Cosmic Strings

For those of my friends who are birders, here is the list of birds I saw in Australia in January. Almost all the birds on the list were lifers for me. Birds that were not lifers are marked with an *.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl
Australian Brush-turkey
Australian Pelican
Darter
Little Black Cormorant
Magpie Goose
Pacific Black Duck
Hardhead
Australian Wood Duck
Green Pygmy-goose
Buff-banded Rail
White-browed Crake
Bush-hen
Purple Swamphen
Dusky Moorhen
Great-billed Heron
Great Egret*
Striated Heron
Black Bittern
Australian White Ibis
Australian Bustard
Bar-tailed Godwit
Great Knot
Curlew Sandpiper
Masked Lapwing
Black-winged Stilt
Silver Gull
Black-shouldered Kite
Osprey*
Black Kite
Whistling Kite
White-bellied Sea-Eagle
Grey Goshawk
Brown Falcon
Australian Hobby
Nankeen Kestrel
Pied Imperial Pigeon
White-headed Pigeon
Rock Dove*
Brown Cookoo-Dove
Peaceful Dove
Bar-shouldered Dove
Emerald Dove
Crested Pigeon
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Galah
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Australian King-Parrot
Red-winged Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Pale-headed Rosella
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Pheasant Coucal
White-rumped Swiftlet
Azure Kingfisher
Little Kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Dollarbird
Forest Kingfisher
Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher
Noisy Pitta
White-throated Treecreeper
Superb Fairy-wren
Variegated Fairy-wren
Red-backed Fairy-wren
Atherton Scrubwren
Large-billed Scrubwren
White-throated Gerygone
Brown Gerygone
Large-billed Gerygone
Brown Thornbill
Red Wattlebird
Helmeted Friarbird
Little Friarbird
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Macleay’s Honeyeater
Noise Miner
Yellow-spotted Honeyeater
Graceful Honeyeater
Bridled Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Yellow Honeyeater
White-throated Honeyeater
White-cheeked Honeyeater
New Holland Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
Brown-backed Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill
Dusky Honeyeater
Grey-crowned Babbler
Eastern Yellow Robin
Grey Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Rufous Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Leaden Flycatcher
Shining Flycatcher
Spectacled Monarch
Magpie-lark
Spangled Drongo
Yellow Oriole
Australasian Figbird
Great Bowerbird
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
Varied Triller
White-breasted Woodswallow
Black Butcherbird
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Australian Raven
Welcome Swallow
House Sparrow*
Red-browed Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Olive-backed (Yellow-bellied) Sunbird
Mistletoebird
Metallic Starling
Common Myna*

122 total species, only 5 I had seen elsewhere. My life list for birds is now much longer!

It has been snowing for days here on Mt. Hamilton. Today, the ice, snow, and wind was too much for one of the black locust trees around my house and it fell. Unfortunately, my car was in the way.

I don’t think much damage was done to my car (probably some dents and scratches), but I won’t know until I can get help removing the tree. Since the snow probably won’t get plowed on Mt. Hamilton Rd. until this afternoon, I’m pretty much stuck at home (unless I ski to work…). Luckily, I don’t have to be anywhere today (I hope I’ll be able to get out tomorrow!).

I took a great vacation to Eastern Australia, visiting Sydney and the Blue Mountains, then North to Cairns and Daintree. The weather was hot, though otherwise very nice, with only occasional rain in the
Daintree rainforest. I’ve put a photo album of some of my best and interesting photos showing lots of the things I saw. I like nature and photographing wildlife seems to be my focus when traveling. In Australia you don’t usually see many mammals as they are mostly nocturnal. Same seems to be true for the amphibians. Thus, my photos are mostly of insects, arachnids, and birds as they are what you see most
during the day. Click on Australia2009 at right in the Travel links to see the photos.