SOTS 2

State of the snow part 2. The whole Torlesse Range from the same place as yesterday. The clouds didn’t lift from the mountains until after lunch. By then the low winter sun was mostly behind the mountains. Best seen large

This time I had my camera ready so that I got a shot off before the heifers reached the fence. The paradise ducks were nowhere to be seen.

This morning there was slushy snow on the ground and big puddles everywhere, but later the sun broke through and brightened things up.

Birds. Apart from honey water for the waxeyes I have not been feeding the birds, but I was surprised to see several house sparrows perched around the bird table waiting to be fed. The snow must have jogged their memories of last winter. Also two bellbirds, at different times, came to see what was on offer. The female that has been wintering over here for several years did not return this season. I don’t know how long they live. Instead her range has been taken over by a young male. He checked me out by flying close around me one day and singing his claim on my garden. He has not discovered the honey water. Some time after he left today I heard a female’s song and looked out. She didn’t notice the honey water either, but took nectar from the nearby rosemary bush. The old female spent a lot of time at the honey water. If the container was empty she’d call to me through the window. When I went out to refill it she would wait in the tree about a metre above my head, and would fly down as soon as my back was turned.