Rainbow Bee-eaters are back

At exactly the same location as last year, I saw (and photographed) two Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus). I suspect they are nesting somewhere nearby. While they are fairly common it is still a highlight to see them.

Masters Mocha in West Perth

The most reliable source of Masters Mocha in West Perth is Joe's Cake Kitchen. If you are like me and are fairly dependent on this wonderful beverage this is worth knowing as other vendors in the area seem to have intermittent stock. Joe always seems to have a few in the fridge.

New Camera

Just purchased a new digital SLR camera - a Canon 350D (discounted due to the introduction of the 400D). I bundled it with the twin lens kit and a 2GB CF card. I purchased it from Plaza Cameras - highly recommended. Hopefully I will have some sample pictures here soon.

New baby

Our daughter, Olivia Louise, was born 27/09/2006.
For more details please email me.

Willie Wagtail

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys). Photographed at Craigie, W.A.

Recently...

• Went on a Birds WA walk through Pinnaroo Vallery Memorial Park - highlight was the Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens).


• Bought a 17" LCD monitor (analogue) - a ViewSonic VA702 with the silver casing. Very nice and means I can open documentation and sample code on one screen and Xcode on the other.


• Upgraded the RAM in Kylie's iMac DV+ (Sage) from 320MB to 512MB.


• Upgraded the RAM in the G3 Server from 256MB to 448MB (should be 512MB but half of one of the chips is not being detected correctly).

6 out of 10 of the Most Important Macs Ever

LowEndMac has an article (link) listing Adam Robert Guha's 10 most important Macs. A quick check reveals that I own 6 of the 10 (I don't have a 6100/60 but I do have three 6100/66s so I'm going to count that one). I think my collection is getting a tad out of hand...

My Birding Database

Over the last few months I have been tinkering with a MySQL/PHP/Apache "application" to keep track of bird sightings and to maintain a primitive life list. Over the weekend I got some of the basic functions going and added nearly 60 sightings. I have records going back 5 years or more still to go through but currently my life list stands at 48. These are only for birds seen in W.A. Not really that impressive but at least I can now keep track of what I see. All I need to do now is find a sensible way to back the databases up (and enter about 100 other sightings!).

Cheynes Beach and Waychinicup National Park bird list

Here is the list of birds seen during a recent holiday to Cheynes Beach Caravan Park (alas no Noisy Scrub-bird):

• Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)


• Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)


• Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus)


• Crested Tern (Sterna bergii)


• Brush Bronzewing (Phaps elegans)


• Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis)


• Red-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus elegans)


• White Cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris nigra)


• Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor)


• Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)


• New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)


• Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens)


• White-breasted Robin (Eopsaltria georgiana)


• White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)

Birds seen at Albany during the same trip:

• Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)


• Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus)


• Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)

Birds seen on the roadside whilst travelling:

• Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang, between Wagin and Katanning)

PowerBook 100 Update

I replaced the broken 40MB SCSI HDD in the PB100 with an 80MB drive from the busted up 165c. I installed Mac OS 7.1 and it runs quite nicely (I have 4MB of RAM). The screen has a few rows of missing pixels from the left hand side but nothing that inhibits use. One of the feet is broken but I have a second battery and the external floppy drive.

PowerBook 100

I also picked up a PowerBook 100 from eBay. The PB100 is very small and light (the floppy drive is external). All I have to do is replace the SCSI hard drive as it is hosed (I have a few spares).

Recent eBay purchase and question

An original Mac OS 7.6 CD. I intend to use it on the Quadra 950 mentioned earlier. If anyone knows the largest hard drive partition 7.6 will handle please email me.

More Kingfishers...

Saw a handful of Sacred Kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus) at the same location in Dampier as the previous post. They also seemed to shelter at the camp in bad weather.

Red-backed Kingfishers

Saw three Red-backed Kingfishers (Todirhamphus pyrrhopygia) at Dampier 20/01/2006. They appeared to be sheltering in the mining camp I am staying in while the cyclone passed.

Birds at Herdsman Lake (10/12/2005)

• Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)


• Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)


• Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)


• Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)


• Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)


• Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)


• Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)


• Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)


• Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)


• Welcome Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Recent Bird Sightings

In Karratha (23/12/2005):

• Bar-shouldered Dove (x4 down near the mangroves, Geopelia humeralis)


• Ruddy Turnstone (actually seen near boat ramps in Dampier, Arenaria interpres)


• White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)


• Brahminy Kite (feeding on dead kangaroo, Haliastur indus)

At Pinnaroo Vallery Memorial Park (27/12/2005):

• Hardhead (Aythya australis)

All of these are birds that I haven't seen before.