Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Seasons Greetings

May You All Have a Safe & Merry Christmas
















The accompanying photographs of Dusky Woodswallows were taken at Mortimer Bay. It's not a venue that I have regularly visited in the past, but seeking an area close to home and easy walking, Mortimer Bay near Sandford, fitted the bill. It has proved to be a surprisingly good site, with a good range of species, and many of them breeding here. Recent sightings have included 2 pairs of breeding Satin Flycatchers (not a typical site), a Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo being fed by Superb Blue Wrens, and numerous Blue-winged Parrots. Other regulars have been Dusky, Scarlet and Flame Robins, Eastern and Green Rosellas, Common Bronzewing Pigeons (breeding), several pairs of Black-faced Cuckoo Shrikes, Black-headed, Yellow-throated, and New Holland Honeyeaters, and numerous Shining Bronze Cuckoos. I hope to publish some of the many shots taken here over the last few months, soon.


[ I seem to be slowly recovering from the after effects of the viral infection that laid me low. I have dubbed my present condition as "rampant lethargy", although I do suffer from a degree of lethargy on a good day!! Thank you to those well wishers who asked after my health, and apologies to those that I failed to reply to--they were nevertherless much appreciated. I hope to get back into the 'swing' soon]

13 comments:

  1. Great photos! Nice to have you back blogging. You have been missed. Season's Greetings too.

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  2. Hi Mick,
    Thanks for the nice thoughts. It is about time I got back into regular blogging, but it's been a bit of a mental struggle. Perhaps tomorrows gathering of my whole immediate family for the first time in many years (plus a lot of my friends) will fire me up again. If the anticipation is any guide, it should be a great day. I hope your festive season is equally good.

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  3. Yes, good to see you back on deck Alan, hope to see more of your great work in the New Year.

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  4. Thank you Duncan. I hope your Christmas is all you would wish it to be. At least I didn't stop taking images.

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  5. Hi Alan
    It seems Woodswallows are the birds of the Christmas season. Tony from Tyto has one on his blog, and a friend of mine has privately sent me images of a nestling too.
    Nice photos.
    Happy Christmas.
    Cheers
    Denis

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  6. A Happy Christmas to you too Denis. Locally, there seems to be more Dusky Woodswallows about than I've seen in recent years, and they're having a successful breeding season, so far. On this recent morning I took many shots, but the feeding process is so quick it's rather hit and miss as to results. I also watched (and photographed) a female Satin Flycatcher adding the last few pieces to her nest only a few metres from these woodswallows.

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  7. Merrt Christmas to you. Glad to hear you're getting over the dreaded lurgy.

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  8. Thank you Snail. My problem is now, I suspect, more of motivation than anything else. I still go birding, with a camera too of course, but subsequently blogging it, that's the problem!

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  9. Anonymous8:15 pm

    Glad to see you are recovering Alan, albeit slowly. Main thing is that it hasn't stopped you birding and taking photos - there's so much happening out there I'm finding it hard to settle down and do some 'real' work!

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  10. Anonymous10:46 pm

    Hi Alan,
    Glad to hear your 'quietness' of late is only temporary, and that the lack of blogging at least has some medical causes - there is hope then for a full recovery, and a return to sharing your images and posts with us. I hope you had a good get-together with family, and a great remainder of the holiday break.

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  11. Merry Christmas nice to see you back again, you've been missed, hope you keep getting better

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  12. Thank you Penny, John and Sim for your comments and best wishes, my Christmas was great.
    I do have a backlog of potential images/words that I could blog, my problem seems to be more of a lack of 'burning' desire to do so! For those who look mostly at images, I've continued to publish them on my pbase site. Just have to get my act together!!

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  13. Nice Photos! Glad your feeling up to posting again and am very much looking forward to you sharing more photos and observations.

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