shredded beef. Whoops.
Watched some Jon Stewart and a two part birding video on Christmas Island.
Monday. Awake from ~4:20.
Mostly dealing with one of our mail servers which had a sad after a storage issue Sunday night. Leftover Dumpling Inn for dinner and Professor T 5.2.
Tuesday. Got a new water meter. Caught a dog. !! I was out inspecting the new water meter they installed this morning and this staffie came wandering by sniffing at everything. It wandered around the front yard a bit so I caught her. And called the owner, who lived around the corner. She came by pretty quickly and took her back.
My bougainvillea plant has about 6 flowers on it this year. Normally the entire bush is a riot of colour..
Have a couple of irises
Stu cooked a nice creamy mushroom pasta for dinner. Professor T 5.3.
Got a bit frustrated trying to figure out Jan Wegener's suggested settings for my camera. Tested them on the sunset but it kept not focussing where I wanted it. Like on the dirty window for a start.
Wednesday. Stu decided I should use up some of my excess flex to go bird watching. And test the new camera settings. So took the morning off and we headed out to the eastern side of Mount Ainslie reserve. He went out there the other day and saw some new birds, so took me to show me as well. And they were still there! A couple of painted honeyeaters. Along with at least four other birders also looking for them.
We came across this pretty impressive kangaroo skeleton. Intact! Big boy too. I reckon he probably got stuck in the fence and that's how he died. I was surprised he hadn't been ripped apart.
The firies were doing some training. Excuse the heat haze..
Stopped at the Scottish Restaurant on the way back to work. I had a Quarter Pounder. Which I really don't think I've ever actually had in my life! It was just like a cheeseburger. Only a little bigger. With sesame seeds. Although I don't remember getting a pickle!
Spent the afternoon fighting with the sick mail server and trying to sort some stuff for the SOC. Leftover Dumpling Inn for dinner. Professor T 5.4.
Thursday. More fighting with sick mail servers, think we got everything working properly in the end. Also a lot of contingency planning for the ongoing storage issues. Fairly quiet drinks. Mills and Grills for dinner. Professor T 5.5.
Friday. Dunno, mostly photo stuff I think. Kievs for dinner and some birding videos (YouTube sux all kind of donkey balls on a phone - you can't skip the ads without crashing the whole thing).
Then went and watched The Sheep Detectives at EB's. Very silly but lots of fun. I found this on IMDB: "When Hugh Jackman was first approached about the film, it was pitched as "Babe meets Knives Out"." .. which is funny because I literally said out loud it reminded me of both Babe and Knives Out at different points.
Saturday. Slept in! Til like 6:40.
If the currawongs don't steal them I might get some paver weed strawberries
Mostly photo stuff. Finished some frozen chicken fillets from the freezer and had them with potato and sweet potato. Watched USS Callister Into Infinity.
Sunday. Took forever to get to sleep - brain wouldn't shut up then got restless legs. Photo and Canberra photos day.
So the other day some woman knocked on my door, didn't wait, then when I came out asked if she could pick some lemons. I said sure. Her and her father then started to fill literal BOXES of lemons. I went out and said come on, a few is ok but boxes is not ok (I was thinking they were probably stealing them for their business or something). They were all very apologetic but I didn't buy it. So yesterday I went and picked all the low hanging fruit. 74 lemons. 10 of them I put out the front and 8 have gone. Will take some of the rest to work and juice the rest.
Did I mention the koels are back in town!? :)
Sunday. 4th. Cooked up some veggies to have with leftover pork, then MacGyver.
Monday. Took forever to get to sleep - epic restless legs. Photo and birdwatching day. I did try out Tidy Up the Arcane Library (20% off sale), but it really struggles on this computer as I don't have a fancy graphics card.
This was spicier than I expected - the Nashville McCrispy
Birdwatching at West Belconnen Pond today
Tuesday. Woke up super early. Stressed and out of sorts all day. Don't think I achieved much all day.
My last long fingernail is very long...
Also.. climbing roses!!
Stu cooked up some veggies to go with leftover pork, then we watched the second last MacGyver on the DVD, which seemed like it was the "last" episode as he essentially waved goodbye and thanked the audience.
Wednesday. Slept in! Til 6:27! Don't think I achieved much all day. Stu picked me up a bit early from work and we went up Percival Hill birdwatching.
There were So. Many. Kangaroos. !!
You can see why they call it Black Mountain..
Beeeeees!!!!!
Leftover yellow curry for dinner then we watched the last MacGyver on the DVD. Looking at IMDB it looks like they both first aired on the same night but apparently out of order (ie, the last one they aired was filmed before the "final" episode).
Thursday. Somewhat restless sleep. Fixed some stuff with Con's help. Lunch at Gianni's with Neil (avoiding the mall). This time we got the bruschetta (nice, but I preferred the garlic bread), and I got the calamari lunch special.
Fairly quiet drinks, Lachie came up which was nice. My friend was back.
Rheingold much?
Pizzas and started Professor T season 5.
Mills and Grills Peri peri chicken and Hawaiian
Friday. Somewhat restless sleep. The koels are back in town! When I first heard them here they reminded me of Sydney. Now they remind me more of Christmas. Went into see the Antarctica exhibition which wasn't too bad and didn't have toooo many feral kids (until near the end). Then drove around Canberra getting some 40 years (and other) photos.
Kievs and potato for dinner then USS Callister.
Saturday. Didn't sing happy birthday to the brother type person. Mostly photo stuff during the day.
Went for a little bird walk in the afternoon.
Finished the leftover pork and veggies for dinner. Then watched The Ballad of Wallis Island which was silly but sweet.
Had a sad looking at some of Mum's New Zealand photos from 2015 today.. she had perfect weather for almost the entire trip. Chances of me being so lucky? Slim to none. She also went on two helicopter rides, which would probably not be possible for us, not being part of a tour and all. Also found a bizarre error in some of my holiday masters from Europe 2016 - a dozen or so photos in the masters have somehow had their "date taken" time modified, so the renamed files are also wrong. And yet the resized masters are correct. Dunno how that could possibly have happened.
Sunday. Mostly just photo stuff for the morning. In the afternoon went over to Cypher for Wello's birthday (it's tradition!). I tried two tasting paddles, so eight (very small) beers :)
We won't even mention all of the new birds I missed out on seeing today that the sweetie saw but I missed out on...!!
Tonight I had another go at photographing Mercury. Yeah it was just a little blob.
Here's what Stellarium shows
But when I was looking at Stellarium I noticed Saturn had just risen and was near opposition!
How cool is this!? It's over a billion kilometres away! You can see the rings!!!!
I shoulda tried for Titan as well heh... Next time...
I was releasing a moth outside tonight and saw Venus just there. With a bright spot to its right. So I checked stellarium and it was in fact Mercury.
Excuse the powerlines I couldn't be stuffed going past the balcony.
Then zoomed right in..... how cool is this?!? Hi Venus!
This is what Stellarium thinks it should have looked like..
18.9.26
I didn't even know this place existed. I mean we drive past it all the time as it's right next to the Barton Highway. I've just never been there. Peeps have dug out their own mountain bike trails and jumps all through it. And there's birds too.
Kookaburra
White-winged chough
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
And the beautiful black cockatoos
