Greetings all, Well I visited Bronzewing Flora & Fauna Reserve again this week, as part of the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group’s ongoing monitoring program of malleefowl breeding in north-western Victoria. Bronzewing is 20km south of Ouyen, and over 80% of it was burnt in a fire in January 2014, including virtually the entirety of our monitoring site that has been monitored every year since 1990. In 2014 we were very excited to find 2 of the 96 mounds we have on GPS being used as breeding mounds – well down on previous years (our record is 32 from memory), but after the fire we had not expected any. And the good news is, the same 2 mounds are again active in the 2015-16 season. Moreover, the bush is regenerating well – from the number of golden pennants and burr daisies that have died off, I really wish I had been able to visit in October for the Spring flower show, instead of copping the heat of January. I was rather lax about keeping a bird list but the Jacky Winters were back in force, many wood-swallows seen overhead, and magpies, grey butcher-birds, mulga parrots, yellow-throated miners and willie wagtails well in evidence. And of course, Bronzewing and crested pigeons. Anyway, here are a few photos from this year: http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/rmacfarl/library/Uploads/Bronzewing%202016 %20January?sort=3 &page=1. You can also look at last year’s photos which I posted in my 2014 Bronzewing Diary: http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/rmacfarl/library/Uploads/Bronzewing%202014 ?sort=3 &page=1 (That post also led to this article in the Weekly Times, which has since led me to repeatedly claim, on dubious evidence, that I’m now a “published photographer” 
: http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/surprise-malleefowl-survivors -found-in-the-ashes-of-a-bushfire/story-fnkfnspy-1227112510053) My thanks to David, Alec and Sharon, Maria, Ted and my sons Lachlan and Archie, who helped complete the work under trying conditions… Cheers, Ross Macfarlane
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Curse you Photobucket http://tinyurl.com/BW201601 http://tinyurl.com/BW201410 http://tinyurl.com/BW201411 —–Original Message—– Ross Macfarlane (TPG) Sent: Wednesday, 6 January 2016 7:34 PM Greetings all, Well I visited Bronzewing Flora & Fauna Reserve again this week, as part of the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group’s ongoing monitoring program of malleefowl breeding in north-western Victoria. Bronzewing is 20km south of Ouyen, and over 80% of it was burnt in a fire in January 2014, including virtually the entirety of our monitoring site that has been monitored every year since 1990. In 2014 we were very excited to find 2 of the 96 mounds we have on GPS being used as breeding mounds – well down on previous years (our record is 32 from memory), but after the fire we had not expected any. And the good news is, the same 2 mounds are again active in the 2015-16 season. Moreover, the bush is regenerating well – from the number of golden pennants and burr daisies that have died off, I really wish I had been able to visit in October for the Spring flower show, instead of copping the heat of January. I was rather lax about keeping a bird list but the Jacky Winters were back in force, many wood-swallows seen overhead, and magpies, grey butcher-birds, mulga parrots, yellow-throated miners and willie wagtails well in evidence. And of course, Bronzewing and crested pigeons. Anyway, here are a few photos from this year: http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/rmacfarl/library/Uploads/Bronzewing%202016 %20January?sort=3 &page=1. You can also look at last year’s photos which I posted in my 2014 Bronzewing Diary: http://s1141.photobucket.com/user/rmacfarl/library/Uploads/Bronzewing%202014 ?sort=3 &page=1 (That post also led to this article in the Weekly Times, which has since led me to repeatedly claim, on dubious evidence, that I’m now a “published photographer” 
: http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/surprise-malleefowl-survivors My thanks to David, Alec and Sharon, Maria, Ted and my sons Lachlan and Archie, who helped complete the work under trying conditions… Cheers, Ross Macfarlane
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