Dusty, Deep Orange Armageddon

Last night we had a thunderstorm around one in the morning. There was lots of lightning and thunder. We gratefully received 11 mm of rain from the storm.
Boy do we need rain! Please send more rain!
The wind that followed was frightening. My Granddad, who was a keen gardener all his life, used to say that August and September brings a couple of inches of rain and 12 inches of wind. It was a beautiful way of summarizing what the wind, during these months, does to the soil. Basically it robs the soil of 10 inches of rain.

I awoke this morning to a weird orange bright glowing light, instantly I remembered those lightning strikes and when I saw the deep Fanta orange light from the bathroom window I thought "FIRE". The sky was a deep orange in all directions. The sky was unusually bright from all the refracted light, the visibility was very poor but the air contained no smoke just dust. A deep low over South Australia has sucked up the dry top soil and covered all of NSW in red dust today. It feels a bit like Armageddon.
As the sun Rose higher the sky turned from orange to brown and every now and again the sun tried to gleam through the haze. It looked more like a moon then the sun.



The experience is common for those folk in SA but it is very rare to have such a deep dust storm in NSW. The kids thought it all was very strange. I wanted to curl up and stay in bed but work beckoned.

Driving into the city today was strange, usually our car sticks out being the only dust covered car. Similar to when you take a driving holiday into another state and you become aware of that all the other cars have different coloured number plates to your car. However our dusty car today was perfectly camouflaged amongst all the other red dusty cars making their way through the orange gloom.

Moonbows-Luna Rainbows

Last night our family was treated to an unexpected and very rare event.
We went outside around 6:50pm to see a huge Moonbow!

The Full Moon was about a fist diameter above the horizon in the eastern sky. On the opposite side of the sky (the western horizon) a beautiful Moonbow dominated the night sky.

Moonbows are also known as Luna Rainbows.
We live in a dark sky site, one which is particularly suited to doing amateur astronomy.
The Moonbow lasted for about 15 minutes.

Incredibly, due to our dark sky, we could see colours in the Moonbow, this is particularly rare as the sky has to be very dark and the light from the moon bright, all the conditions need to be just right for the light levels to be bright enough for us humans to see colour in a Moonbow.

Above the Moonbow was a grey echo, a second larger rainbow. This echo however wasn't colourful like the primary Moonbow.
The whole family marveled at the sight. I have been doing Amateur astronomy for many years and have never before witnessed a Moonbow, let alone one with colour.

Today I rang and spoke with Prof Fred Watson who is the Astronomer-in-Charge of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) on the ABC's local radio program he agreed with my description and said that the previous night was perfect for Luna Rainbows to occur. Fred has also seen a colourful Moonbow.

I didn't have a camera on a tripod if I did I might have been able to capture a picture of the Moonbow.

I have found a picture on the web. For a picture of a different Moonbow please see:


http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/bowim51.htm

It was wonderful to see such an event and see it as a Family. I guess the majority of people were glued to their TV sets and just missed another natural gem.

Wattle to warm your Heart

It's cold, damp and there just isn't enough sunlight hours. Welcome to winter, but there is always a surprise in store. The Great Australian Bush puts on a display to warm your heart and give hope that winter will pass.




Look at the brilliant display put on this morning by the first of the Wattle Trees.



I really love exactly this shade of yellow!

Lyre Bird Madness

Around this time of year the bird calls around Sunshine Valley Hut can become a little confusing.
I have been hearing shorten Yellow tailed Black Cockatoo calls in the middle of the night. I thought how strange I wonder what is going on, this is really unusual.

Then around a week ago as I was lying in bed, in that "in-between zone" of deep sleep and consciousness, I could hear the Currawongs call, then the Crimson Roselle's, then there was a King Parrot call, now a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo, a Wood Duck, a Gang-Gang Parrot, a Kookaburra, back to the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo call. Then I could hear the excited whip-whip-whip call that boarder on ultrasonic frequencies and everything made sense.

It is the lyre bird going through his list of calls to impress any would be mate.
Lyre birds are amazing mimics. It doesn't take long for them to copy all sorts of natural and man made sounds such as leaf blowers, car alarms and even chainsaws!

I kid you not. One of David Attenborough's "Life of Birds" BBC documentaries showed a Lyre Bird making car alarm, camera motor drive and chain saw calls.
see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y

I am very grateful that the Lyre birds at Sunshine Valley Hut don't do the chain saw or car alarm calls! I guess it is a compliment that the surroundings are still very much as they have always been and to this Lyre Bird the most common sounds are Native Bird calls to imitate.

I often wonder what it must be like for all the other species of birds to hear fragments of their own calls spliced in the song of the Lyre Bird?

Sunsets

I often take a break to witness a beautiful sunset. In just a few minutes the range of colour seen can be amazing. As the oranges turn pink and then purple I am often stunned.
I especially like it when you get sun rays along with some parts of the sky that are still crystal blue. Most often this occurs when some cloud is present.



I have snapped a few sunsets over the past few weeks.





Yesterday I noticed two Yellow Tail Black Cockatoo's sitting on the top branch of a tree outside our kitchen window. The whole family saw the two cockatoo's snuggle up to each other as the sun set.




The big birds just sat there until the very last of the days light. They continued just looking west and kept snuggling and preening each other.

Could it be that these great long lived birds also take time out to witness a great sunset?

Mornings

I have been getting up earlier in the mornings just as the sky begins to lighten.
I amuse myself by hanging out the washing so I can be outside as the birds visit.
It is really amazing how small some of the baby's little dresses and socks are.
The washing line soon becomes full of clothes which vary oh so much in scale.

On Tuesday morning as I opened the door a king parrot was sitting about 1.5m from our door. S/he was on guard duty watching over about 6 more that were on the lawn. While I was out there the following birds dropped by, king parrots, sulfur crested cockatoos, at least two sets of satin bower bird both male and female, two pairs of wood ducks, crimson rosella's. The magpies and currawongs stand on the veranda and sing until my youngest boy wakes up and rushes out there with the bird's morning offering of little cheese pieces.

The colony of around ten Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos is still missing. It has been weeks since we have heard from them.

The kookaburras burst into song once the sun hit the tall gums. We have a colony of gang-gang parrots which come up from the valley floor (where the bell birds are) in the morning and spend the entire day eating the flowers of a couple of gums.

A disturbed, crazy lyre bird then took off into the bush. They are very highly strung things.

After witnessing the day come to life I get my commuters coffee mug and pieces of fruit and then like a mad fool I leave my patch of heaven to go to work!
Well it pays the bills at least.

Pop pop pop! The sound of the bush

The many varieties of wattle continue their staggered display of brilliant yellow flowers.
The different ranges of yellows are always satisfying. Then there is the great nitrogen fixing ability of these plants quietly improving the soil and helping the bush recover after the inevitable bush fires.


There is another unusual treat for those who are patient, quite and enjoy being in the bush.
Around this time of year as we march onwards into summer the intensity of the Sun is really increasing in heat. The heat dries the Wattle seed pods and if you are lucky to be in the right spot, at the right time, the bush comes alive with high pitched popping sounds.
This is a very unusual experience!
To be standing alone in the bush and as the Sun comes out from behind a cloud you are surrounded by pops as the dried seed pods explosively spring open, flinging their precious cargo of seeds far and wide.
This is the second time in about eight years that I was lucky to witness this phenomenon.
It is another reward for those who take the time to slow down and enjoy the natural environment.

Where have they gone to?

Where have they gone to?
My beloved Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) have disappeared!
At Sunshine Valley Hut the colony of old Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos are treasured co-inhabitants.
A set of 8-10 live in the valley below our hut.
They keep track of my daily doings by visiting in the morning and again as twilight fades.
They usually announce their visit with slow characteristic keee-ooow calls followed by a low fly over with that unmistakable slow, heavily but graceful wing flap.
The birds live to at least 60 years with some resources stating up to a hundred years! When you live that long in Australia's extremes you have got to be intelligent and wise.
I have seen them training a new member to their colony recently a young bird most likely this year's offspring.

This week something has changed. They have gone.
I feel like I have been robbed!

I hope they have left to show the newest member some important places to learn, perhaps where different food may be found.
I hope and hope that they will be back soon to greet me each day, I miss them terribly.
If anyone knows if this disappearance behaviour is common please tell me.

More on black cockatoos at
http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/cockatoo.htm

When it rains

When it rains a magical transformation occurs at Sunshine Valley Hut.
The Lichens who reside on the many areas of exposed sandstone bust into life.
The Lichens inhabit a strange 2 dimensional world in the dry periods during dormancy. A little rain and they spring up like miniature 3 dimensional trees.
(I am attempting to photograph the before rain and after rain effect, it is harder then I thought. As soon as I am successful I will add the pics in here)
Lichens grow incredibly slowly perhaps 2mm per year! After all they eat rocks.
They are a member of the fungi kingdom and are composed of two organisms living together. A fungi provides the outer structure while the inner is composed of photosynthetic algae (or a cyanobacterium).
Lichens are killed by pollution and are great indicators that clean crisp air is present.
A great lichen resource can be found at
http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/lichenlist/NSW%20lichens.html
and a general one at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen

Another inhabitant who rests in hibernation during the dry to explode into frenzied activity is the many native land slugs (land molluscs).

OK I admit that not too many people have every used the terms "frenzied activity" and "slugs" in the same sentence. However add rain and these little beauties (Triboniophorus) are suddenly everywhere eating the leaf matter and the lichens on the sandstone.

Once the rain goes and the dry sets in the beautiful land slugs can only be found under rocks and other refuges. They resembling hard pieces of rubber. Safe in their hibernating state they awaiting the return of the rains when life can be resumed.