Our great southern migration

  This post will be mostly about our farm birds but also a bit about those idioms. It also rings true right now as I am starting a site visit for veterinary school accreditation. That is definitely part of the gate keeping process!  Gatekeepers have various repercussions, depending on the topic, but are generally considered to be a person or thing that controls access. This could be access to a place, a person, a resource or information. In that line, most of our birds are not truly gate keepers. The jacky-winters on the gate above are not restricting anyone. They are part of the robin family and seem very peaceable. Ditto for this scarlet robin female: However, the magpies below are a bit more threatening. If we go back to the social psychology roots of the term, Kurt Lewin used it study how social groups filter and manage choices. These three are definitely a social group.  As we head into spring in the southern hemisphere, we are now down to two magpies. Our best guess...

  Image from Bateman's Bay Boat Association We didn't take the camera and I honestly didn't even think of taking photos. We did spend time here (Hanging Rock boat ramp) though! We bought a tinnie off the previous owners when we bought this place. It came with a motor, trailer and old life-jackets and all. The motor is rated to go above 10 knots. In NSW, if you run your motor boat over 10 knots, you need a captains license.  So we did this thing and took a course to get our licenses. We spent Sunday learning the rules of the water in NSW (apparently there are no rules in the Northern Territory), trying out our driving skills and taking a quiz about the rules and right of ways. We both passed. The morning on the water was lovely. Our instructor was relaxed and knew just when we needed a bit more direction. We practiced figure 8s to retrieve our "man overboard" and tried going different speeds to get a feel of safe /not safe.  Loads of fun.  Our instructor ran two gr...