April 22, 2005
Afternoon
Today was relatively quiet, but we did go for a short afternoon walk in the botanical garden near Vicky’s house. Not as grand as the garden in Sydney, but nice. Before our walk, we had lunch at Vicky and Mark’s church, where we did make one new friend – an enormous Cinnamon Huntsman that was clinging high up on the wall, right out in the open.
Before we arrived at the garden, we did have one other notable sighting: our first honest-to-goodness non-introduced wild Koala, sitting in a tree in someone’s front yard. SO COOL!
I enjoyed our walk through the gardens, where we saw a nice variety of birds including Eastern Rosella, Little Pied Cormorant, Dusky Moorhen, a Laughing Kookaburra, and Musk Lorikeet. We spotted a couple of Brown Rat near the lake, and a Macquarie’s Turtle swimming close to shore.
On the way home, I saw a few more birds, including some Eastern Galah, Eastern White-backed Magpie, and a new bird of prey: a Nankeen Kestrel!
Species List
Cinnamon Huntsman (Isopedella leai), Black-shouldered Lapwing (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae), Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa tenebrosa), Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius eximius), Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae novaeguineae), Little Raven (Corvus mellori), Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), Musk Lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna), Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus moluccanus), Eastern White-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica), Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata), Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos melanoleucos), Australasian Coot (Fulica atra australis), Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), Pacific Black Duck x Mallard (Anas superciliosa x platyrhynchos), Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena neoxena), Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata), Eastern Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla albiceps), Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus), Macquarie Turtle (Emydura macquarii), Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides cenchroides), Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla albiceps), Eastern White-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica), Sandrose Mallow (Anisodontea scabrosa), Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis)
Let me know what you think!