January 5th: Cicadabird

Today I did a quick cycle around my old stomping ground in Mandalay near my house. This is an area I've been birding and keeping lists in for 7 years. Wow, that makes me feel a little older just saying it. I say this because, among the regular birds (including great little common birds like Red-backed and Variegated Fairy-Wrens, and Rainbow Bee-eaters), I had a bird that I've only seen in Mandalay once before. Cicadabird! This is a bird you hear nearly every day in summer here, but are nearly impossible to track down. In fact, I've still only SEEN one a handful of times (most recently prior to this in VICTORIA, a long way out of their normal range). And what a view, I had never seen one this well before, a male perched out in the open making its familiar buzzing call, like a cicada (which gives the species its name). Wow, a great piece of luck, and one that gives me my first difficult species of the year.

Total birds to date: 65