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:

mick said...

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

BirdingTas said...

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.

Duncan said...

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

BirdingTas said...

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

Denis Wilson said...

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

BirdingTas said...

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.

Snail said...

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

BirdingTas said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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.

Sim said...

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

BirdingTas said...

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!!

James said...

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