Drought and The Dry

Another hot one at Mornington; I’m coming up with lots of definitions of heat. In the afternoon, it’s too hot to step barefoot on rocks (they singe). Metal objects can’t be left in the sun or they burn to the touch. Black ants disappear when the temperature is just under a hundred degrees, and, above about 105, direct sun feels like a hot towel on your skin. And, speaking of towels, nobody takes one to go swimming, since the sun dries you within minutes of leaving the water.

Our Purple-crowned Fairy-Wrens are on strike after the super-dry “wet” season has left us in a drought. Of 39 territories, only 4 pairs of wrens have active nests – when this should be the busiest time of the year. Fairy-Wrens can nest in any month, though, depending on the weather, so we’re praying for rain to amp things up – but it’s not looking good. March marks the end of “The Wet” and the beginning of “The Dry” – six months of sunny skies, often without a drop of precipitation.