Armchair Tick: Medium Egret

I got a Lifer! It is what birders call an ‘armchair tick’. It brings my Aussie total to 769 birds (720 on mainland AUS). So a week or so ago I had a Lifer Day. I ate pistachios whilst writing at my desk. I had my Lifer Pie treat later and it was quite a treat for me.

Alan Stringer's very good recording shot of Medium Egret. He took it as we were both looking at this individual.

At this writing, I am over 5 weeks into dropping some of the weight I picked up when I was on steroids for a while for my ear/hearing issues (still unresolved). Anyway, I had ballooned up and I am back to the strict, “smaller portions, wiser choices, and more active" that works for me. At this point, I have lost just over 6.5 kilos (about 15 pounds). I have at least 10 more kilos to lose. 

Back to the Lifer armchair tick, on 26 September the IOC (International Ornithological Congress) split the Intermediate Egret into 3 separate species. The African egret is now called, Yellow-billed Egret, the Australian bird is Plumed Egret and the Asian bird (often seen on Cocos and Christmas Islands) remains Intermediate Egret as it is the nominate race (although as taxonomists are prone to do, it seems they are giving it the blah name of ‘Medium’ Egret. Sounds like a soft drink at Maccas, or a clothing size. Regardless, tick! 

I went searching through what I justifiably refer to as the 'nightmare of Apple Photos' for a possible shot. I have heaps of Intermediate (now called, Plumed) Egret photos from years past on the mainland, so it was not a bird I bothered with photographing in the islands. However, this past December, I was in the bird hide with my friend Alan Stringer on West Island, Cocos and we saw an Intermediate Egret and he did get a decent photo. I eventually found a distant shot that I had and as poor a photo as it is, one can tell that it is the egret. I don't think there are any records of Eastern Great Egret on Cocos so with that neck it has to be the Medium. Here it is...

My accidental recording shot. As I said, you can tell that it is the Medium Egret.

Proper Lifer Pie, a small but much appreciated treat

I will also include a few random pics of Cocos just because I love it there and I am to return. 

Green Jungle Fowl out by where my Medium Egret shot was taken. They common but they truly are beautiful birds. 

This is Home Island in the Cocos/Keeling Islands. I love it out there.

Sending love as I do ❤️

A Seeker, A Sharer, A 'Collector'

As I have often touched on before, one the best parts of birding is where it leads you. I have been to so very many places and I have seen so much of Australia in pursuit of seeing birds. I love birds, but I am much more of a ‘twitcher’ than a birdwatcher. I am more interested in seeing new birds for my list than merely going out and looking at birds in general. 

    

Me and a Whale Shark Christmas Island on a birding trip. Yes I was led there by birds (photo by WIlliam Betts)

I am a seeker, a hunter/gatherer, a collector if you will. I like looking for stuff and hopefully finding it. I collected ukuleles in the late 1990’s and amassed a collection of over 200. I was a serious saltwater sportfisherman and was awarded thirty-some citations of achievement and awards, including a World Record. I have a beautiful shell collection currently stored at my son’s house. But I do intend to bring it home eventually. I reckon you get my point. I like finding stuff and to find stuff, you need to go out and look for it. 

  

I sold 98% of my collection before moving to Australia

A few of my shells and their display case.

This past January I travelled up to Far North Queensland (FNQ) to Cape York and the Kutini-Payamu National Park birding. I was with dear friends including my often travelling companion James Cornelious. I first met him through birding. You truly do meet the best people birding. I had gone up to FNQ specifically to look for the Papuan Pitta that is only found in Australia during the wet season. In the year that became a book, Lynn and I spent a week in Kutini-Payamu in October of 2015. Not the wet season, so we did not see the Pitta. Last January in the midst of the wet, for the first time in over six years, I returned to the Iron Range. I saw the Pitta, which was the reason for going up there, but of course we also saw other things. 

I wrote four blogs about that most excellent week (have a look they are right here for free). It really was wonderful and a part of what made it so wonderful were the snakes. I am not really a herper, but I do love seeing snakes. While it is impossible for me to choose a favourite bird, I do have a favourite snake. It’s the Green Tree Python. 

They are most often seen in the wet season and we saw a few of those emerald beauty-noodles. Baby ones are yellow and are considered more difficult to find. But my first Green Tree Python was a young, yellow one that Jasmine Zelený of Faunagrahic tours had found and shared with us. 

   

    

My Lifer Green Tree Python. It is a baby (thank you Jazz)

The rarest snake sighting of that trip was a Northern Death Adder that was shown to James and me by Doug Herrington of Birdwatching Tropical Australia. 

    

We also saw one of the world’s most venomous snakes, the Coastal Taipan. I took a couple of photos as I stood well back from it on the road. 

   

And there were a few Scrub Pythons around, the largest snake in Australia. They can reach lengths up to eight metres (26 feet)! They are very cool. 

So this post’s photos has been mosty snakes that I saw in Kutini-Payamu NP in January 2023. I do love it up there!

Sending love always ❤️
 

 

Thoughts On Age- Having Reached 70

I began writing this in the days coming up to my birthday. I am now going to finish it. I am seventy years of age. Seventy years old. Wow. I would say I did not see that coming, but that is just an expression. I did ‘see’ it coming. I have been watching as it came closer and closer like the rising tide, slowly and unstoppably. Time is a juggernaut. 

   

Older me about 2006 in a photoshoot. I moved but it still became the photo that was used on my tour posters

I have heard ad nauseam the well-meaning lie, “70 is not old.” Bullshit. At least for me, seventy IS old. No, it is not real old, but it is regular old. 

I see ageing in five stages: young, adult, older, old and lastly, real old.

Young me with my brother in 1956. Oddly, I remember that bathing suit.

Here are a few photos of the adult age me. I do not adult (the verb) well and never will, more about that to come.

    

I reckon I was about 30 here (I wear the exact same style aviator sunglasses today)

19 and in community college 

30's and drunk 24-7 living at the beach fishing and playing music

In my late teens with the ever present cigarette

Of course different people age differently and they may perceive the stages differently. There are some extremely ‘young’, fit, and healthy seventy year olds. I really am doing well in general, but I am no longer young, no, not by a long chalk. And please, please do not call me ‘young man,’ I hate that. It is akin to referring to an overweight person as ‘skinny.’ Just don’t do it.

I enjoyed my years of being ‘older.’ For me, that began at about fifty. Against all odds, I became a long distance runner in 2002 when I was 49 years old. I even completed a marathon in 2005 and I was still a smoker. I was quite good at being an older guy. It worked for me. I was fit for the first time in my life. I ran because I discovered that I loved running and I worked out because I enjoyed lifting. Without a doubt, I peaked in my 50s. I have said that I could have played Survivor in my 50s (and done very well). I rocked ‘older’. It was my best time. Here are some more photos of older me. I have lots of those.

   

My dear friend Vaughn who died just recently.

Richmond Marathon 2005

Two older guys, me and Ian in England in 2004

Now, I have made it to old. No I’m not real old yet, but I am regular old and I did not expect, nor plan, to get here. I do not believe that I will reach ‘real old.’ No way. My mileage has got to catch up with me. Forty plus years as a heavy smoker and twenty-some years of massive addiction to alcohol (and other assorted drugs at times) has got to have left a mark. Speaking of leaving a mark, I reckon my age shows. I certainly look at least seventy. Sort of like Gandalf and I am okay with that.

Last December on the very cusp of old

December 2019 getting damn close to old but a few years away

I saw a dermatologist in 2012 and she mentioned that my skin was older than I was. Like an idiot, back then, I thought that was kind of cool. I had lived an outdoor life and it showed. I was weather-beaten, rugged. I even made a joke and told her that my skin was older than I was because we were poor and my parents had gotten it used. Now I cannot believe how old some of my skin looks. It's wrinkly like crepe paper and is as thin as tissue paper. I might look rugged, but I bruise with the slightest bump or scrape. 

I know that I do not behave like a seventy year old (except for the naps, but I have taken those for years). In general I don’t even act like a ‘responsible’ adult. I would if I could but I can’t. ADHD see below. I am, to mention a few things, a hippie, leftwing, compassionate, obsessive, right-brained, creative, tattooed, birding, insecure, over-sensitive, depressed, anxious, nature loving, approval seeking person. And... I am insanely ADHD. I have learned so much about the effects that has on me. 

Yes indeed, I am what they call neurodivergent. That means I am someone whose brain processes information in a way that is not typical of most individuals. If I had only known. My god, what a difference it would have made for me in school. I am smart (IQ 143) but I had learning disabilities. Back then, I was just told that I was being lazy and that I was not working up to my potential. A lot more is known about ADHD now than even 20 years ago. Here are some internet images regarding it.

   

Emotional Dysregulation is a huge part of my ADHD. I never knew...

My neurodivergent brain has helped me to accomplish some extremely cool stuff. I was an excellent comedy and music performer. I could ad lib instantly. Yes, I am creative AF. I recorded three albums of original songs that are still being played. I am a published author of two books, but y’all know this stuff. Yes, I have benefitted from the creative side of ADHD, although the negative sides do tend to over-shadow the positives. This is not a world that is friendly or supportive to the creative brain. No, not if it was ever so.

Of course, I am very, very much 'right brained' 

Sending love as I do ❤️

Behind the Curtain in the Author's Brain

I did one of my presentations (i.e. talk, slideshow and book signing) Tuesday 11 July for Birdlife Ballarat. I loved it. They loved it. It was a delightful group. Doing one of these presentations is life affirming to me. I literally (correct use of the word) love doing them. After I have done one, I have about a day of validation/performance high. It is real. It is palpable. It’s a feeling of joy in my chest and brain. I do not have much of that in, or around, me anymore. But I do keep writing. Two books published and I have begun the third which is due out in 2025. We will see.

December 2022 Cocos Island. One of my happy places. It will be in the third book

The old man at his 'talk' for Birdlife Ballarat. I enjoyed those people (Photos by Warwick Remington)

Twenty years or so ago, I made a good living as a touring entertainer. I would have night, after night, after night of validation. The joy of performing and being appreciated rumbled through me after each show and fed my soul. Standing ovations and encores are as good as it gets for a brain like mine. 

Before the books there were the songs. They are still out there on YouTube and stuff. 

Yes, creating stuff and sharing it affects me physically. I can feel that joy. A Life Bird gives me that as well. I refer to it as Lifer High in my books and I have written about it a lot (and about Lifer Pie of course). I have written less about what I reckon could be called, ‘performance high’. Going for months at a time without doing any presentations or ‘performances’ if you will, causes me to drift further into the darkness. An isolating extrovert can be a danger to themselves.

Gouldian Finches from the first book

A Whale Shark and me off Christmas Island in the second book

I understand more about my ADHD brain now than I did even a couple of years ago. I know that I have what is called a neurodivergent brain and that it is physically wired differently than a neurotypical brain. My mental/emotional needs are different. I create and I physically need to create. But I can only create to share, therefore I need to share (duh). I am so grateful for these opportunities to connect with audiences who enjoy my words enough for me to share them. 

The above photos from Kutini-Payamu NP (the Iron Range) January 2023 and will be in the third book coming in 2025 I think.

There is a writer for “Ibis”, The International Journal of Avian Science who has reviewed both my books. I do not ‘know’ Jonathan T. Coleman but he knows me. I would love to shake his hand one day and thank him. He is the one who wrote the wonderful sentence, “The author captures the very essence of birdwatching in Australia”.  

I will close with his review from IBIS. I wish more people knew about my books.

RICHARDSON, R.B. More Australian Birding Tales. 368 pages, numerous colour photographs and maps, Oxford: John Beaufoy Publishing, 2022, paperback, AU $39.99 (£19.99 NHBS), ISBN:9781913679248

More Australian Birding Tales is a sequel to the author’s first book An Australian Birding Year. The style of writing is highly personable, easy to read and captivating for readers. This book describes the author’s continuing birding adventures around Australia as he progresses his Australian bird list to 759 species.

The book has a unique appeal to birdwatchers, travellers, and anyone curious about Australia and its birds. The author blends birdwatching, Australian culture and his own personal challenges into a compelling story line describing his journeys the length and breadth of Australia to see some of the most challenging and elusive species. The stark contrasts between populated and remote areas are also educational for any reader and a reminder of how remote and isolated it is possible to be when chasing certain species.

The book describes many well-known birding sites in the country and although not intended as such, does provide something of a guide for those wanting to see specific species and some of the challenges associated with them. His travels also extend to such locations as the Cocos islands and Christmas Island: several of Australia’s pelagic destinations also feature.

The author brings a very personal note to the book which makes it particularly special, describing his own personal challenges, friendships, good and bad experiences, and the sheer joy he has for birdwatching, weaving this all into a compelling narrative. There are lessons and messages here for everyone and the book with its combination of humour, fact and shared experiences truly has something for most audiences. The book is a wonderfully engaging read, complementing his first book, and providing yet more insights in Australia and its rich birdlife in an easy-to-read and informative manner.

Sending love as I do ❤️

The old man and a Bush Python across the road in Kutini-Payamu NP, January 2023 My god I love it up there. Thank god for memories...