While Jenny has gone to Wodonga I've had a day in our home town of Hamilton and have enjoyed traveling through rural western Victoria and catching up with a nice selection of Aussie birds.
While we've been away most of Victoria has had record rainfall and most wetlands, swamps and lakes are now nearly full with winter still a month away. Many of these have been dry for years, some for decades. Our dry forests are now bursting with new growth and bird populations are sure to get a boost in the coming breeding season.
The farmland is also looking well-watered and late-April is when the countryside tends to look its best. Hamilton itself was a picture and the overall culture shock of suddenly being back in a rich, prosperous country with all the modern trappings was a bit overwhelming. Hopefully I will never take it all for granted again.
So although I'm missing my Plantain-eaters and Sunbirds it is great to wake up to Butcherbirds at my Dad's house in Melbourne and see Kookaburras and Currawongs in the forests, flocks of Cockatoos and Corellas along the highways and a host of diverse waterbirds on Lake Linlithgow - my favourite local wetland.
Here's a pic of the Meredith Forest Reserve (box and stringybark eucalyptus forest) and one of some Royal Spoonbills on the edge of Lake Buninjon.
Melbourne 1 May 2011
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