Very quiet up in the trees and on the ledge lately. We can almost certainly now state that our 3 youngsters, Byng, Ophir and Narrambla, have “left the building” and ventured forth on their own. No sign of the younglings for over a month now. We have been fortunate though to have been entertained by adults, Swift and Beau, who will stay with us right through the season (the macropus subspecies in Australia is non-migratory).
There’s a theory for why our 3 youngsters have all left us so early and it has to do with this amazingly average summer that Orange is going through. Apparently it’s the coolest summer on record and we haven’t had a day above 30degC (86degF) at all. With the odd week after New Year in very cold temperatures this may have thrown out the birds’ clocks and they’ve moved on early. No doubt Beau is happy as he’s not being pestered, and Swift has her ledge back without being attacked by the angry Ophir! Indeed Swift overnighted with us a few nights ago. Great to see her with us!
With all students now back on campus there’s a renewed interest in activities up the Concrete Hilton once more and the public screen in the Learning Commons area has drawn quite a few passersby.