A black and white image of things in silhouette against the sky. A utility pole, from which electricity lines run off to the left and right. On top of the pole, and either side on the wires, stand a total of three Australian ibises. And in the background on the right is the blurred silhouette of a fourth ibis in flight.
Posted on by Stilgherrian

Weekly Wrap 856: All the Birds of Success, and Ibises

My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 October 2026 was both productive and filled with birds as I produced a podcast, sorted out some client work, and took part in the Aussie Bird Count. And there was crowdfunding success.

The Aussie Bird Count is always delightful. This year I learned that Australia has orioles, I spotted a magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) nest with two fledglings, and I saw a serene Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) on Cooks River.

Thanks to a burst of pluggage and subsequent generosity over the weekend, this season’s crowdfunder, The 9pm Spring Series 2026, finally hit its first target. In fact we got to 105% of that target. Thank you so much.

I’ve now set a new target because spring isn’t over and of course I still have some bills to pay. Life! That new target is $6,000 for a total of nine special-guest episodes of The 9pm Edict podcast, and some episodes of Another Untitled Music Podcast. Let’s see if we can get there by Sunday 15 November. After all, we’re already 70% of the way there!

If you haven’t already done so, please consider. Pledge your support now.

On Friday I posted an update on the saga of The Lost Module, the big crate that contained one-third of my stuff that was in storage. The short version is that I emailed the storage company on Friday but the boss-bloke wasn’t in. My patience is running dry. Very dry.

Podcasts

Articles

  • The Weekly Cybers #139. Two major cybersecurity dramas focus the internet’s attention, Meta cops a US$25 billion fine, AI can now recognise individual lobsters, and much more.

Media Appearances

Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse

None of these this week. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when the occasional livestreams are scheduled.

Some Interesting Links

The Week Ahead

The week has two main goals. One, get some client work done because there’s a bunch of tasks to get through in the next couple of weeks and, well, clients pay the bills. Two, organise tradies to do some work on the apartment’s kitchen. Exciting stuff.

Wednesday is a health and medical day, with a visit to my GP and my back maintainer, and perhaps even a vaccination that I’ve become eligible for. There will also be errands.

On Friday, after all the delays, we’ll finally see the opening of Sydney Metro Southwest. No more pink rail replacement buses as Campsie gets a lovely renovated Metro station. I probably won’t check it out on the first day, however, because I have things to do: The Weekly Cybers newsletter will appear that afternoon as usual

On Saturday it’s time for the 2026 Korea Day Festival in Eastwood. The suburb brands itself as Koreatown Australia, but for some reason their website doesn’t mention this event, and unless I’m missing something it seems to be promoted only on Facebook and Instagram.

Further Ahead

  • FrogID Week, 6–15 November 2026.
  • The 9pm Edict recording with high-speed rail enthusiast David Feng who was on the pod in July, 19 November 2026. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by 8pm AEDT on Wednesday 18 November.

[Photo: A trio of Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) perched on and near a utility pole in Campsie, Sydney, on 25 October 2026.]

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