Friday, November 29, 2024

30 November 2024 Brisbane: New Farm Market Week 2

 



The rain forecast dampened the attendance at the market. We saw a dramatic drop in the number of folks visiting and also a drop in the number of vendors.  Not a problem for us as we were able to navigate through the market much easier than last week.  In addition there were better deals to be had this week:  half price on assorted mushrooms and deals on both berries and yellow tomatoes.  Plus I was able to take dog pictures without folks blocking the shots.



The rain chances did not keep the birds away


Alfie was the cutest


He appeared to be overweight but it was just his fur.  It was super dense.


Willy Wagtail did not yield to my passing


Relaxed dogs in the dog park


Excited dogs in the dog park


Charlee the Frenchie


A chow


Very fancy in the vest


Cocker Spaniel


Strike a pose


One big Poodle


Two little poodles


Crested Pigeon


Very nice concrete work in the sidewalk





    It has been 2 years and 178 days since we began our Migration

29 November 2024 Brisbane: Mount Glorious


I tried to make some birding contacts via Bird Pals but the two that responded did not pan out. So I switched gears and put up a post on the FB Brisbane Birds group and got multiple responses.  Neal Maynard was one of the responders and he agreed to come and pick me up and travel to Mt. Glorious.  He reminded me to bring my raingear which was a good thing as we saw almost continuous drizzle and rain while up top.  Neal picked me up around 10:30 and it took an hour or so to get up to the mountain.  We walked behind the community center to find the local rifle bird's display branch.  Unfortunately it was not present but we saw a few other birds right off the bat.  The most striking birds were the immature satin bowerbird and the topknot pigeon.  We left the rifle bird spot for a while but returned later to see if he had returned.  We even played the call to see if that would spur his territorial behavior but no luck.  We got back in the car and headed a few miles down the road to Maiala D'Aguilar forest where there was a rainforest walkway.  Here we saw the bower of the satin bowerbird, some wallabies and a few more birds.  It started raining harder and so we walked on the rainforest trail for a bit.  Just a few more repeats bird wise but some very impressive, large trees.  Heavier rain sent us back to the car where we discovered a couple of hitchhikers.  Two leeches each had to be removed from our legs.  I got the first one off before it was able to bite but the second one was a bit messier.  Then it was back to Brisbane where Leslie had gone into town and bought a new phone.


The top of the mountain was shrouded in mist


Neal at the rifle bird's perch


Topknot Pigeon Lifebird #1


A funky red eye


Immature Satin Bowerbird Lifebird #2 with a lavender eye


The male was too fast to photograph but here is his bower


Most of the blue is made up of Lego blocks with a bottle cap and some chip packaging


The ubiquitous brush turkey


A water filled mushroom


A gray fantail Life bird #3


Cicada shells


Climbing the tree


Only to get eaten by a bird


Two Eastern Yellow Robins Lifebird #4


A very cute bird with a lovely song


Large Billed Scrubwren Lifebird #5


A cute little bird


Australian Rufous Fantail Lifebird #6


Lewins Honeyeater Lifebird #7


A wallaby! 


 A bit shy


Raining harder


Tall tall trees on the rainforest walkway


This would make a great cobra sculpture


On the other side of the mountain the rain stopped 


Very old wooden wheel


Rocks at the lookout



    It has been 2 years and 177 days since we began our Migration

27 November 2024 Brisbane: More New Town



After our 11K step yesterday more walking seemed very reasonable.  So it was time to explore the walkway to the east by Trafalgar.  This walkway was less frequented but had a nice breeze coming in from downriver.  We spent the afternoon trying to figure out Fiji.  Fiji Airways has canceled our flight from Fiji to New Caledonia next January.  We only discovered it by going into the website and double checking our flight.  Since these flights only go on certain days we are looking at another carrier and modifying the dates on our stays and the rental car.  Then another short walk along the river closer to sunset really brought out the birds.  



3 miles with a great breeze


A stroll in the neighborhood rewards the stroller with new houses to ogle 


So many spiders


Some grand places


A vintage Jaguar


Around another bend in the river


Watch out for snakes!


Free calls to Santa!


This sculpture is made of stone, is the car crying?


Just before Trafalgar there was an old building 


It used to be a refinery turning cane into sigar


Old pictures of the refinery


A willy wagtail!


Female pied butcherbird


Kookaburra! 


Australian Figbird


A Masked Lapwing with a chick


A whole line of Silver Gulls


Many larger boats dock up along this section of the river and use boats or kayaks as their dingys




   It has been 2 years and 175 days since we began our Migration