It rained - a little. Enough to wet the dust.

Just nine millimetres for the month of September. August was just fourteen millimetres. At least it rained, I suppose. Two years ago it didn't rain for three months straight. Maybe that is when the dry really started here. Of course it had been dry over the range for a while by then, years in some places.

The yellow-tailed black cockatoo, calyptorhynchus funereus, are regular visitors in this area. These majestic birds, growing to around 55 - 60cm in length, are an impressive sight when in flight, particularly when in flocks.

The coast banksias, prolific around here, are a big attraction for this cockatoo as they eat their seeds, often arriving in family groups of usually three birds, two adults and a very noisy youngster, but sometimes in flocks of sixty or more birds.