Among the best indications that we’re going to get rain is that our pink Storm Lilies begin to flower. The flowers above are Zephyranthes grandiflora and they’re a small bulb that flowers when the air strain drops. It doesn’t matter how a lot water you give them to encourage flowers, as a result of a storm is required earlier than they flower. We even have white Rain Lilies Pancratium zeylanicum that additionally rely on the air strain altering to flower.
White Rain Lily
As you may see, each species of bulbs are flowering and there’s a good motive for that. The primary few days of 2023 have been extraordinarily moist in Broome and surrounding areas and we’ve come off it evenly on the town actually. I do know I steered you may come and discover Australia, but it surely actually does rely on the place you need to go and when. A really dependable supply of knowledge for the highways in Western Australia is the Primary Roads Journey Map. The north of Western Australia is now not accessible by highway as a consequence of unprecedented flooding.
Fitzroy Crossing specifically has suffered probably the most in the previous few days with the city flooded and the bridge severely broken. The river top reached 15.81m and the river top gauge then failed, however the water degree is slowly dropping because it strikes additional downstream in direction of Langi Crossing after which the ocean. When you can think about the Low Stage Crossing with an additional 15.81 metres of water top then you may perceive it’s numerous further water. The rain doesn’t have to fall in a city {that a} river runs by way of for it to flood. The river catchment space is huge and it’ll proceed to stream for a lot of months now providing some severe challenges to the bridge structural engineers.
Broome has obtained numerous rain these previous couple of days, however we at the moment are beginning to dry out. Broome climate statistics are a imply common rainfall of 194.1mm for the entire of January, which is our wettest month usually. Our imply common is 627.6mm for the entire 12 months. These data are from 1939 till 2022, however they are going to be adjusted after what we’ve simply obtained. Now we have simply had 565.4mm of rain within the first 6 days of January.
Broome rainfall
Tropical Cyclone Ellie had dropped to be an ex-cyclone, however she sat over Broome for a couple of days exhibiting us that Mom Nature is in cost. Though it’s a bit depressing having to remain inside watching your grass develop underwater it’s much more depressing for the birds. For 2 days we didn’t see or hear birds apart from Oriental Pratincoles that someway managed to battle the wind and feed. On Friday, when the wind dropped, there have been lots of them simply sat on the roads clearly exhausted.
There are superb storm drains round Broome and the entire rainwater goes into large ditches after which is managed to exit into Roebuck Bay. Nonetheless, it’s numerous water to clear and it’s nonetheless slowly transferring by way of the drainage programs. Our blue sea has develop into a muddy color for apparent causes.
Storm water drains
Australian White Ibis in a storm water drain
The Plumed Whistling-Geese have dispersed and we’re listening to them overhead now and so they have loads of locations to face round in muddy water now.
Plumed Whistling-Geese
The Masked Lapwings have been breeding and their younger are having to take care of extra puddles than they’d usually need to.
Masked Lapwing chick
The Willie Wagtail is hardly standing nonetheless because it chases the flying ants and flits about always.
Willie Wagtail
As quickly as we heard birds coming into our backyard on Friday morning round 5.30am I went out to present them some meals. That they had actually had a tricky couple of days and something we may do to assist we’d. There have been quickly a few dozen very hungry Double-barred Finch within the backyard together with Bar-shouldered Doves.
Double-barred Finch
Now we have been searching for one among our Tawny Frogmouth households that also had younger at Christmas and are but to search out them. Little question they’ve been watching us and we hope to determine the place they’re now roosting. The Tawny Frogmouth that’s blind in a single eye stays in the course of the dense tree in the course of a roundabout and was clearly a bit drained after the entire rain.
Tawny Frogmouth having a yawn!
So, though we had a very good day birding round Broome observing 113 chicken species on January 1st we at the moment are restricted on the place we journey till the water degree subsides. We are able to anticipate the freeway south to supply glorious birding alternatives as soon as we’re allowed to journey on it once more.
We are able to anticipate extra rain within the coming weeks and months, as a result of that is our “Moist Season”, however no person was actually anticipating fairly this a lot rain!