The more things change…

Events of the past week sent me up the hill to the bush block to find some peace and quiet to ponder and try and make sense of it all. I had not been up there for a while. The need for reliable phone coverage and internet to sort out the current administrivia of my life had kept me in town for too long.

Even before I got out of the car I was greeted by an old friend. This male Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), pictured left, immediately appeared and took up the battle where he had left off months ago (it may not be the same one), attacking the old nemesis – his reflection in the car windscreen and rear view mirrors. The bird finally flew away when I realise that waiting in the car for the assault to finish might have me waiting a long time. So I got out.

In nest box at the side of the house I was greeted for the tenth consecutive year by an Australian Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus), pictured below. It was obviously still confused as it had again taken up residence in the ‘rosella’ nest-box. Meanwhile not 20m away were two ‘Owlet-nightjar’ nest-boxes that have sat vacant now for 11 years.

And in the bush the ‘acacia cycle’ was in full swing. There are eight acacia species on the property which flower in a specific sequence every year. The Cootamundra and Snake Wattle blooms were slowly fading, the Golden Wattle was in full flower and I know from past history which wattles will flower next and in what order. At ground level the appearance of Early Nancys signal the imminent arrival of the lilies. They are not called ‘early’ for nothing.

It seems that irrespective of how transient human affairs may seem to be, the predictable and reliable cycles of Mother Nature continue on. And there is a strange comfort in that.