Easter Croc..

Happy Easter - hope the weather is not too horrible with you!
We had a slightly early Easter this year, we had friends round on Saturday with their children so we had our Easter Egg hunt then. We gave each child a bucket and they had to search for their particular coloured egg - otherwise certain older children snaffle all the eggs! We did the hunt inside so the eggs didn't melt and despite the fact that the eggs were only hidden about 30 mins before the hunt we still missed a couple which we found this morning!
On Easter day its self we went next door in the morning as Alan suggested that today might be a good day to go Croc hunting as it was cooler over night and it would probably be out sunning itself. He was absolutely correct and we got distant views of a 2m croc on the far bank
Wheres Croccy....

Here he is...

Not very good pictures at all so we will be returning one morning and probably Monday night!

As is always the way when we are next door other subjects appear and today was no exception.
Tish got some stunning photos of the male Olive Backed Sunbird

We had slightly less luck with the Cairns Birdwing
Male

Female

To carry on the theme from the last blog we found this little visitor when we were tidying up last night..

Things that go bump in the night...well flutter really

I decided this week that I would put my moth trap out in the garden just to see what was around, having warned Alan and Jen that the strange light was not an attempt to lure the plane in from Cairns Airport.

I had not bought my traps over from the UK and so I just suspended the MV bulb over a blanket spread on the ground and waited to see what would arrive.
Despite it being a cloudless night with a full moon I guessed that over 40 species arrived during the 2 hours it was on - given that this is just a standard suburban garden I shudder to think what would appear if you trapped in the middle of the forest (there are apparently 22,000 species of moth in Australia with only 10,000 described - and no field guides!!)
The moths arrived thick and fast

I was only able to positively identify two species - one that I saw in Darwin and this one which does occur in the UK, a Crimson Speckled Footman

Of the others I managed to narrow a few down to family:
These are both Emeralds

This one is a Geometrid

These are I think Pyralids

This I have labelled as "Biggie" as it was a good two inches across

In addition to my targets there was a bewildering array of other flying insects. In amongst the numerous types of beetle (all small and unimpressive) there were several bugs that I would not like to even put in a group!
There were also several recognisable species as well, there were at least three different Antlions but none of them were stationary for long enough to let me take a picture. Others were more obliging such as...

Katydid type Grasshopper

Cicada

Stick Insect

and my favourite Praying Mantis

I will be getting the trap out again soon......

No crocs...

Yesterdays walk was unsuccessful from the point of view of finding our friendly local saltie but was still very enjoyable and had the added bonus of nice views of a Little Kingfisher.
Today I went up on to the Tablelands for a couple of hours this morning. My main target was White-Browed Robin but unfortunately the site I went too was occupied by a group of campers who looked shall we say slightly less than salubrious so I decided discretion was the better part of valour and went elsewhere.
I had a pleasant morning birding down the access track to Mareeba Wetlands with several year and State ticks.
Pale Headed Rosella

Red-Backed Fairywren

Tomorrow is the last day of term and Tish has just two more shifts and then we are all off for two weeks holiday!

Double-Eyed Fig Parrot

This morning before Tish's late shift we went into town so Tish could visit a friend who is currently in Hospital with back issues. I used the time to walk along the Esplanade to see if I could finally get a decent picture of a Mangrove Robin.
It was not to be I got my typical shot of this species..

it is sitting on one of the aerial roots..

...after about 30 mins of waiting for it to come closer all that was happening was the flies were starting to get interested in me so I moved off.
I then came across a small group of Fig Parrots and thought I would try my luck. These beauties are the size of House Sparrows, I see them almost daily at home and have managed a couple of reasonable shots but none that i was completely happy with.
Initially I thought that my luck was out as they seemed quite jumpy and the best I could do was this distant shot

They seemed to be not too unsettled so I managed to creep a bit closer

before they flew off! As I could still hear them calling I thought I would get closer to the tree they had been using and see if they would come to me.
A good plan as it turned out...

...as one of the birds came back straight away and seemed as interested in me as I was in it!

When I started to move off it went to the top of the stump and watched me go

They really are great little birds!
Some time this afternoon I am going to go for a walk with the kids to see if we can find the local croc - there is a 5 foot one in the series of pools along the edge of the Golf Course at the end of the road so we shall go and see if we can find it!

Busy Weekend Pt II - the main event...

Today was a certain persons birthday...

 

 we think it was Camerons but as Aunty Jo has suggested it could have been Dinky Darths...

Some pressies were instantly usable such as light sabers, others though took a bit longer before they were ready...

...three hours later this robotic T-rex was rampaging through the house!!
Tish was out at one of her colleagues Baby Shower this morning but when she was back we took some of the left overs from yesterday and a few extras to another colleagues apartment complex where there are numerous pools!
After some initial chillin

and trying out a few pools we eventually settled on this pool

The children snacked off and on until we then sat down for a mid afternoon lunch / tea when they all instantly lost interest in food until the cake arrived..

and once that was demolished they returned to the water...

We finally left after 5pm and got home with three soaked and very tired children, who after a brief Skype with Grandma, Molly and Poppet showered and collapsed in bed.
Its now 7pm and I'm off to do the same.................................