Magic Happens

And so do little miracles. Yes - the Rower's camera body arrived today. So now he has his Canon 5D mark III ready to take to New Zealand with us on Friday. He is a happy little camper. And by default so am I, on account of I now get to keep my own camera all the time.

So late this afternoon we down to the lake at the Park. We've never visited there at this time of day before, so it was really interesting to see where the light fell, and how the colours looked.

I have another entry for the BlipBigYear - the Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) . It's another Australian native, a noisy gregarious little bird, very distinctive, and great fun to watch.

Mr. Wikipedia tells us Noisy Miners are gregarious and territorial; they forage, bathe, roost, breed and defend territory communally, forming colonies that can contain several hundred birds.

Each bird has an 'activity space' and birds with overlapping activity spaces form associations called 'coteries', the most stable units within the colony. The birds also form temporary flocks called 'coalitions' for specific activities such as mobbing a predator.

Group cohesion is facilitated not only by vocalizations, but also through ritualised displays which have been categorised as flight displays, postural displays, and facial displays. The Noisy Miner is a notably aggressive bird, and chasing, pecking, fighting, scolding, and mobbing occur throughout the day, targeted at both intruders and colony members.

More Yellow

It is our 19th wedding anniversary today, so we are heading off down to the pub for a meal.