Birding targets for 2010

For 2009 my target was to increase my life list to 200+. It is currently sitting on 202 and will remain there unless something unusual appears locally...

For 2010 I am aiming to pass 250 - this should prove quite a challenge! A few of the target species are below:

• Common Pheasant and Indian Peafowl - going to have to take a day trip to Rottnest Island for these. Should also be able to pick up Rock Parrot and a wader or two hopefully as well.
• Noisy Scrub-bird/Western Bristlebird/Western Whipbird (a.k.a. the Big Three) - we are planning two trips to Cheynes Beach in 2010 so hopefully I can see these birds.
• White-browed Babbler (the first of many "inland from the metropolitan area" birds I want to see.
• Stubble Quail/Little Button-quail/Painted Button-quail - so far all quail apart from the Brown variety have eluded me.
• Cuckoos (generally). I have seen a few but should be seeing a lot more...
• Miscellaneous honeyeaters.

Please note that by targets I mean that I want to see and photograph these birds, not shoot them...

Grey-crowned Babbler

Bird number 202 on my life list is the Grey-crowned Babbler. I found a group of about 4 of them creating a ruckus amongst the trees on the edge of the Maitland River at Miaree Pool (near Karratha, WA, Australia). The name is descriptive on all counts.

It is worth noting that I have taken a bird off my list. The more I talk to other birders the more I realise that the Mute Swans at Northam aren't really a free, breeding population anymore. Perhaps at some stage in the future they may be (again) but given that they are introduced I'm not too fussed.

BAWA Twitchathon 2009

The BirdsWA Twitchathon was held over the 12-13 December 2009.

I was a member of The Big Twits - other members were Martin Cake, John Graff and Alan Collins (all seriously good birders). I have learned a lot from these guys.

The event was a great experience - I added 12 species to my life list including (but not limited to):

• Little Penguin (swimming in the ocean, not at Penguin Island);
• Jacky Winter (Dryandra Forrest);
• Nankeen Night Heron (at Herdsman Lake).

We finished 3rd with 139 species in the 24 hour race. First place had 149 species, second place had 143 species.

New gadget/early Christmas present

I recently picked up my own Christmas present - a 3rd Generation 8GB iPod Touch. So far I have been very impressed. Current apps that I like are:

• BirdSight AU (pretty good, could do with some extra features like lumping/splitting);
• Convert Units (does the job well);
• Holy Bible;
• Mactracker (very good for a computer collector);
• TouchCalc;
• Sudoku (great apart from the fact that it tells you when you have placed a number incorrectly, which makes the game much easier than a paper version);
• To Do (basic To Do list manager);
• File lite (superb application that allows files to be stored on the iPod Touch and viewed).

All of the above are free (apart from BirdSight AU).

I also purchased a Belkin leather case and screen protector for it.

Bird #187

Bird number 187 on my life list is the Black-tailed Native-hen.

I saw a single bird at the Peninsula Ornamental Gardens in Maylands after a tipoff from the Birds WA sightings page. On two consecutive days I located the bird within 5 metres of the same spot. It seems to prefer foraging along the scrub/lawn edge where it can quickly duck for cover if disturbed.

Thanks to Peter Clifton for finding it!

More model train photos

Peco N gauge Shell/BP Petrol Tanker.



Graham Farish N gauge Class 47 (number 47635).

Mac mini Server

I think this is a really cool idea - a Mac mini with dual HDDs (no optical drive) and a copy of Snow Leopard Server. If only they had 2.5" HDDs bigger than 500GB.

I also think Apple should have dropped a few of the USB2.0 ports and added a second gigabit ethernet port (although that would have required a motherboard change, the second HDD just requires the internal adapter and case to be modified).

Still - very cool. If I only had the spare cash...

The Burrup again...

I really like this photo - I took it while on the Painted Finch and Rock Art "expedition" I mentioned earlier.

Formatting drives in 2.5 inch external enclosures

I have a somewhat generic BlueEye O2 USB2.0/FW400 2.5" external drive enclosure. I was recently trying to format some older laptop drives (2.5" PATA) and discovered that the "erase" and "partition" options in Disk Utility (Mac OS X 10.5.5 version) always fail when I was connecting using USB but work fine when connecting using FireWire. The error message is along the lines of I/O error or something. I'm sure glad my MacBook has FireWire...

I wonder whether this is a limitation of the BlueEye chipset or the Disk Utility software. I really should upgrade 10.5.5 to 10.5.8 too...

Oh my!

It's October already?

Nothing much happening besides work really...

Burrup Peninsula, Dampier, Western Australia

Took this photo when I went looking for Aboriginal rock art and Painted Finches.  Didn't find any Painted Finches but saw and photographed some impressive rock art.

Sigh...

From my office window I can see a pair of Australian Wood Ducks with a duckling in tow. They have been roaming around the park across the road for the past few days. What a nice life...

Updated (again) Planes to Karratha

• Fokker 100 (Alliance Airlines);
• Boeing 737-400;
• British Aerospace 146;
• Boeing 717-200;
• Embraer E-Jets E-190 (Virgin Blue).

The Embraer E-Jets E-190 is the latest addition to the list...

A bit of an update

It has been a while since I have blogged anything so here is a bit of an update:

• Work has been insane (both in terms of difficulty and work load) recently, so much for the downturn (I guess that is a good thing for me);
• Went on my second pelagic bird watching trip (both have been off Hillarys in Western Australia), added two new birds to my life list but felt quite seasick...
• The model trains have been going well - starting to clean up sections of ugly wiring, fix dodgy sections of track etc.  Adding bits and pieces to the collection (most of it second hand).  Starting to work on the scenery a bit too.

Yellow-nosed Albatross (Diomedea (Thalassarche) chlororhynchos, race bassi).

SBS Ashes Coverage

I have been really enjoying the SBS Ashes coverage (although I have been only watching the first few hours of each day).  The three Australian hosts have been entertaining and the Sky commentators in Wales have been excellent.

The only unusual aspect of the SBS coverage has been the advertisement breaks.  Each one starts with a glimpse of one ad followed by a completely different ad played in full.  Has anyone else noticed this?  Is the first ad a mistake?  Or is it a new subliminal advertising scheme because enough of the first ad is shown for you to know what it is?

You've got to love the Newton community...

Check this link out - the Apple Newton fights on!

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/06/impending-newton-y2k10-apocalypse-narrowly-averted.ars

I really need to get my Newton 2100 out and apply the patch - I now have my PowerMac 7500 set up as a dock for the Newton(s).

Late afternoon at the Zig-Zag

Kalamunda, WA, Australia.

Awesome birding at Flynn Road

I spent Saturday morning bird-watching with the BAWA crew at Flynn Road (The Lakes).  I added seven birds to my life list, taking the total to 184.  Here are the new additions:

• Elegant Parrot (Neophema elegans);
• Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus);
• Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus ornatus);
• Crested (Western) Shrike-tit (Falcunculus leucogaster);
• Restless Flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta);
• Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera);
• Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata).

It rained on and off for most of the morning but it was definitely worth it.  While we could only locate a female Hooded Robin, close examination of the photographs confirmed it's identity.  This means I have now seen all five robins that frequent the south-west of Australia.  The Crested Shrike-tit and the Restless Flycatcher were seen in close proximity near the spot we stopped for morning tea.  With the assistance of Steve I located a group of Varied Sittellas working the bark of a tree over and got some very good views (and some photos that, while not brilliant, confirm the identity).

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites basalis, Karratha, WA, Australia).

New to the list

Over the last week or so I have added three new birds to my life-list:

• Rufous Treecreeper (Climacteris rufa) - seen on the Wungong/Bungendore BirdsWA walk - thanks to those who found it;
• Western Thornbill (Acanthiza inornata) - I have seen these before but I can now reliably identify them thanks to John Graff;
• Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites basalis) - I found a single bird on the beach at Karratha - it was either exhausted or hiding from birds of prey as it was content to let me approach quite close.

This take the life list to 177 - my aim is to pass 200 by the end of the year.

Track layout complete (for the time being)

After many hours of tinkering the track layout of my N-gauge model railway is complete.  The new sections aren't powered yet but a few hours with the soldering iron should sort that out.  I have also taken the opportunity to add some extra lighting.

The layout features:

• 11 turn outs (or points) - all are Peco electrofrog;
• 7 sidings (of varying lengths, 5 can be isolated to park locomotives);
• 3 tunnel mouths (1 double width, 2 single);
• 2 station platforms (may be more to come);
• 3 "loop" paths.

Package from Hattons

This is the package from Hattons. The order was placed on 01/05/2009, it was packed in the UK on 07/05/2009 and it arrived in Perth (Australia) on 12/05/2009. Everything was intact and exactly as I ordered. This was a test order to see how things went - I will be ordering some more significant stuff from them sometime soon.

Rain!

Finally, some rain. And not just a light shower...

Class 50

Class 50 (50004) Graham Farish (N gauge).

Dynamics of birding

I find it amusing how it will often take me a long time to find a particular bird for the first time, yet once I have found it I seem to find them everywhere. This has happened with:

• Australasian Pipits (saw my first near Dampier recently, have now seen them 2 minutes from the office in an area I had looked before);
  
• Western Spinebills (first seen in Pinnaroo a few years back, we now have a family of them frequenting the backyard);
• Australian Reed-Warblers (seen first on a BAWA walk, now I see them in the reeds everywhere);
• Brown Honeyeaters (for years I thought they were small Singing Honeyeaters);
  
• Common Greenshanks (seen first on a BAWA walk, now I see them all the time in Dampier).

I suspect that the same will happen with the Little Grassbird and a few other conspicuous absentees from my list.

Help name my layout

My N-gauge model train layout is progressing well.  I spent a few hours tonight wiring block switches and covering foam with plaster-of-paris strips for the tunnel section.  The layout is predominantly 1970s-1980s British diesel but also tends to have anything else that catches my eye...

I think the layout needs a name (most others around the place, especially those on the web, are named).  Therefore, if you are reading this (I think at least a few people read this?) and have a suggestion please comment.  Thanks!

Progress?

"Trying" to transfer the firmware off a NOE card using Modbus. This was going to take over 12 days...

A few new birds for the list

• Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), seen in the Dampier and Karratha area;
• Horsfield's Bushlark (Mirafra javanica), seen in the Dampier and Karratha area;
• Purple-crowned Lorikeet (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala), seen at both Gnowangerup and Wagin;

The list is now at 173 174.

Class 31

Class 31 (31421) Graham Farish (N gauge).

Class 08

Class 08 (13365) Graham Farish (N gauge).

A rather rambling update

It has been a while since I have posted here - so here goes:

• Added a few new birds to my life list - most notably a pair of Bush Stone-curlews (Burhinus grallarius) seen on the road to East Intercourse Island in Dampier in the middle of the night (I was on night shift, not going for a midnight twitch);
• Work on my British N Gauge model railway is progressing well (tunnels are under construction, some buildings have been added). The locomotive and rolling stock collection is growing also (I have three Graham Farish locomotives: a Class 08, a Class 31 and a Class 37);
• I seem to be continually adding Macs (in particular iMacs) to the collection - thanks Alex! Thankfully I have a shed...
  

Edit: Changed Beach Stone-curlew to Bush Stone-curlew after consultation with experts.

Western Wattlebird

Western Wattlebird (Anthochaera lunulate , Wireless Hill Park, WA, Australia). This bird is endemic to Western Australia.

Going with British Diesel

With the acquisition of a Graham Farish BR Class 37 Diesel (37035), I have made the decision to go with British Diesel on my N-gauge model railway.

There are a lot of reasons to go for American locomotives (reliability and availability being the biggest two) but for some reason I am attracted to the British locomotives.  At some point in the not-to-distant future I may add a shunter to my fleet (probably a Graham Farish one again).

As it turns out, my daughter Olivia (who loves playing trains) has taken a strong disliking to the Class 37 locomotive.  Kylie (my wife) thinks it looks like a slug...

(edit: Kylie claims she called it a caterpillar).

Decisions, decisions...

So, I now have a partially constructed N-gauge model railway.  It is now time to start considering what locomotives and rolling stock to run.  The question is: English or American?

I am leaning towards English (mainly diesel) at the moment.  I like the locomotives more and I can run small consists with some degree of realism (running an American diesel with three box cars just doesn't look right).  There are other prototypes out there (Japanese is one that comes to mind) but I don't have much knowledge and experience with them.

A quick tip found out the hard way: I'm sure it has uses but Flex-track is a real pain.  Set-track is much nicer to work with (just a little more expensive).

Thomsons Lake Crakes

Went to Thomsons Lake last week with Martin Cake for a bit of a look.
With Martin's expertise we saw all three of the common crakes for the area:

• Baillon's Crake (Porzana pusilla);
• Australian Spotted Crake (Porzana fluminea);
• Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis).

They were all seen in the typha at the southern end within a few metres of each other!
Also seen was a tiger snake and a feral fox (inside the perimeter fence at the northern end of the lake).

Red-eared Firetail

My first new sighting for the year!

Red-eared Firetail (Stagnopleura oculata) - a small group (about 4) seen at Lesmurdie Falls. I managed to take some photographs but they were for identification only.

Lesmurdie Falls is local to me now - the birding there is quite good. There is still a fair bit of water flowing and most of the (unburnt) vegetation is thick and green. Also seen:

• Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides);
• Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens);
• Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera).

New (to me) MacBook

I am now the proud owner of a 2.16GHz C2D MacBook (2GB RAM, 120GB HDD, SuperDrive).  I purchased it locally.  It is my first Intel Mac (and at the moment I have skipped the G5's completely).  I haven't used it for long enough to form an opinion but so far I am impressed.

Google Picasa for the Mac!

The good news is that it finally exists, albeit in beta form. (1)
The bad news is that it is for Intel Macs only. (2)

(1) Not a big problem really, after all Gmail is still in beta and that works fine.
(2) Mainly an issue because I don't have an Intel Mac.

Hot rod 7500

I have finally finished building (I think) my hot rod Power Mac 7500.  It has:

• 256MB of RAM (using 4 of the 8 slots in case I find some more 64MB sticks);
• An IBM 18GB SCSI disk;
• A PowerLogix PowerForce G3 350/175/512K G3 (Spartan) upgrade card running at 300MHz;
• A fairly generic USB 1.1 PCI card;
• An Apple Fast Ethernet 10/100 Base-T PCI card;
• An iXMicro Ultimate Rez Twin Turbo 128 PCI graphics card;
• An AppleVision 1710 Display.

Everything else (floppy and CD drive) is stock.  It runs Mac OS 8.6 like lightning.

Very Shallow Blue

I can now beat the chess program (Apple Chess) that ships with Mac OS X (as long as the computer is set to the easiest mode). I think it is time to start cranking it up a bit... Most of the time I can beat the computer using less than 40 moves. Sometimes it takes me up to 60 (which is not a good thing).

Also found this site - MacChess - Dedicated to chess on Mac.