Spring has sprung..

... the grass has riz, I wonder where the birdies is...

A busy week not making alumina. Long story. But spring must be near, because the fairy martins are back and building their nests. Fairy Martins are a species of swallow. They build mud nests right outside my office window, on the light fittings under the deck cover. In the wild they build on the sides of banks and overhanging cliffs; they presumably recognize that overhangs provide an additional level of security. Or perhaps they like the fact that the light is on all night and attacts insects.

The nests are wierd tubular structures like something out of Alien, I will post more pictures as the construction progresses. Anyway there is an annual battle between the building maintenance and the martins. Each year, the old nests get waterblasted, and each year new nests get built.

About half a dozen managed to find their way into the building where I work, through the open roller doors. They then spent the entire afternoon flying back and forth under the roof looking for a way out. Not too bright, or maybe just confused by the skylights in the roof. Round about sunset I opened all the roller doors wide open, and turned off all the lights in the building, and they finally figured which way was out and departed.

The place I work has plenty of birdlife. There is even a family of spur-winged plovers that nest every year in the corner of the parking lot outside the building. They were checking out the nest site again the other day.