Changing Seasons

The weather has certainly changed this week. We have had a constant drizzle for the last three or four days and the resulting temperatures have been much lower, peaks of no more than 26 or 27 and night time temps of 20 or lower. I suspect that once the rain has finished the temperatures will increase but not back to the levels of February - autumn / winter is well on its way.
In addition to the weather there have been some notable changes to the local bird life.
Two species in particular are around in greatly reduced numbers as the majority have headed off north to PNG for the winter.
Torresian Imperial Pigeon

is a common visitor to the northern parts of Australia. Historically flocks of tens of thousand could be seen migrating north across the Torres Straights to PNG for the winter. Numbers declined drastically as they were very heavily hunted to the point that there were probably only a few thousand migrating back to Australia to breed each year. As a result they were restricted to off shore islands and cays on the Reef, with adults coming to the mainland to feed each day. Over the last few decades their numbers have recovered and they are now a common site once again - in fact on the Low Islands to the north of us I think the peak count this summer was in excess of 30000 birds. They have also started to breed on the mainland again which is good. There are still some around, and a few will over winter here but instead of seeing groups of 40+ I now only see the odd single bird.
The other notable absentee is the Metallic Starling

This noisy colonial nester has been a common feature in the palm trees in the main car park at Smithfields shopping centre since we have been here. Now the car parks are silent and the stronger winds have blown many of the nests down. Up until about a fortnight ago they were probably more common than ever in Yorkeys as they used the trees along the high street to roost in, there were often a couple of thousand birds knocking around. In the last few days though there numbers have dropped and whilst some will probably over winter the majority have headed north.
On the plus side there has been an increase in the visibility of these beauties

we have always had the odd single knocking around but now these cockatoos are going around in gangs of up to 35 and very noisy they are to as Tish will attest to as they kept her awake when she was trying to sleep before a night shift!
The last couple of weeks we seem to have done nothing but entertain which has been great but not exactly photogenic.
Xanthe did go to an art course over the holidays. This one was I think looking at pop art in particular the style of Andy Warhol (never have understood the appeal of cans of soup....)
These are Xanthes efforts