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Red-eared Firetail at Lesmurdie Falls
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Sunrise in the Yilgarn
OWC Data Doubler
I have just installed an OWC Data Doubler kit in my 13″ MacBook Pro (the late 2011 model). It is a bracket that replaces the optical drive that ships with the MacBook Pro and allows you to install a second 2.5″ hard disk or SSD. In my case I have installed a 480GB SSD (KINGSTON SV300S37A480G Media) in the location of the original disk and moved the original disk to the Data Doubler. The boot disk is now the SSD; I intend to use the old disk as an internal backup drive.
The instructions are very good, all of the tools required are included and the kit itself is of a very high quality. I highly recommend the Data Doubler kit (and the idea of installing an SSD into a 4 year old MacBook Pro to give it a new lease on life).
2015 Birding Targets
Here is a list of the birds I am looking for in 2015 (in no particular order):
- Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus);
- Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii);
- Black-eared Cuckoo (Chalcites osculans);
- Gilbert’s Whistler (Pachycephala inornata);
- Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata);
- Inland Dotterel (Charadrius australis);
- Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus);
- Painted Button-quail (Turnix varius);
- Southern Scrub-robin (Drymodes brunneopygia);
- Sanderling (Calidris alba).
Edit: Added Sanderling…
Lifers per Year
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| 2012 included a trip to SE Queensland with Martin Cake. |
Juvenile Painted Finches
Photos of one of the recent Painted Finches (Emblema pictum) that have hatched and fledged in my aviary.
Lesmurdie Falls Birding
My local birding patch is Lesmurdie Falls – below is my current list. There are a few obvious holes (raptors in particular) so hopefully this will be added to in the near future.
- Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata)
- Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
- Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
- Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus)
- Australian Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius)
- Red-capped Parrot (Purpureicephalus spurius)
- Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis)
- Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens)
- White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)
- Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)
- Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta)
- New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
- White-cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)
- Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae)
- Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)
- Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica)
- Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus)
- Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen)
- Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
- Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
- Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
- White-breasted Robin (Eopsaltria georgiana)
- Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
- Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum)
- Red-eared Firetail (Stagonopleura oculata)
Finch Update 28-10-2014
- Unfortunately one of the three new Painted Finches mentioned in the previous post has died – causes unknown. The remaining two are doing well and the parents are apparently breeding again.
- After a number of failed attempts to keep a pair of Star Finches I have admitted defeat and sent my remaining male Star Finch to a finch keeper who has success in keeping the species. I think my aviaries may be too draughty?
- Following a successful breeding season I have moved the Gouldian Finch parents into the holding aviary for some rest and relaxation (or as much rest and relaxation as you can have with a group of young Gouldians and a flock of Zebra Finches).
Finch Update 02-10-2014
A fair bit has happened in the last few months (I have been particularly slack in updating this blog):
- The fawn Zebra Finches have bred, five young hatched and three have survived (goes to show that even a Zebra Finch with a busted wing can still father a healthy brood);
- The Gouldian Finches bred again, raising a single offspring (this is the fourth brood for the season);
- The Painted Finches have bred, 3 have hatched, have left the nest and are doing very well.
I am particularly happy with the Painted Finches – I did not think I had a chance getting them to breed in a mixed and somewhat hectic aviary.
Useful Mac OS X Software
Here is some software I use on my MacBook Pro and recommend. I have no commercial interests in any of them.
BBEdit (or it’s free cousin TextWrangler)
Available from Bare Bones Software or through the App Store. TextWrangler (a free “lite” version from the makers of BBEdit) probably fulfils my requirements but once I had the funds I purchased the full version. The best text editor I have used on any platform. I have been using this product since the days of Mac OS 7.1 on a PowerBook 150 (when BBEdit Lite was available as opposed to TextWrangler).
VLC
A media player available from VideoLAN. Plays just about any format I need.
PCalc
Simply the best calculator application out there (and available for iOS too). I used to use the “lite” version of PCalc on the aforementioned PowerBook 150 during my university engineering studies. Well worth the money.
VirtualBox
A free virtualisation platform (now available through Oracle). Worth a look if you need to run old software on old operating systems every now and then.