For those of us who are fortunate to be living at The Cape, the raucous noise and amusing antics of the Little Corella flock can keep one occupied for unlimited hours of entertainment. The flock of 100 or so birds has been prominent recently, moving about the estate between feeding grounds, taking over various houses under construction, just hanging about playing, flying out over the nearby Bass Strait (what is going on there?) before returning to start all over again. I spent a few minutes watching them play, feed and preen in the late afternoon recently and managed to capture some of their behaviours with the camera at reasonably close quarters.

The lovely little Black-fronted Dotterel has returned to The Cape, a bit later than usual. A pair have taken up residence in their normal spot along the central creek line—they move up and down the creek and among the waterholes but can also be seen on the grassy edges and mulched garden beds either side. These birds prefer open habitat so they can see any threats approaching, so after a chat with The Cape Development and Landscape team, modified plantings have occurred in the creek line to give them some more open areas rather than a wall of sedges and rushes. Many thanks to the team for modifying this part of the creek line habitat.

There is so much to love about spring time, in particular the emergence of new life, the next generations, the awakenings of nature from hibernation and the arrival of migratory birds. Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen the re-appearance of reptiles small and large, the variable orchestration of frog calls, plenty of nesting activity and new hatchings amongst our birds, along with glimpses of some long distance birds which have arrived from many miles away—some intra-continental and others inter-continental. And the diversity and numbers of invertebrates and important pollinators is on the rise in the gardens.