June 21, 22, 23 How nature cracks me up sometimes

This afternoon I was hearing repeated cracking in the garden.. was starting to get on my nerves!..At first I had assumed it was the kids playing with some annoying plastic toy but no.. they were innocent this time. Suddenly with a laugh I realised the cause of the strange noises. The 'beanpods' on the Bauhinia tree were drying out and cracking open! They do this quite explosively when they're ready. The pods start green, after a couple of weeks they turn hard and brown and suddenly one day, on a nice hot day like today they burst open and spray their seeds at quite a distance.

Just over 25 and falling tho some cicada in valley (warmer down there?) nw veering w 5-9 kt humidity over 45 % and rising

June 21 With the two boys from about 6 pm to 7 pm. Husband had been in town but joined us at the end.

Gazelles - no show

Turtle doves: plenty cooing from look-out corner, cypress by cistern and other locations in woods. Pair moving between the cypress, cistern and crossing gazelle field to north valley.

Bee-eaters: Several in grove and over south east corner of gazelle field.

Black -eared Wheatears: Several young wheatears around bunker

Great spotted cuckoo.. nice views between cistern, went in, and sat in pomegranate tree.. magnificent full plumage adult, nice to be able to show him to the boys.

House sparrows: Many busy around buildings and many parts of woods, gazelle field, small flock moving around bunkers and cistern area, Senegal doves: Around buildings. centre of forest on line. Hooded crows: gazelle field, east of woods, round about

Jackdaws: none

Jays: woods, cistern, gazelle field, Feral pigeons: neighbourhood, over buildings, still in bobbing and cooing mood.

Greenfinches: small flock between cistern, in cistern, in pine over cistern and flying to other pines where we saw youngsters demanding food from parents up in tree

Blackbirds: singing usual place north valley just down from buildings. Collared doves: pair by and around cistern

Sunbirds: Bauhinia as usual Graceful warblers: by valley road as usual. Syrian woodpeckers: calls and alarm calls

Fri June 22 , clear skies again 27 C ish...60% and rising, ~9 kt W/NW with hubby for about half hour about 6 pm ish. saplings.. Black-eared wheatear just 'other Bob' the subplumage male as usual in his northern eastern corner of Bob's territory. Seems Bob and his family have moved on.. have joined w Bill's?- or are keeping a very low profile.

hoopoe flew west over gazelle field

One female gazelle:) Grazing in favourite spot near tree at distant end of field, greenest area.

Probably water underground over there running from north valley out of sight

Immature black- eared wheatear (Bill jr) foraging in road. Turtle doves, blackbird song.. some cicadas.

Sat June 23 heatwave intensifies! Midday temps were in mid 30s C but thankfully down to about 32 degrees C by 6 p.m. ish. winds 6-7kt W/NW, humidity just 30% and climbing.

Cicadas of course.

Beeeaters.. in the grove, then flew over gazelle field about 50 feet up in a lazy criss-crossing gliding formation of about 20 birds, lovely to watch. Many flying insects visible in the air.

We heard a juvenile great spotted cuckoo in the pine grove to our east, we were tantalized because it was staying out of sight so we went to check it out. The bird would let us almost reach the pine in which he perched and called, then slip off to another about twenty yards away, the two adoptive parent hooded crows cawing 'kraawk!' in alarm and staying near. Reminded me of Malfoy with bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle. We followed the threesome to the south, out of the pine grove and into a stand of eucalyptus.. 'cornered' now, they couldn't leave that stand without being obvious. Finally the young Malfoy broke cover and flew strongly in a nice big loop over the gazelle field, soon followed by his escort. Husband asked 'how long does he let them feed him??' 'LOL who knows, when he breaks it to them he's not really a crow and is flying south for the winter?' I wonder what happened to the other juvenile?

At the cistern.. a pair of turtle doves, two collared doves, two jays and a juvenile great tit. Around the cistern.. a greenfinch family flying from the huge pine by the cistern to the pines behind us, juveniles begging food noisily from parents. Several immature wheatears (Bill's family) foraging on the ground, occasionally perching in one of the small pomegranate trees.. all the way from those trees to the rocky slopes by the road to the east. No sign of Bob's family by the saplings today. Agama lizard on the huge pine by the cistern. Gecko calls from inside the bunker ruins. Still quite a few saturnid butterflies around.