Northern Pintail

Northern Pintail (IMG_5545), originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Definitely the biggest sighting in my birding life - a female Northern Pintail at Erskine Lakes (near Mandurah, WA, Australia). Many thanks to John Graff for finding it on the day - we were there looking for a Royal Spoonbill. Apparently this bird is the third recorded Northern Pintail for Western Australia.

Apple 17" LCD Studio Display

Just scored a working and complete Apple 17" LCD/ADC Studio Display for the princely sum of $2.25. Currently paired with my Mac Cube and working very nicely. The Cube has the RAM maxed out at 1.5GB, making this quite a nice little setup.

Another rambling update...

Here's an insight into what I have been up to recently:

• Started basketball training again (with the intention to play a season on a team). I really need the exercise...
• Still tinkering with model trains. I'm in the process of re-doing a whole heap of track work I did earlier in the year (or late last year) that I'm not entirely happy with. Contemplated (briefly) a new, much larger N gauge layout but decided to continue with the one I have been working on. Still acquiring random trains/rolling stock/buildings and other miscellanea. Lots of fun.
• Not bird-watching/photographing anywhere near as much as I would like. Don't like my chances of reaching 250 species by the end of the year (currently sitting on 215).
• I have finally delved back into Mac programming. Just working on a simple project to start with but hopefully things will ramp up once I get familiar with it again. Seriously liking the new version of Xcode.
• Still working (probably too much). Got to pay the bills somehow. While the downturn means less project work it does mean we are putting together a lot more quotations and proposals.

Road Trip

A recent drive from Perth to Karratha yielded four new birds for my lifelist:

• White-eared Honeyeater (Lichenostomus leucotis);
• Little Crow (Corvus bennetti);
• Torresian Crow (Corvus orru);
• Mangrove Grey Fantail (Rhipidua phasiana).

Separating the two crows required a fair amount of preparation (as far as I can see they look identical). I had located some mp3s of the calls of both of these birds (and also the Australian Raven for good measure) and loaded them onto my iPod touch. This enabled me to compare the live call to a few typical calls on the iPod. Thankfully the crows cooperated and treated me to textbook renditions of their voices.

I did the drive to help my brother-in-law Wes get his car back up to Karratha (he works up there at the moment).


View Larger Map

Google Maps reports this trip as 1,547 kilometres. These four birds take the life list to 215.

Rottnest Island Birding Trip

On Saturday May 1st 2010 three of us (John Graff, Mark Newman and myself) headed to Fremantle to catch the ferry to Rottnest Island. We departed at 0730 and returned at 1645. The weather was overcast for most of the day. Our targets were the Rottnest specialties (Peafowl, Common Pheasant, Rock Parrot) as well as any waders or seabirds that happened to turn up.

We dipped out on Rock Parrot and Peafowl but had good sightings of both male and female Common Pheasant. We suspect that the Peafowl may have been culled out of existence (or any that are left are hiding really well). Given how common they used (and the fact that they stand out like a sore thumb) this is unusual. The following is my list for the day (Common Pheasant being my only lifer):

• Common Pheasant;
• Galah;
• Welcome Swallow;
• White-browed Scrubwren;
• Red-capped Robin;
• Silver Gull;
• Silvereye;
• Crested Tern;
• Pied Cormorant;
• Australian Raven;
• Australian Shelduck;
• Singing Honeyeater;
• Brown Skua;
• Laughing Dove;
• Spotted Dove;
• Eastern Osprey;
• Australian Pelican;
• Ruddy Turnstone;
• Australian Magpie;
• Caspian Tern;
• White-fronted Chat;
• Red-necked Stint;
• Black-winged Stilt;
• Grey Plover;
• Banded Lapwing;
• Pacific Black Duck;
• Grey Teal;
• Spotless Crake;
• Australian Pied Oystercatcher;
• Nankeen Kestrel;
• Red-necked Avocet;
• Australasian Gannet.

The Common Pheasant takes my list to 211 (bird 210 was a Wood Sandpiper that I photographed and needed a second opinion).

Red-capped Robin

IMG_5331, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii, Rottnest Island, WA, Australia).

Review of iPod Touch Software I Use

• BirdSight AU (Natural Guides, LLC) - the only app I have paid for, unfortunately it cannot handle any strings with apostrophes in it (ie. Thomson's Lake, a fairly basic bug in a database app I would of thought), otherwise this is a good app, would be better if there was a way to get all of the sightings out of it in one email (as opposed to one "observation" collection at a time);
• Files lite (Olive Toast) - does what it does perfectly, highly recommended, I am seriously considering buying the full version;
• Mactracker (Ian Page) - awesome, highly recommended, very slick interface;
• TouchCalc (Alexander Clauss) - very good, I use it regularly;
• To Do's (AustinBull Software) - basic ToDo app, does what it needs to do well;
• Sudoku (Mighty Mighty Good Games) - addictive;
• Solitaire (MobilityWare) - very good fun.

Upgrading to Snow Leopard

I have finally gotten around to updating the MacBook to Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6). Just running the Software Updates now (thank goodness we have decent broadband). I've still got to install some applications and copy across all my data but so far so good.

Also took the opportunity to upgrade the 120GB HDD to a 320GB HDD. Compared to the 12" G4 PowerBook HDD changeout procedure the process was trivial (take battery out, remove panel fixed with 3 screws, pull HDD sled out, replace disk, put everything back together). This future-proofs my MacBook for at least a few years (hopefully).

Birds #208 and #209

After the somewhat unsuccessful Cheynes Beach trip I had good birding day on Saturday picking up two new species:

• On the BAWA walk at Woodman Point we saw Arctic Jaegers (Stercorarius parasiticus) - thanks to the crew that ran this walk! The majority of the jaegers kept very high up but a few passed by at low altitudes offering great views.
• As the walk finished mid-morning I headed on to Herdsman Lake with John Graff and we located a pair of Red-kneed Dotterels (Erythrogonys cinctus). Thanks John!

I didn't get any photographs of these - too focused on getting a good view of them. I don't like my chances of hitting 250 by the end of 2010 (we are in April already) but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

Rainbow Bee-eater

IMG_5187, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus, Dampier, WA, Australia).

Recent (Apple) Purchases

No, I haven't gone and bought an iPad. They do look good though...

Just picked up a copy of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) and one of the wired (USB) Apple keyboards with a full number pad. I'm using the keyboard now and it is awesome. Very minimal yet almost impossibly sturdy. Snow Leopard will be installed on the MacBook when I get the chance. I'm going to do a full (format the disk) install so it could take a while to get everything up and running again.

A positive story about ISPs and Telcos

Recently we upgraded our Internet connection to TPG ADSL 2+. This was an effortless transaction with TPG providing good progress feedback and the required modem/router settings.

Our house has always had a very noisy telephone line (to the point of making it difficult to hear the other person in a conversation) so the ADSL connection had issues from the start. Connections would drop out after a few minutes and take multiple retries to re-connect (and then drop out anyway). The best connection we had would have been less than an hour in duration. Having inspected some of the internal telephone wiring in the house I wasn't convinced the problem was with the Telstra side of the wiring (Telstra provide our home telephone line).

At this point I was spending a fair amount of time away with work and didn't get a chance to look at the issue any further. TPG telephoned us (without me contacting them) and said that they had noticed the connection dropping out and suggested a few configuration changes. They also speed limited the connection in an attempt to increase uptime. Needless to say I was very impressed (I knew at this stage TPG were not at fault).

After talking to TPG I lodged a line quality complaint with Telstra. This was a bit of a gamble on my part as if the problem was on our side Telstra would charge a $405 callout fee and I would have to get an Austel electrician to look at the house (costing hundreds more). Telstra came out two days early (I was staggered at this) and fixed the fault in the line at the street a few houses down. The technician was very polite and everything was sorted in an hour or two. We now had a crystal clear phone line!

A quick email to TPG and a modem reboot removed the speed limit on the line and the ADSL hasn't dropped out since! Given the horror stories that circulate on the Internet regarding Internet service providers and telo-communications companies I thought it would be good to share a positive story.

Black-faced Woodswallow

IMG_4753, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus, Dampier, WA, Australia).

This is one of the first photographs I took with my "new" Sigma 170-500mm 5-6.3 APO DG lens. Needless to say I am very happy.

Beach Stone-curlew at Dampier

IMG_5000, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Beach Stone-curlew (Esacus neglectus, Dampier, WA, Australia). Now I have seen both the Bush and Beach Stone-curlews at Dampier - another lifer!

I have turned on the image verification security feature for the comments on this blog as I seem to be getting a fair amount of spam posts. At least someone is reading my blog I guess...

Brown Falcon at Miaree Pool

IMG_4933, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Brown Falcon (Falco berigora, Miaree Pool, WA, Australia). Another lifer for me!

Rocks near Miaree Pool, WA, Australia.

IMG_4614, originally uploaded by gjhmac.

Rocks near Miaree Pool, WA, Australia. There was a reasonably large rain front coming through too, hence the cloudy sky.

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).